Another excellent book by Danielle Steel. This book was a quick read. It was a change of pace to have a male main character in the author’s book.

Joachim and his twin brother, Javier, were raised by a strong woman who was left penniless after her father is arrested and her husband leaves her due to the scandal. Living in a poor part of Argentina, Joachim and Javier go down very different paths. To deal with the “loss” of his twin brother, Joachim chooses a life of service by becoming a butler.

In between jobs, Joachim goes to Paris to spend time with his elderly mother. While obtaining a temporary work assignment, he meets Olivia, recently moved from the United States. Olivia is lost after the death of her mother and closing of her business.

The Butler is the story of these two individuals and the developing relationship from employer/employee to best.

Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for providing me an ARC.

This is a difficult book to rate as it is such a departure from Laura Lippman’s previous books. I thank NetGalley, the publisher, and Laura Lippman for providing me an ARC of Dream Girl. One one hand the inner thoughts of a writer was interesting. However, there were no characters for which I felt a connection. All the characters were despicable. I think this was a good attempt of a first horror book from Laura Lippman. However, I felt that it lacked enough intrigue for my personal tastes. I often felt that I could not wait for the book to end.