It all started at a loft in Hell's Kitchen, New York, four women initially strangers become roommates and then become more than friends. Claire, a shoe designer finds the apartment and needed a roommate to share it with. She meets Abby, a writer who's trying to make headway in her career and then they're joined by Morgan who works for one of the big finance companies, followed by Sasha, a pediatrician.
In this very spacious apartment, the four women live, love and support one another and make it home. They see one another through major life changes, career and relationships. Claire is stifled at work by her conservative boss, but she holds on to the job out of fear of the uncertainty. Abby is in an exploitive relationship with a Broadway producer who promises to help her with her career but never does until she catches him cheating and breaks up.
Morgan on the other hand is in a very loving relationship with Max who owns a restaurant and basically part of the loft family. Sasha finds love in a colleague at work and they begin dating. Meanwhile Claire runs into Morgan's boss, George, at Max's restaurant and weeks after, she yields in to his pressure to date him.
It all turns sour at the loft when Claire doesn't hear from George for weeks and he breaks up with her via text. She also get a fired from work and it looks like her life came falling apart. Morgan gets pregnant much to her dismay and Max breaks up with her for wanting to have an abortion.
Sasha also has her fair share of trouble with some bad guys and the police - well, her identical twin does but her life is at risk since they look the same.
In the end, the four women come out strong above the odds and will always remember the apartment where it all started.
The Apartment is one of the recent works by Danielle Steel published in 2016. It makes me wonder if her writing gets bleak as time goes by. I would need to read another recent book to conclude. Half the book is filled with repetitions that could have been avoided. I really didn't need to read so many times about how Claire is a shoe designer and couldn't wait to not work for her annoying boss anymore. Neither did I need to read about how Sasha's mum is the devil or how wild her twin is.
I was bored the whole time and kept reading on with hopes of seeing the silver lining but there was nothing. The supporting characters, George, Valentina and her lovers, Max, all seemed like they might have brought a twist to the story but there was none of that.
I appreciated the base line, how one can find family in strangers but that was it. The story lacked conflict and one term of studying literature in high school taught me a good story has conflict.
My Rating - Bad for a Danielle Steel book