Romance Annotation- Lost and Found

Lost and Found

By: Danielle Steel

Synopsis: Maddie did what she felt she needed to when her children were younger. As a single mom of three she propelled all of her efforts into raising her kids and establishing a career to support them. She tried dating a handful of times, but eventually all three of the relationships ended when confronted with a decision of what to do next.

An accident forces her to slow down and re evaluate those decisions. While recovering she sifts through an old box of memories containing letters and pictures from those three men. Where are they now? What would it have been like had she made other choices?

When confronted with the stark reality of growing old alone she decides to revisit the past. She travels across the country from New York to California, stopping to see the men from her past if the decisions she made in the past were the right ones. Only after confronting the ghosts in her closet can she look forward to the future and unknowingly heal relationships with her children.

Characteristics of a Romance:

Tone: The tone of a romance is full of strong emotional connections between all the characters. This emotional connection moves the story along quickly and typically to a happy ending, although sometimes with a twist.

In the first few chapters of Lost and Found, through repetitive writing, Steel builds the relationship between the reader and Maddie. She develops the background story of her life and paves the pathway for the rest of the story.

Characters: Characters are developed with vivid characterization that include looks and personality traits. Typically men are written as powerful and somewhat dangerous. Women are developed to be strong and independent, typically the back story develops these traits for the women. In most, one or more characters are forced to undergo a transformation in attitude or way of thinking.

Maddie is quickly developed as an independent and successful woman that outwardly appears confident. Her vulnerability is exposed as the story unfolds. She is joined by three men that have personalities that are powerful, confident and each offer their own sense of danger. Maddie’s three children also have varying personalities that she handles with great finesse.

Language: Language plays an important role is setting the stage for a romance novel. The
language is descriptive to create the characters, scenery and emotions.

Steel builds the setting in her story for readers to imagine looks of each characters and scenes. They will feel like they know exactly what the refurbished firehouse house looks like with all the charm. As Maddie drives across country readers feel like they are riding along seeing cities, cornfields, mountains and the California coast. The sincerity of the emotion will have readers hoping for a happy ending in romance and in healing relationships.

Pace: The pace is fast, with the author setting the reader up to fall for the characters. More of the writing is done in dialogue which moves the reader through the story quickly- looking for a resolution.

As with many books the first couple of chapters are spent setting up the characters and the emotional ties between them. This catapults Lost and Found into a quick read as readers follow the dialogue of the characters.

Read Alikes: 

The selection below touches on relationships with strong female leads. They each face something in their lives that they regroup from and start again. Self-discovery is a strong linking theme along with romance and relationships. Debbie Mcomber are ‘ensemble’ books, characters carry over from other books, however a new reader can pick up anywhere in the series. 

How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews
Starting Now by Debbie Mcomber