A Message From Danielle Steel

March 2008

Dear Friends,

March can be a blustery month, with spring seeming to embrace us one day and retreating back into winter the next. St. Patrick's Day is a major event to some, although as I mention every year, there is no Irish blood in my family, so I can't claim it as "my" holiday. But those who do seem to enjoy it a lot!

Easter also comes in March this year... I've always loved coloring eggs and having Easter egg hunts with my kids. Religiously, the notion of resurrection and being reborn is very meaningful to me. After the dark days of Lent, Easter is a time of hope!

My newest hardcover, HONOR THYSELF, will come out this month. I love the book, which is about a woman who pieces her life back together--with the help of those who love her--after a terrorist attack in Paris. It is as much about finding and honoring oneself as it is about healing in important ways. I hope you love it, too! And I hope that March is a great month for you.

Love,

Danielle

P.S. You are always welcome to visit me at my home on the web:
http://info.randomhouse.com/cgi-bin21/DM/y/exW60Mx6Ij0V50H860EN

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LA USURPADORA: THE REST OF THE STORY

Hi all, a very Happy Valentine's Day. Things have been SO boring since CATALINA y SEBASTIAN wrapped up that I've been agonising over WHAT to now write about, then It suddenly hit me; for those who had watched LA USURPADORA on GALAXY, the telenovela ended on a happy note with Carlos Daniel Bracho marrying his sister-in-law, Paulina after his promiscous wife Paola's death, admist a lot of joy from his grandmother, brother, sister-in-law and his two children from his first wife(Paola was his second wife but never gave him children) and their friends. But there's more.

MAS ALLA USURPADORA  (Beyond The Usurper )is a sequel that further follows the lives of the Bracho family, many of the characters from the previous part featured.The story begins a year after Carlos Daniel and Paulina's wedding. They now have a little baby girl of their own whom they named PAULITA(after Paulina & Paola's late mother, Paula), as well as a nanny looking after the three Bracho kids, a young woman called Raquel, who is a diabolical woman obsessively in love with Carlos Daniel.

Pauly's blissful life comes crumbling down after a visit to her doctor one day; she is diagnosed with terminal cancer and has little time to live. Not wanting her husband to end up raising their children alone again, she decides to groom Raquel to take her place when the time came, after confiding in Abuela Piedad about her condition. Evil Raquel however tells Carlos Daniel about Paulina's illness later on. Pauly hears Paola's voice in her head and sees her image in a mirror taunting her...'It's your fault I'm dead, you bought me the car I had the accident in... Carlos Daniel won't be yours or mine, together we'll burn IN HELL!' In reply, Pauly smashes the mirror in terror.

Carlos Daniel comes in and consoles her, promising to consult the best doctors for a second opinion. Estefania, his sister who had been in a mental home after her sudden nervous breakdown, gradually recovered and asks for her son who is currently under the care of her other brother Roderigo and his wife Patricia who have no children and naturally, they are reluctant to hand the child back to her, BESIDES, she still was'nt completely stable.

Pauly unwisely tells diabolical Raquel of her plans for her, which makes her decide to kill Pauly, to speed up her death chosing to do that,of all days, at a party thrown to celebrate Paulina and Carlos Daniel's wedding anniversary. Meanwhile, Estephania goes to Rod and Pat's home and forcibly takes the little boy from the nanny left in charge. Raquel has the audacity to attempt to kiss Carlos Daniel when he comes to ask her to join the party but he pushes her away in disgust instead(why not, considering he almost lost Pauly due to stupidity and pride in the past). Abuela Piedad goes upstairs (after the maid whispered something in her ear) and has a few sharp words with her grandson, thinking he was up to something fishy that could ruin his marriage; since he was in a locked room with Raquel.

Raquel had already put the poison in a glass of wine for Pauly but Pauly's stepchildren-Carlitos and Lissette- unintentionally tampered with the glasses; Lissette picked the poisoned one up with the intention of taking a sip but Carlitos took it from her and placed it back, but in the wrong place. Raquel and Pauly drink a toast, the wicked girl watching Pauly evily. The children complain to their Mummy about the party being a bit boring. But Pauly suddenly goes out cold , to the children's horror. Carlitos starts to shout for help, and his uncle, Rodrigo hurries to her side, calling her name. Carlos Daniel comes down to find his wife on the couch and his brother Rodrigo and some of the other guests trying in vain to revieve her. EStephania and the baby arrive just as Pauly is rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. Diabolical Raquel feels pleased with herself but then faints too and is taken away as well; she had taken the fatal drink ! At the hospital, the doctor informs a very worried Carlos Daniel that it turns out they had given a wrong diagnosis, Pauly did NOT have cancer at all, her illness was simply a SECOND PREGNANCY! (praise ALLAH!)

After regaining consciousness, Raquel confesses her crime and begs the family for forgiveness and packs out of the mansion, out of the city and out of their lives(GOOD RIDDANCE!)

Days later, there is another family get together at the mansion- to celebrate Pauly's recovery and Estefania's return. They all sit down to pose for a family picture. All is well once again in the House of Bracho... FIN(THE END)

GIST!!!!

Gabriella Spanic(who played both Paola Bracho and Paulina Martinez Bracho) actually has an identical twin sister in real life, Daniela Spanic,(right) who is a famous model. I'm sure you are all wondering why Daniela did'nt play one twin and Gabriella the other twin in LA USURPADORA, personally I don't understand it either but I found out that Daniela appeared in ONE episode of the telenovela in a scene when Paola and Pauly had a physical battle, because it was'nt possible for any camera trick to pull that off successfully. Waste of time, they should have put both of them in it from the beginning to the fin, unless Daniela had other commitments or was'nt exactly into acting like Gabriella. Anyhow, here in Nigeria, if we had twins we would use BOTH twins.