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Flowers may die, but secrets live forever...
Chris and Cathy have moved on from their days in the attic, but the sins and secrets of their past continue to catch up to them. Now their children are doomed to repeat their mistakes.
If There Be Thorns and Seeds of Yesterday continue the ominous saga of the Dollanganger family. Savor the thrilling conclusion.
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Just when I thought the Dollanganger family tree couldn't get any more twisted, Seeds of Yesterday comes around. When I realized Cathy wrote this book too, I was torn between groaning and falling asleep. I love Cathy, don't get me wrong, but jeez, it didn't seem right to give her another book, when the main focus was clearly her children, Bart and Jory. Okay, so here's where If There Be Thorns left off: Bart was a pain in the butt and went psycho, killing animals and pissing off John Amos, causing Foxworth Hall to finally burn down. Okay, so maybe it was asking too much of the author to expect Foxworth Hall to remain burned down, because this fourth book in the series opens with Cathy and CHris arriving at Foxworth Hall. That ticked me off a little; how much backtracking can you do, Andrews? Moving right along, I absolutely loved Jory in this novel; in the first he was a little too peppy for me, Bart's insanity-laced rants more my style. But in Seeds of Yesterday, he's married and, of course, pursued his mother's dream of him becoming a ballet dancer. He's married to Melodie, who was trouble, I just knew it. Bart was some sort of billionaire, though the author didn't really elaborate as to how he got his money. One of the main focuses was the conflict between Bart and Jory and CIndy, and I loved that aspect; Bart was a character who screwed everything up, in a great, interesting way. Another main focus of this novel was Bart's obsession with getting his grandmother's money, seeing as she burned to death in the book before. One thing that really, really bugged me about this book: at the end of the last book, Cathy screamed to their mother's grave that she forgave her; about five pages into this book, Cathy says how she could never forgive her. WTF? Anyways, this book was the second best in the series in my opinion. The main improvement had to be more of a shifted focus, to Bart and Jory. Their story was only slightly less disturbing than Cathy and Chris', but it was still lighter. While Bart was a man-ho, he slowly turned into my favorite character. While Jory remained static much like Chris and Cathy, Bart was constantly changing, morphing my view of him. He was evil, insane, and a genius at first; then he was a lost, child-like adult who just needed help. No matter what else was happening, you didn't really know what Bart was going to do. My final complaint: the ending was so dang happily-ever-after I wanted to scream. I got that after tragedy struck, everyone realized their mistakes and moved on with their lives. But, really, was it necessary to make Bart and Cindy sing hymns together? It just seemed like a cheesy wrap-up to a dark, despairing series. Maybe she was going for the whole Chris was an optimist, so let's end his story optimistically spin, but I was disappointed. In a non-sadistic way. (Sorry for the long review).
4 stars and a recommendation to fans of the series. I recommend the series to fans of dark tragedies. I'll admit to having cried at the end of this one, before the cheesiness set in.
Flowers may diem but secrets live forever...
Chris and Cathy have moved on from their days in the attic, but the sins and secrets of their past continue to catch up to them. Now their children are doomed to repeat their mistakes.
If There Be Thorns and Seeds of Yesterday continue the ominous saga of the Dollanganger family. Savor the thrilling conclusion.
--
What to say about the third book in the addictive Dollanganger series. Well, first of all, as much as I tried to ignore it, there were a TON of typos in this novel; I get that some of the typos in Bart's narrative might have been intentional, and it wasn't so much that it was illegible by any means, but eventually I got tired of seeing typos in Jory's narrative too. Moving along, another complaint was Bart's overactive imagination; I know he was schizophrenic or something, and I know he really believed he was hunting tigers, not killing his childhood pet, but it got annoying that it was never clarified whether he did the terrible things Cathy and Chris believed him to have done. And also, after the first 30 pages, Andrews seemed to prove her point about the children over and over and over and over. Maybe she was trying to show us how ridiculously long Chris and Cathy ignored Bart's serious mental problems, but geez, we're not idiots, and I didn't appreciate having to hear the same old thing over and over. To complete my rant, I'll just say, the fact that their neighbor is who she is was not a surprise at all, and it was kind of annoying how the author tried to play it off as some big shocker and all. Okay, rant done. To highlight some great parts: I loved Chris's behavior toward Cathy, how he stopped acting like she was some saint. She had a bitch-slap coming for some time, and it was great to hear him give it to her. I loved when her past caught up with her; Cathy's insane past love life was ridiculous, and i was glad to see how finally someone noticed their huge, obvious web of lies. And finally, I love, love, loved the ending. How great it felt to see an end to their horrible pasts. It wasn't a great book, and it seemed like a few hundred pages were wasted on proving a point we could've gotten in a quarter of the pages used, but it definitely kept me hooked, and the ending once again left me craving more.
2.5 stars and a recommendation to fans of the series.
Up in the attic there are four secrets hidden. Blond, beautiful, innocent little secrets struggling to stay alive...
Chris, Cathy, Cory, and Carrie had the perfect lives--until a tragic accident changed everything. Now they are trapped in their grandparents' attic, waiting for Momma to figure out what to do next. As the days turn into weeks and the weeks into months, the unspeakable horrors that plague them are rivaled only by the sinful jealousies that begin to rise.
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Given my obsession with the first novel in the Dollanganger series, you'd think I'd be in love with all of them. But honestly, Petals on the Wind didn't quite live up to expectations. Maybe I set the bar too high, but this book seemed a tiny bit forced and a little bit unrealistic. Not that the first book was all that real-sounding, but still. Cathy's failed attempts at love seemed way too crazy, and her abusive relationship with Julian seemed flat-out ridiculous at times. I understood why he did what he did, but still, Andrews seemed intent on ruining everyone's lives, even secondary characters. But the plot moved quickly and flowed well, making up for many of its flaws. Chris' undying lust (love?) for Cathy could be disgusting if I really wanted to think about it, but I didn't, and so he seemed sweeter and less incestuous. I think the incest was so burned into their blood it caused some unfortunate events, and that made me more pitying than grossed-out. Since Cory's death, Carrie had become depressed, and even though I cried when her story was concluded, I saw it coming, not because it was predictable, but because it was the right ending, no matter how sad. The children's fates are all horrible in their own ways, and Cory and Carrie's are the worst. The ending was fitting, though the trail of lost loves Cathy leaves was a tad overdone in my opinion. Overall, I couldn't wait for the next one (I read these books a few months ago) and I'm still as captivated as I was when I went into the series.
5 stars, a recommendation to fans of the first book. Again, don't pick up these books looking for a regular romance novel. Their dark and creepy at times, to say the least.
Up in the attic there are four secrets hidden. Blond, beautiful, innocent little secrets struggling to stay alive...
Chris, Cathy, Cory, and Carrie had the perfect lives--until a tragic accident changed everything. Now they are trapped in their grandparents' attic, waiting for Momma to figure out what to do next. As the days turn into weeks and the weeks into months, the unspeakable horrors that plague them are rivaled only by the sinful jealousies that begin to rise.
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Let me start off by saying this: these books are definitely dark and definitely not for everyone. The story starts with the Dollanganger family, happy and content. Then, on his birthday, their father is in a car accident and dies. The mother feels the need to go to her father, who had many years before disowned her. With a promise and a quick departure, the children are forced into an attic with sparse sunlight and little food from a grandmother who calls them Devil's spawn. Enough with the summary, I know, I know. Well, this book is one of my favorites. It is dark and incestuous and doesn't shy away from anything nasty or unheard of. Cathy is the pessimist, and the narrator. She whined a bit, (not that I wouldn't have been bitching about having a witch for a mother and a dead father alone) but she was my favorite character. Her undeniable cynicism saved them several times over, and I couldn't help but feel the way she felt. Chris, though I had to love him, was a little too much of an optimist, and I found his faith in their mother (and his slight sexual inclination towards her) to be annoying and too hopeful. I cried multiple times at Cory and Carrie's sufferings, and the end of the book nearly made me stop, so full of it emotions was it. The story was horrific, and though I've heard reviewers say that their situation is nearly ideal, I found it troublesome that so little was done to escape at times. It seemed to me that had already accepted their fate, at least until the very end. The mother was despicable in every way, and the grandmother... Well, I wanted to kick that bitch's ass more than a few times. That was the other main problem: How hard would it have been to knock her out and run outside? I mean, was the old lady really that strong? But oh well, it made for a better story this way, and I love the book, from start to finish.
Stars: 5. Recommendation: Well, that's difficult. If the premise doesn't totally intrigue you and you're iffy about the idea, it's probably not for you. But otherwise, by all means, read it!
