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Dollanganger #2
Petals on the Wind
For Carrie, Chris and Cathy the attic was a dark horror that would not leave their minds.
Of course mother had to pretend they didn't exist and grandmother was convinced they had the devil in them.
But that wasn't their fault. Was it?
Cathy knew what to do. She knew it was time to show her mother and grandmother that the pain and terror of the attic could not be forgotten...Show them. Show them once and for all.
439 pages, Paperback
First published November 10, 1980
2379 people are currently reading
24947 people want to read
About the author
V.C. Andrews
370 books9,099 followersBooks published under the following names - Virginia Andrews, V. Andrews, Virginia C. Andrews & V.C. Endrius. Books since her death ghost written by Andrew Neiderman, but still attributed to the V.C. Andrews name
Virginia Cleo Andrews (born Cleo Virginia Andrews) was born June 6, 1923 in Portsmouth, Virginia. The youngest child and the only daughter of William Henry Andrews, a career navy man who opened a tool-and-die business after retirement, and Lillian Lilnora Parker Andrews, a telephone operator. She spent her happy childhood years in Portsmouth, Virginia, living briefly in Rochester, New York. The Andrews family returned to Portsmouth while Virginia was in high school.
While a teenager, Virginia suffered a tragic accident, falling down the stairs at her school and incurred severe back injuries. Arthritis and a failed spinal surgical procedure forced her to spend most of her life on crutches or in a wheelchair.
Virginia excelled in school and, at fifteen, won a scholarship for writing a parody of Tennyson's Idylls of the King. She proudly earned her diploma from Woodrow Wilson High School in Portsmouth. After graduation, she nurtured her artistic talent by completing a four-year correspondence art course while living at home with her family.
After William Andrews died in the late 1960s, Virginia helped to support herself and her mother through her extremely successful career as a commercial artist, portrait painter, and fashion illustrator.
Frustrated with the lack of creative satisfaction that her work provided, Virginia sought creative release through writing, which she did in secret. In 1972, she completed her first novel, The Gods of the Green Mountain [sic], a science-fantasy story. It was never published. Between 1972 and 1979, she wrote nine novels and twenty short stories, of which only one was published. "I Slept with My Uncle on My Wedding Night", a short fiction piece, was published in a pulp confession magazine.
Promise gleamed over the horizon for Virginia when she submitted a 290,000-word novel, The Obsessed, to a publishing company. She was told that the story had potential, but needed to be trimmed and spiced up a bit. She drafted a new outline in a single night and added "unspeakable things my mother didn't want me to write about." The ninety-eight-page revision was re-titled Flowers in the Attic and she was paid a $7,500 advance. Her new-generation Gothic novel reached the bestseller lists a mere two weeks after its 1979 paperback publication by Pocket Books.
Petals on the Wind, her sequel to Flowers, was published the next year, earning Virginia a $35,000 advance. The second book remained on the New York Times bestseller list for an unbelievable nineteen weeks (Flowers also returned to the list). These first two novels alone sold over seven million copies in only two years. The third novel of the Dollanganger series, If There Be Thorns, was released in 1981, bringing Virginia a $75,000 advance. It reached No. 2 on many bestseller lists within its first two weeks.
Taking a break from the chronicles of Chris and Cathy Dollanganger, Virginia published her one, and only, stand-alone novel, My Sweet Audrina, in 1982. The book welcomed an immediate success, topping the sales figures of her previous novels. Two years later, a fourth Dollanganger novel was released, Seeds of Yesterday. According to the New York Times, Seeds was the best-selling fiction paperback novel of 1984. Also in 1984, V.C. Andrews was named "Professional Woman of the Year" by the city of Norfolk, Virginia.
Upon Andrews's death in 1986, two final novels—Garden of Shadows and Fallen Hearts—were published. These two novels are considered the last to bear the "V.C. Andrews" name and to be almost completely written by
Virginia Cleo Andrews (born Cleo Virginia Andrews) was born June 6, 1923 in Portsmouth, Virginia. The youngest child and the only daughter of William Henry Andrews, a career navy man who opened a tool-and-die business after retirement, and Lillian Lilnora Parker Andrews, a telephone operator. She spent her happy childhood years in Portsmouth, Virginia, living briefly in Rochester, New York. The Andrews family returned to Portsmouth while Virginia was in high school.
While a teenager, Virginia suffered a tragic accident, falling down the stairs at her school and incurred severe back injuries. Arthritis and a failed spinal surgical procedure forced her to spend most of her life on crutches or in a wheelchair.
Virginia excelled in school and, at fifteen, won a scholarship for writing a parody of Tennyson's Idylls of the King. She proudly earned her diploma from Woodrow Wilson High School in Portsmouth. After graduation, she nurtured her artistic talent by completing a four-year correspondence art course while living at home with her family.
After William Andrews died in the late 1960s, Virginia helped to support herself and her mother through her extremely successful career as a commercial artist, portrait painter, and fashion illustrator.
Frustrated with the lack of creative satisfaction that her work provided, Virginia sought creative release through writing, which she did in secret. In 1972, she completed her first novel, The Gods of the Green Mountain [sic], a science-fantasy story. It was never published. Between 1972 and 1979, she wrote nine novels and twenty short stories, of which only one was published. "I Slept with My Uncle on My Wedding Night", a short fiction piece, was published in a pulp confession magazine.
Promise gleamed over the horizon for Virginia when she submitted a 290,000-word novel, The Obsessed, to a publishing company. She was told that the story had potential, but needed to be trimmed and spiced up a bit. She drafted a new outline in a single night and added "unspeakable things my mother didn't want me to write about." The ninety-eight-page revision was re-titled Flowers in the Attic and she was paid a $7,500 advance. Her new-generation Gothic novel reached the bestseller lists a mere two weeks after its 1979 paperback publication by Pocket Books.
Petals on the Wind, her sequel to Flowers, was published the next year, earning Virginia a $35,000 advance. The second book remained on the New York Times bestseller list for an unbelievable nineteen weeks (Flowers also returned to the list). These first two novels alone sold over seven million copies in only two years. The third novel of the Dollanganger series, If There Be Thorns, was released in 1981, bringing Virginia a $75,000 advance. It reached No. 2 on many bestseller lists within its first two weeks.
Taking a break from the chronicles of Chris and Cathy Dollanganger, Virginia published her one, and only, stand-alone novel, My Sweet Audrina, in 1982. The book welcomed an immediate success, topping the sales figures of her previous novels. Two years later, a fourth Dollanganger novel was released, Seeds of Yesterday. According to the New York Times, Seeds was the best-selling fiction paperback novel of 1984. Also in 1984, V.C. Andrews was named "Professional Woman of the Year" by the city of Norfolk, Virginia.
Upon Andrews's death in 1986, two final novels—Garden of Shadows and Fallen Hearts—were published. These two novels are considered the last to bear the "V.C. Andrews" name and to be almost completely written by
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,626 reviews
September 6, 2015
Holy guacamole.
I gave four stars to Flowers in the Attic, because apparently I'm shallow and weird. So it was kind of a relief to find myself thinking "This is OFFENSIVELY bad" on a regular basis as I read the sequel. (It only earns two stars because of the ending -- see below.)
How offensive?
Let's see. The kids from Flowers have managed to run away from the attic they were trapped in for so many years. They're on a bus (destination: Anywhere But Here) when their little sister Carrie becomes violently ill. Fortunately, the children are noticed by a large, motherly, helpful black woman. (Well, what other kind of black woman is there? These are white kids in need, after all.) She persuades them to let her take them to her "doctor-son, who is very best doctor."
This is written in a note -- the woman can hear, but can't speak. And the doctor in question isn't her son. He's her employer, a white man.
Ew.
Doctor-Son White Guy is thrilled to see the kids. He once had a wife and son, but he lost them in a tragedy that's only hinted at. (It's spelled out later, and of course it's nothing normal like a car crash or something. This is a V.C. Andrews novel, after all.) He sees these beautiful, mysterious, haunted-looking children as a godsend -- a ready-made family he can love and care for. Plus, he already has the hots for Cathy, the narrator. Which makes sense. She's absolutely beautiful. And 15 years old. And he's in his 40s. It couldn't be perfecter!
I did mention offensive and ew, right?
Really, Cathy's continuing attraction to her brother Chris, and his to her, is the least icky relationship in the whole book.
Cathy has a lot of relationships in this book. We're not talking love triangles. We're talking every guy over the age of 10 falls for her. I'm not trying to sound slut-shamey, because it's not about how many guys she, ahem, engages with in this book. It's that they're all absolutely horrible, and she's fine with that. She forgives sexism, rape, abuse of every kind, and a guy who swears she's the love of his life but cheats on her nonstop. And not just garden-variety cheating. (This is a V.C. Andrews novel.)
I'd never before thrown in his face that I knew about his debaucheries with very young girls. It had hurt at first when I found out, but now I knew he used those girls like he used paper napkins, to casually toss away when soiled, and back he'd come to me, to say he loved me, needed me, and I was the only one.
o_O
Later, when he's "apologizing," he says, "Why do you try to bring out the worst in me? I only use those girls to spare you."
Her reply is, of course, to kick in him the junkyard as hard as she can, then call the cops and ask exactly how much evidence she needs to turn in a serial statutory rapist.
Oh, wait. This is a V.C. Andrews novel. Her reply is, "If they don't mind, then I don't mind."
Just...I can't even...
It gets worse. Okay, maybe not worse, but it stays at that level of icky-creep throughout.
For instance: This same guy is physically abusive. But it's okay, because he feels really bad about it afterward. And then she feels bad for provoking him. After he inflicts injuries that are so bad they threaten her future career as a dancer, she takes all the blame:
"He kept begging me to say I loved him, and I never would. I kept a deceptive parasol over my head, to keep dark doubts in my mind, and I refused to see anything that was noble and fine about him but his dancing. I didn't realize that to love me, even when I denied him, was noble and fine in itself."
But...with the...
(sigh)
And it isn't as if this is written in a cautionary-tale, "don't let this happen to YOU" tone. It's more like, "Hey! This is how guys are. What are you going to do? Be nice to your man, ladies. Maybe he'll be nice back. Probably not, but it's your fault if he isn't. Oh, and have a nice day!"
The ending is, I must admit, awesome in a General-Hospital-meets-Rebecca kind of way. But I truly don't believe it was worth plowing my way through 400+ pages of horrifyingly regressive storytelling. Did you know that "people of another race and color" have "the same sensitivities, hopes and fears we all have"? Oh, you didn't? Well, maybe you should read this book after all.
And then you can also learn that "an aggressive, domineering woman is one of God's most fearsome creatures." Cathy is told this after she explains that she wants to learn some skills to see her through life so she'll always be able to take care of her children even if she's left on her own. (Spoiler alert: yeah, THAT works out really well.)
I am not even remotely tempted to read any more Flowers sequels. So that's something, anyway.
And now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and get my brain back.
I gave four stars to Flowers in the Attic, because apparently I'm shallow and weird. So it was kind of a relief to find myself thinking "This is OFFENSIVELY bad" on a regular basis as I read the sequel. (It only earns two stars because of the ending -- see below.)
How offensive?
Let's see. The kids from Flowers have managed to run away from the attic they were trapped in for so many years. They're on a bus (destination: Anywhere But Here) when their little sister Carrie becomes violently ill. Fortunately, the children are noticed by a large, motherly, helpful black woman. (Well, what other kind of black woman is there? These are white kids in need, after all.) She persuades them to let her take them to her "doctor-son, who is very best doctor."
This is written in a note -- the woman can hear, but can't speak. And the doctor in question isn't her son. He's her employer, a white man.
Ew.
Doctor-Son White Guy is thrilled to see the kids. He once had a wife and son, but he lost them in a tragedy that's only hinted at. (It's spelled out later, and of course it's nothing normal like a car crash or something. This is a V.C. Andrews novel, after all.) He sees these beautiful, mysterious, haunted-looking children as a godsend -- a ready-made family he can love and care for. Plus, he already has the hots for Cathy, the narrator. Which makes sense. She's absolutely beautiful. And 15 years old. And he's in his 40s. It couldn't be perfecter!
I did mention offensive and ew, right?
Really, Cathy's continuing attraction to her brother Chris, and his to her, is the least icky relationship in the whole book.
Cathy has a lot of relationships in this book. We're not talking love triangles. We're talking every guy over the age of 10 falls for her. I'm not trying to sound slut-shamey, because it's not about how many guys she, ahem, engages with in this book. It's that they're all absolutely horrible, and she's fine with that. She forgives sexism, rape, abuse of every kind, and a guy who swears she's the love of his life but cheats on her nonstop. And not just garden-variety cheating. (This is a V.C. Andrews novel.)
I'd never before thrown in his face that I knew about his debaucheries with very young girls. It had hurt at first when I found out, but now I knew he used those girls like he used paper napkins, to casually toss away when soiled, and back he'd come to me, to say he loved me, needed me, and I was the only one.
o_O
Later, when he's "apologizing," he says, "Why do you try to bring out the worst in me? I only use those girls to spare you."
Her reply is, of course, to kick in him the junkyard as hard as she can, then call the cops and ask exactly how much evidence she needs to turn in a serial statutory rapist.
Oh, wait. This is a V.C. Andrews novel. Her reply is, "If they don't mind, then I don't mind."
Just...I can't even...
It gets worse. Okay, maybe not worse, but it stays at that level of icky-creep throughout.
For instance: This same guy is physically abusive. But it's okay, because he feels really bad about it afterward. And then she feels bad for provoking him. After he inflicts injuries that are so bad they threaten her future career as a dancer, she takes all the blame:
"He kept begging me to say I loved him, and I never would. I kept a deceptive parasol over my head, to keep dark doubts in my mind, and I refused to see anything that was noble and fine about him but his dancing. I didn't realize that to love me, even when I denied him, was noble and fine in itself."
But...with the...
(sigh)
And it isn't as if this is written in a cautionary-tale, "don't let this happen to YOU" tone. It's more like, "Hey! This is how guys are. What are you going to do? Be nice to your man, ladies. Maybe he'll be nice back. Probably not, but it's your fault if he isn't. Oh, and have a nice day!"
The ending is, I must admit, awesome in a General-Hospital-meets-Rebecca kind of way. But I truly don't believe it was worth plowing my way through 400+ pages of horrifyingly regressive storytelling. Did you know that "people of another race and color" have "the same sensitivities, hopes and fears we all have"? Oh, you didn't? Well, maybe you should read this book after all.
And then you can also learn that "an aggressive, domineering woman is one of God's most fearsome creatures." Cathy is told this after she explains that she wants to learn some skills to see her through life so she'll always be able to take care of her children even if she's left on her own. (Spoiler alert: yeah, THAT works out really well.)
I am not even remotely tempted to read any more Flowers sequels. So that's something, anyway.
And now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and get my brain back.
December 26, 2015
WHAT...
JUST... what!?
I can't even...
My summary of this book is: WTF, Cathy?!
I mean, I liked it and I'll definitely finish this saga, for I am too invested, but I don't know, this book is just TOO MUCH.
JUST... what!?
I can't even...
My summary of this book is: WTF, Cathy?!
I mean, I liked it and I'll definitely finish this saga, for I am too invested, but I don't know, this book is just TOO MUCH.
August 11, 2016
Hey, guess what? Flowers in the Attic was only the beginning of this sordid tale! We now follow Cathy to South Carolina with her gross brother and little sister who didn't die of arsenic poisoning (almost did though). They get taken in by a doctor and his sassy housekeeper. Seems harmless enough, right? Oh, how quickly we forget. Cathy ends up sleeping with the doctor who's like 40 years older than her and then running away to become a ballerina. She marries the MOST FAMOUS ballet dancer, and has his baby, then he dies. Oh, and remember that magical romance with her brother? It continues. She also finds her crazy mom and sleeps with her mom's new husband, beats her grandmother, then sets their house on fire. Ahh, young love.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 21, 2016
This was the worst best.
This was a clusterfuck. It's like the most dramatic and ridiculous soap opera ever created. It's truly amazing how much fuckery is in this book. I just. I can't even explain all the crazy. It's addictive. I could barely put it down.
However it was a lot slower, longer and didn't have the crazy sexual tension like the first one. Cathy is very free with her love in this. Are you a male? She's in love with you, then. Are you a male that treats her like garbage? You're top of her list. Are you a male that has something to do with her mother? Look out, she's Because that makes so much sense. Cathy. Y u do dis?! Bitch is unstable.
You know something is really fucked up, when you are rooting for the brother and sister to end up together, right?
Having said that, I know it's wrong, but the way that Chris loves Cathy is creeptastic and I loved every creepy declaration of his undying love. Creepers forever! YAS.
This was great. Fucked up. But great. Onto the next one, I can't wait to see what the fuck happens next.
4 always-come-back-to-me Stars
This was a clusterfuck. It's like the most dramatic and ridiculous soap opera ever created. It's truly amazing how much fuckery is in this book. I just. I can't even explain all the crazy. It's addictive. I could barely put it down.
However it was a lot slower, longer and didn't have the crazy sexual tension like the first one. Cathy is very free with her love in this. Are you a male? She's in love with you, then. Are you a male that treats her like garbage? You're top of her list. Are you a male that has something to do with her mother? Look out, she's Because that makes so much sense. Cathy. Y u do dis?! Bitch is unstable.
You know something is really fucked up, when you are rooting for the brother and sister to end up together, right?
Having said that, I know it's wrong, but the way that Chris loves Cathy is creeptastic and I loved every creepy declaration of his undying love. Creepers forever! YAS.
This was great. Fucked up. But great. Onto the next one, I can't wait to see what the fuck happens next.
4 always-come-back-to-me Stars
July 2, 2022
After the (hyper!) dramatic ending of the last book, Flowers in the Attic, the now utterly world weary and surely traumatised children have escaped and at least life can now only get better for the siblings, right?... Well. I wouldn't count on it!
The cray cray thunderously best-selling series continues to drum up the tension and suspense in the second book of this ground breaking gothic horror suspense series that takes the idea of dysfunctional families, lives and loves to the limit and beyond! More mad-ical melodrama and suspense - 7 out of 12.
2003 read
The cray cray thunderously best-selling series continues to drum up the tension and suspense in the second book of this ground breaking gothic horror suspense series that takes the idea of dysfunctional families, lives and loves to the limit and beyond! More mad-ical melodrama and suspense - 7 out of 12.
2003 read
September 3, 2020
What an outstanding sequel this is! Gone are the days of the claustrophobic attic and it seems that the Dollanganger kids can now FINALLY live out their lives in the big glorious world. But of course, our heroine is plagued by hatred for her wretched mother and here is a prime moralistic example of why grudges are destructive and so very anti-life. And not only that, but the revenge aspect in "Petals" is the true ghost in this "horror"ish dish, made all the more delicious by an outstanding writer (who is actually immortal, by the way). Frankly, this is one of the kitschiest books I've ever read (more so than the first book, even more than, say, "Valley of the Dolls"). I loved it, it was a great companion for one mega long car ride, it is a well-deserved buffet of nastiness. Is it that bad to place this in my Essentials List? It probably is... & yet the guilty-pleasure element makes it just that much more awesome. Here's to part three!
February 19, 2019
Book Review
4 of 5 stars to Petals on the Wind, the 2nd novel in the "Dollanganger" series written in 1980 by V.C. Andrews. It all started with the attic in the first book, but it set a series of event that would have disastrous impacts for years to come. When you finished the first book, you thought there couldn't be anything more shocking in this family than two cousins falling in love and having children. You also thought there couldn't be a meaner mother or grandmother. But then... book two takes it all that much further. Now, two of the children, brother and sister, fall in love and have an intimate relationship. But it doesn't stop there... this family is full of insanity. There are so many crazy story lines between each of these people, you never quite know where it will go. VC Andrews excels at creating family drama. And I fell for it. Though Flowers in the Attic, the first in the series, is first in my heart... this was a fairly close second and follow-up book in the series. You'll still be hooked... and wonder how the kids will get revenge. Keep with the series at this point. It's definitely worth seeing the impact they attic had on the Dollanganger kids.
About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.
[polldaddy poll=9729544]
[polldaddy poll=9719251]
4 of 5 stars to Petals on the Wind, the 2nd novel in the "Dollanganger" series written in 1980 by V.C. Andrews. It all started with the attic in the first book, but it set a series of event that would have disastrous impacts for years to come. When you finished the first book, you thought there couldn't be anything more shocking in this family than two cousins falling in love and having children. You also thought there couldn't be a meaner mother or grandmother. But then... book two takes it all that much further. Now, two of the children, brother and sister, fall in love and have an intimate relationship. But it doesn't stop there... this family is full of insanity. There are so many crazy story lines between each of these people, you never quite know where it will go. VC Andrews excels at creating family drama. And I fell for it. Though Flowers in the Attic, the first in the series, is first in my heart... this was a fairly close second and follow-up book in the series. You'll still be hooked... and wonder how the kids will get revenge. Keep with the series at this point. It's definitely worth seeing the impact they attic had on the Dollanganger kids.
About Me
For those new to me or my reviews... here's the scoop: I read A LOT. I write A LOT. And now I blog A LOT. First the book review goes on Goodreads, and then I send it on over to my WordPress blog at https://thisismytruthnow.com, where you'll also find TV & Film reviews, the revealing and introspective 365 Daily Challenge and lots of blogging about places I've visited all over the world. And you can find all my social media profiles to get the details on the who/what/when/where and my pictures. Leave a comment and let me know what you think. Vote in the poll and ratings. Thanks for stopping by. Note: All written content is my original creation and copyrighted to me, but the graphics and images were linked from other sites and belong to them. Many thanks to their original creators.
[polldaddy poll=9729544]
[polldaddy poll=9719251]
February 12, 2012
UGGGGHHHH, Cathy. Cathy is so terrible and manages to drag down this entire book. Almost the entire Flowers in the Attic awesomeness. Does anybody else remember her being this awful?
Cathy, Chris, and Carrie do indeed escape the attic, and somehow get taken in by a kind doctor in SC and his housekeeper. Cathy, after years of studying ballet by herself, manages to get accepted by a ballet school, then a ballet company. She's so talented and I guess we're supposed to cheer for her. Whatever, this is fine. What is not fine is **SPOILERS TO FOLLOW**: how Cathy strings along her doctor, Paul, and her brother, Chris, for absolutely ages. They spend the entire book vying for her love, which she gives and takes as it suits her. Then she runs off with her ballet partner, the abusive asshole Julian. God, Cathy, make bad decisions much? It gets worse! Seeking revenge against her mother, Cathy begins a relationship with Bart Winslow, her mother's husband, even following him to Virginia. While this would chase off most men, Bart instead rapes her and they begin their courtship. During all of this stalking, by the way, Cathy's sister Carrie kills herself, and I partly blame Cathy for not paying enough attention to the sister she's supposed to be taking care of. I'm pretty disgusted, but I'll give you the terrible ending. Cathy gets a dress designed so she can look just like her mother, crashes the family Christmas party where she announces to everybody what happened to her and her siblings (super awkward). A fire breaks out, killing Bart and Cathy's evil grandmother (who Cathy managed to torture a few weeks before, as the grandmother is now an invalid), and sending Cathy's mother to the mental institution. Cathy ends up having Bart's child, marries Paul, who has by now suffered from several heart attacks, and then dies soon after. And finally, Cathy ends up with Chris.
Uggghhhh. See how horrible Cathy is?
Now I have to read the next book to see if she gets any better. Damn.
Cathy, Chris, and Carrie do indeed escape the attic, and somehow get taken in by a kind doctor in SC and his housekeeper. Cathy, after years of studying ballet by herself, manages to get accepted by a ballet school, then a ballet company. She's so talented and I guess we're supposed to cheer for her. Whatever, this is fine. What is not fine is **SPOILERS TO FOLLOW**: how Cathy strings along her doctor, Paul, and her brother, Chris, for absolutely ages. They spend the entire book vying for her love, which she gives and takes as it suits her. Then she runs off with her ballet partner, the abusive asshole Julian. God, Cathy, make bad decisions much? It gets worse! Seeking revenge against her mother, Cathy begins a relationship with Bart Winslow, her mother's husband, even following him to Virginia. While this would chase off most men, Bart instead rapes her and they begin their courtship. During all of this stalking, by the way, Cathy's sister Carrie kills herself, and I partly blame Cathy for not paying enough attention to the sister she's supposed to be taking care of. I'm pretty disgusted, but I'll give you the terrible ending. Cathy gets a dress designed so she can look just like her mother, crashes the family Christmas party where she announces to everybody what happened to her and her siblings (super awkward). A fire breaks out, killing Bart and Cathy's evil grandmother (who Cathy managed to torture a few weeks before, as the grandmother is now an invalid), and sending Cathy's mother to the mental institution. Cathy ends up having Bart's child, marries Paul, who has by now suffered from several heart attacks, and then dies soon after. And finally, Cathy ends up with Chris.
Uggghhhh. See how horrible Cathy is?
Now I have to read the next book to see if she gets any better. Damn.
Read
June 9, 2008I wanted to claw my eyes out while reading this book. It was so horrible, and yet I had to finish it because I can never leave a book unfinished. It was difficult and painful. Every chapter was redundant. Cathy and the men that LOVE her, Cathy and her long golden hair, Cathy and her plies and "supple" leg muscles. Cathy talks for 400-something pages about the revenge she is going to get on her mother...and she has all of these random run-ins with her and doesn't do anything. The revenge she finally does get isn't sweet at all. Suck it VC Andrews. Or better yet, suck it Catherine Dollanger for being such a poon. And for wasting my time. BOO.
April 6, 2017
I cringe to think how much V. C. Andrews I read in middle school. And honestly, once you have read one of her series, you have read them all. Mix together incest, rape, car accident, evil grandmother, dismissive mother, missing father. And voila! You have her latest series.
That was my disclaimer. Here is my confession.
I love this particular book. I thought the initial book in the series, Flowers in the Attic was good. The subsequent books and prequels were horrible. But this book was written for me – possibly because I was a ballerina like Cathy. This is what I call a “comfort read,” just how mashed potatoes and peas are a comfort food. I know it's bad for me, but I keep picking it up every couple of years for some indulgent fun. And I always hope that Cathy won’t systematically ruin every, single relationship she has by the last page. No luck there!
This confession was prompted by a NPR segment called “My Guilty Pleasure,” in which a respectable person admits to loving Flowers in the Attic. I figure if they were brave enough to confess this on national radio, I can own up to my love in an obscure online review.
That was my disclaimer. Here is my confession.
I love this particular book. I thought the initial book in the series, Flowers in the Attic was good. The subsequent books and prequels were horrible. But this book was written for me – possibly because I was a ballerina like Cathy. This is what I call a “comfort read,” just how mashed potatoes and peas are a comfort food. I know it's bad for me, but I keep picking it up every couple of years for some indulgent fun. And I always hope that Cathy won’t systematically ruin every, single relationship she has by the last page. No luck there!
This confession was prompted by a NPR segment called “My Guilty Pleasure,” in which a respectable person admits to loving Flowers in the Attic. I figure if they were brave enough to confess this on national radio, I can own up to my love in an obscure online review.
February 10, 2019
After a memorable first novel in the series, I found myself wanting to know more about these Dollangangers, particularly after they escaped their prison-like situation in the attic. Fuelled with anger, determination, and hopes of rectifying all the wrongs done to them by a sadistic grandmother and a greedy mother, the children flee for safer environs as they plot their revenge. After escaping from the attic, Chris, Cathy, and Carrie find themselves heading South, in hopes of making it to Florida. However, a medical emergency stops their progress, as Carrie is showing signs of something. Locating Dr. Paul Sheffield, they soon learn the extent to the remaining twin’s illness, which can be directly traced back to their captors. With nowhere to go, the children tell their story to Paul, who takes them in and shares his own truths. He is a widower and lost a son years ago, but would gladly help support and protect these three. As the story progresses, all three have their lives changed with proper education and strive for their dreams. Chris speeds through school and attends college before entering medical school, Cathy is able to study ballet at one of the great schools in the region before moving to New York to pursue her passion full-time, while Carrie stays close to home and develops a strong connection with her new father. However, the problems that wove their way into the children’s lives during their imprisonment cannot be completely forgotten or rectified. Chris and Cathy still have that connection to one another, seeing themselves not only as the two older siblings, but passionately involved as they came to understand love on a deeper level, which led to exploring it with each other. Cathy now finds herself also drawn to Paul, who offers her the world and himself, if only she will submit to his sexual advances. Cathy’s love life is also hampered when her dance partner—Julian, a regular Casanova—explains that they ought to be together to enable the best chemistry possible. In a fit of confusion, Cathy chooses Julian and enters into a dictatorial relationship, all while still trying to be a dancer. Carrie, on the other hand, is trying to fit in, having been incapacitated by a small stature and poor development. She is mocked at school, finding solace only in the loving arms of Paul, who again blurs some of the parent/adult lines. While Carrie is determined that she will love only him forever more, their relationship does not enter the sexual realm. As Chris continues his studies, he is determined that he and his closest sister belong together, particularly when he can protect her from the evils of the world. Even as Cathy admits that she is pregnant, Chris seeks to forget the abusive husband she left in her past and will make the most of ensuring this baby has all it needs to survive. With revenge still on their minds, Chris, Cathy, and Carrie plot to find their beloved mother and grandmother, vowing to bring them what they have coming, no matter what it takes. As V.C. Andrews pushes the envelope even further, it becomes clear that scandal and non-traditional love will be a major theme as the series continues. While I am not sure I can recommend the series to any particular group, those readers with an open mind may find something interesting in the layers of scandal that occur throughout.
While the opening novel in the series, Flowers in the Attic, was one I recently read for a reading challenge (see below), I found myself curious to see how the story would continue. Able to justify my curiosity by also being able to use this book for another topic in the same challenge, I thought I might as well dip my toe into the water just a little more to see what those Dollangangers were doing and how revenge might be accomplished. I will admit that with Cathy in the spot of narrator, she presents as the primary protagonist in this piece. Her character development is ongoing and quite thorough, particularly as the reader receives insights into her thoughts and feelings. I will be the first to admit that even with an open mind, it is hard to sit idly by while reading and learn of her lust for a brother (Chris), a surrogate father (Paul), and a lover/eventual husband (Julian) without cringing. Andrews weaves many of these sexual relationships together and Cathy justifies them all as having been emotionally and physically starved while locked in the attic. What might shock readers most is that there is but minuscule hesitation when entering these sexual encounters, as if life in the attic allows one to ignore the red flags. A deny this, as it has become clear that Cathy uses sex and allure as a weapon, even if she seeks it as a crutch. Chris and Carrie receive decent storylines as well, as they age throughout the book, though they seem more focussed on personal and professional progress throughout (save Chris’ ongoing flirtation and physical encounters with his sister). Andrews will surely have to toss some more controversy around amongst these other children, as well as with the new children who emerge in the latter portion of the story, to ‘spread the soil’, if I may borrow a loose metaphor from the first two books. The plot is surely not stellar, but one cannot expect miracles in something labelled ‘young adult horror’. Still, like a car wreck, it is sometimes hard to turn away as I wonder what the hell V.C. Andrews will do next. I am no Freud, so I choose not to analyse her writing for signs of anything buried in her psyche, but this is surely not a normal series, which has caused a great deal of controversy over the years. Thankfully, the sex is not too gratuitous and the narrative seems to flow well, though I won’t be putting it forward for any literary awards, even all these years later. Books like this show how far authors can go while still garnering the interest of the reader. I will admit to being curious about where things will go, like a bad guilty pleasure. I will be the first to admit that I am not sticking around simply to read about salacious sibling sexual seduction! How’s that for alliteration?
Kudos, Madam Andrews, for an ever-intriguing story that has me scratching my head. I can see where the buzz came from and can only imagine what teenagers would say nowadays if they got their hands on this series.
This book fulfils Topic #4:Made You Blush in the Equinox #6 Reading Challenge.
Like/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
While the opening novel in the series, Flowers in the Attic, was one I recently read for a reading challenge (see below), I found myself curious to see how the story would continue. Able to justify my curiosity by also being able to use this book for another topic in the same challenge, I thought I might as well dip my toe into the water just a little more to see what those Dollangangers were doing and how revenge might be accomplished. I will admit that with Cathy in the spot of narrator, she presents as the primary protagonist in this piece. Her character development is ongoing and quite thorough, particularly as the reader receives insights into her thoughts and feelings. I will be the first to admit that even with an open mind, it is hard to sit idly by while reading and learn of her lust for a brother (Chris), a surrogate father (Paul), and a lover/eventual husband (Julian) without cringing. Andrews weaves many of these sexual relationships together and Cathy justifies them all as having been emotionally and physically starved while locked in the attic. What might shock readers most is that there is but minuscule hesitation when entering these sexual encounters, as if life in the attic allows one to ignore the red flags. A deny this, as it has become clear that Cathy uses sex and allure as a weapon, even if she seeks it as a crutch. Chris and Carrie receive decent storylines as well, as they age throughout the book, though they seem more focussed on personal and professional progress throughout (save Chris’ ongoing flirtation and physical encounters with his sister). Andrews will surely have to toss some more controversy around amongst these other children, as well as with the new children who emerge in the latter portion of the story, to ‘spread the soil’, if I may borrow a loose metaphor from the first two books. The plot is surely not stellar, but one cannot expect miracles in something labelled ‘young adult horror’. Still, like a car wreck, it is sometimes hard to turn away as I wonder what the hell V.C. Andrews will do next. I am no Freud, so I choose not to analyse her writing for signs of anything buried in her psyche, but this is surely not a normal series, which has caused a great deal of controversy over the years. Thankfully, the sex is not too gratuitous and the narrative seems to flow well, though I won’t be putting it forward for any literary awards, even all these years later. Books like this show how far authors can go while still garnering the interest of the reader. I will admit to being curious about where things will go, like a bad guilty pleasure. I will be the first to admit that I am not sticking around simply to read about salacious sibling sexual seduction! How’s that for alliteration?
Kudos, Madam Andrews, for an ever-intriguing story that has me scratching my head. I can see where the buzz came from and can only imagine what teenagers would say nowadays if they got their hands on this series.
This book fulfils Topic #4:Made You Blush in the Equinox #6 Reading Challenge.
Like/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/
A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
July 16, 2009
Mothers do not let your daughters read this book! I remember being so enthralled by it as a teen, that I just had to give it a read as an adult. Turns out it's AWFUL! HORRIBLE! DISGUSTING! What do young girls learn from this book? Well, apparently it's okay to be raped as long as you love the person raping you, or at least can live with them long enough to learn to love them. (Seriously, Cathy is raped THREE TIMES in this series, by three different men! One of whom is her BROTHER! And she has relationships with all of them! SICK!)Oh and if your spouse is abusive to you it's probably because you just don't love him enough. So go ahead and stick around while he cheats and hits you because hey, it's not like you deserve any better. And whatever you do, never let go and move on from your past. Because it's just not possible to have a good future when you've had a crummy childhood. So go ahead and dwell on that for the rest of your life.
Seriously, it's awful. Just awful.
Seriously, it's awful. Just awful.
June 24, 2015
You know what? I love guilty pleasure, messed up all to hell and back books as much as the next girl. Your mother locked you in an attic and now you're boning your brother? Rad. I'm in. Flowers in the Attic wasn't necessarily a good book, but it was interesting. Things happened. People died. Unfortunate sex was had. I was entertained.
I just finished Petals on the Wind and the only thing I can think is: Nope. I wasted days on this and nope. Cathy has to be the single most unbearable fictional character I have ever had the misfortune of reading. And I've read three books filled with Peeta Mellark so that's saying a lot. This book isn't about her scars from being locked up in the attic or how it's really ruined her life. It's about her banging as many horrible men as possible. Which, like, okay girl, do you. But if a guy tells you that he repeatedly raped his wife until she killed herself that's probably quite literally the last person you wanna hop into bed with. You are better off nailing your brother at this point.
Other than sleeping with everyone she possibly could, this entire book is just repetitions of one thing. Cathy curses her mother, stalks her through newspapers, does some ballet, acts like a total jackass, and then cries a lot. There's none of the drama and fascinating horror you feel in the first book. There's nothing but a lot of racism and constant rape and Cathy making you hate her more than you ever thought possible. By the end, I wanted to lock the bitch in an attic myself.
So yeah. Just go ahead and pass this one on by.
I just finished Petals on the Wind and the only thing I can think is: Nope. I wasted days on this and nope. Cathy has to be the single most unbearable fictional character I have ever had the misfortune of reading. And I've read three books filled with Peeta Mellark so that's saying a lot. This book isn't about her scars from being locked up in the attic or how it's really ruined her life. It's about her banging as many horrible men as possible. Which, like, okay girl, do you. But if a guy tells you that he repeatedly raped his wife until she killed herself that's probably quite literally the last person you wanna hop into bed with. You are better off nailing your brother at this point.
Other than sleeping with everyone she possibly could, this entire book is just repetitions of one thing. Cathy curses her mother, stalks her through newspapers, does some ballet, acts like a total jackass, and then cries a lot. There's none of the drama and fascinating horror you feel in the first book. There's nothing but a lot of racism and constant rape and Cathy making you hate her more than you ever thought possible. By the end, I wanted to lock the bitch in an attic myself.
So yeah. Just go ahead and pass this one on by.
October 14, 2017
Wow what a fabulous book Petals On The wind was I adored every minute I had seen the movie Flowers In The Attic then read the book but always wondered what happened to Chris Cathy & Carrie?
It was a dark read for me but enjoyable & easy, I thought the characters were well written the plot was well thought out & it didn't miss a beat.
I wont give a huge review as there was so much in this to write all I can say is that Cathy was a very promiscuous girl who wanted revenge no matter what on her mother Corinne for locking the four children in the attic, I had mixed feelings about her character marrying every Tom, Dick, & Harry just to get where she wanted then on the other hand showed us her vulnerable side it was a love hate relationship.
Chris I absolutely loved he was strong when he needed to be but weak when it came to Cathy he loved her like no other man could, even though she was his sister I found reading this was a bit hard to read, there was no denying he loved Cathy to the bitter end but he hated what she was doing.
Then there was Carrie who I adored I felt so much for her character always struggling to be accepted because of her height she pulled at my heartstrings every time she was talking to Cathy & Chris I wont tell any more as I could give out spoilers which I don't want to do.
Dr Paul Sheffield for me was the children's saviour he took them in gave them everything & more & the love Chris, Cathy & Carrie showed him was undeniable they loved him to the moon & back.
All the characters in this masterpiece were well written loved every one, now for the ending it was one continuous non stop thriller I couldn't stop reading was well done.
The amount of Men in Cathy's life was unbelievable she certainly in my opinion like her Mother Corrine in one way but not all, if you haven't read this series yet the do you will be taken on a journey you won't forget.
It was a dark read for me but enjoyable & easy, I thought the characters were well written the plot was well thought out & it didn't miss a beat.
I wont give a huge review as there was so much in this to write all I can say is that Cathy was a very promiscuous girl who wanted revenge no matter what on her mother Corinne for locking the four children in the attic, I had mixed feelings about her character marrying every Tom, Dick, & Harry just to get where she wanted then on the other hand showed us her vulnerable side it was a love hate relationship.
Chris I absolutely loved he was strong when he needed to be but weak when it came to Cathy he loved her like no other man could, even though she was his sister I found reading this was a bit hard to read, there was no denying he loved Cathy to the bitter end but he hated what she was doing.
Then there was Carrie who I adored I felt so much for her character always struggling to be accepted because of her height she pulled at my heartstrings every time she was talking to Cathy & Chris I wont tell any more as I could give out spoilers which I don't want to do.
Dr Paul Sheffield for me was the children's saviour he took them in gave them everything & more & the love Chris, Cathy & Carrie showed him was undeniable they loved him to the moon & back.
All the characters in this masterpiece were well written loved every one, now for the ending it was one continuous non stop thriller I couldn't stop reading was well done.
The amount of Men in Cathy's life was unbelievable she certainly in my opinion like her Mother Corrine in one way but not all, if you haven't read this series yet the do you will be taken on a journey you won't forget.
August 10, 2020
Second in the series this book picks up immediately after the ending of Flowers in the Attic and its wild!
This series is a real product of its time, its bursting with drama and damsels in distress and anything taboo is thrown into these pages and i'm here for it!
Cathy is the most annoying character and everything is from her perspective but I can appreciate a book written in 1980 of a girl in her late teens with wild hormones exploring and craving sexual partners without a single sentence of slut shaming, we need more of that in books being written in this decade please!
Everything that can happen happens here and its too much to be honest but this was written at a different time to stun readers and I can appreciate that and I appreciate its books like this that paved (and is still paving) the way for taboo topics in literature and i'm all for boundary pushing in novels.
Three stars, enjoyed it but the language and feel is very YA which isn't really my jam.
This series is a real product of its time, its bursting with drama and damsels in distress and anything taboo is thrown into these pages and i'm here for it!
Cathy is the most annoying character and everything is from her perspective but I can appreciate a book written in 1980 of a girl in her late teens with wild hormones exploring and craving sexual partners without a single sentence of slut shaming, we need more of that in books being written in this decade please!
Everything that can happen happens here and its too much to be honest but this was written at a different time to stun readers and I can appreciate that and I appreciate its books like this that paved (and is still paving) the way for taboo topics in literature and i'm all for boundary pushing in novels.
Three stars, enjoyed it but the language and feel is very YA which isn't really my jam.
November 3, 2016
This is the first sequel to Flowers in the Attic, and I didn't find it quite as compelling. This is probably because it's less single-minded than the original story.
Flowers in the Attic is more unified, more like an Aristotelian drama: it takes place nearly all in the attic, and it's all about the children's being in the attic -- what got them there, what kept them there, what they did there, the horror of being there, and how they escaped.
Now the "flowers" are out of the attic and so the second narrative is less contained. Often it attempts to collect itself by having Cathy, the narrator, recall the horror of the attic, but since she is outside and in no danger of returning, she just sounds obsessed.
Petals on the Wind is really the story of Cathy's obsession. At first, her dwelling on the attic experiences seems a normal response to trauma, but her way of dealing with the trauma is to refuse to contemplate moving on -- instead she makes her entire life about revenge. She'll pursue her own goal of becoming a famous ballerina so that her mother can see she has succeeded despite the attic. She'll become beautiful in order to mock her mother with a younger mirror of herself. Etc.
The other siblings also fail to recover: Chris mostly succeeds in forgiving their mother, but continues his obsession with Cathy. And Carrie's self-esteem is destroyed (this is made much worse by Cathy's failure to recognize Carrie as an observing, intelligent person rather than a victim, or to consider the effect of Cathy's actions on Carrie).
Flowers in the Attic is about the effect of two bad women (Cathy's mother and grandmother) on the sibling victims. Petals on the Wind is about how Cathy, surrounded by bad and irresponsible men, reclaims her agency by becoming a worse and worse person herself. This is my interpretation -- I think we're supposed to like some of the men, but let's review:
CHRIS. He's Cathy's faithful brother who knows her better than anyone else because of their time in the attic, but he's more obsessed with her than she is with him. She keeps telling him to find a girlfriend (although she knows she would feel jealous if he did), but he insists that she can't love anyone but him.
DOCTOR PAUL. It's clear from the moment he takes in the siblings (when he's nearly 40 and Cathy is 14) that he finds Cathy sexually attractive. Cathy loves him, but is also convinced that sex with him is a good way to repay him for his generosity, and while he denies this with words, he doesn't hold out long against Cathy's attempt to seduce him. (She's also his legal ward at the time. When they later marry, there's no acknowledgement that this might be legally difficult.) V.C. Andrews is clearly taking the "it's not rape because the underage girl initiated it" stance, which, ugh. Paul could have sent her off to boarding school like her siblings, but that would mean that there'd be a major male character whom Cathy doesn't have a sexual relationship with, and that would never do...
JULIAN. Cathy's dancing partner and first husband, who at least is around her age. He's extremely controlling and verbally and physically abusive to her even before she agrees to marry him. He is emotionally volatile, addicted to alcohol, and if that weren't enough, it transpires that he's also a pedophile who assaults Carrie. Cathy disapproves of his actions towards little girls, but apparently does nothing to protect anyone from Julian. When they finally have a big fight and she leaves him, Julian's mother convinces her that she is the only one who can save Julian from himself and Cathy has a revelation that she really loves him after all. But before she can reconcile with him, he gets in a car crash and dies. It's like V.C. Andrews knows that Cathy can't continue with the revenge-seeking that drives the story if she's burdened with this horrible husband, but she still has to make Cathy do all the proper self-abnegating abused wife song and dance before getting rid of Julian.
BART. Another older man for Cathy! This one is her mother's husband! Bart has a rather abrasive personality, but Cathy connives to meet him and intrigue him. Then she moves to a different state to be near him. Because she's so sexy and intriguing, he soon wants her to be his lover. Just when this is about to happen, he says something abrasive, she tells him to go away, and then he rapes her. And then, of course, they become lovers after all! They sort of deserve each other, because Cathy is of course just using Bart to get back at her mother (although she falls in love with him) and even tricks him into impregnating her.
It's really hard to say which of these is worse. I think I'm leaving out details that, by themselves, would be repellant in another story, because everything is so awful.
What Cathy really needs, post-attic, is (1) lots and lots of therapy and (2) a sensible female friend whom she trusts and pays attention to. Of course, she doesn't get either, because they would prevent melodrama.
A few more annoying bits:
+ In this book Cathy and her siblings acquire a mammy. Seriously. Not only this, but it seems that V.C. Andrews knew that a black servant ought to talk in some kind of amusing dialect, but wasn't sure how to write it, so she made the mammy character mute and had her write abbreviated statements on a pad of paper in order to communicate.
+ V.C. Andrews is able to use a lot of ballet words, and so I assume she knows more about ballet than I do, but I cannot believe that someone who is locked in an attic while at a beginner's level can teach herself enough to impress ballet instructors, when she has leotards, pointe shoes, a barre, but no mirror. Of all the things that get hand-waved in these books, this is the one I get hung up on!
+ Okay, one other thing, that annoys me more. Characters in Petals on the Wind talk about abortion; they even refer to a specific method (D&C) although it's used for a miscarriage, not to induce an abortion. But, apart from one angry "I thought you were using protection!", nobody ever talks about birth control. In fact, the first time (underage) Cathy has sex with a (middle-aged) DOCTOR, she describes the sensation of him ejaculating inside her. Given how these novels have a reputation as the scandalous books by which curious adolescents learn about sex, it's horrible that everything about safe sex is left so mysterious.
Flowers in the Attic is more unified, more like an Aristotelian drama: it takes place nearly all in the attic, and it's all about the children's being in the attic -- what got them there, what kept them there, what they did there, the horror of being there, and how they escaped.
Now the "flowers" are out of the attic and so the second narrative is less contained. Often it attempts to collect itself by having Cathy, the narrator, recall the horror of the attic, but since she is outside and in no danger of returning, she just sounds obsessed.
Petals on the Wind is really the story of Cathy's obsession. At first, her dwelling on the attic experiences seems a normal response to trauma, but her way of dealing with the trauma is to refuse to contemplate moving on -- instead she makes her entire life about revenge. She'll pursue her own goal of becoming a famous ballerina so that her mother can see she has succeeded despite the attic. She'll become beautiful in order to mock her mother with a younger mirror of herself. Etc.
The other siblings also fail to recover: Chris mostly succeeds in forgiving their mother, but continues his obsession with Cathy. And Carrie's self-esteem is destroyed (this is made much worse by Cathy's failure to recognize Carrie as an observing, intelligent person rather than a victim, or to consider the effect of Cathy's actions on Carrie).
Flowers in the Attic is about the effect of two bad women (Cathy's mother and grandmother) on the sibling victims. Petals on the Wind is about how Cathy, surrounded by bad and irresponsible men, reclaims her agency by becoming a worse and worse person herself. This is my interpretation -- I think we're supposed to like some of the men, but let's review:
CHRIS. He's Cathy's faithful brother who knows her better than anyone else because of their time in the attic, but he's more obsessed with her than she is with him. She keeps telling him to find a girlfriend (although she knows she would feel jealous if he did), but he insists that she can't love anyone but him.
DOCTOR PAUL. It's clear from the moment he takes in the siblings (when he's nearly 40 and Cathy is 14) that he finds Cathy sexually attractive. Cathy loves him, but is also convinced that sex with him is a good way to repay him for his generosity, and while he denies this with words, he doesn't hold out long against Cathy's attempt to seduce him. (She's also his legal ward at the time. When they later marry, there's no acknowledgement that this might be legally difficult.) V.C. Andrews is clearly taking the "it's not rape because the underage girl initiated it" stance, which, ugh. Paul could have sent her off to boarding school like her siblings, but that would mean that there'd be a major male character whom Cathy doesn't have a sexual relationship with, and that would never do...
JULIAN. Cathy's dancing partner and first husband, who at least is around her age. He's extremely controlling and verbally and physically abusive to her even before she agrees to marry him. He is emotionally volatile, addicted to alcohol, and if that weren't enough, it transpires that he's also a pedophile who assaults Carrie. Cathy disapproves of his actions towards little girls, but apparently does nothing to protect anyone from Julian. When they finally have a big fight and she leaves him, Julian's mother convinces her that she is the only one who can save Julian from himself and Cathy has a revelation that she really loves him after all. But before she can reconcile with him, he gets in a car crash and dies. It's like V.C. Andrews knows that Cathy can't continue with the revenge-seeking that drives the story if she's burdened with this horrible husband, but she still has to make Cathy do all the proper self-abnegating abused wife song and dance before getting rid of Julian.
BART. Another older man for Cathy! This one is her mother's husband! Bart has a rather abrasive personality, but Cathy connives to meet him and intrigue him. Then she moves to a different state to be near him. Because she's so sexy and intriguing, he soon wants her to be his lover. Just when this is about to happen, he says something abrasive, she tells him to go away, and then he rapes her. And then, of course, they become lovers after all! They sort of deserve each other, because Cathy is of course just using Bart to get back at her mother (although she falls in love with him) and even tricks him into impregnating her.
It's really hard to say which of these is worse. I think I'm leaving out details that, by themselves, would be repellant in another story, because everything is so awful.
What Cathy really needs, post-attic, is (1) lots and lots of therapy and (2) a sensible female friend whom she trusts and pays attention to. Of course, she doesn't get either, because they would prevent melodrama.
A few more annoying bits:
+ In this book Cathy and her siblings acquire a mammy. Seriously. Not only this, but it seems that V.C. Andrews knew that a black servant ought to talk in some kind of amusing dialect, but wasn't sure how to write it, so she made the mammy character mute and had her write abbreviated statements on a pad of paper in order to communicate.
+ V.C. Andrews is able to use a lot of ballet words, and so I assume she knows more about ballet than I do, but I cannot believe that someone who is locked in an attic while at a beginner's level can teach herself enough to impress ballet instructors, when she has leotards, pointe shoes, a barre, but no mirror. Of all the things that get hand-waved in these books, this is the one I get hung up on!
+ Okay, one other thing, that annoys me more. Characters in Petals on the Wind talk about abortion; they even refer to a specific method (D&C) although it's used for a miscarriage, not to induce an abortion. But, apart from one angry "I thought you were using protection!", nobody ever talks about birth control. In fact, the first time (underage) Cathy has sex with a (middle-aged) DOCTOR, she describes the sensation of him ejaculating inside her. Given how these novels have a reputation as the scandalous books by which curious adolescents learn about sex, it's horrible that everything about safe sex is left so mysterious.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 6, 2014
What I liked:
-Chris. It seemed like he was the only sensible person in this entire book that I didn’t absolutely hate at some point or another. He had his head on straight and he knew what he wanted in life, even if his sister was what he wanted. I had sympathy for him, and for Carrie later on, but not for Cathy.
-Carrie. Her problems were the only ones I was concerned with throughout this entire book. I could have cared less about Cathy. I wanted to read more about her younger sister. While Cathy has mainly emotional and mental problems from their captivity and abuse, Carrie has all of that plus physical problems. Her growth is stunted and she’s suffering from depression.
What I disliked:
-Cathy. She greatly disappointed me in this book. She was driven to do insane non-logical things all in an attempt to get back at her mother. Nothing she does in this book she does for herself. Everything is either to get back at her mother or to prove to herself that she’s better than her mother. It felt to me like she didn’t have an identity in this book beyond the bitter daughter that can’t move on. Chris moved on, but she couldn’t. Plus, Cathy just turned into a slut in this book. Sad but true. I don't care how many people someone has sex with, that doesn't make them a "slut". But using sex as a kind of weapon, neglecting your children in favor of getting laid...you don’t have sex with your mother’s husband to get back at her. That’s just wrong. Cathy was the main reason I disliked this book so much.
-Plot. There wasn’t one other than Cathy living her life and plotting her revenge. There were unbearably long chunks of nothing but Cathy’s day to day activities and vengeful thoughts, and it was so boring. I almost put this book down several times, and it was a miracle I made it to the end.
Overall, this book was pretty disappointing after such an amazing first book in the series. I’m not sure if I would even recommend this book to anyone; I certainly wouldn’t reread it probably ever again. I’ll stick with my memories of the first one. 2.0
-Chris. It seemed like he was the only sensible person in this entire book that I didn’t absolutely hate at some point or another. He had his head on straight and he knew what he wanted in life, even if his sister was what he wanted. I had sympathy for him, and for Carrie later on, but not for Cathy.
-Carrie. Her problems were the only ones I was concerned with throughout this entire book. I could have cared less about Cathy. I wanted to read more about her younger sister. While Cathy has mainly emotional and mental problems from their captivity and abuse, Carrie has all of that plus physical problems. Her growth is stunted and she’s suffering from depression.
What I disliked:
-Cathy. She greatly disappointed me in this book. She was driven to do insane non-logical things all in an attempt to get back at her mother. Nothing she does in this book she does for herself. Everything is either to get back at her mother or to prove to herself that she’s better than her mother. It felt to me like she didn’t have an identity in this book beyond the bitter daughter that can’t move on. Chris moved on, but she couldn’t. Plus, Cathy just turned into a slut in this book. Sad but true. I don't care how many people someone has sex with, that doesn't make them a "slut". But using sex as a kind of weapon, neglecting your children in favor of getting laid...you don’t have sex with your mother’s husband to get back at her. That’s just wrong. Cathy was the main reason I disliked this book so much.
-Plot. There wasn’t one other than Cathy living her life and plotting her revenge. There were unbearably long chunks of nothing but Cathy’s day to day activities and vengeful thoughts, and it was so boring. I almost put this book down several times, and it was a miracle I made it to the end.
Overall, this book was pretty disappointing after such an amazing first book in the series. I’m not sure if I would even recommend this book to anyone; I certainly wouldn’t reread it probably ever again. I’ll stick with my memories of the first one. 2.0
February 13, 2017
“Little girls get hurt when they play grown-up games.”
V.C. Andrews original books (pre-ghostwriter) could do tragic like no one else. Even after taking the children out of the attic, she still retained that distinctive and haunting tone that worked in the original. While Flowers in the Attic is the better novel, Petals on the Wind is definitely a worthy follow-up.
Cathy is again the lead, bent on revenge and not letting the past go. The author doesn't shy away from the intensity of her weird romance angles either, not including just a strange incestuous bonding with a brother, but also now including much older father-figure mentor who took her and siblings in when they had nowhere else to go. As weird as this sounds, I was rooting for Paul later; he was a fascinating character.
Petals perhaps focuses too much on relationship angst and woes, not just in one man or two, but four. Things soured for me with her Julian phase - the guy was such a controlling and abusive tool. She never sees it, either. I'm thinking VC Andrews lets that lie in there and occur without character growth because she is showing Cathy as the damaged being she is, led into vulnerable relationships that aren't always positive. How she didn't see abuse is questionable, yet combining the unstable relationship in the mystical world of ballet was a surreal treat.
I'll hold back the identity of the final guy, someone she actually loved with an intensity that defied years, since it's a small surprise twist that occurs later and ties all in the books in together. The ending with that one irritated me, though, would have been nice if it worked out differently. Sometimes it seems VC Andrews throws some things in there just for tragedy effect, but I can see the plotting twist purpose - showing another side of the villain and the lengths she'll go to reveal evils and keep her prettier face on, but also to have Cathy go to her ultimate better half for good.
Chris is still awesome, but still strange too. There comes another blow for the Dollanganger dolls, done to the point where it's almost melodramatic and too much, a little silly in its tragedy, just didn't work for me with what happens to one of them. In a way it's a poetic tragic ending, but it's also far-fetched.
We get to see the returning villains from Flowers, like the grandmother and the mother, but I won't spoil their condition or what happens. Let's just say there's a clever enough showdown, although it wasn't fully satisfying on all levels. It's interesting to read Garden of Shadows for the grandmother's viewpoint and to understand more where she's coming from, as much as in Flowers in the Attic as it is for this sequel.
By the time these relationships ended, it was downright tiring. Too much in one book. Still, they were intriguing on their own, the book has this unusual, haunting feel surrounding it, and it's unique enough that it grabs attention. Pacing may be slower due to too many relationship shifts, but so much happens in this book that I didn't feel cheated when the last page was read.
Even with flaws, it's hard to put down. These are fun drama wrecks I can't look away from.
January 22, 2023
After Flowers in the attic, I couldn't stop myself from reading this book. I had to read it, never knew there was a part 2 and more. I liked it, but sometimes I was disappointed. I didn't like the endless sex scenes and sex hunkering. Not everything in life revolves around sex lol! The rest of the book was great and it had a good story. I am glad I could read after so many years. So it will get 4 points. I can't wait to start part 3.
November 9, 2015
Cathy Dollanganger o cómo volverse psicótica y un putón verbenero.
December 30, 2014
truly excellent gar-bahhge about an unrealistically beautiful blond girl who has just escaped from being locked in an attic for 3 years with her siblings by her evil mother, only to wreak all kinds of revenge. the kids get taken in by an unrealistically good-looking middle-aged southern doctor whom she gets it on with, then she breaks his heart by leaving him for an unrealistically good-looking but abusive ballerino (my sister's word for male ballet dancer). then she breaks his heart because she is secretly in love with her unrealistically good-looking brother. oh and then she steals her mother's unrealistically good-looking new husband, breaking all hearts except for ballerino's because he's committed suicide after a disabling car crash. then mom's husband dies in a fire, then doctor dies of a stroke, leaving her in an incestuous relationship with her brother. oh, i guess i'd better select the spoiler-alert option.
really, that's the plot! i will comment on v.c. andrews in general, if and when i review 'flowers in the attic.' all in all, a really good, filthy read.
really, that's the plot! i will comment on v.c. andrews in general, if and when i review 'flowers in the attic.' all in all, a really good, filthy read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 8, 2020
I was just a high school student when I read it and woah, there were too much sex here and there.
February 2, 2018
Preview:
I made a V. C. Andrews' meme jpg last year!
(Link: https://vampirekiki.deviantart.com/ar...)
I'd just finished watching the Lifetime movie version of Petals on the Wind and I'm loving every moment of it despite the cheesiness and stuff. And I need to say it again here: I LOVE THE MOVIE VERSION OF GRANDMA OLIVIA! Although she is such a bitch to the children!
Anyway, I can't wait to get my hands on the novel!
My thoughts after reading
I finished reading the Chinese translation of this book yesterday, as usually I rolled my eyes at the melodramas, the fact that everyone in the story is beautiful and every handsome guy in the story desires the heroine Cathy and the slut-shamming (mostly done by the heroine), but the plot twists and the dramas really did me in! As always I'm addicted to what Ms. Andrews had to offer. So, 4 stars.
PS: reading the novel makes me appreciate what they had done with the Lifetime TV drama adaptation! LOL
My review for Flowers in the Attic: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review for Secrets of the Morning by the same author: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I made a V. C. Andrews' meme jpg last year!
(Link: https://vampirekiki.deviantart.com/ar...)
I'd just finished watching the Lifetime movie version of Petals on the Wind and I'm loving every moment of it despite the cheesiness and stuff. And I need to say it again here: I LOVE THE MOVIE VERSION OF GRANDMA OLIVIA! Although she is such a bitch to the children!
Anyway, I can't wait to get my hands on the novel!
My thoughts after reading
I finished reading the Chinese translation of this book yesterday, as usually I rolled my eyes at the melodramas, the fact that everyone in the story is beautiful and every handsome guy in the story desires the heroine Cathy and the slut-shamming (mostly done by the heroine), but the plot twists and the dramas really did me in! As always I'm addicted to what Ms. Andrews had to offer. So, 4 stars.
PS: reading the novel makes me appreciate what they had done with the Lifetime TV drama adaptation! LOL
My review for Flowers in the Attic: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review for Secrets of the Morning by the same author: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
April 10, 2017
Este libro me lo leí mucho mas rápido que el anterior pero quizás me decepciono un poco. Odio la Actitud de Cathy en ciertas ocasiones que necesitaban un poco de madurez de su parte. Por otra parte, apoyo su idea de venganza hasta que se volvió en su única obsesión y propósito de vida (Admito se paso un poquito de la raya). Creo que continuare con la saga pero dentro de unos días, por ahora solo necesito un pequeño descanso de las (miserables) vidas de estos chicos que al principio de todo esto no tenían la culpa.
January 3, 2011
There is no way I am going to finish this shit. I don't know what VC Andrews was smoking when she wrote this, but she ended up creating one fucked up piece of fucked up... fuckery!! What the hell happened to the characters? What the hell happened to the fucking plot? I loved Flowers in the attic but this so called sequel is absolutely revolting!
I went on Wikipedia to find out whether or not I should bother to continue after Cathy tries to encourage Paul to rape her, and unfortunately it doesn't stop there. She fucks Paul, they become lovers, she has his kid but it dies. Then soon after she marries Julian, fucks him, has his kid, then she fucks the man who stole away their mother (who is also her stepfather), marries him and has his fucking child. What the hell??? What the goddamn hell is happening here? And she does this while she still loves Chris and Chris is madly in love with her. Although Chris isn't any better, he wants to rape her too. And of course Cathy wouldn't mind that. Fucking hell, Cathy is like a rape magnet. And she manages to ruin perfectly good characters by causing them to become rapists.
I am not continuing the rest of the series. I thought I would, I was excited to, but no. Fuck no.
If you loved Flowers in the attic, PLEASE don't read this book.
I went on Wikipedia to find out whether or not I should bother to continue after Cathy tries to encourage Paul to rape her, and unfortunately it doesn't stop there. She fucks Paul, they become lovers, she has his kid but it dies. Then soon after she marries Julian, fucks him, has his kid, then she fucks the man who stole away their mother (who is also her stepfather), marries him and has his fucking child. What the hell??? What the goddamn hell is happening here? And she does this while she still loves Chris and Chris is madly in love with her. Although Chris isn't any better, he wants to rape her too. And of course Cathy wouldn't mind that. Fucking hell, Cathy is like a rape magnet. And she manages to ruin perfectly good characters by causing them to become rapists.
I am not continuing the rest of the series. I thought I would, I was excited to, but no. Fuck no.
If you loved Flowers in the attic, PLEASE don't read this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 15, 2014
The Times Magazine called Petals on the Wind "an artfully twisted modern fairytale" and it's hard to disagree with that statement. Dark, shocking and spellbinding, it's a fabulous tale of forbidden love, lust, abandonment, abuse and revenge - the last one being the leading theme of this volume of Dollanganger series. I won't even try to deny it, I'm completely addicted to this insane little saga!
"How young we were the day we escaped. How exuberantly alive we should have felt to be freed, at last, from such a grim, lonely and stifling place. How pitifully delighted we should have been to be riding on a bus that rumbled slowly southward. But if we felt joy, we didn't show it. We sat, all three, pale, silent, staring out the windows, very frightened by all we saw."
After long years of being locked in the creepy, dark attic of a gothic Virginia mansion, Cathy, Chris and Carrie are finally free. Their freedom tastes bitter, though, as their lives have been irrevocably altered by the unspeakable cruelty and hatred with which they've been treated by their own family members. And that's not something you can just forgive and forget. Not something you can easily move away from...
We meet them again as they're travelling on a Florida-bound bus, determined to start afresh some place better. Before they can get to Florida, though, Carrie falls very ill. Suffering from arsenic poisoning, she begins vomiting and eventually passes out, and the older siblings are forced to get off the bus and seek help for her. Luckily, a kind, mute maid comes to their aid, leading them to her employer, doctor Sheffield. Paul Sheffield, a lonely 40-year-old widower, takes them in and offers them shelter, education and parental guidance. His house becomes their new home and for the first time since being locked in the attic, they have a chance at a normal life. As it turns out, though, you can take the kids out of the attic, but you can't take the attic out of the kids.. All three Dollanganger kids are plagued by the attic-inspired nightmares and they are struggling to move on. Cathy is obsessed with revenge. Chris is obsessed with Cathy. And Carrie, poor little Carrie, is deformed, weak and broken inside. Can the "legacy of evil" and the long years of abuse ever be overcome? Or is there no going back after all that happened?
"I was fifteen. The year was 1960, and it was November. I wanted everything, needed everything, and I was so terribly afraid I'd never in all my life find enough to make up for what I had already lost. I sat tense, ready to scream if one more bad thing happened. Like a coiled fuse attached to a time bomb, I knew that sooner or later explode and bring down all those who lived in Foxworth Hall!"
Oh Cathy, you twisted little witch. How I adore thee, though you definitely give me the creeps. Cathy is such a fascinating, multi-layered character. There is so much going on in her head and heart, she is definitely an interesting and entertaining character to follow, and I'm so glad that the Dollanganger books are written from her perspective. She might not be an easy heroine to like, moreover, it's quite possible her thoughts and actions will make you very, very disturbed, but hey, let's not kid ourselves, that is precisely why we reach for Andrews' books, am I right? All the juicy and gasp worthy scenes loaded with sexual tension, all the forbidden fruits served on a deliciously Gothic platter, all the shocking abuse, incest and other taboo topics Andrews so boldly explores in her novels... We might gasp and shake our heads in pretend disgust, but we keep on reading anyway. Why? Because it's entertaining and we enjoy it! Who doesn't like a good guilty-pleasure read every now and then?
Cathy is only a teenager (she is 15 at the start of Petals) but she is already striking, and she knows it. And she uses her looks to her advantage. She plays the role of seductress. And she is so good at it, it's scary! No one can resist her beauty and her various sexual encounters are testament to that. Her twisted personality does not inspire sympathy, though. She's calculating, overly dramatic and often acts very selfish. Her mood swings can be pretty tiring and she is seemingly incapable of ever taking responsibility for her own actions ("It's all mother's fault!"). Forming healthy relationships is another thing Cathy is incapable of. From her sexual relationship with Paul who is more than twice her age, to the abusive relationship with the arrogant Julian, she often finds herself in situations no 15-year-old girl should ever experience, let alone actively seek. And yet, despite her wicked ways and twisted reasoning, she is utterly bewildering.
"How can I find anyone else, when you've been bred into my bones - and are part of my flesh? Your blood runs fast when mine does! Your eyes burn when mine do - don't deny it!"
While Cathy hates her mother with burning passion and would give just about anything to see her suffer, Chris is a whole different story. He still loves their mother, even after all the pain and suffering she has caused them, even despite the fact that she had tried to kill them all for money, and even though she is the main reason why Cory is dead. Both Cathy and Chris are obsessed with their mother, though for completely different reasons. For Cathy it's revenge, for Chris unhealthy adoration and a bit of an Oedipus complex. One might wonder if his love and passion for Cathy does not steam - at least partly - from the fact that she is an almost mirror like reflection of their mother.
The forbidden kisses and touches continue throughout the book, though Cathy seems determined to put an end to their "unnatural love" and force Chris to move on and find someone else. He's one incredibly handsome young man, though, and it's not always easy to resist the temptation. Bound together by years of suffering in isolation, these two continue to struggle with their feelings and sexual urges.
"I was an instrument of yearning, filled with a ravenous desire for romantic fulfillment."
Petals on The Wind is just as entertaining and disturbing as Flowers in the Attic, and I have loved every single page of it. It's a guilty-pleasure kind of read, but one that actually stays with you for quite some time after you put it down. Fast-paced and often times completely mind-blowing, it's a page-turner of a book, even if it's just a little bit (ok, a lot!) over the top at times. The writing is exceptionally compelling and quite beautiful, the descriptions evocative and seductive and the characters - even the supporting cast - fleshed out just enough to make the story believable, and, therefore, very unsettling. And guys, that ending! So satisfying and worth waiting for! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and am seriously dying for more!
"How young we were the day we escaped. How exuberantly alive we should have felt to be freed, at last, from such a grim, lonely and stifling place. How pitifully delighted we should have been to be riding on a bus that rumbled slowly southward. But if we felt joy, we didn't show it. We sat, all three, pale, silent, staring out the windows, very frightened by all we saw."
After long years of being locked in the creepy, dark attic of a gothic Virginia mansion, Cathy, Chris and Carrie are finally free. Their freedom tastes bitter, though, as their lives have been irrevocably altered by the unspeakable cruelty and hatred with which they've been treated by their own family members. And that's not something you can just forgive and forget. Not something you can easily move away from...
We meet them again as they're travelling on a Florida-bound bus, determined to start afresh some place better. Before they can get to Florida, though, Carrie falls very ill. Suffering from arsenic poisoning, she begins vomiting and eventually passes out, and the older siblings are forced to get off the bus and seek help for her. Luckily, a kind, mute maid comes to their aid, leading them to her employer, doctor Sheffield. Paul Sheffield, a lonely 40-year-old widower, takes them in and offers them shelter, education and parental guidance. His house becomes their new home and for the first time since being locked in the attic, they have a chance at a normal life. As it turns out, though, you can take the kids out of the attic, but you can't take the attic out of the kids.. All three Dollanganger kids are plagued by the attic-inspired nightmares and they are struggling to move on. Cathy is obsessed with revenge. Chris is obsessed with Cathy. And Carrie, poor little Carrie, is deformed, weak and broken inside. Can the "legacy of evil" and the long years of abuse ever be overcome? Or is there no going back after all that happened?
"I was fifteen. The year was 1960, and it was November. I wanted everything, needed everything, and I was so terribly afraid I'd never in all my life find enough to make up for what I had already lost. I sat tense, ready to scream if one more bad thing happened. Like a coiled fuse attached to a time bomb, I knew that sooner or later explode and bring down all those who lived in Foxworth Hall!"
Oh Cathy, you twisted little witch. How I adore thee, though you definitely give me the creeps. Cathy is such a fascinating, multi-layered character. There is so much going on in her head and heart, she is definitely an interesting and entertaining character to follow, and I'm so glad that the Dollanganger books are written from her perspective. She might not be an easy heroine to like, moreover, it's quite possible her thoughts and actions will make you very, very disturbed, but hey, let's not kid ourselves, that is precisely why we reach for Andrews' books, am I right? All the juicy and gasp worthy scenes loaded with sexual tension, all the forbidden fruits served on a deliciously Gothic platter, all the shocking abuse, incest and other taboo topics Andrews so boldly explores in her novels... We might gasp and shake our heads in pretend disgust, but we keep on reading anyway. Why? Because it's entertaining and we enjoy it! Who doesn't like a good guilty-pleasure read every now and then?
Cathy is only a teenager (she is 15 at the start of Petals) but she is already striking, and she knows it. And she uses her looks to her advantage. She plays the role of seductress. And she is so good at it, it's scary! No one can resist her beauty and her various sexual encounters are testament to that. Her twisted personality does not inspire sympathy, though. She's calculating, overly dramatic and often acts very selfish. Her mood swings can be pretty tiring and she is seemingly incapable of ever taking responsibility for her own actions ("It's all mother's fault!"). Forming healthy relationships is another thing Cathy is incapable of. From her sexual relationship with Paul who is more than twice her age, to the abusive relationship with the arrogant Julian, she often finds herself in situations no 15-year-old girl should ever experience, let alone actively seek. And yet, despite her wicked ways and twisted reasoning, she is utterly bewildering.
"How can I find anyone else, when you've been bred into my bones - and are part of my flesh? Your blood runs fast when mine does! Your eyes burn when mine do - don't deny it!"
While Cathy hates her mother with burning passion and would give just about anything to see her suffer, Chris is a whole different story. He still loves their mother, even after all the pain and suffering she has caused them, even despite the fact that she had tried to kill them all for money, and even though she is the main reason why Cory is dead. Both Cathy and Chris are obsessed with their mother, though for completely different reasons. For Cathy it's revenge, for Chris unhealthy adoration and a bit of an Oedipus complex. One might wonder if his love and passion for Cathy does not steam - at least partly - from the fact that she is an almost mirror like reflection of their mother.
The forbidden kisses and touches continue throughout the book, though Cathy seems determined to put an end to their "unnatural love" and force Chris to move on and find someone else. He's one incredibly handsome young man, though, and it's not always easy to resist the temptation. Bound together by years of suffering in isolation, these two continue to struggle with their feelings and sexual urges.
"I was an instrument of yearning, filled with a ravenous desire for romantic fulfillment."
Petals on The Wind is just as entertaining and disturbing as Flowers in the Attic, and I have loved every single page of it. It's a guilty-pleasure kind of read, but one that actually stays with you for quite some time after you put it down. Fast-paced and often times completely mind-blowing, it's a page-turner of a book, even if it's just a little bit (ok, a lot!) over the top at times. The writing is exceptionally compelling and quite beautiful, the descriptions evocative and seductive and the characters - even the supporting cast - fleshed out just enough to make the story believable, and, therefore, very unsettling. And guys, that ending! So satisfying and worth waiting for! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and am seriously dying for more!
August 20, 2017
Petals on the Wind is terrible, and I mean just out and out terrible. How terrible you might ask? Petals on the Wind is a slap dash put together hot mess with no real thought or effort put into it. It struck me as quite odd in the plotting and dialogue.
We meet up once again with the Dresden Dolls right where we left them, heading south. Lil' sis Carrie gets sick on the bus and the other passengers are pissed at the kids because of the stink her vomit is producing. Never fear though, a nice older black lady takes sympathy on them and takes them home to her "doctor son" who helps the children and because they are just so damn charming (more like the moment he lays eyes on a 15 yr old Cathy he wants to hit that thing) he legally takes full custody of all 3 Dolls. He saves Carrie's life, mentors Chris on his way to doctordom, buys Cathy slutty see through nighties which she gladly parades around the house in now that Chris is in college and Carrie is in a boarding school.
Despite 3 years 4 months and 16 days locked in a room and forced to play in the attic Chris is ready for college and ready for med school. Despite the interruption in her studies, Cathy is a self taught ballerina and good enough for an international stage. Carrie is still the same obnoxious whiney unlikeable brat who's stunted growth is a constant source of torment. Now that Cathy is a woman every man she sees instantly falls in love her and wants her.
She devises a master plan of revenge, a very stupid master plan, against her mother and grandmother. Since Cathy is probably one of the most stupid female characters in history, she decides that becoming a rich and famous prima ballerina is the best revenge, how that's revenge I don't know, seems more like moving along with her life and pursuing her dreams. So after things don't work out the way she had hoped and her career as a dancer is finished she has a newer even more stupid plan. This brilliant plan is to sleep with her stepfather and have his baby and make him divorce her mother.
This story is beyond stupid. If it weren't for one outrageously stupid plot point I would be done with this series. Cathy has a 7 yr old son by her first husband, her second husband is dying and pleads with her to engage in the incestuous relationship that Chris has been begging her for for years so her two sons will have a father, gross I know, he reasons that the 7 year old will forget that his true relation to Chris is as his nephew and not his son. Um.... 7 years old is pretty damn old to forget something like that. So ewwww.
Andrews uses the words sensational and sensuous so much that they lose all meaning. Her characters are one dimensional and too cardboard to care about and too stupid to be believed. So why am I going to read the next book in this series of fuckery? Damned if I know, but I will.
We meet up once again with the Dresden Dolls right where we left them, heading south. Lil' sis Carrie gets sick on the bus and the other passengers are pissed at the kids because of the stink her vomit is producing. Never fear though, a nice older black lady takes sympathy on them and takes them home to her "doctor son" who helps the children and because they are just so damn charming (more like the moment he lays eyes on a 15 yr old Cathy he wants to hit that thing) he legally takes full custody of all 3 Dolls. He saves Carrie's life, mentors Chris on his way to doctordom, buys Cathy slutty see through nighties which she gladly parades around the house in now that Chris is in college and Carrie is in a boarding school.
Despite 3 years 4 months and 16 days locked in a room and forced to play in the attic Chris is ready for college and ready for med school. Despite the interruption in her studies, Cathy is a self taught ballerina and good enough for an international stage. Carrie is still the same obnoxious whiney unlikeable brat who's stunted growth is a constant source of torment. Now that Cathy is a woman every man she sees instantly falls in love her and wants her.
She devises a master plan of revenge, a very stupid master plan, against her mother and grandmother. Since Cathy is probably one of the most stupid female characters in history, she decides that becoming a rich and famous prima ballerina is the best revenge, how that's revenge I don't know, seems more like moving along with her life and pursuing her dreams. So after things don't work out the way she had hoped and her career as a dancer is finished she has a newer even more stupid plan. This brilliant plan is to sleep with her stepfather and have his baby and make him divorce her mother.
This story is beyond stupid. If it weren't for one outrageously stupid plot point I would be done with this series. Cathy has a 7 yr old son by her first husband, her second husband is dying and pleads with her to engage in the incestuous relationship that Chris has been begging her for for years so her two sons will have a father, gross I know, he reasons that the 7 year old will forget that his true relation to Chris is as his nephew and not his son. Um.... 7 years old is pretty damn old to forget something like that. So ewwww.
Andrews uses the words sensational and sensuous so much that they lose all meaning. Her characters are one dimensional and too cardboard to care about and too stupid to be believed. So why am I going to read the next book in this series of fuckery? Damned if I know, but I will.
January 18, 2014
DNF the audiobook version of this at 65% This one was way too over the top for me.
Flowers in the Attic, the first in the Dollanganger series, was a guilty pleasure. It was a fun, deliciously wicked tale that kept me listening for hours at a time. I was expecting more of a dark, sordid tale from the next book in the series. Unfortunately, Petals on the Wind failed miserably. The plot line was insane.
It felt like I was reading a bad version of a cheesy 80s daytime soap opera...
Cathy frustrated me to no end!!
She couldn't let go of her past. While others were moving on, all she could do was plot out her revenge. I just wanted to say to her that moving on and living your life to the fullest is revenge... In addition to her crazy revenge scheming, she was a little too loose in this book. She loved every man that a gave her a thread of attention, good or bad.
I couldn't keep up with who she was in love with let alone sleeping with.
By 60% I just couldn't read anymore about Cathy's crazy antics and her obsessions with men.
So I gave up and decided to Wikki the rest of the book. Lets just say it was more of the same Cathy craziness.
1 star... Too much of a guilty pleasure can be bad.
Flowers in the Attic, the first in the Dollanganger series, was a guilty pleasure. It was a fun, deliciously wicked tale that kept me listening for hours at a time. I was expecting more of a dark, sordid tale from the next book in the series. Unfortunately, Petals on the Wind failed miserably. The plot line was insane.
It felt like I was reading a bad version of a cheesy 80s daytime soap opera...
Cathy frustrated me to no end!!
She couldn't let go of her past. While others were moving on, all she could do was plot out her revenge. I just wanted to say to her that moving on and living your life to the fullest is revenge... In addition to her crazy revenge scheming, she was a little too loose in this book. She loved every man that a gave her a thread of attention, good or bad.
I couldn't keep up with who she was in love with let alone sleeping with.
By 60% I just couldn't read anymore about Cathy's crazy antics and her obsessions with men.
So I gave up and decided to Wikki the rest of the book. Lets just say it was more of the same Cathy craziness.
1 star... Too much of a guilty pleasure can be bad.
July 4, 2020
"Cuando puedas perdonar y olvidar el pasado, volverás a tener paz y amor, y durarán para siempre."
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