Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Petals on the Wind, by V.C. Andrews, ends 6/20

I thought and thought that night of how I could make Momma pay for everything wrong she'd caused, how I would exact the price that would hurt most. It wouldn't be money. It would have ot be something she prized more than money ... 

I reviewed Flowers in the Attic back in January, when the movie of the same name premiered on Lifetime. A few weeks ago, Petals on the Wind also premiered on Lifetime, and I have now reviewed the book, of the same name. The book and the movie were very different, which was interesting, but I found myself again disliking the dramatic flair that Andrews has for telling a story.

Official synopsis:

They were such brave children to withstand such suffering. Such clever children to escape such terror!

For Carrie, Chris and Cathy, the attic was a dark horror that would not leave their minds, even while they built bright, promising new lives. 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 now had the powers she had learned from her beautiful mother. She knew it in the way her brother still yearned for her, in the way her guardian touched her, in the way all men looked at her.

She knew it was time to put what she knew to the test. 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.
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The core story in these books are definitely interesting. Petals picks up where Flowers left off, although in the movie there's a time jump of ten years. Cathy, Chris, and their younger sister Carrie head to Florida, with limited money, with the dreams of becoming circus performers, now that they're free from Foxworth Hall and their evil grandmother. Carrie gets sick along the way, and they meet a nice lady, Henny, who introduces them to Dr. Paul, who then takes them in as his own children.

I am a fan of the TV show Gossip Girl and V.C. Andrews' books remind me a lot of that - there's always crazy things going on in them. Chris - Cathy's brother - is still in love with her, yet she starts an affair with Paul, who is about 40 years old (and she's 17). Carrie is still not fully formed, as she was denied sunlight in her formative years in the attic, and she's self-conscious about that. Chris is in medical school, and Paul is his mentor, but he's jealous of him and Cathy's relationship. And Cathy goes on to be a ballerina and marries Julian, her partner, even though she doesn't even like him very much.

I'd recommend this novel for anyone who is a fan of V.C. Andrews' books or "scandalous" books written in that time era ('60s and '70s). Like I mentioned, the story is solid, but Andrews' writing irks me sometimes, and I found it hard to get through this book. Definitely check out Lifetime's Petals on the Wind adaptation, though, as it's very different from the book, and I liked it more than their Flowers in the Attic movie, actually.

3 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I received a copy of this film for reviewing purposes. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.




GIVEAWAY:

Enter via the Rafflecopter form below. Prize is one paperback copy of Petals on the Wind - U.S. residents only, please. Giveaway will end on Friday, June 19th, at 11:59pm EST, and winner will be notified via email on June 20th and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

Good luck!

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