emeraldjulep's review against another edition
Good series but remember it went downhill after Dark Angel. Nothing close to Flowers in the Attic series.
tabandvelcro's review against another edition
4.0
I was going to write a review in the style of kitty dennison but I gave up.
oohsarracuda's review against another edition
I don't know how to rate this, but I totally read it in middle school. It was terrible and magnificent in its terribleness, the way V.C. Andrews books were.
connie_gatzke's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
justk8y's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
scrublife3011's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.0
alfierose66's review against another edition
5.0
An old favourite from way back. When I first read this book, I found Heaven to be super relatable. Re-reading it as an adult, it is so much deeper than I had ever really considered in my teenage years.
bookswithgeorge's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
V C Andrews books are always entertaining because of how unhinged and dramatic the plot is. This book was defiantly one of her better works in my opinion. It is staggering how many plot points and tropes this shared with the Dolenganger series. Also because I would have liked a specific warning there’s a scene where a hamster is murdered that I found deeply upsetting.
zoes_human's review against another edition
This year, I decided to do a 12-book reading challenge. Or, if I'm being more accurate, I decided to buy the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge book log because it was beautiful, and it contained a challenge, so I'm doing it.
Anyway ... Challenge #2 is "Read a book you would normally consider a guilty pleasure". This was a problem for me. I don't have guilty pleasures. Philosophically speaking, I don't even believe in the concept except as a manifestation of the many things wrong with our society. If what you're doing isn't harmful to another and you enjoy it, it is simply a pleasure. I'm not embarrassed by the things I love.
After some thought, I concluded that the closest I could get to this would be to pick up a book that I had loved in my early teens. Given how much I've changed over the course of a few decades, I was bound to find something to be embarrassed about in a book I loved then. If nothing from your teens gives you cause to blush as an adult, you probably didn't do it right. I settled on <u>Heaven</u> by V.C. Andrews, because I read it when it came out. I was 13, and, oh, how I loved V.C. Andrews. How I loved this book in particular. I tore through all of the books she had written and was genuinely upset when she died in 1986.
I thought I might feel mildly embarrassed to have loved such a soap opera as a teen. I suspected the writing might not be that great. I vaguely hoped that I would find it to be good, that I would learn that even if my taste had been somewhat more salacious at that age that I still would find some familiar seed of quality in the book. What I have found is so much worse than I expected.
These books are absolute trash. Racist, classist, slut-shaming stereotypical garbage all mixed in with every trope ever to have come out of the unhappy mind of a properly angsty pubescent teen girl and strung together into a borderline magnificently bad story.
I DNFed this book at page 58. I'm not sure how most folks feel about DNFing a challenge book, but it's my challenge, and I choose to save my sanity rather than finish this appalling rubbish.
Last, and most importantly, I am grateful not to be the girl who adored this book anymore. This aborted reread has utterly validated my belief that human beings are capable of deep and genuine change.
Anyway ... Challenge #2 is "Read a book you would normally consider a guilty pleasure". This was a problem for me. I don't have guilty pleasures. Philosophically speaking, I don't even believe in the concept except as a manifestation of the many things wrong with our society. If what you're doing isn't harmful to another and you enjoy it, it is simply a pleasure. I'm not embarrassed by the things I love.
After some thought, I concluded that the closest I could get to this would be to pick up a book that I had loved in my early teens. Given how much I've changed over the course of a few decades, I was bound to find something to be embarrassed about in a book I loved then. If nothing from your teens gives you cause to blush as an adult, you probably didn't do it right. I settled on <u>Heaven</u> by V.C. Andrews, because I read it when it came out. I was 13, and, oh, how I loved V.C. Andrews. How I loved this book in particular. I tore through all of the books she had written and was genuinely upset when she died in 1986.
I thought I might feel mildly embarrassed to have loved such a soap opera as a teen. I suspected the writing might not be that great. I vaguely hoped that I would find it to be good, that I would learn that even if my taste had been somewhat more salacious at that age that I still would find some familiar seed of quality in the book. What I have found is so much worse than I expected.
These books are absolute trash. Racist, classist, slut-shaming stereotypical garbage all mixed in with every trope ever to have come out of the unhappy mind of a properly angsty pubescent teen girl and strung together into a borderline magnificently bad story.
I DNFed this book at page 58. I'm not sure how most folks feel about DNFing a challenge book, but it's my challenge, and I choose to save my sanity rather than finish this appalling rubbish.
Last, and most importantly, I am grateful not to be the girl who adored this book anymore. This aborted reread has utterly validated my belief that human beings are capable of deep and genuine change.