Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Petals on the Wind by V.C. Andrews

15 reviews

kira20's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Abandonment

jackie_reads_314's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This ending was a little bit of a letdown compared to its predecessor. Although more did happen in this book, I felt that it all happened too fast, and I was not able to fully hate the characters that Cathy did as well. It spanned almost a decade but there are many a time jump and honestly, it barely passes the Bechdel test. There are so many love interests, but they all feel like the same character, even though they are "vastly different"; though there is something cathartic about them being all male archetypes with little personality. I just wish Cathy thought of her plans a little more thoroughly. 
Will for sure read the rest of the original series at least. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Grief

vivparr's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Incest, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Murder

the girls that get it get it

fallenxx's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Sexual harassment

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I am really enjoying this series, and cannot wait to read the next book

This was just as sad and heartbreaking as Flowers In The Attic, but perhaps even more so because it shows how difficult it is to let go of the past and trauma from childhood. 

I’m glad Cathy managed to eventually get revenge on her mother, even if it didn’t work out how she originally intended it to. 

Overall I think this was an excellent sequel to a brilliant first novel! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ehamlett's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Toxic relationship, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Medical content and Injury/Injury detail

eyrechrysalis's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Child death

lovelydeadgirl's review against another edition

emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Abortion

ellilo's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I loved „Flowers in the Attic“ and finished it in a week. I was really exited to read this sequel, but at first it really took me some time to get into it. The first half felt kind of slow-paced, but it really took off and got more eventful in the end. 
I do have to say, some of the time jumps felt really weird, like some events were so detailed and then we jumped to three years later in just two sentences. That was quite weird to adapt to, as well as some of the events just felt odd, like

death after death just was unrealistic for me, and how cathy and her mother finally met also didn’t live up to my expectations

I felt like i was reading a wattpad book, just too many shocking and sad events squeezed into the book. 
Still, i think the writing was really good, even though i’m not a fan of the ending and always wished i could go into this book and shake cathy and tell her to stop acting out, i kind of liked the book in a weird way. Definitely made me think and sometimes my jaw hit the floor, it was quite graphic sometimes. So i guess i would recommed it, if you wanna know what happens to Cathy and the others, but i wouldn’t read it again.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Incest, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Abortion

violetturtledove's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Ok, what to say about this one... The story is a good continuation of the first book, everything that happens makes sense and the writing is still engaging, but it's a completely different sort of story.
It focuses mostly on Cathy's relationship drama and there is a LOT of that, since apparently everyone finds her irresistible from the age of 15... I found the examples of 'romantic' relationships here way more troubling than any of the stuff in the first book! It's only really in the very end of the book that we get any of the darkness of the first book though.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Misogyny, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury