Reviews with content warning for Adult/minor relationship - Petals on the Wind

Initially, I thought this one was an absolute bore compared to its predecessor. Could absolutely not care any less about all of Cathy's pining for love and failure with men

(take a shot any time Cathy has sex with a man for the first time only for it to be rape! VC Andrews, what the hell?!/extend that to practically any man introduced in this series who looks at Cathy. Like was it necessay to have Paul raping his first wife as part of his "unhappy marriage story" and to have Cathy brush it all aside because "a man old enough to be my father wants me sexually"? No wonder the coquette side of the internet enjoys these books)

and the ballet parts were the only decent thing I enjoyed. Like, I really thought the beginning with Paul would've been darker than it was

(like, for example, Cathy would have been limited to housework and sewing for a man who clearly saw her sexually rather than fatherly instead of ballet classes and whatnot)

and Andrews just saved it all for the melodrama of a forbidden age gap romance as she rebuked her brother's advances again and again.

But oh. The revenge plot. So absolutely unhinged. Cathy, you sadistic maladjusted freak. Please get therapy now that you've had revenge 🩷 And the ending chapter with Cathy describing a quiet and content life with Chris and her two sons from a previous marriage and affair, only to end it with her wondering when two twin size beds "long enough for two small boys to grow into men" appeared in the attic and buying a picnic basket like the one the grandmother used? Chilling. The cycle continues, even without the lure of wealth and a sprawling mansion.

Also, this being a VC Andrews book there's probably more content warnings that I'm forgetting. Just consider the melodrama of classic flicks like A Summer Place or Peyton Place but toss in social taboos beyond premarital sex or infidelity and you get this book.

And as another aside since the content warnings don't include "racial stereotypes" as an option, my idiot niave self had hoped the inclusion of a black woman wouldn't have gone into the Magical Negro Trope and The Mammy Stereotype but. Henny is there to be a plot device caricature. The only black character in this series so far.

Content Warnings

ellilo's review against another edition

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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

violetturtledove's review against another edition

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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.

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