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A review by hisghoulfriday
If There Be Thorns by V.C. Andrews
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
If There Be Thorns is written in Cathy's sons POVs. We have Jory, the ballet dancer (Julian and Cathy's son) and Bart, the bratty, disturbed child (Step-daddy and Cathy's son).
Cathy and Chris are married 🤢 and they have recently adopted a baby girl, which Cathy fauns over. The "Sheffields" live next door to an old lady who only wears black, it's really not a spolier, but it's Cathy and Chris' mom, Corrine. Corrine lives with her butler, John Amos who is essentially Claude Frollo from Hunchback of Notre Dame. Corrine lures Bart over to her house by giving him sweets and a puppy and explains to him who she is, and John Amos gives Bart Malcomlm Foxworth's (Cathy's grandfather) diary, and tells Bart that by reading this diary he can control women and all kinds of nonsense.
I liked this one better than the last book. The writing was significantly better, however it was still overdramatic. We get a bit of a redemption arc with Corrine, we get an outsider's view of Cathy and its interesting to watch Jory try to piece everything together. We get more insight into Malcolm, who I believe is the real villain of the series (in book 5 we learn he has a thing for his mom and that snowballs in the the absolute mess of the Foxworths). Plus there's an almost likable character; if Jory had just told his parents that Bart's getting lured by some creepy old lady, most of the weird shit that happens could've been avoided, and he could've been the best character in the series so far.
Cathy and Chris are married 🤢 and they have recently adopted a baby girl, which Cathy fauns over. The "Sheffields" live next door to an old lady who only wears black, it's really not a spolier, but it's Cathy and Chris' mom, Corrine. Corrine lives with her butler, John Amos who is essentially Claude Frollo from Hunchback of Notre Dame. Corrine lures Bart over to her house by giving him sweets and a puppy and explains to him who she is, and John Amos gives Bart Malcomlm Foxworth's (Cathy's grandfather) diary, and tells Bart that by reading this diary he can control women and all kinds of nonsense.
I liked this one better than the last book. The writing was significantly better, however it was still overdramatic. We get a bit of a redemption arc with Corrine, we get an outsider's view of Cathy and its interesting to watch Jory try to piece everything together. We get more insight into Malcolm, who I believe is the real villain of the series (in book 5 we learn he has a thing for his mom and that snowballs in the the absolute mess of the Foxworths). Plus there's an almost likable character; if Jory had just told his parents that Bart's getting lured by some creepy old lady, most of the weird shit that happens could've been avoided, and he could've been the best character in the series so far.