This is one of the better books that I have read. Believe it or not, I read it in SIXTH grade (I don't think my mom knew about the content.) This is actually a copy from the first printing of the book, so it has been around for a while. A plus is that it has that flip-back cover so you can see the larger journal art than what is only displayed in the window. Also, I believe that it is a much better picture of Carrie, Christopher et. al. than the more recent blue copy. (This is a black cover). I am hanging on to my newer blue one, sigh, just because it is in better condition to be re-read if I ever decide to do so. This is one of the very few books that V.C. Andrews actually wrote before her ghostwriter took over. (See other V.C. Andrews books' posts for my opinion of the ghostwriter). Enjoy!

See my other review of this book. Flowers In the Attic.

I currently am striving to register and release all of V. C. Andrews' works, as she is one of my favorite authors. The V. C. Andrews books I have registered so far include:

Dark Angel
Dawn
Fallen Hearts
Flowers in the Attic
Flowers in the Attic
Flowers in the Attic
Garden of Shadows
Gates of Paradise
Heart Song
Heaven
If There Be Thorns
Melody
My Sweet Audrina
My Sweet Audrina
My Sweet Audrina
Olivia
Petals on the Wind
Petals on the Wind
Petals on the Wind
Raven
Runaways
Secrets of the Morning
Seeds of Yesterday
Seeds of Yesterday
Star
Twilight's Child
Twilight's Child
Web of Dreams

V. C. Andrews books currently up for trade include Dawn, Melody, Star, Olivia, Seeds of Yesterday, and Twilight's Child.

promised to casseytara

Received from mrsordonez, thanks so much! I read this many years ago, and now my daughter wants to read it. She is in sixth grade, so I was trying to remember how much adult content was in the story before letting her! I guess I'll have to reread it first!

These books have all come back into my possession from my daughter, and I read this one a few days ago. How utterly trashtastic is was! I'd read these books when they first came out, and this time around I was anticipating certain happenings that I remembered, which kind of added to my suspense in reading as I kept waiting for those scenes.

Our narrator is Cathy, age twelve when the story begins. Her brother Christopher is fourteen, and the twins, Carrie and Corrie, are five. They live a happy, idyllic life with their beloved parents. Then one day their lives are shattered when their father is killed in a car accident.

Corinne, their mother, takes them to her childhood home, where she has told them they are going to live with her parents. However, when she was young, she angered her father, and he disowned her. Now she must ingratiate herself to him to earn his forgiveness and get him to love her again, and put her back in his will. He is very ill and will die any day now. She tells her children this is their only hope for the future, as she has no skills and cannot possibly support them on her own.

When they arrive in the dead of night, their grandmother meets them and ushers them quickly through the house to a room on the top floor, where the children find themselves locked in and left alone. Thus begins their lives as the Flowers in the Attic. The grandmother brings them food every morning. Their mother visits often, bringing gifts and telling them stories about her exploits in secretarial school, and her attempts to get her grandfather to love her again. Then she comes less often. The children, especially Cathy and Chris, grow older, begin to mature into young adults. Sexually aware young adults.

The book is a compelling and quick read, and was much better written than I expected or remembered. Twisted, incestuous, and yet highly enjoyable.

Adding this to JennyC1230's ABC book box.

Came to me in JennyC1230's ABC bookbox. Made a short stay in Colorado before heading out again.

I read this story a LONG time ago...I believe I was in elementary school, likely the same age as our heroine (12) -- I remember loving it. I have read V.C. Andrews as an adult, and still love the stories (trashy as they are -- and ghostwritten as the newer ones are) In any case, this book was in two pieces when I pulled it from the box...I have since done a little repair work on it, and hope to have saved it for a few more readers.

I am taking this out of the ABC book box.

What does one say? I missed this when it came out, I was past childhood reading and was busy working and getting ready to get married. So this horrid little gothic incestuous gem passed me right by. All of those adjectives really do apply here. Oh, it is also written for young adults, I am sure they probably gobbled it right up, pity their malleable minds. It has every element that makes the vampire novels so popular to teens. It has a creepy gothic house, cruel sadistic adults with whips who accuse innocent children of immorality and demand they kneel and pray, a trusted and loved adult who cannot be trusted, imprisonment in an attic where there is nothing much to do except grow up and consider the sexuality of your sibling. What happens to four siblings imprisoned for three and a half years in a small bedroom and attic, promised that any day they will be set free and be rich, just trust Momma. I recognize the genius of this book and understand why it is probably as popular and well known as the movie Carrie. It is full of inconsistencies, like why does Cathy, on her solo foray sneaking into her mother's room, wear a "transparent blue nightie that was very short, though little matching panties were underneath",and where did she get it considering her mother buys all her clothes and doesn't recognize that her daughter is growing up. For example the mother never remembers to buy her a bra, well isn't that convenient. The horror/sex genre, logic is not the point.
What do I rate this book? One for disgusting, ten for genius? One wins; I have a twelve year old who loves to read, this book needs to be disappeared.

I am listing this with bookstogive's mystery/thriller VBB.

I am taking this book out of the mystery VBB and making it AVL

Released into Little Free Library on 65th and 33rd NE in front of Bryant Café and Bakery in Seattle.