Petals on the Wind (Dollanger Saga (Audio))

Rating:
Summary: Rather disappointing...
Review: "Flowers in the Attic" was my first step into this genre, and I found it one of the best books I've read. I looked to "Petals on the Wind" with great anticipation, but a short ways in, my enjoyment nearly flatlined.

Bad points of the story:

The story jumps around a bit too much, and what there is of the story seems to be too many people trying to get into Cathy's tutu. It seems half the time she's sobbing, a word used a bit too often throughout the book. And if she's not sobbing, someone is gripping her to them and telling her how exquisitely beautiful she is and that she belongs to him. Another annoying habit in the story is the placing of an exclamation mark behind Chris' name, as if Cathy is surprised her brother actually shows up. Chris himself doesn't seem to have much personality outside of studying and trying to convince his sister that his love for her isn't wrong, and if it is, oh well. Through some pieces of the story you have to wonder if Cathy left her brain in the attic. At one point I was so disappointed in Catherine, I really didn't want to finish the story, as she thought to herself "Life seemed to me nothing without a man." Lastly, I felt there was excess character killing, with eight deaths (that I counted) throughout the story.

Good points of the story:

Carrie gets some more attention in the story, but it's mostly bittersweet. The only real redeeming part of the story was settled in the last fifty or so pages, with an excellent revenge set loose on the mother and grandmother. Which almost makes the rest of the story worth reading.

In conclusion:

Between "I sobbed.", "You're beautiful. You belong to me!" and "Chris!", the author manages to create a mildly entertaining story. But if I had it to do over again, I would have stopped at "Flowers in the Attic" and let my prior image of Cathy's character be.

Rating:
Summary: Run Awaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy!!!!!
Review: "Flowers in the Attic" to this day remains one of my all time favorite books. Anyone caught in it's spell could not possibly not want to read the sequel and see what happened to the three children that escaped the clutches of the Attic and their evil grandmother.

Well........for one this story is a bit far fetched. Did V.C. Andrews even write this? Didn't she die after 'Flowers' and has had a ghost writer for the last twenty years? Anyway they leave the attic and get on a bus, headed for Sarasota, Florida to join the circus. Instead they run into a mute housekeeper who takes them to her employer, a doctor. As in real life, this complete stranger befriends the three of them. He adopts Carrie, sends Chris through medical school and helps Cathy follow her dream of being a ballerina.

In the course of this of course, the doc falls in love with Cathy while Chris is still in love with her sister.

The great confrontation which ends in a disappointing anti-climax is when Cathy meets her grandmother again. You remember 'Flowers'? The hate, the fear, the helplessness. Remember how badly we wanted Cathy to get away? Well now the shoe is on the other foot. After a stroke, the grandmother lays helpless, though alert. Cathy stands over her with a switch and strips the helpless grandmother. The anger is burning in Cathy's eyes. The fear is in the grandmother's.....

I'll stop here. You just have to see what happens. I for one was disappointed.

The story ends with a great fire that destroys the mansion and it's evil, forboding attic.

Rating:
Summary: Yeah...
Review: Do half of you dumb asses realize that V.C Andrews DID INDEED write this novel?

It wasn't until 1987 that she finally passed away. So how about you make sure that your information is correct before writing a review that rips apart a great novel by a great author.

Rating:
Summary: read it now before it's late
Review: I first watched the movie for "Flowers in the Attic" and decided to read the book and I wasn't dissapointed. In "Flowers" V.C. Andrews gives us strong, beautiful characters. However, in " Petals on the Wind" I found myself thinking how annoying the main character, Cathy, was. V.C. Andrews has us reading a cat and mouse game all throughout the book with Cathy and all of these men which got quite tiring after awhile. I still plan to read the last three books in the series but I would have enjoyed this book sooo much more if V.C. Andrews didn't repeat the same dialog, the same events with Cathy and Chris, with Cathy and Julian, with Cathy and Bart, with Cathy and Paul, etc. Do you kind of sense a pattern? Also V.C. Andrews creates so many times when Cathy sits and sobs a river when Cathy is the one that creates all the drama. I think V.C. Andrews could have written Cathy as a stronger character, anyways I do reccomend it if you have patience and if you are a die hard V.C. Andrews fan.

Small summary:

Cathy, Chris, and Carrie finally escape from the dark attic where they were hidden for over three years. They get on a bus where Carrie becomes very ill. With the help of Henrietta Beech, the siblings are introduced to Dr. Paul Sheffield who generously takes them in and gives them a place to say. Cathy soon enters a ballet school and follows her dreams of being a professional dancer, while Chris goes to school to become a doctor. Carrie, however, is very miserable and wants to be excepted and isn't because her head is to large for her body... the story basically just follows them throughout their lives. In the book Cathy gives birth to two sons ( I won't give the fathers away) and Cathy plans every day for revenge on her mother and the grandmother.

Rating:
Summary: You guys have ruined the book for me
Review: I tried to just buy a book , and on the same page as the book are everyone's opinions on the book I was trying to buy. Now AMazon sorry for ya...no money for you now that you have ruined the book for me.....here is a hint move the book reviews!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Such a let down
Review: It took me a long time to read VC Andrews, I kept looking at her books and reading the blurb and wondering about them. Eventually I gave in and read FITA. I was astounded, how could I have missed such a deeply emotional, gripping story? Having eagerly read to the end and cheered at their freedom, I reached for the sequel and started to read...and boy did I wish I had stopped at book 1. Cathy, our protagonist, turns into the most feather-headed, sex obsessed victim I've ever seen. I could understand Paul (the whole gratitude thing) and I could see why she had the hots for Chris, (the whole attic thing) but Julian? From the strong, fairly mature character in the 1st book, she transforms into a petulant, whining, constantly crying version of her mother.

VC Andrews should have stopped at FITA. Their lives slipped from drama to melodrama and Cathy (who was the only sane voice in the FITA) turns into a throughly dependent, foolish bitch. The book stumbles from crisis to crisis, with half the cast dying and Cathy moving in with her brother, who can't seem to get over his 'love' for her. I was so disappointed that I read it in bits and ignored most of the book. Read FITA but leave the rest on the shelf.

Rating:
Summary: WOW!!!
Review: Petals on the wind would have to be my favorite out of the series to me this book was just a great page turner I kept thinking what will happen next although the were somethings I didn't like in the book for example I never really like the Julian charcter nor did I care for how Cathy pretty much slept around with certain guys and yes granted this was her idea of revenge which she gets in this book the things that stand out in my mind where towards the end of the book like did the grandfather really know that Corrine had the children and urged her to kill them and what really happened to Cory's body and this is also the only time I have ever felt compassion for the grandmother after Cathy confronted her in the end the book was a great sequel to F I T A

Rating:
Summary: A bit out there!
Review: This book was very good, but it was a bit far fetched. I was like she started writing this book in a dream state. I d also didn't like how they grew uup so fast in the book. It was like one mnute there fifteen, and the next she's thirty-six. It was very hard to keeo track of the age. But nonetheless it was still a very good book. A very intersting novel.