Eye of the Storm (Isis)

Rating:
Summary: Much better than Lightning Strikes!
Review: After being disappointed with Lightning Strikes i was a bit skeptical with reading Eye of the Storm. This book was much better than the first two, focusing more on Rain than her family members. Alot of people in Rain's life were removed in this book, however, a few new people came into it. I was pleasantly surprised how quickly i read the book and look forward to finishing the series.

Rating:
Summary: NOT AS GOOD AS THE PREVIOUS IN THE SERIES
Review: After the death of grandmother Hudson, Rain, finds herself in a battle with her mother, and her wicked aunt for a vast fortune. The entire Hudson fortune has been left to Rain, and the other family members will stop at nothing to make sure she does not see a penny of it.

After a brief meeting with the family, Rain, makes it clear she is not after the money, but refuses to give it to the rest of the family, for her grandmother wanted it that way. Her aunt Victoria decides to befriend Rain, as a way to fulfill her own agenda.

After a tragic accident leaves Rain helpless, she will welcome the kindness of a stranger, while still harbouring the dark secrets that plague her family.

"Eye Of The Storm" is not as good as the other novels in this series; it drags on too long, and the reader is overwhelmed with one tragedy after another.

V.C. Andrews has a gift for writing dark fiction, but this novels falls short of her previous books. As always, it is well-written, but halfway through the book I did not care what would happen; the characters were transparent, and the plot did not contain the necessary twists to pull the book to it's climax.

Nick Gonnella

Rating:
Summary: The Ghost Writer Is the Fortune Hunter
Review: I really didn't like this book. I was disgusted that Brody had to die. He was the only character I liked. Austin was a poor replacement. Like any decent girl would jump into bed with her physical therapist. And certainly you would expect the therapist himself to have more ethics, since Rain has proved herself amoral time and time again. She should know better. In the first book, she was always condemning her sister. Supposedly, she had some self-respect. Then there was that incident with Corbette. She certainly hasn't learned her lessons. Though perhaps we are to believe that her accident left her totally shattered. But living in the present, and having grown up with a wild sister, why didn't she use protection? Also, sick of hearing the phrases "fortune hunter" (basically used to replace Austin's name) and "throwing caution to the wind". GW repeats them ad nauseaum. Oh, so Rain named her daughter Summer. Why am I not surprised? The ghost writer has this thing about avoiding common names like Susie, or Ashley, and certainly never Katie. And quess what? His eccentricity is starting to suggest a lack of creativity. He needs fancy names to hide a lack of depth. Besides, I believe that when you try so hard to avoid banality, you'll usually sink deeper and deeper into it. It gets 1 star not only because I can't go lower, but also because I liked Brody while he lasted.

Rating:
Summary: An improvement
Review: Wow, I must say. This is a definite improvement over the the previous two Hudson series, but it's still not perfect. Superior but alas still inferior.

What people have previously said is definitely true: this is the best book of the series. While the Hudson story was stumbling left and right in the previous titles, there is more of a flow in this book.

We find Rain back at the Hudson mansion after grandmother Hudson's death. Rain is now loaded with money inherited from grandmother Hudson. Of course, Aunt Victoria and company want to challenge the will and Rain is willing to fight. Not suprisenly, tragedy strikes poor Rain. To make matter worse, Aunt Victoria is beyond the wings out to get Rain. It ain't pretty.

The book does have some interesting elements but it's still the "same old VCA book". Nothing you read in Eye of the Storm is different from previous novels. Everything is either borrowed from this book or borrowed from that book. If you've read all of VCA books, then you will understand what I mean. Want hints? Remember Gates of Paradise, Secrets of the Morning, and Twilight's Child when you read this book--to name only a few. There are minor surprises, but suddenly you think, "That happened in so and so book" so the element of suprirse entertainment is destroyed.

Also, we see the Hudson following the Cutler series once again. People might argue this point, but I have to strongly dissagree. Cutler is there. Hudson is very similar to Cutler--including Eye of the Strom. It's just that in Eye of the Storm the GW cleverly (if you call it cleverness) didn't lay it down in a straight forward format like he did in the previous novels. It's just scattered so it's not that apparent. But if you think about the incidents in the Cutler series and think of the incidents in Eye of the Storm you are probably going to wonder why you never saw the similarities before. The Ghostwriter can't fool everybody.

All and all, an improvement, but not something that is truly stunning.