Petals on the Wind

Rating:
Summary: great revenge
Review: Cathy's revenge was great.At first it was a bit boring.Cathy's love life was a disaster.But when Cathy starts planning how to make grandmother and mother pay, revenge couldn't taste better.Great story,great ending and hoping Cathy still continues to torture Corrine untill death comes her way.It's just as good as Flowers in the Attic.

Rating:
Summary: Crucial missing scene?
Review: Near the end of the book, Cathy and Chris interrogated their mother, during which time they told her about a recent discovery they had made in Foxworth Hall of a small, hidden room from which emanated a foul odor. The implication was that this room was their dead brother Cory's final resting place; what I couldn't understand was why the reader learned of this secondhand and in passing from the characters. Why didn't the reader see Cathy and Chris actually discovering and opening the hidden room? Where was the firsthand account? I searched the entire book thinking I had overlooked this important event in the story but couldn't find it. Was it mistakenly edited out?

The Cathy character came across as annoying, not so much for her thirst for vengeance (who could blame her?) but for her narcicissm and nymphomania. Every time I turned another page, she was either going on about how beautiful she was or embarking on another sexual conquest.

Virtually everybody in this book seemed to have a gripe about something. Okay, maybe Chris, Cathy and Carrie had a right to be whiney and complaining; who wouldn't after having your mother lock you away for three years and literally try to kill you? But I thought POTW could have been just a bit more lighthearted; after all, they're out of the attic! But it was the same grousing, just a different topic.

I think Cathy's vengeance could have materialized a bit earlier, but her method of choice (initiating an affair w/her mother's second husband) really wasn't possible until her own husband had died, which didn't happen till the second part of the book. Oh well, I was able to rest easier knowing that Corinne had gotten hers in the end.

Rating:
Summary: The Dreams Of The Dresden Dolls!
Review: The continuation of the three remaining Dresden dolls' journey. They make their mark in the world after a kind doctor takes them in as his own. Chris follows his dream to be a doctor, and Cathy sets out to be a ballerina. In her quest to follow her dream, Cathy also sets out to get revenge on her mother and grandmother. Her children: Jory and Bart are born, with one as a revenge on her mother and the other from her first husband, Julian. This book is really confusing. Cathy becomes someone much different than in the first book as she sets out on revenge.

Rating:
Summary: Greed Held Them Captive; Will It Also Set Them Free?
Review: The Dollanganger kids are out of the attic, yet there's still that one who didn't make it. Cathy is bitter and angry over all that had been taken from her by those who should have loved her. Now the little Dresden dolls are living with a stranger (Dr. Paul) who has given them more than their real family ever had. And Cathy is now on her way to becoming a prima ballerina. She partners up with the arrogant yet miserable Julian Marquet, her future husband and father of her first son Julian Janus Marquet aka Jory. Julian no. 1 (just so there is no confusion) is the son of Marisha and Georges Rosencoff, the owners of a ballet school that Cathy attends. His mother is the stereotypical Russian ballet mistress who, of course, can easily be confused with Madame Zolta, Julian and Cathy's dance instructor in New York, another ballet mistress stereotype. Yet don't be fooled. Marisha is one of the most complex and intelligent characters V.C.A. ever created in my opinion, as is Julian. They are so perceptive, it is almost scary. Whereas Cathy comes across as being supremely self-centered and the few times she admits to understanding someone, her comments, or thoughts seem to drip with unintended irony on her part. Throughout this book, Cathy turns into the woman she always seemed to despise. She goes from one man to another, including her own brother. She depends on the support of the men in her life, and can hardly make it on her own. When Cathy is left in debt, thanks to all the bills left to her by Julian, who frivolously wasted money, and then, conveniently, went ahead and died (the situation mirrors the the death of Cathy's father, which led to her and her siblings imprisonment), Cathy decides to blackmail her mother. "She owed us," Cathy claims. Cathy reminds me of the mythological Electra; she bemoans the death of her beloved father and vows vengeance against her betraying mother. She wants fame, she wants fortune, she wants love, and she wants all those who hurt her most to "pay, pay, pay. . . and then pay some more."

Rating:
Summary: "Love that clung and killed"
Review: Cathy is still the narrator in this sequel, which is not as grim as its predecessor, but has ten times the amount of incest. Returning characters include Chris and Carrie, of course, and Corrine, the grandmother and Bartholomew Winslow. Cathy is still haunted by her past, by the memory of her father, the betrayal of her mother, and by both her dead brother and her incestuous one. Carrie, who is very small for her age, is tormented by other children, at the private school she eventually attends, and also in the public one she transfers to. Chris still lusts after Cathy and even almost rapes her a second time. He also makes many unwanted sexual advances. Cathy blames her mother for her miserable life, and sleeps with the one and only adult who has shown her any kindness since the death of her father. This man is Dr. Paul Sheffield who has taken in the orphans, perhaps with the hope that Cathy will one day repay him by means not involving money, though he denies this a little too emphatically. Their "benefactor" is a very lonely man. He was once married to a woman named Julia, but she was abused by a cousin as a child, and as a result, her life became a downward spiral which culminated in the death of herself and her son. And the guilt of her husband. Cathy hopes to thwart Chris's love for her by becoming a wanton harlot, and I can say that I do sympathize with this tormented teenager who experienced an unbelievable amount of loss and betrayal. Then there is Paul. A great question that his character raises is how much of his generosity stems from pure, unselfish altruism and how much is based on selfish human desires. Many will claim that Cathy seduced him, and all the blame lay on her shoulders, but it is pretty obvious that he had ulterior motives when taking the three siblings in. And as one character put it in the next book, ITBT, (I don't have the exact quote in front of me) "Nobody does anything for anybody else unless it gives them even more." This certainly does seem to be the case with Paul. You can tell he wants Cathy, and then he finds out that there is something going on between Cathy and her brother and he is slightly repelled. He does help Chris and Cathy attain their dreams, though, and Cathy is given the opportunity to audition for the Rosencoff School of Ballet. She is accepted. This is where she meets another danseur, Julian Marquet, who does appear sophisticated at first, and very much resembles the dark-haired imaginary man she used to dance with in the attic. It is not long before she finds out that not only is he the son of Madame Marisha and Georges Rosencoff, the owners of the ballet school (he changed his name to Marquet as a way to strike back at the father who sees him as nothing more than an extension of himself), but he is also too arrogant for her liking. Julian is very much like Cathy, both in ambition and in the need to prove himself to his parent of the same sex, so she decides to date him. Needless to say, Julian doesn't measure up to Chris's standards of who should date his sister. In his opinion, guys from New York are too experienced for a fifteen-year-old. This just kills me; she's too young, in Chris's opinion, to go off to NY with Julian, and to get involved with the likes of him, yet she's not too young for Chris's needs. She's not too off-limits for him, either, in his opinion. And surprisingly enough, without being told about Cathy's relationships with her "father" and her brother, Julian begins to suspect that there is something going on between Cathy and the male members of her family, something of a sexual nature. And this is where the glaring contests begin.
I am so sorry that Julian ended up being an abusive husband later on to Cathy because as a result, that is all most people see. And unfortunately, he is the one to be eternally compared to countless jerks readers have met up with in their lives---but every character is an individual, and should be viewed that way. If there is one thing I can't stand, it's lumping characters into neat categories. The funny thing is, readers will do this, and then they'll go on to read the ghost-written books and complain that the characters are stereotypical and not well-developed. I am one of those people who tend to prefer the characters whom others hate, or simply disregard. In Julian's case, he is seen as nothing more than a wife-beater. But he is more than that. I like to compare him to a car heading for a tree, or some other large, lethal object, which is literally the case with him, as you find out from the book. There is much to dislike about him. He hits Cathy, he cannot fathom why she would need privacy when in the bathroom, or before they're married, while using the dressing room before a performance and he chases after "very young girls", including his then fifteen-year-old sister-in-law. He can also tell Cathy embarrassing stories without blinking, such as how Madame Zolta, his New York dance instructor, auditions dancers by feeling them up. I'll admit he's strange. And don't forget, he hates Chris and Paul because he just has a gut feeling that Cathy's sleeping with all her male relatives. His mother, Madame Marisha, senses this too.
Madame Marisha and Julian are the only reasons I keep re-reading this book because I got the most out of their characters. Yet there is much to like about V.C. Andrews books, especially Petals. And for those who are worried that Corrine will get away with her crimes, she does not. All throughout this book, Cathy plots and schemes and connives to get her way, and to make those who hurt her pay. Yet some things are left unsolved.
Many will say that the mystery surrounding the events, and the characters, is enough to drive you crazy. One thing is for sure, her books keep you guessing, even after the last page is turned.

Rating:
Summary: A Time to Live
Review: Now living with benevolent stranger Dr. Paul Sheffield, the remaining Dresden dolls are given a second shot at life on the outside. Cathy, now referred to more often as Catherine, begins attending dance classes where she partners up with Julian Marquet (not his real last name. Like Cathy, he too switches surnames like socks). Cathy, as a ballerina, decides to go by the name Catherine Dahl. She and "Jule" fly off to New York together to become big stars, while Carrie is taunted by little rich girls at a snobby private school, and then switches to a public one, where she is treated a little better. Cathy's beloved Chris is on his way to becoming a doctor and he is also the object of many girls' fantasies, yet he is still in love (or should I say obsessed) with Cathy. She rejects him repeatedly by sleeping with numerous guys (Paul, Julian, Bart), and I must say that most of the other relationships she has are also incestuous. So just what is she exactly proving?
I did like this book, which is the second installment in the Dollanganger saga which already includes greed, betrayal and incest. Why not add revenge to the mix?

Rating:
Summary: a new beginning
Review: cathy, chris and carrie finally escape and try to lead normal lifes. but how can they? they have a mother who want acknowledge
their existence, cory is dead and a horrible past that you just
can't sit down and talk to anyone about over a cup of cappucinno.
but cathy has decided that her mother must pay at all costs. she
plots for her big revenge against the mother and grandmother who
wronged four children so badly that the finale to see how she
pulls this off is well worth getting the second book in this series.

Rating:
Summary: One after another---
Review: The second in the series from Flowers in the Attic...gets better & better. I'd love to re-read them. Just need to find the time. I'll never forget these stories.

Rating:
Summary: One of Andrews Best!!
Review: Petals on the Wind is a good book. It is a really good book because it has lots of mysterious, strange, and enjoyable events. It was a very detailed book; V.C. Andrews does a good job at that. Andrews really explains events well and will not get you lost. Anyone interested in this book should really find it easy to read. This book was so fun to read, I could not put it down. There was not one thing that I disliked about this book it was good until the very end.

If you are familiar with Andrews books, you'll know that she likes to write many in series. This sereies of books are about the Dollanganger family. There are five books in the series all together. To really understand this book it would help if you read Flowers In the Attic first. You'll really enjoy this book and the secrets that lie behind Foxworth Hall.

Rating:
Summary: Geat Sequal!
Review: This is the second book in the very famous Dollanganger series by V. C. Andrews, and it definitely rivals the first. The kids are heading out into the world after escaping their heartless mother and evil grandmother. Helpless and nowhere to go, a kind doctor takes them in with a very dark past of his own. Things seem to be looking up. Carrie finally gets to be with other children, Chris is going to be a very sucessful doctor, and Cathy is headed toward ballet dancer stardom. But, like before, their world will come crashing down. Chris's vision is clouded by his love for Cathy, Carrie is destroyed when she can't find acceptance from her classmates because of her differences, and Cathy can't get past the dark need for revenge against her mother. It all comes to a very amazing and surprising climax. This book is GREAT! Very tear-jerking in certain parts. Especialy the scene with Carrie. You will love it!