Hidden Leaves

Rating:
Summary: the only good book of V.C. Andrews, by far...
Review: This is honestly, the best book of V.C.Andrews that I have read, since she died and good old chauvenist segragating friend, Andy Neiderman came around...
I enjoyed Claude, he was realistic, because you know, sorry to break it to you, but, MALE AUTHORS WRITE IN THE MALE POV BETTER. There was none of the usual girl-from-dreams lame little "oh gentelmen, pick up my coat and we'll have an affair, 'kay?" and best of all, no incest, a first for VCA.
It was also surprizingly vivid, and it wasn't drug out for an impossible amount of pages with useless sex scenes and daddy just beat me, I think most people complained about this. I don't see why, it was a doll of a book just *because* it was shorter, and it had a terrific ending.
So, I actually can honestly say that I liked this better than most all V.C. Andrews books. I'm not even bothering with the rest of the series, I read Willow (which was also pretty well-written, though not that wonderful, because Bunny was too much of a Jillian copy and insulted my name), hated the one after it, because, well, it was shallow and idiotic, and stopped.
However, the male narrator of this book intrigued me, so I bought it. I was glad that I did.
I didn't buy this book as a die-hard V.C. fan (no, I'm not buying any book of V.C.'s that doesn't sound interesting as a *book* anymore), it didn't follow the general pattern of all the other books, and I never read very many of the books before it.
So, I'm not going suggest this to the usual twelve year old V.C. fans, this isn't really for you, go out and buy yourself some of the other spine-lacking classics that you all seem to enjoy. Try this if you enjoy non-smut romance or drama.
All and all, a very rare 5 stars, from me to a V.C.Andrews novel.

Rating:
Summary: Claude's Side of the Story
Review: This is the final VC Andrews book I'll ever buy. I am giving up on VCA. The recent series (beginning with the Logans) no longer hold that magic I used to experience when reading her books. The ghostwriter (Andrew Neiderman, horror writer) is a lousy author. The stories are too modern, melodramatic and pretty lame. I am sick and tired of reading about a high school girl and her lame high school problems. This was a very disappointing series. There were no secrets left to discover after reading this. Plus, the ghostwriter gets his time frame for the novels in this series screwed up.

Rating:
Summary: Claude's Side of the Story
Review: This was a good enough book. I loved Willow, Into the Woods and on the opposite side, loathed Twisted Roots (The Title: What is this a shampoo ad?). HL falls somewhere in the middle. It was interesting to see things from Claude's point of view but the book felt glossed over. We never really got to see Grace open up about the horrors she experienced and let sunshine into those wounds by way of Claude's love. Instead it was more like-I love her, she loves me, now let's go have some fun rolling in the grass behind the Willow's. Another thing that was maddening was how they made her into the Pollayana of the Mental Institution. Cheering all the other patients up and acting completely sane, how boring and so much like all the other V.C Princesses who go around making everyone instantly happy just by their presence. And then when Claude was struggling to find what to do about the pregnancy that really ticked me off. If he loved Grace so much he could have found a way to be with her without risking his reputation. All he had to do was have her released and then like a year from then join her and their baby. She wouldn't be a patient anymore so he was free to be with her. Instead he has his fling then meekly returns to his snooty wife he doesn't even love except as a prized trophy to show off to his friends. Divorcing his wife would have caused them all a whole lot less loads of pain.
The next book Broken Wings looks.... interesting. From the few chapters I read it seems like it's going to be about 3 antisocial teens who keep drinking themselve's into a coma.

Rating:
Summary: What they should have done...
Review: This was more like a mini-series book with the way the cover was constructed. Had it been up to me, I would have made some stepback art featuring the characters. Who is the girl on the back cover? I don't know. But they should have done like they had the other books and put maybe a picture of Claude and Grace together. I paged through this in the bookstore today and was interested - I would have bought it if I had had more than two and a half dollars on me.