Rating: 
Summary: Lightning doesn't strike twice
Review: It goes to show you that sometimes Lighting *doesn't* strike twice. When it comes to V. C. Andrews books, it has "struck" for a long, long time. I know most of the more recent reviews here praise this book being "wonderful", the "best I've ever read"...blah, blah. But, honestly, you want to *real* truth? Okay. I know you do. We find Rain going to London and being the help of her Aunt and Uncle in secret. They don't know her true identity. During this time, she goes to a music school and falls in love, out of love and all the teenage melodrama that has saturated these books since the Ghostwriter took over. We also see Rain on a quest for her real father and we even see Roy again. And ,of course, Rain finds out some secrets that her realtives keep hidden in closed down cottages. And...that's about it. Yep, that's it. Nothing more and nothing less. Call this "Rain's little adventures in London". The book copies many elements of the Cutler series to similar scenes to right down to actually wording. Oh yeah, it also has a little Casteel "mystery" to it but not as pronounced. To be honest, there really isn't anything in this book WORTH celebrating. I could get more drama in a daytime soap opera--during a slow week. Everything was just predictable. You've read the Cutler series? You even *remember* the Cutler series? Then you've got Lightning Strikes. I could have given it a lower score, but I find this to be an improvement from the previous novels. A little more interesting, but not that much.
Rating: 
Summary: Boo! Hiss! to V.C. ghostwriters on this one!!!!!
Review: "Lightning Strikes" is the second installment in the Hudson series. I really had a hard time getting into this second installment....not only were the characters pretty dull and boring...but Rain disappoints me with her behavior with the men she encounters along her journey in London.
Rating: 
Summary: Rain in London
Review: I'll make this short:
I like this book better then Rain. I also like how the writer put her in London. I don't think any other of the characters have traveled outside of the USA and it was a nice change of pace, like going on vacation without moving an inch. Rain's reunion with the father she never met was kind of sad but as they form a tenative bond it becomes happier.
Rating:
Summary: ...Alright...
Review: I must admit, I haven't read Rain, skimmed through Eye of the Storm, and read End of the Rainbow... but I haven't read the Cutler series, so I am a little confued on how this book is just like it.... Im currently going from begining to end... I read the Attic series, and the first two Casteel books. I read this book a while ago, so I forgot a few details... Anyways, I've read over twenty books of Andrews, but I must say.... this book is a copy. You mught as well scan one book, put a new title on it, and try to call it something different!! Incest by her thought-to-be brother??! Please!!! Close your legs!! Why are all these girls so weak and eager to have sex, especially with brothers?? They say they are resisting in the book, but, ummm, no, they aren't! I just dont like the incest, and average girls dont have sex with their brothers! Sorry.... Anyways, it was downright OK, not good, not bad, OK! I like learning about London, and her uncle or whatever was sooo weird! That stuff I like, the gothic darkness... and that little weak maid Mary Lou or something... wow! That bustler (Bogs?) was like a regular V.C. character, nice... But I must say... these girls need to forget their family problems... I mean, my dad's mom cheated on her husband with his best friend, and had my dad, and he didnt find out until he was twenty three.... but he didnt go searching for his birth parents!! Why are they so important, if they cared, they'd let you know!!! My dad says blood may be thick... but who your known-to-be-parents are the REAL thing! They raised you!! Who cares who gave birth to you??? A suggestion, can on girl be strong, have no brother who "can't look at other girls without seeing their faces instead" and not go "in search of their BLOOD realitives" becuase if they wanted you, they'd let you know!!!!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Andrews keeps on doing it, well her writer does.
Review: Many may not know it, but VC Andrews passed away a few years or so ago and her kids hired a writer to finish up her books. So far this writer has done a wonderful job. Although I did not care for the little mini series as much as the regular series books. Lightning Strikes continues the story of Rain. It kept me up the first night reading till I was about 1/2 way through the book. I can never seem to put VC Andrews books down anyway, but this one I just couldnt find a good spot to stop. Usually I can stop at a chapter end, but not with this one. You just want to keep reading and reading and find out what is going to happen next. You want to know more about the secrets of Rain's past. This book reminds me of all the other regular VC Andrews series from Flowers in the Attic and on. I cant wait for the next book in the series to come out. This book is a must read, along with the FIRST in the series "Rain" for any VC Andrews fan as well as anyone looking for a great story to read.
Rating:
Summary: Boo! Hiss! to V.C. ghostwriters on this one!!!!!
Review: "Lightning Strikes" is the second installment in the Hudson series. I really had a hard time getting into this second installment....not only were the characters pretty dull and boring...but Rain disappoints me with her behavior with the men she encounters along her journey in London.
Rating: 
Summary: The Title Fits
Review: I don't know if this was the worst book in the Hudson series, but it was certainly one of the most boring.
First of all, the characters were so painfully one-dimensional that it hurt just to read their dialogue. The two sisters were the worst!!! Rain was so trashy, sleeping with Randall not long after she met him, and then sleeping with her so-called brother. She was definitely worse than Cathy from the Dollanganger series. At least Cathy had enough psychological damage that I could understand why she would want to run from one man to another. But Rain, she slept with guys because they were there, but most importantly, cause they were willing. Reading this book became a game of counting the seconds between when Rain met a guy and the moment she dropped her pants. That is the reason why the title is so appropriate. And my guess is that if pants-dropping frequency is any way to judge the distance of a storm (perhaps, metaphorically, an emotional storm), this one's not receding. And you can bet that by the end of the next book, Rain will have broken some kind of record (girl who has gotten laid the most in one year). As for her father's two little children, don't even get me started on them. "Yes Mommy, please do read your poem about the dancing clown!" AHHHHHHHHHH!
And for those of you who were shocked by her great-uncle's behavior, let me suggest that you read some of V.C. Andrews earlier books. Like, perhaps, the Casteel series and Unfinished Symphony (Spike).
Rating:
Summary: So Bad ... Why It's Almost Painful...
Review: Not bad in a good way either. Rain is a character of minimal personality. Likely someone our MALE ghost writer has fantasized up for lonely nights judging from her busy pants-dropping schedule that was so detailed in the book.
Funny how every second book the character has to have sex with their step-brother... It is so disgustingly Dawn/Jimmy. In fact, the whole series is of an African American version of Dawn! Purely predictable, yet still trashy! I don't know how on earth that the ghost writer will manage to ever top this stench pit called the Hudson series, but all the same I will eagerly waste my 8.00 for a copy just to observe it's tackiness...
Rating:
Summary: The Cliches Just Keep Coming
Review: Yes, it behooves me to admit I read Part II of the so-called "thrilling" Hudson series. And more than likely, I'll be reading the last one as well. I forgot to mention my problem about the characterization of Rain's sister Beni from the first book. Why was the darker-skinned sister portrayed as the troublemaker? I think the Andrews ghost-writers need a little sensitivity training (amongst other things). Talk about catering to stereotypes. Was I hoping that somehow, the ghost writer(s) would vindicate themselves by allowing Rain to become more than a single-dimensional figure? I was obviously asking for way too much. The tawdry tale thus far...Rain Arnold ends up in London, once again taking the world by storm (no pun intended). On her way to theatrical bliss, she finds her real father, gets laid twice, and discovers that her psycho uncle likes to play dress-up with little maids in a dollhouse. Meanwhile, back at home, Rain has become a filthy rich heiress, and her real family isn't thrilled in the least. Haven't we done this already? Not that I'm a prude, but what's this with all the unsafe sex? Why can't a V.C. Andrews novel feature a female character who isn't dropping her panties in every third or fourth chapter? I don't mind sex in a novel when it makes sense, like in romances, where there are two people expressing love in a physical way. And I'm sorry, but Rain having sex with her brother/not brother is the height of tacky. It may have worked for shock value in the Dollenganger Series, but like much of the V.C. Andrews staples, has become too predictable. Are there some unresolved issues in the Andrews' family that should be coming out? Let me give the writers of this stuff a word of advice. If you're looking to emulate the great gothic novelists of the past, do yourselves a favour and READ THEM!
Rating:
Summary: Pure trash
Review: I don't know why I even bothered wasting my money on this book; it was so bad. There was one thing that really bothered me with this book and the one prior. Why is it that Rain is always sleeping with someone? Corbette, Roy, and later that red-headed doofus in the third book. She comes off as quite a slut; kinda like a cheap, stupid, nasty version of Cathy. I didn't like Rain and I don't know why this book was ever published...
| 
