Ruby

Rating:
Summary: I love this book!
Review: I found this book while looking through my sisters things and it looked boring, but it is so true that u can never judge a book by its cover. Ruby is an exciting and entertaining book.And it is so easy to get caught up in whats happening in it.This book caught me hooked on V.C Andrews and I would recommend it to anyone.

Rating:
Summary: Readable
Review: I gave this book 3 stars because it did, in the end, achieve what it set out to do: it got me to buy the other books in the series. And it was an interesting read and a fast one. That being said, however, I think that this series more than any other (by V.C. Andrews) made me angry. I know that Andrews' characters are known for their...passivity, but Ruby really took it too far. She let everyone from her drunken, redneck grandpere to her to her whorish, jealous twin sister walk all over her. To tell you the truth, by the end of this first book, I was almost rooting for Giselle! At least she had a reason to act the way she did! She had been spoiled by her father, neglected by her adopted mother...she had to face the fact that her history wasn't what she had been told. She had to accept that she not only had a twin sister, but that the very same twin sister was moving into her house and usurping her place in her daddy's heart. And then? Then her sister stole her boyfriend! So...basically anything she wanted to do to Ruby was pretty much okay with me.

And speaking of the boyfriend...

Beau Andres was the most shallow, boorish, unlikable male lead I have ever come across. He dumped Giselle for Ruby, claiming to be oh so appreciative of her sweet virginity. Then at the first chance he gets he rapes her in her art studio! I don't care if she ended up enjoying the climax or not! She pleaded with him to stop about 50 times and he wouldn't! RAPE! And the fact that Ruby views this act not for the assault it is but for an indication of "love" is sickening. Their whole relationship was sickening...throughout this first book I kept hoping she'd run back to the swamps. I'd much rather have seen [having sex] with her brother than this lout. At least her brother treated her with some respect.

Still, in the end, the author did do a good enough job on the characters for me to get so angry with them...which I guess connotes good writing. Of a sort. My advice? Read it but take it with a grain of salt.

Rating:
Summary: Makes me want to visit more
Review: I have always had a deep fascination with the deep America South. the V.C. Andrews books are great in that they are easy to read and give me a nice insight to that part of America. Ruby kept me turning the pages to the end and satisfied my need to read something easy but highly entertaining. The book deals with age old family issues as well as those of the occult. A lovely balance to read.

Rating:
Summary: It's like glue
Review: I read Ruby, All that Glitters and Pearl in the Mist in a week. ALL 3 books in a week. I couldnt put it down. I loved that the books were based in the south. i live in alabama and have been to new orleans many times and loved it. now i cant wait to go back! a must read!

Rating:
Summary: Review for Ruby
Review: I really love this book, though I didn't love the main character which was the reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5. Ruby was completely whiny and weak. It was very annoying and I'm sure you will find it annoying too. Some people will probably bash me for this but Ruby's "evil" twin Gisselle is much better! She's spoiled, selfish, manipulative, everything a villianess should be. I actually found myself rooting for her when she did those bad things to Ruby in this book and in Pearl in the Mist. If you like the storybook villians you will love Gisselle!

Rating:
Summary: The BEST!
Review: I started reading V.C. Andrews books at the age of 12. They are the best. I love the way its about familys and it kinda teaches you about things in life. I have read every single book that she has ever written and im going to be buying the new book that comes out in June. This family here was my favorte family because it was the very first one that I read by V.C. Andrews. Also whats this about a ghost writer this is the first i have heard of this but from what I have gathered is that when V.C. Andrews died that she left it to her daughters to finish writeing in her name. But thats just what i read that it is now her two daughters that is writeing her books but under her name. Im not saying that im right that just from what i read.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: I started reading V.C. Andrews' novels well over 5 years ago in my high school library. I was never a fan of novels but after reading "Heaven" I was amazed. Andrews' novels always have a way of wanting you to read more that you somehow can't put the book down. Personally, "Ruby" and its series are my faves. As in all of her novel series, it makes you feel like you're part of the story and you're the main character. Andrews paints the picture so well and describes the most trivial things perfectly in her stories. I've yet to collect ALL her series... I'm done with the Logan series and I'm working on the Landry series :)

Rating:
Summary: the start of a great siries!
Review: im hooked by this book I can tell its going to keep getting better read this book and the siris youll fall in to the story and think your living though it

Rating:
Summary: First Book in the Landry Family Series
Review: In "Ruby," we go deeper into the South, into Cajun country (Houma, Louisiana), where 15-year-old Ruby Landry lives in poverty with her grandparents, Grandmere Catherine and Grandpere Jack, never knowing who her parents were (her mother's dead, and her father is unknown at the moment). This is also one of the few books where the reader is aware of the time period in which the book takes place--the early 1960s.

As is typical with every V. C. Andrews heroine, Ruby has tremendous artistic talent and is encouraged by her grandmother to pursue her dreams of becoming a successful painter. However, several life-altering secrets arise to detour her from doing so. For starters, Ruby finds out her boyfriend (Paul Tate) is really her half-brother. (Imagine that.) Yet that doesn't really bother either of them, because they still get hot and heavy. Forbidden fruit and all that, I guess.

Ruby's second surprise comes when she finds a photo of her father, Pierre Dumas, and discovers that she has a twin sister living with him somewhere in New Orleans. Shortly after Grandmere Catherine confesses all of this, she dies, leaving Ruby in the care of her despicable, alcoholic Grandpere Jack, which was an obvious mistake, because he tries to sell her just like he did with her other two illegitimate siblings. So, Ruby flees Houma and searches for her wealthy family in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, a terrifically authentic setting that horror writer Anne Rice uses quite often in her own books; and it works just fine for V. C. Andrews as well in this series.

It's always interesting when I shop for V. C. Andrews books, because either her books are tucked away in the romance section, or they're mislabeled as horror. I've even found them in the kids section, but those are usually the recent miniseries books. While "Flowers in the Attic," for one, could probably be considered horror, most of her books are just dramatic family sagas, aka general fiction. There's nothing remotely scary about these books. It's more psychological, involving lurid family secrets (like rape and incest, which are hardly romance-friendly topics); that's probably why these books are branded "gothic horror."

Anyway, "Ruby" pretty much follows the same paint-by-numbers storyline that has been haunting practically every latter-day series by V. C. Andrews. Yet this is still a captivating series, filled with Cajun-style superstitions and horrible family secrets. Following "Ruby" comes "Pearl in the Mist" (#2), "All That Glitters" (#3), "Hidden Jewel" (#4), and "Tarnished Gold" (#5).

Rating:
Summary: Awesome Reading
Review: My opinion may be a little biased since I love all that V.C. Andrews has written but, Ruby is definately great reading. Almost immediately you'll become so enthralled with the story and the events as they unfold that you'll find it difficult to put it down. When you have to you'll be left with feelings of despair and sadness and won't be able to think of anything else until you find out what's going to happen next. Very gripping story with almost too real characters. A must have!