wow. great sequel!

This has to stop, seriously. When Neiderman first ghostwrote for VCA, he did a decent job. I liked the Cutler series, and he did a good job of finishing up the books that VCA had started but didn't finish for the Dollanganger and Casteel series. The Landry and Logan series, while not the best, were still very decent, and I enjoyed them. However, it all started to go downhill with Orphans. That was not what VCA would have written. I endured the Hudson and DeBeers series with disgust. Broken Wings and Gemini were intolerable.

April wasn't a real heroine. There were no horrible, dark secrets (her father's secret was laughable) and no real family secrets at all. This book focused a lot her stumbling (and unrealistic) explorations of her own sexuality as well as her struggle with weight. It seems as if the ghostwriter is venting his dislike of fat people because April is obsessed about her weight and everyone else makes fun of her, and in this book the struggle continues and is contrived and predictable in many places. (Neiderman shows his fatphobia in a LOT of his books)

The scene where she was in the bath with the young deaf girl was creepy and in appallingly poor taste - it read exactly like the kind of fantasy you'd expect from a sick old man.

It also seems that Neiderman has a problem with deaf characters, as in the Logan series, May was portrayed as weak and fragile and helpless, and the deaf girl in this book is portrayed the same way, in a unfunny and unsympathetic caricature. Disappointing.

... And we STILL don't know if April is straight, gay, or bi. It was just a huge mess for a series that Neiderman claimed was 'groundbreaking' for having a supposedly LGBT+ main character.

one of the best, most loved series/authors of all time. V.C. Andrews books are something so easily recognizable and new books continue to evolve to go with the times and bring in a whole new generation of loving readers

Good book

Loved it sorry it ended hope they will do a follow up with a new one to see want happens

Cringy. I didn’t choose this book, it was leant to me to read and I hadn’t read the first book either so wasn’t fully up to date on what had happened previously but she often referred to her past. I didn’t like it at all really, I found it patronising and the characters shallow and unrealistic. That said I got to the point where I did need to finish it to find out what happened.

Na de dood van haar ouders en de breuk met haar zus komt de 17-jarige April (ik-figuur) in huis bij een oude dame en haar dove kleindochter Echo. Ze voelt zich er thuis en probeert haar evenwicht terug te vinden. Alles verandert als na jaren Echo's moeder met een vriend terugkeert. April wordt door hen gechanteerd en bedreigd waardoor ze opnieuw in een nachtmerrie terecht komt. Dan moet blijken of ze zo zelfstandig is geworden dat ze haar leven in eigen hand kan nemen en schaduwen op afstand kan houden. Een roman die je leest alsof je deelnemer bent aan het verhaal en direct belang hebt bij de afloop. Het boek is het tweede en laatste deel in de 'Schaduw'-serie.

Thankfully Girl in the Shadows was better than its predecessor. Mainly because it cut away most of the old characters and introduced Echo, who is far more interesting. And April grows up a little and stops being horrifically whiny.

i really
liked how confident & sure of herself April became in this book. the characters of Rhona & skeeter were interesting. perfect examples of deadbeat users. i hated how devastated Evho became after seeing what type of person her mom really was. i hated how tyler treated April, he really acted like a user who didn’t care. i got worried when MRs weztington got sick. i was scared that she was going to die. I liked the ending a lot. it gave all of the characters a happy but not sappy ending & great start towards a new life.

Amusing book. Typical Virgina Andrews book. Liked it much better than the first book, the characters are far more interesting. The last part of the book is also kinda thriller-ish. All in all; a good read :)

I've never hated a character as much as I hated Rhona. Wow.

It was a wonderful and satisfying book, but I couldn't help but think there were a few threads still left at the end.

Possibly the worst book I have ever read.

This reminded me of a book they made me read at college called Eden Close. If you make the first-person protagonist female you kinda have the same story, just a bit more American. With a weird doll thrown in, too. No idea, really.