One of the worst books I've ever read. I should have stopped reading it early in the story but I was hoping that at some point it would get better. It didn't.

An utter waste of time.

Unlike many others, I cannot say that V.C. Andrews was part of my adolescence. I loved 19th-century English and French literature and historical fiction series. So when Broken Flower was in a box at a recent book sale fundraiser for the local library, I thought "Why not?"

Told from the perspective of seven-year-old Jordan March, we are introduced to her family—her parents, who always fight, Ian, her intelligent but odd older brother, and Grandmother Emma, the matriarch who rules with an iron fist. As the story begins, Jordan's mother discovers that her young daughter is already going through puberty. Quickly, it becomes a secret that must be kept from Grandma Emma. To no one's surprise, this sets off a chain of events where things start happening to the family.

As for my thoughts, I am relieved to learn that Kindle Unlimited has book 2 Scattered Leaves available because I am invested enough to know what happens to Jordan. The children and the adults all carried this scent of strange behaviour. Quickly, I learned that no one can exist in a V.C. Andrews novel and be 100% innocent. Not to mention the relief I felt as a reader when something awful would happen to them. Although I did, in a very odd way, like Grandma Emma in the end. Now Christopher, Jordan's dad, holy crow, talk about the evolution of a character throughout the story!!


I look forward to more crazy in the future!



Goodreads review published 08/10/24

After taking a break from VC Andews books... I picked up this one about a 7 year old girl who is thrown into womanhood and the curses of it. Then her life falls downhill as things unravel. I actually enjoyed this book and read it in about 1.5 days or so. I picked up the second book to this series and will be starting it soon!

not bad but I bet the sequel is more interesting

I realise that when one purchases a VC Andrews, particularly one written after VC Andrews herself died, that one is opening themselves up to a certain type of work. Odds are, at some point during the book, there will be an incestuous relationship. There will be a smattering of ineffectual parents, and a domineering male. These are staples of the commercial institution that has become the Andrews estate. In the most recent books, homosexuality has also been introduced.

This book, however, adds the new character with precocious puberty, a medical condition which may or may not be linked to exposure to BGH in children. However, instead of properly handling the early sexual onset of the character, "Andrews" makes her an object of ridicule, of precocious sexuality, and makes the adults unaware of the issue. The LAST THING any girl with this condition needs is to read this book, with all the emotions and psychological trauma that are inherent in coming of age so young. I thought this was handled recklessly and poorly, and would like to register my displeasure, even within the inherently more sexual frame of "VC Andrews."

excellent

Usually I love vc andrews since she's such a good guilty pleasure author but this book was not nearly as good as the others. I grabbed it randomly at the library so it's not a big deal but I was kinda disappointed. Granted it was written by a ghostwriter so I didnt have super high expectations anyway! I will probably read the rest in the series at some point but I can wait.

This is an okay book. There's nothing really compelling about the storyline, prose, etc, but somehow it kept me chugging on till the end. I don't think I've got enough stamina, however, to read through the sequel. But it had some highlights when the story twisted and ebbed in unpredictable but still kinda logical directions.

VC Andrews is my guilty pleasure reading...and I generally go back to her when I can't get into anything else for some reason. Most of the time, I love her books! This book made me come to a conclusion that I like her old stuff...she lost her story telling ability somewhere along the line I think...who knows, maybe this was just a bad book. I am going to read the second one in the series anyway, despite how much I disliked this one...hopefully that one is better.

This is her most recent series (I think actually written in 06 or something fairly recent) and I must say, she really needs to change with the times herself if she's going to write a story set in modern day...if she can't, than stick to settings back in older eras. For example, she made it seem like the family would be outlawed for the parents choosing to get a divorce. In these times?? Come'on now! Divorce is not looked at like a plague anymore. This book mostly annoyed me, the main character (who was a 6 year old girl) was impossible to relate to, and seemed like a complete moron of a child most of the time. This book also seemed to drag and lacked the usual edge of your seat excitement that VC Andrews usually provides.

A seemingly predictable book that is actually very unpredictable. An emotional story that does not leave aside emotion and suspense. A highly recommended book for those who want to see the hidden and hard side of everyday things.

When your friends tell you to read V.C. Andrews, trust me, they don't mean this book. There's disturbing, and then there's this.