Last  I week I reviewed Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews. It was the first, and one of the few, books that Andrews actually wrote before her death. After which, Andrew Neiderman took over as her ghostwriter. Today I’m going to review the second book in the series, Petals on the Wind. There will be spoilers.

Synopsis

They were such brave children to withstand such suffering. Such clever children to escape such terror!

For Carrie, Chris and Cathy, the attic was a dark horror that would not leave their minds, even while they built bright, promising new lives. Of course mother had to pretend they didn’t exist.

And Grandmother was convinced they had the devil in them.

But that wasn’t their fault. Was it? Cathy knew what to do.

She now had the powers she had learned from her beautiful mother. She knew it in the way her brother still yearned for her, in the way her guardian touched her, in the way all men looked at her.

She knew it was time to put what she knew to the test. To show her mother and grandmother that the pain and terror of the attic could not be forgotten… Show them.

Show them—once and for all.

My Thoughts

Petals on the Wind is actually the most memorable book in the series, to me. It spans a huge chunk of time. It begins with Chris, Cathy and Carrie escaping on the train to go to Florida but Carrie gets sick and they happen to meet Dr. Paul Sheffield who takes them in as his wards. From there this story spans over ten years. Chris becomes a doctor, Carrie commits suicide and Cathy, well, Cathy does A LOT. This entire story is about Cathy’s quest for revenge against her mother and grandmother. Along the way she has two kids (one of those is with her mother’s husband), performs as a ballerina and finally gets her revenge. I love this entire book except for Paul and Cathy’s relationship. I’m sure if you’re reading this review you’ve probably read the books, but the fact that he was a man in his early forties who was attracted to a fifteen year old really grosses me out. It’s made to seem like it was just impossible for him to resist Cathy’s charms. He was a doctor and she was a severely psychologically damaged teen so one would assume he would get her therapy, not have sex with her. However, this is a V.C. Andrews’ story so there has to be a healthy amount of depraved activities.

Petals on the Wind ends with Chris, Cathy and her kids moving out to California to start over. I’m probably going to review another book next week but I’ll pick up with the third in this series, If There Be Thorns, the week after next. If you’ve read this series, which book was your favorite? Thanks for reading and have a great day!