Ahh, V.C. Andrews. The purplest prose of all purple prose.

Although I do, admittedly, like this book, there are a few points that I'm having trouble with.

1. Andrews has (had?) a tendency to leave rather important details out before getting back to them. Such as Cathy's wedding date to Julian, or the fact she found Cory's body. It'd be nice if it was mentioned during the time.

2. The last quarter is very rushed. I wonder if Andrews had initially meant for the book to another hundred of so pages longer but pressures from publishers and/or editors forced her to cut back.

3. Cathy sure likes abusive men. She also sure likes older men. Is that the real reason she didn't want to be with Chris- not because he's her brother, but because he's not ten years older?

4. Why did she seduce Paul so early on?

5. How the hell did Cathy get to become such a successful ballerina after living in an attic for three years and four months? That sort of time period without a teacher would have left her years and years behind her peers.

It's a very, very strange novel, but I can't help but enjoy it.