Secret Brother (Diaries, #3) in V.C. Andrews

Sep 25, 2015 Shay rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I see a lot of people here gave the book a chance and gave it 1 star based on how crappy the book actually is but I'm here as a fan of the original VCA books and I'm admitting up front that I'm giving this book 1 star based on the blasphemous premise.

I wasn't looking forward to Neiderman giving us "new details" about the Dollanganger family BECAUSE THAT'S NOT HIS PLACE TO DO SO. He is FINISHED with the Dollanganger and Casteel series. Everything after that is original characters and original (l I see a lot of people here gave the book a chance and gave it 1 star based on how crappy the book actually is but I'm here as a fan of the original VCA books and I'm admitting up front that I'm giving this book 1 star based on the blasphemous premise.

I wasn't looking forward to Neiderman giving us "new details" about the Dollanganger family BECAUSE THAT'S NOT HIS PLACE TO DO SO. He is FINISHED with the Dollanganger and Casteel series. Everything after that is original characters and original (lol) plots. Fine by me. Write under her name if you must. But stop fucking with Virginia's original stories and characters, she held them close to her heart, fyi. The "unknown" details died with her. The best they could do is release her notes about the series. Which would still be shaky, as anyone who's heard the plot of "Where the Greener Grass Grows" would know. (The title of the first draft of the sequel to "Flowers" which was scrapped, rewritten and ultimately became "Petals").

I don't care if this book was a masterpiece of storytelling and prose. How dare Neiderman bring Cory back to life!? He has no right to screw with her story. He has no right to retcon her books to such a giant extent. Talk about taking liberties... Fans accepted his Garden of Shadows prequel well enough (Probably because they kept her death a fucking secret for the next 4 books, so they could transition in the ghostwriter's novels with no trouble) but the Diary series is utter bullshit. It's obvious the publisher, the ghostwriter and VCA's nieces and nephews are beating a dead horse for profit. I don't care what anyone says, those books are NOT canon. Cory is dead. This is "fan" fiction for profit (at best) to me.

How does the family defend themselves anymore? They should just admit they like living off the royalties from their aunts name and don't give one fuck about the integrity of it. I bet they still print that one thing on the publication page: "Following the death of Virginia Andrews her family worked with a carefully selected writer to organize and complete Virginia's stories and to expand upon them by creating additional novels inspired by her storytelling genius."

...if I roll my eyes any harder they just might fall out of my head.

EDIT to add that they *don't* have that little blurb anymore because they are trying HARD lately to hide the ghostwriter and pass off the books as being written by VCA. They just outright lie nowadays and print "by the author of Flowers in the Attic!" on the cover of these new books. ...more

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Aug 11, 2015 Jess rated it did not like it · review of another edition

I have to say I'm not surprised with how disappointing this book was. I don't understand why the story was not focused on Cory (poisoned boy). Based on the original book Flowers in the attic Cory died. ...more

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Jul 06, 2015 Penny rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jul 06, 2015 Ishanie rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Awful.

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Jan 26, 2015 Kristi rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Good

Decent story line. Read it in one day, now time to pass down to one of my friends who loves VC Andrews(and the ghost writer) as much as I do.

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