My Sweet Audrina (Audrina, #1) in V.C. Andrews

Apr 06, 2015 Leigh rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, family-saga, 2015, 2017, before-goodreads, old-favourites, audio, 2019, read-as-a-child-or-teen, 2023

I haven't read this book since I was a teenager and I forgot just how insane it was. It was pure melodrama, soap opera trash and I am almost ashamed to admit I loved every minute of it! The story revolves around Audrina Adare, a girl with a swiss cheese memory. She is unable to recall her age, what the date is, the time, the year, and even the season. Is she really seven, is she nine, what happened to age eight? She lives in a grand old mansion called Whitefern, which sets the book up to be a cr I haven't read this book since I was a teenager and I forgot just how insane it was. It was pure melodrama, soap opera trash and I am almost ashamed to admit I loved every minute of it! The story revolves around Audrina Adare, a girl with a swiss cheese memory. She is unable to recall her age, what the date is, the time, the year, and even the season. Is she really seven, is she nine, what happened to age eight? She lives in a grand old mansion called Whitefern, which sets the book up to be a creepy gothic story V.C. Andrews is known for. She lives with her parents, her father Damian who is abusive to his family, a liar and a cheat, her mother Lucky a pianist who gave her dreams to marry Damian, her aunt Ellsbeth who is bitter about what life has handed her and cousin Vera. Vera is a true villain in this book and frankly she is what keeps things interesting. Need a plot twist or some action, throw Vera in and she'll break a bone, or say or do something outrageous. Audrina lives an isolated life at first, not allowed to attend school and forced to sit in her dead sister's (also named Audrina) rocking chair to receive her "gifts". Audrina gains her independence slowly when she meets Arden Lowe after sneaking off to the woods without telling her father. I won't say much about Arden except I really did not like him at all. Arden lives with his mother Billie in a cottage on the other side of the woods. Audrina's life turns tragic when her mother dies in child birth. The baby Sylvia is mentally handicapped and when she finally comes home is placed solely in Audrina's charge. As Audrina grows some memories of her past begin to filter in but she is unable to make sense of much of it. Characters begin to die off. This is almost more funny than tragic as they all die the exact same way and for some reason the police don't seem to care or even try to investigate. Audrina and Arden eventually marry, and Arden proves he is just as abusive as Damian is, Vera remains larger than life throughout the story and in the end the shocking truth of Audrina's past is revealed showing that the Adare/Whitefern family is even more crazy than the Dollanganger/Foxworth family any day. Though the story was so out there and had many things that made me question the author, like how many people call fall down the stairs and die without the police digging in to find out what's happening, and how can someone have diabetes, not know it and still have the energy to compete at a professional level? That plus losing both your legs from a simple cut from a skate is also ridiculous. I have tended to sores on my diabetic mother's feet and legs,(she's had it for 48 years) and though it was slow they healed and she still has both feet and all ten toes. But even though those things made me shake my head, I just went along with it, because really this isn't a book you can take too seriously. It's a book you read to escape and have fun with. I am so glad I decided to take 2015 to re-read my old V.C. Andrews, so far I have been surprised at how much I have enjoyed the stories. I'll have to see if I feel the same way when I get to the ghostwritten books. I only plan on reading up to the Logan series as I've heard she either left notes or outlines until the end of that series and I can't stomach re-reading those miniseries books again. ...more

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Sep 12, 2013 Michaela Riley rated it really liked it

I loved this book! I read it with in two days, I couldn't put it down. It kept me guessing since the first page. I fell in love with the characters and I found myself loathing most of them by the end. V.C Andrews is a talented writer and always has beautiful descriptions.

SPOILER:

I wanted Audrina and Arden to be together. I was delighted by the melancholy ending. It was sweet or sour. I hated Arden for having an affair with Vera. Why couldn't he see how evil and vindictive she was?! I feel so sr ...more

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Mar 22, 2014 George Deoso rated it it was amazing

Shelves: gothic, bestseller, vc-andrews

This is my favorite VC Andrews book. Ever. Besides the fact that she turned away from incest, it was one of those weird stories which makes you cringe to the bones without actually reading extravagant violence throughout. I bought the first edition with keyhole and stepback cover which is a great thing because it makes the book more gothic in every sense of the word.

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Jul 23, 2021 Anette rated it it was ok

The Attic-series have been a guilty pleasure of mine since I was a teen. But this didn't have any of it qualities. Predictable from the start and quite bad too. ...more

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