<— SUPER-SALE ALERT!!! And HOLY MOLY YOU GUYS!! Remember THIS one? I think it kick-started SO many of our reading addictions. This was certainly one of my “firsts”. And a ton of us read it when we were way too young. LOL! Kids… teens?
I think I was 13 or maybe 12. Completely inappropriate but OMG I LOVED this book like crazy. It totally marked me. There were so many facets of this book to keep me hooked me and I couldn’t out it down. The abuse, the horrific living conditions, the need to connect and to love and the subsequent results of those needs. GAH!! Taboo, and gut-wrenching and so confusing and SOOOOOO GOOD!
In fact, I remember exactly where I was the day I read it. In our guest bedroom (which I turned into my reading room) ’cause it had a HUGE bed, with a SUPER-MUSHY mattress. Super comfy. And my mom did it all up in various shades of purples, and it smelled so good, and had such a pretty window to look out of. Very plus room indeed. And it was a Saturday, summer vacation, and all of my friends were out and about, swimming and tanning and hanging out, and I holed myself up in that room all day and devoured this. And I can bet you anything, that I had the best day of us all!
I haven’t read it since then, though, so I wonder if it would have the same effect on me?
Martha: Not my first book but my first “obsession” was with Flowers in the attic.
Demetra: …so scandalous back then…
Lisa: I think any story about siblings falling in love with each other is pretty scandalous. My first read into that type was Flowers in the Attic.
Sarah: I was 12 at the time (ok maybe more than a few years) so it might not have quite the same impact on me now…
Dawn: Flowers in the Attic was my favorite book as a teen and Forbidden has the same feel. I loved it- beautifully written. Two young people thrown together in a difficult situation; completing each other. There was no “eww” factor for me at all.
Carrie: yep, i read this – the whole series & then the Heaven series & there was another one that i can’t think of now – when i was 12 or 13. i don’t think i could read them again now. i still have scenes in my head & my heart broke for them over & over again. i was so mad at cathy for most of the series. seriously, my stomach is getting all twisty just thinking about the story as a whole. i LOVED it, i am so happy i read these stories when i did, but idk that i could handle the angsty goodness now. *laugh*
Amy: Wow, everyone is jumping on the male POV bandwagon…there is a new Flowers in the Attic book from Christopher’s POV. *blink blink*
MichelleS: Flowers in the Attic from Christopher’s POV? Oh no no no. I blame VC Andrews for twisting me into what I am now – a perv reader who looks over her shoulder to make sure no one can read what’s on the page! My poor little unicorn heart was so innocent until I read that twisted tale of incest! My poor mom had no idea. I think I was 13. Not old enough.
Rebecka: My first ‘taboo’ read was VC Andrews Flowers in the Attic/Dollanganger Series many moons ago.
Mercedes: The first book that got me reading I read VC Andrews the flowers in the attic series I was hooked. I own all the VC andrews books.
MichelleS: Ooh – Rebecka – that was my fist “crazy sinful” book too – VC Andrews Flowers in the Attic. I read the whole series. I was only about 13 or 14 and it was so shocking. But I wore that poor book out. My poor mom had no idea.
Fabi: Rebecka, I recently re-read Flowers in the Attic. First time I was either pre-teen or early teen. Series still packs a wallop after all these years.
How about you guys?
About book #1:
At the top of the stairs there are four secrets hidden. Blond, beautiful, innocent, and struggling to stay alive…
They were a perfect family, golden and carefree—until a heartbreaking tragedy shattered their happiness. Now, for the sake of an inheritance that will ensure their future, the children must be hidden away out of sight, as if they never existed. Kept on the top floor of their grandmother’s vast mansion, their loving mother assures them it will be just for a little while. But as brutal days swell into agonizing months and years, Cathy, Chris, and twins Cory and Carrie realize their survival is at the mercy of their cruel and superstitious grandmother…and this cramped and helpless world may be the only one they ever know.
- Flowers In The Attic (Dollanganger Book 1)
- Petals on the Wind (Dollanganger Book 2)
- If There Be Thorns (Dollanganger Book 3)
- Seeds of Yesterday (Dollanganger Book 4)
- Garden of Shadows (Dollanganger Book 5)
- Christopher’s Diary: Secrets of Foxworth (The Diaries series Book 1)
- Christopher’s Diary: Echoes of Dollanganger (The Diaries series Book 2)
- Secret Brother (The Diaries series Book 3) <— expected release date May 26th 2015
The third movie about this series is on lifetime this Easter Sunday , I think at 8pm.
YAY! Thank you Denise!!! *hug*
I read it when I was in 7th grade soooo, 12 years old? We won’t talk about how long ago that was. 😕 When I read Petals on the Wind (book 2), I pretended I was sick on a Saturday so I could hide under my covers and read it without my mom knowing…and I had even snuck the book from the library in my backpack ’cause I didn’t want to check it out and have my mom see it. What??? I returned it when I was done!! Sheesh…
I just looked it up…was it *really* first published way back in 1979?!? I couldn’t even *read* in 1979!
🤗
I was thinkin’ the same thing Amy. I was gonna say what year it was with all of the purple fluffy bedroom decor, but umm… shhhhhhhh… 😉
*snort* It was probably the same year I was hiding under the crazy hot pink comforter on my day bed reading POTW so, yeah…shhhhhhhhh… 😛
Oooooh what is POTW??!!!
POTW = Petals on the Wind. If I remember correctly you can probably start the series with Gardens of Shadows because technically it’s a prequel. I used to read it that way all the time. I couldn’t tell you how many times. I was probably 12 or 13 when I read them. We were a lot older as kids back then. But it was later than 1979…probably more like ’83 or ’84
Thank you Jennifer!! I only read the first one…
We WERE a lot older as kids back then. So right.
Oh, a third movie? There was another one after Flowers in the Attic? I must have missed it.
Petals On the Wind, book 2 of Flowers in the Attic…not quite as scandalous as FITA from what I remember but still waaaaayyyy too grown up for my preteen mind!
Jennifer, I remember that one! I was such an impressionable little junior high school twit though that I actually started getting a sick satisfaction from how mean the grandmother was to the other lady in the story…I can’t remember who that lady was exactly. Wow, I’m getting all kinds of flashback scenes from those books! *giggle*
If you read them order starting from Garden of shadows, FITA, POTW, ITBT, and SOY you get the full effect of how messed up the whole family was. Lol. Theres plenty of reasons why the grandmother was so sadistic and you find that out in Garden. I would probably be mean and hateful too if that all happened to me too. Its hard to believe I read all those books over and over thru my teens and early 20s. Most of VC andrews books are like that but FITA series probably the most controversial.
Not that I am condoning what the grandmother did…lol. She was still a nasty piece of work.
Oh, she was horrid and I hated her in FITA…and it makes me cringe to think I was actually enjoying how awful she was in her own book. 😕 We’ll just blame it on pre-menarche hormones. *snort*
I read the five in that series, started when I was 13, I think. It did a number on me. Probably why I read what I read today. It was so “forbidenny”. I never read the three “diaries” books – are they all from Christopher’s POV? Anyone read these? Worth it?
I had never heard of the diaries either. I stopped reading books published after VC andrews death. It just wasnt the same. But I am curious to know how they are.
Wow, 12 and 13 seems to be the norm for reading FITA…all of the talk about this series makes me wonder how I would comprehend and process these books as an adult compared to how I did as an innocent and naive junior high schooler. Hmmm…
And I *think* the diaries books are from a new character’s POV who finds Christopher’s diaries but I’m not sure.
Still love these stories and back hooked again. Lifetime has done Ms. Andrews proud. Realist book to movie transfer EVER!!!!