Review: House of Secrets

 House of Secrets
V.C Andrews
House of Secrets - Book 1


Let me start off by saying that overall, I give the book a 3. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it, and I am hopeful that book two will have better secrets.  The hype around this one was high, and the premise was intriguing ... but yet again, us fans were let down. (That said, I did binge it in a day as I wanted to know what happened)

The beginning was decent, but it was very predictable as to why Fern's mother refused to leave the house even though they were treated badly.  Bea Davenport's "wrath" was actually not as cruel as the book summary on the back was made out to be - she didn't want her stepson and Fern hanging out. All she did was ban them from seeing each other (small grounding punishments etc - it was nothing like physical abuse we have seen other characters go through) so I am unsure why the cruelty was hyped up?

Fern and Ryder's friendship was similar to Chris and Cathy in the attic in the sense that they were a product of their circumstances; no different than Roy/Rain or Dawn/Jimmy too. There was nothing shocking about them, but I wish Ryder's younger sister was involved more in the story. She seemed like an after-thought - either include her in the story or don't put her in at all.  It was a perfect opportunity to have another cruel sister, or the complete opposite, and for a MC to finally have a friend who supports her (though I doubt any girl would help someone her mother hates hook up with her brother?)

The story did have that olden-VCA feel to it in most parts; the secrets, the love affairs all over the place, the lonely girl wondering about herself and where she comes from... but it felt repetitive at times. It was wrapped up nicely and while I don't think the secrets of this house are the worst we've seen, maybe we just haven't gone deep enough yet.

p.s He needs to throw out his list of already used names...


 

did you blink and miss January too?

Hello 2018! 

Once the fall semester ended in December, I was pretty much off of work til mid January so I had a lot of down time. 

and it was -40 most of that time so i stayed inside as much as possible. 

which meant lots of time for reading :) 

For those of you who may live in Ontario (or know someone bc we have lots of international students), the colleges here had a 5-week strike back in the fall (which allowed me to participate in NaNo without issue) but it pushed the regular school timelines so i had a weird schedule this month and had random weeks off for exams/semester breaks. 

 Total, I read 27 books this month. It was insane. I seriously doubt I'll hit that number again but summer may be just as boring as this month was so we'll see! 

 They included: 

- Dawn by Kevin Brooks 
- Darker by EL James
- Gentleman's guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzie Lee 
- Unbecoming/ Evolution of Mara Dyer   
- the Green Mile by Stephen King 
- Second Star by Alyssa Sheinmel 
- Can I say (Travis Barker's Bio) 
- Zodiac by Romina Russell 
- Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge 
- We love you, Charlie Freeman by K. Greenidge 
- After the woods by Kim Savage
- Simon and the Homosapien Agenda 
- A Whole New World by Liz Braswell 
- House of secrets by VC Andrews 
- the Dark Light of Day by t.m frazier (which i do not suggest reading with the lights off as you're in bed, i had nightmares...but it was 10/10 amazing. just rough) 

a random handful of erotic/romances (which were alright) from the randomness on my kindle

plus I reviewed 5 for my sister sites 

most of these are on goodreads ; i kept up with about half of it so yay. i read to fast for it to keep up with me - i need to get the app.

but! 27/200 so 2018 is a excellent start to the year, if i do say so myself. I do not expect february to look the same by any means. 

My TBR for Feb includes 13 books, 14 if I can bring myself to read Immortal Reign and deal with the feels that come with the Falling Kingdom series ending (part of the 13 is a reread of Crystal storms) 

My VC Andrews fanpage features a Character of the month, so this month I need to reread a duet to pull her info so i can highlight that too. I slacked on January's and was annoyed with myself. 

Work has a weird flow to it so my reading is scattered. My weekends are pretty empty so hopefully that = reading time. 

Only doing 1 IG challenge this month. I'm finding a lot of them repetitive so.. i'm going to try and mix it up a bit :) 

plus whatever i pick up for reviewing. I think i have 2 booked so far (*winks*) but it's part of a 12-book series. 

I started back up with my crocheting when hubby and I spend time together and binge watch stuff, but lately we have nothing in common tv wise, so I tend to read while he watches his cop shows ...

February is going to be a boring month. Work is my main thing - january was a weird month, so i need to get back to the flow of things so payments can start flowing again too, since self employed people dont get paid if they dont work. lovely, isn't it? 

i need to get back into my writing - i started editing my NaNo wip, but i'm struggling. i need feedback... 
and i have so many plot bunnies who are calling my name that need a mute button! 

my grandparents are celebrating their 60th anniversary this month and it's super cute! if the weather cooperates, i'll be able to make it down to see them for the big dinner :) 



hope everyone's start to 2018 was fabb! 
if it wasn't, that's okay too. 
this is a new month. take a deep breath and start again :)