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...