series review: beneath the attic

alright. 
it's no surprise that i didn't like this series. 
did i read it anyways? yes. 
why? because i can't argue why it's garbage if i have no evidence

beware of spoilers :) 


beneath the attic 

not many of us who are "hardcore" fans were excited for this. he is really beating this horse just to get a paycheck. enough, man. please retire writing under the VCA name. we beg you.

anyways 
i ended up giving this one a 1 star on goodreads.
If it was possible to give a 0, I would have. 
How could anyone enjoy this drivel? An obvious cash-grab with the 40th anniversary of FITA soon after publishing. It felt like he took the outline for Garden of Shadows and just changed (most) of the names and no consideration of the time period.
We learned nothing about the characters and the characters we thought we knew were rewritten into sex-crazed weirdos.A slow build up to nothing happening... all of this could have been 5 chapters, instead of 350 pages that dragged on. The ramblings of Corinne's feelings about sex with her new husband and whether or not they even love each other was slow and difficult to get through.



Such disrespect. 


Out of the attic 

I had no expectations or hopes for this story. 
I find the whole series a waste of time - but, being a vca purist, i had to give it a shot.
It was at least better than the first (though not by much)

I find his writing of a toddler being so evil and rude coming out of left field. This kid is being raised by a sweet nanny, and a decent mother ... and his fathers influence is no where to be found. So why is this kid sucha jerk? The character arc makes no sense.

The author has been hyping this story up for months, but really... I can't figure out why? We all knew she ran off with another man. She seemed quite loving to her kid, well, she tried to be (* see jerk comment above) and her husband is a piece of garbage so I am okay with her running off.

after reading this one, I was curious if we'll be getting different POVs in the next one since, without it, we will have many questions left over (though the author uses that as excuses to butcher our beloved stories)
but we aren't able to find a story synopsis anywhere so us fans are left out. 


also! what does the attic have to do with any of this series? 
insert eye roll here. 


shadows of foxworth  (does not come out til june 2020~. arc was from netgalley) 


honestly sir, find another word! Shadows has been used 4 other times in book titles under the VC andrews name. expand your vocab. (secrets is another one. oy.) 

since the synopsis of the book was not updated on any platform, us readers really have no idea what we are getting into. 
and it is not corinne's story. 
it is her children's. 
conveniently, corinne and her hubby die off in the first few pages. 
oh look, another recycled plot point. 
jeeze. 
it took me a few pages to figure out whose POV i was getting 
and finally, i got it. 
Marlena, corinne's daughter, is telling us how her parents died 
after a wonderful childhood in france 
and now she must go live with an aunt they've never met in america 
(beau's sister) 
with her older brother, the two are off to find out what it means to be a member of the Dawson family in Richmond, VA. where the mysterious Foxworth family lives.
Can you guess the rest of the story? i'm sure you can. 
I did. 

as a "dollanganger" book, this was terrible. 
if he had made it a new series, yes it is all recycled plot but it would've made a good 
first book in a series. 
well, decent, at least. 

that ending was rushed and made no sense 
and while i'm happy malcolm doesn't become a baby daddy to his half sister 
(enough with this story too!) 
it made for a flat ending of happily ever after. 

~~~ 


I do NOT recommend this series to anyone. 
everything under the VCA name until 2004 was great, and since then, the stories have decreased in creativity and excitement 
there was a time when he jumped on the supernatural bandwagon, and we got some interesting stories, but nothing beloved like those original stories. 

if you are interested in the vca fellowship, start at flowers in the attic and work your way through the books following publication order. that's really the best way to see the progression of the writing and characters*.

*i mostly say this because if you read My Sweet Audrina, and then Whitefern you will be very, very confused. wait 40 years (or longer). same with the diary series and now the above garbage. wait at least 40 years. i promise you, you'll thank yourself. 



i am also happy to report i got these off netgalley/the library and spent no money. 
i would be returning them.