Echoes in the walls
House of Secrets - Book 2
V.C Andrews
Continuing on right from book one, House of Secrets, Fern is left to deal with the consequences of her romance with Ryder and the Revelations that were forced to come out.
Ryder's accident has left him with holes in his memory. He doesn't know who he is, where he is, or who his family is.
Their younger sister, Samantha, is out to get spiteful revenge on both of them and though she has been told to leave Ryder alone, so his memory can come back naturally, she decides to cause trouble and force the issue.
Fern tries to distract herself by going out with her friend Ivy, and ends up dating Dillon. While the romance is fine, Ryder and Fern cannot keep each other out of their thoughts. When Samantha intervenes, forcing Ryder's treatment to backfire, Fern has to come to terms with what she wants from her family and her heart.
Honestly, I didn't hate this story. The epilogue was stupid and rushed (there's a third book, isn't there? why did he force a bunch of plot points into one unnecessary chapter?! and if there isn't a third book coming, then there should be because WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?! Fern and Ryder need to end up together please. run away together or something but tell your parents to get lost, and have your sister fall down the stairs in true VCA fashion. Thanks.) but overall, i thought it was alright. Better than most of his books lately, and I like that we actually get back to the VCA roots with the incest and family drama and not just some girl, in a stand alone story, where nothing happens but her thinking to herself for 120 pages if she is old mature to be an adult yet or not. blah blah blah.
Not great, by any means, and I wouldn't mind some of the story from Ryder's POV - though when do we ever get the boy's side of the story - but I think if the writing goes back to this kind of style, maybe this fandom isn't as doomed as we fans have been thinking? Fingers crossed.
3.5 stars.
