Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Seeds of Yesterday by V.C. Andrews

6 reviews

ulaclare's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is my lowest rated books of v.c. Andrew’s in her series. 

I just profoundly dislike Bart and the family, specifically Cathy, babying him. He’s such a man child; he does not love and does not care for those around him. His flaunt of wealth and abuse of women in his life is horrible. 

If one more person hurt Cindy one more time I was going to scream. She was a young girl and young woman towards the end of the book. I think you could argue she was too young at the beginning of the novel to have sexual relationships but their reactions and abuse to this act is not to be tolerated. Barts weird sexual behavior towards her, watching her and wanting her because she looks like their mother makes me sick. As well how everyone keeps telling her to behave herself as if her adult sexualing brother shouldn’t be the one punished.

I felt horrible for Jory. The accident I am sure was caused by Bart and their creep uncle. But Bart has motive and is clearly wanted to harm his brother. I did think that Jory’s life made not a lot of sense. Other than his body is broken like Malcom’s body was when he was alive? Also I think the ableism of Melody and his family is disgusting. 

Melody looking like Cathy and Cindy looking like Cathy is just… this family just has an incest problem. 

Add to it that Tony looks looks dark like Jory and Bart, nasty. 

Chris is my most hated character. He straight up ignores Cathy and convinces Cathy she’s crazy when she’s been right most of the time when it comes to Foxworth hall. He’s abusive and a rapist to his wife and I feared for Cindy when they said she looked like her mother and she was staying with him in the city. 

I will not lie his death did hurt. Cathy and her heartbreak and the kids finally growing the fuck up shows that their abusive marriage was hindering everyone, even Cathy. Who when her kids grow and are able to leave and be their own individual she dies because her life isn’t her own. Showing she’s still trapped in the attic as she died there as she lived there in her mind for years to come. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Incest, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

morgue666's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

i have very mixed thoughts on this book. it is definitely my least favourite in the series which is a shame because i love jory and his character devlopment past being a teenager in the previous book. jory is definitely one of the best characters in the series and after cathy is probably my favourite at least in the last two books. being back in cathy’s pov was like being welcomed home i missed that crazy gal.

that said for the things i enjoyed i had so many issues with this book that i was convinced this had to be partly ghostwritten but that may not be correct idk. i felt like there were just a few too many plot lines that seemed to go nowhere?

i still want to know if joel was the person who rsvp’d to the wedding invitations goddamnit!!!

bart’s character devlopment was good but i can’t help wishing that a little more of his development in the last chapter had been spread throughout the book a little more. i wish we could’ve seen cindy and bart’s relationship develop instead of just the mention at the end that they performed together. 

but the ending. my god the ending.

chris didn’t deserve that shit

. when i tell you it made me sob uncontrollably for over a half hour i believe. my god. it was a good ending it really was but i wish it didn’t have to be so. 

“As if she knew she was soon to die, my mother had glued paper flowers on the attic walls, including, too, a strange-looking orange snail and a purple worm.”

just break my fucking heart. such a good ending. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Misogyny, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Infidelity, Physical abuse, and Suicidal thoughts

madelinequinnee's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was the perfect end to the Dollangangers’ story. I think this may be my second favourite book of the series after Flowers In The Attic, it had very much the same vibe as the original whilst still being gripping and memorable. 

There are of course some flaws in this book which you find in all the later written stories once VC Andrews passed and her ghostwriter took over, but I still think it was very enjoyable and had the same captivating atmosphere that all her books entail. 

I’m looking forward to reading the final book in this series!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

cosmicruin's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Incest, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Abandonment

eyrechrysalis's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Cancer

amora32's review against another edition

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Confinement, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

The book centers around a dysfunctional family who are held in ancestral home where the narrator experienced a tremendous amount of trauma as a child. They are essentially held emotionally hostage by a highly volatile and abusive male family member, whom nobody wishes to upset or challenge, and this character is not held accountable for any of his actions. The only character who challenges him is a much younger sister, who is assaulted when she does so. Christian religious zealotry, accidents/attacks which lead to disability, shut shaming, and child abandonment are also themes. There is also A LOT of upsetting ableism, but it is cast as being a negative thing (author was a wheelchair user and was disabled, though the language used is dated of course).