Four by V.C. Andrews

Heart Song, V.C. Andrews, 1997, Pocket Books. Genre: Young Adult. 378 pages. Finished 8/7/12.

Unfinished Symphony, V.C. Andrews, 1997, Pocket Books. Genre: Young Adult. 344 pages. Finished 8/10/12.

Into the Garden, V.C. Andrews, 1999, Pocket Books. Genre: Young Adult, 373 pages. Finished 8/14/12.

Lightning Strikes, V.C. Andrews, 2000, Pocket Books. Genre: Young Adult, 359 pages. Finished 8/21/12.

LesOpinion: I remember when V.C. Andrews made a splash with her debut novel, Flowers in the Attic. All the girls at school were reading it--well, all the girls except me. If it was anything like these four pathetic excuses for novels, I'm glad I spared myself the pain.

Despite the raging mediocrity of her writing, her family knew a gold mine when they had one.  When V.C. died in 1986, the family had her name turned into a registered trademark and hired a ghostwriter to "complete" her "unfinished works." All of these books are exactly the same: a young woman is unmoored from her immediate family, mistreated by relatives, wastes everyone's precious time beating the dead horse of her identity and plight with countless rhetorical questions, and has an incestuous relationship with the nearest brother, uncle, father, first cousin, or other male relative. The whole thing is so creepy that the fact that the novels are aimed at young women makes me want to notify the authorities.

Circumstances under which I recommend any of these books: Run! Run for your life!