The scariest part of this book was just the slutshaming :^/ Seriously, I'll get into this, but there was a serious Madonna/Whore Dichotomy going on, especially for a book that's trying to discuss women experiencing their own sexuality and dealing with sexual assault. 

Beyond that, though, this book was just very boring. It was extremely slow and took so long for the mystery to unravel, with only the most occasional hints about the mysteries surrounding Audrina's memory, and most of those are right at the beginning. The middle completely drags, mostly just focusing on her growing up and her romance with Arden (boo). I will say that this book had a great gothic atmosphere, especially with the descriptions of the old house, but it just didn't really build to anything or deepen in the way I wanted. I also expected this book to be quite a bit scarier. Don't get me wrong, the contents are definitely dark and upsetting, but not scary in the way I wanted from a horror book. This may just be me not being familiar with V. C. Andrews' work and having inaccurate expectations, but still. I also just felt like the twist didn't really make a ton of sense and felt underwhelming for the amount of build-up, and the sudden shift at the ending was super frustrating for me. 

Now, I do know that this book was written in a different time, I get that, but I am reading it right now and have opinions based off of reading it in the present. The way that Vera is consistently shamed and demonized for being sexual compared to sweet, pure Audrina drove me up the wall, especially when she's clearly been done wrong in her own way.

The fact that Vera is consistently the antagonist of the book because she's just such a huge, evil slut is something I just have so little tolerance for! Especially when Audrina's father ends the book largely forgiven for 1. gaslighting one of his daughters and giving her a life-long sense of shame around sex and 2. refusing to even acknowledge his other daughter and being constantly SO mean to her. But Audrina forgives him and he lives while Vera falls down the stairs and dies after sleeping with almost every guy in the book. Not to mention the fact that Audrina's assault is actually Vera's fault for tipping off the boys in the first place. The fact that this book which is clearly trying to examine sexual assault and its effects on women makes the central attack the fault of an evil, promiscious woman more than the boys that actually attacked Audrina is INSANE to me. Not to mention the way Audrina's mother is also blamed for instilling a sense of shame in Audrina almost more than her father and the literal gaslighting. Again, I know the book is trying to genuinely explore these topics and seems to want to break past the barriers of sexual shame that both societal forces and assault can create, but I just do not think it succeeds even a little bit in this regard.

Anyways. Even beyond the Madonna/whore stuff this book just absolutely dragged by for me, and it was a relief to get it over with. I also acknowledge that I might be analyzing it a little too seriously for what may be intended as more of a pulpy, drama horror novel than anything else, but I can't help it. I totally get people having read this when they were younger or when it first came out and enjoying it just for its ridiculousness, but this was definitely not my thing.