- Mass Market Paperback: 390 pages
- Publisher: Pocket Books; Pocket Star Books Pbk. Ed edition (1 Mar 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0743493877
- ISBN-13: 978-0743493871
- Product Dimensions: 17.1 x 11.5 x 2.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 753,975 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Synopsis
After the death of her parents, April Taylor flees north to take a job looking after Mrs. Westington's deaf granddaughter, Echo, until the arrival of the girl's mother and her drug-dealing boyfriend puts both girls' lives in deadly danger.
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Filtered through the sheer white cotton curtains, the sudden sun snapped my eyelids open. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
Filtered through the sheer white cotton curtains, the sudden sun snapped my eyelids open. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In recent years, a lot of Virgina Andrews novels have followed a similar template, young woman goes to stay in new place, usually with family, experiences some turmoil in her life, has a relationship with a man, then the turmoil is resolved in the end.
'Girl In The Shadows', refreshingly, does not stick rigidly to that template and is the first V.A. book in a long time not to do so. It does admittedly feature a young woman named April who goes to live in a new place, but with people who are initially complete strangers. Plus, the turmoil she experiences there, and the characters she meets, are somewhat different to the usual V.A. fare. These include a young deaf woman named echo, her tutor and Echo's grandmother, who has raised her. As the story progresses, April matures into a thoughtful young woman who helps Echo and her grandmother a great deal, whilst learning a lot about herself.
The theme of sexuality plays a part, as is usual with V.A. novels, but this time around, bisexuality is touched on. The story is generally well-plotted, the characters are interesting and engaging to read about, and this book is a definite page-turner.
Really, Virginia Andrews fans and those new to her will enjoy reading this. It's an engaging, vivid and enjoyable read.
'Girl In The Shadows', refreshingly, does not stick rigidly to that template and is the first V.A. book in a long time not to do so. It does admittedly feature a young woman named April who goes to live in a new place, but with people who are initially complete strangers. Plus, the turmoil she experiences there, and the characters she meets, are somewhat different to the usual V.A. fare. These include a young deaf woman named echo, her tutor and Echo's grandmother, who has raised her. As the story progresses, April matures into a thoughtful young woman who helps Echo and her grandmother a great deal, whilst learning a lot about herself.
The theme of sexuality plays a part, as is usual with V.A. novels, but this time around, bisexuality is touched on. The story is generally well-plotted, the characters are interesting and engaging to read about, and this book is a definite page-turner.
Really, Virginia Andrews fans and those new to her will enjoy reading this. It's an engaging, vivid and enjoyable read.
Format:Paperback
This has to stop, seriously. When Neiderman first ghostwrote for VCA, he did a decent job. I liked the Cutler series, and he did a good job of finishing up the books that VCA had started but didn't finish for the Dollanganger and Casteel series. The Landry and Logan series, while not the best, were still very decent, and I enjoyed them. However, it all started to go downhill with Orphans. That was not what VCA would have written. I endured the Hudson and DeBeers series with disgust. Broken Wings and Gemini were intolerable.
April wasn't a real heroine. There were no horrible, dark secrets (her father's secret was laughable) and no real family secrets at all. This book focused a lot her stumbling (and unrealistic) explorations of her own sexuality as well as her struggle with weight. It seems as if the ghostwriter is venting his dislike of fat people because April is obsessed about her weight and everyone else makes fun of her, and in this book the struggle continues and is contrived and predictable in many places. The scene where she was in the bath with the young deaf girl was creepy.
It also seems that Neiderman has a problem with deaf characters, as in the Logan series, May was portrayed as weak and fragile and helpless, and the deaf girl in this book is portrayed the same way, in a unfunny and unsympathetic caricature. Disappointing.
April wasn't a real heroine. There were no horrible, dark secrets (her father's secret was laughable) and no real family secrets at all. This book focused a lot her stumbling (and unrealistic) explorations of her own sexuality as well as her struggle with weight. It seems as if the ghostwriter is venting his dislike of fat people because April is obsessed about her weight and everyone else makes fun of her, and in this book the struggle continues and is contrived and predictable in many places. The scene where she was in the bath with the young deaf girl was creepy.
It also seems that Neiderman has a problem with deaf characters, as in the Logan series, May was portrayed as weak and fragile and helpless, and the deaf girl in this book is portrayed the same way, in a unfunny and unsympathetic caricature. Disappointing.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Good, a little slow in places
8 Mar 2006
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Overall I've enjoyed this "Shadows" series-the two books are intriguing stories with lots of twists and turns, and an ultimately positive message of an adolescent girl finding self-esteem, strength, and resilience in the wake of successive tragedies. She also learns compassion and there's a lot of sensitivity in the character portraits in the book. I really grew to like April, and the plot was pretty exciting, but some parts of the book were just too repetitive and boring-I had to skip them.
And I must renew my original objection to the series, which is that there is no romance in it. That seems to actually be a pattern as of late with the ghostwriter; beginning with Willow, whose only really passionate love interest ends up being callously uninterested in her, I feel the VC Andrews franchise has begun to neglect to provide our heroines with a faithful, utterly devoted lover. What happened to Christopher from "Flowers in the Attic", Troy from "Heaven" etc. etc.? VC NEVER had a heroine who didn't have some man who was obsessed with her. April's relationship with Tyler is depressing and unfulfilling both for her and us.
The voyeurism Tyler seems to want to experience with Destiny, April's ventriloquist "dummy", follows with creepy VC tradition, but the plot is not really developed. I just think that if Tyler was going to be that dysfunctional, then a better lover should have shown up at the end. These later books don't have much real passion in them; just a lot of "hook-ups".
This isn't what VC readers want. And as intriguing as April was, and as much as I congratulate the author's willingness to create a character that went against VC "type" (i.e., chubby and of ambiguous sexual orientation), I just felt the series story could have had more emotional resonance if it had allowed April one more book to truly find herself, resolve her family issues, work out her relationship with Brenda and find meaningful intimacy with someone. Ultimately the book just didn't have the romantic magic outerworldly element that we need from VC books.
Still, I recommend it as an entertaining few hours. Just don't expect to be swept away the way you were with early V.C...but then again you probably already knew that.
And I must renew my original objection to the series, which is that there is no romance in it. That seems to actually be a pattern as of late with the ghostwriter; beginning with Willow, whose only really passionate love interest ends up being callously uninterested in her, I feel the VC Andrews franchise has begun to neglect to provide our heroines with a faithful, utterly devoted lover. What happened to Christopher from "Flowers in the Attic", Troy from "Heaven" etc. etc.? VC NEVER had a heroine who didn't have some man who was obsessed with her. April's relationship with Tyler is depressing and unfulfilling both for her and us.
The voyeurism Tyler seems to want to experience with Destiny, April's ventriloquist "dummy", follows with creepy VC tradition, but the plot is not really developed. I just think that if Tyler was going to be that dysfunctional, then a better lover should have shown up at the end. These later books don't have much real passion in them; just a lot of "hook-ups".
This isn't what VC readers want. And as intriguing as April was, and as much as I congratulate the author's willingness to create a character that went against VC "type" (i.e., chubby and of ambiguous sexual orientation), I just felt the series story could have had more emotional resonance if it had allowed April one more book to truly find herself, resolve her family issues, work out her relationship with Brenda and find meaningful intimacy with someone. Ultimately the book just didn't have the romantic magic outerworldly element that we need from VC books.
Still, I recommend it as an entertaining few hours. Just don't expect to be swept away the way you were with early V.C...but then again you probably already knew that.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
No More
24 April 2008
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This has to stop, seriously. When Neiderman first ghostwrote for VCA, he did a decent job. I liked the Cutler series, and he did a good job of finishing up the books that VCA had started but didn't finish for the Dollanganger and Casteel series. The Landry and Logan series, while not the best, were still very decent, and I enjoyed them. However, it all started to go downhill with Orphans. That was not what VCA would have written. I endured the Hudson and DeBeers series with disgust. Broken Wings and Gemini were intolerable.
April wasn't a real heroine. There were no horrible, dark secrets (her father's secret was laughable) and no real family secrets at all. This book focused a lot her stumbling (and unrealistic) explorations of her own sexuality as well as her struggle with weight. It seems as if the ghostwriter is venting his dislike of fat people because April is obsessed about her weight and everyone else makes fun of her, and in this book the struggle continues and is contrived and predictable in many places. The scene where she was in the bath with the young deaf girl was creepy.
It also seems that Neiderman has a problem with deaf characters, as in the Logan series, May was portrayed as weak and fragile and helpless, and the deaf girl in this book is portrayed the same way, in a unfunny and unsympathetic caricature. Disappointing.
April wasn't a real heroine. There were no horrible, dark secrets (her father's secret was laughable) and no real family secrets at all. This book focused a lot her stumbling (and unrealistic) explorations of her own sexuality as well as her struggle with weight. It seems as if the ghostwriter is venting his dislike of fat people because April is obsessed about her weight and everyone else makes fun of her, and in this book the struggle continues and is contrived and predictable in many places. The scene where she was in the bath with the young deaf girl was creepy.
It also seems that Neiderman has a problem with deaf characters, as in the Logan series, May was portrayed as weak and fragile and helpless, and the deaf girl in this book is portrayed the same way, in a unfunny and unsympathetic caricature. Disappointing.
It's good!
25 Feb 2012
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
April is a chubby sexually confused girl. After her uncle died in book one, she got taken in by a nice elderly woman. April provides company to the woman and her deaf granddaughtar. Just as April begins to enjoy her new life, the deaf girls greedy mom returns wanting money and even hoping her own mother dies. With a aging Grandma, and a deaf daughtar, only April can stand in her way.
I really enjoyed this. It's slow paced, but very good. Strong characters started in book one continue and get even better. April is ever battling her weight, and Destiny a doll returns to steal the show. This is similar to a lot of other V.C Andrews books and predictable, but there are surprises too. It has all the nastiness you expect including a sick bathtub scene, and a attempted rape scene that actually has you laughing your head off. That sounds bad but, you have to read it to see. It's not as harsh as some and not many secrets, but we don't need them. Also it has a good ending that doesn't leave you sick and depressed. I love April and hope this series never ends.
I really enjoyed this. It's slow paced, but very good. Strong characters started in book one continue and get even better. April is ever battling her weight, and Destiny a doll returns to steal the show. This is similar to a lot of other V.C Andrews books and predictable, but there are surprises too. It has all the nastiness you expect including a sick bathtub scene, and a attempted rape scene that actually has you laughing your head off. That sounds bad but, you have to read it to see. It's not as harsh as some and not many secrets, but we don't need them. Also it has a good ending that doesn't leave you sick and depressed. I love April and hope this series never ends.
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