Welcome to Litsy!

Guys, what did I just read??? This book frustrated me endlessly because it had a ton of plot holes. It made me super uncomfortable and the ending was a little anticlimactic. But yet I couldn‘t put it down. It caught my attention and made me want to read again. After a four month book slump I‘m grateful for that.

#StorySettings Day7 Attic
I've been trying to get through this book for years. It sits on my nightstand and every few months I try again.

#attic #storysettings @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

1. Church and then beach if it‘s nice weather
2. Weird book - Birds Aren‘t Real
3. Tagged book, I loved the series ❤️
@Cupcake #MotivationalMonday

Guys I got this book vase off of Amazon and I really love it 😊😊. I am a huge fan of fresh flowers, but I keep about 50 indoor plants and so I do not like to overdo it with the cuttings. This little vase just makes my day.

I picked this for my June #TitlesAndTunes #GuiltyPleasure because I hadn‘t read it in decades & it was such a rite of passage for 14-year-old me & young girls everywhere. (I did catch both movies along the way though). While glad I reread it, it did make me both cringe & laugh at just how overwrought & clunky the writing is from an adult perspective,not to mention all of the triggers & the just overall “ick” factor. 🤦🏻‍♀️
My song pick ⬇️

I went round & round with my #TitlesandTunes #GuiltyPleasure pick for June, but ended up with a reread decades in the making of this one. This was the book to read in 1979 & I was on the edge of 14 & passing it around with my friends.

When I went to a list of the top songs of 1979, the Kiss classic “I Was Made for Loving You” stood out as a good (& okay maybe a bit creepy when you relate the words to the book) match! 😱😆

We have bestselling author Carley Fortune (!!!) on my book podcast today! Carley requested that we discuss FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC on her episode, and since the polarizing 1979 novel has also been oft-requested by listeners, I was thrilled to oblige. Listen at the link in my bio!

I read an article about V.C. Andrews last week and it inspired this thriftbooks haul. I discovered this series at a garage sale when I was a preteen and read EVERYTHING by V.C. Andrews 😂. My parents weren't readers & so they had no idea what I was up to haha. I guess that I wanted to reread them to see if they stand up to the fascinating and twisted gothic horror of my memory.

🎃 I made the mistake of watching the movie adaptation of tagged at a sleepover when I was 10 (in 1989) and had nightmares for many nights following
🎃 A recent favorite would be The Change by Kirsten Miller
🎃 Dark green, navy blue

@Eggs thanks for the tag!
#WondrousWednesday

September finishes
The midwich cuckoos- 3.5/5. Really enjoyed this weird story, Fry is a great narrator
The storyteller 4/5. Loved this memoir, Grohl came across as very humble and kind
The asylum 3/5. A gothic mystery about a woman mysteriously waking up in an asylum
Mrs England 4/5. Loved this atmospheric gothic mystery where a nanny works for a strange family
Flowers in the attic 3.5/5. Enjoyed this haunting novel very much
Cont 👇🏼

For the #alphabetgame today, I am picking this one because it was a book that gave me a love for reading at a young age. I tore through these books as they were published and couldn‘t wait to go to the library and check them out. #LetterF @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

My next read. I am sooooo excited!

I have to say, I went in not knowing anything about what this book held. I was only told bits and pieces here and there. But finally after 28 years of hearing about it I found it one lovely day at Barnes & Noble. I was hooked, the story is deep and really paints a picture of loss, grieving, betrayal, abandonment. I would recommend it if you have always wanted to read it. But be warned. You will have a blizzard of emotions going through.

I‘m shook. I was expecting a vintage domestic thriller and got a very disturbing coming-of-age slow burner that I won‘t be quick to forget. Damn… that was dark.

What I can appreciate from this book is this: the very real issues of the teenage world of yesteryear are just as relevant today. A psychological caging of your hormonally-charged mind, where all of your childhood nightmares are on steroids.

Revisiting this during spring break...and wondering if I‘ll tear through it like I did in junior high?

#bookspinbingo

@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@Eggs
#SavvySettings

4. Attic

#attic #savvysettings @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

#SavvySettings #4
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @eggs

#WondrousWednesday
💖 My boys
💙 Flowers in the Attic. So far pick thought I know it's going to get dark soon
🖤 My husband. He always takes care of us.

@eggs

#ithadtobeyou #flowers @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks @Eggs
This is one book which is in my TBR forever. I have no inclination to read it as yet due to its content, having read from various reviews.

I definitely can‘t remember the FIRST romance novel I read, but the tagged book was probably the first that was sexually explicit, and of course I read it way younger than would have been appropriate. I‘m sure I‘m not the only one with a similar story on Litsy….😉

Looking forward to #Swoonathon throughout the month of February! @kimmypete1 @MidnightBookGirl

Fate was a grim reaper, never kind, with little respect for who was loved and needed... and grief, no matter on how your try to cater to is wail, has a way of fading away, and the person so real so beloved becomes a dim slightly out of focus shadow.

Virginia Andrews classic story flowers in the attic follows the Dollangangers. Difficult book to read but in my opinion definitely worth a read. May not be for everyone tho

Starting this today. I know people say it trashy but I absolutely adore VC Andrews books. I know most are by a ghost writer but I don‘t care I love them all. My mum got my into these so re- reading them in her memory ❤️

This week‘s suspenseful tv binge has totally made me want to go back and read Flowers in the Attic again. #scarathlon2021 #teamslaughter @Clwojick +41 pts

#LittensDressedInBlood Today's prompt is Tainted Love

I was obsessed with this series at a very young age (and likewise, the Heaven series), and it brought me to other even more gothic tales, although none of those featured such tainted love as the love that existed in the early VC Andrews books. Let us not talk about the pure crap that spewed forth under her name in the decades since her death though- that's pure horror!

Reading 4 books right now cuz nothing is holding my attention for very long

Cory was entirely different. While Carrie chattered on and on, he‘d sit and listen attentively. I recall Mrs. Simpson saying Cory was “a still water that ran deep.” I still don‘t know what she meant by that, except quiet people did exude some illusion of mystery that kept you wondering just what they really were beneath the surface.

#currentlyreading #bookblurbs #fiction #novels

#siblings #conflictedworld @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks

This has been on my TBR forever, but I must say that I‘m not a fan. It reads like smutty MG, not even mature enough to be YA. Next!

Also Mena Suvari doesn‘t do the #audiobook any favors. 🙄👎🏻

This was a reread for me - I read it a few times as a preteen, and I loved it just as much this time around. Which is kinda weird to say considering the subject matter, so I guess what I really mean is that I think it‘s a good book!

#doublespin #bookspinbingo

#pop21 - book by an author who shares your zodiac sign

And with the completion of the tagged book, my February #BookSpinBingo is at an end. This month I managed one bingo and to read my #DoubleSpin read. My #BookSpin book, Hour of the Witch, along with The Five will carry over into March as I‘m currently reading them.

Working on these books and maybe a few more for #20in4 hosted by @Andrew65

Come join the fun starting tomorrow.

Flowers In The Attic is a strange hybrid: a barely-comprehensible poorly-written story full of holes that still managed to disturb and horrify me. At first, I was frustrated by the mistreatment of the children, but all too soon I was frustrated by the children themselves, and the whole ludicrous set-up. Full review here: https://keepingupwiththepenguins.com/flowers-in-the-attic-vc-andrews/

This book made me think, "What in the World?!?!" Great read...

#7Days7Books - 7 books that have left a deep impression or changed me - Day 2

Day 6
#7days7books
Seven books that left a deep impression on me and changed me. #covercrush #vcandrews

Living in the desert means I have blooms like these in my yard! #bloominglitsy 🌵

#7days7books

Seven books which made a deep impression on me.

Day 2 - Flowers in the Attic. I first read this around the age of 14 & I remember being absolutely scandalised and yet unable to stop reading it. I HAD to know what happened to Chris and Cathy.

Tagging - anyone who wants to join in the 7 days/books challenge.

I saw this on Instagram and it gave me a good chuckle. #LitsyHumor

This is between a pick and a so-so for me. I wasn't for sure I knew the plot until the very end, but it was one of my top theories leading up to the big reveal.

Sorry. I couldn‘t help myself. Lol
A friend sent this to me. I loved these books so much when I was a teenager.

horrendous, but really good. bracing. great Gothic story.

Oh My Goodness!

This book is infamous and I was hesitant to pick it up because of all I knew about it, but Oh My Goodness!
I thought this an interesting look at abuse, trust, hope, despair, mental illness, blurred lines, survival, evil and the corrupting power of money and religion.

I have nothing but compassion for the Dollanganger children, they were put in an impossible situation and did their best.

I read this a long time ago: Chris, Cathy, and the twins are to be kept hidden until their grandfather dies so that their mother will receive a sizeable inheritance; however, years pass and terrifying things occur as the four children grow up in their one room prison.

#flowers
#reallyrandomfebruary
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@OriginalCyn620

Incest is wincest amiright. JUST KIDDING IT IS NOT. This book is INSANE and crazy af. Though it‘s so good and I could not put it down. The premise is the father dies so the mom moves her and her four kids in with their grandparents. The kids are forced to live in the attic and neglected. There‘s so much to unpack all I can say is read it.

I saw the movie before I read the book, the latter was better

I don‘t even know what to say but very eye opening and disturbing. 3/5

Not at all sure what drew me to this one today, but I had never read it before and I love a good controversial book so here we are. It didn't feel quite as scandalous as I was expecting given what I've heard if I'm being honest, and mostly I just felt unadulterated anger towards the whole situation. I read it pretty much in one go though, so that's enough for a pick!

📍 Basseterre, St. Kitts