NetGalley Review: Beneath The Attic (book 9) by V.C. Andrews

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Title: Beneath the Attic
Author: V.C. Andres
Published: Aug. 27, 2019
Publisher: Gallery, Threshold 
Pages: 368
Genre: Historical romance/adult
Review: NetGalley
Buy Links: Amazon, Amazon.uk 


Two generations before Corinne Foxworth locked her children in an attic, her grandmother, a gorgeous young girl named Corrine Dixon, is swept away by the charms of rich, sophisticated, and handsome Garland Foxworth. After discovering that she’s pregnant, Garland does what appears to be the honorable thing and marries her in a huge ceremony on the luxurious Foxworth Hall grounds. Both families fervently overlook the pregnancy, happy for a suitable resolution.

Now the mistress of a labyrinthine estate, Corrine discovers that nothing is what is seems. Garland is not the man once captivated by her charms, and she’s increasingly troubled by his infatuation with memories of his departed mother.

Can Corrine survive this strange new life? Or is her fate already sealed?

Explore the origins of the legendary Dollanganger family in this page-turning, gripping gothic thriller.



I received this book via NetGalley to give an honest review.

I have seen the movies that were based on the books by this author but never have read the books. Sadly, that is horrible for a book reader like me. I believe some of her books to be classics. With that said. I did read the reviews because I noticed that someone had said this was written by a ghost writer. So me being nosy meant that I needed to do some research before I dived in.....well little ol' me learned that V.C. Andrews passed away in the 60's. Well, since I have never read her work I can't judge on well the ghost writer can or can not write in her name. The only thing I would say is not use her name that confuses people like me.
Any-who, on to the review.
I was actually really into the book from the beginning and I wondered about Corrine. She comes out as a person who is very comfortable in her skin and is not afraid to show that off. When she thinks she finds the one man who has swept her off her feet. Well things don't go as planned and we see that. I have to say I felt uncomfortable with the fact that he was older and she was under age but I guess back in the olden days that is how it was? Not sure on that. When the one scene happens in the room with the liquor I was not cool with that. I wanted to shake her and be like her tell him NO!!! Tell ya dad do something. Take the lashing and the rumors. But what he did was not cool! Now this book does take place in an older time period but it didn't always feel like that at times. Which was nice. I will say I felt bad for Corrine and the fact that she seemed to have no say in her wedding. She seems to have a voice on things but instead doesn't voice them with Garland. Maybe that is the way it was back in the day? I do feel like there was a lot of secrets within Foxworth Hall and I am curious as to what is Garland's fixation on his mother. Something sounds weird there. I may possibly look into the other books and see how they are. 







Books published under the following names - Virginia Andrews, V. Andrews, Virginia C. Andrews & V.C. Endrius. Books since her death ghost written by Andrew Neiderman, but still attributed to the V.C. Andrews name

Virginia Cleo Andrews (born Cleo Virginia Andrews) was born June 6, 1923 in Portsmouth, Virginia. The youngest child and the only daughter of William Henry Andrews, a career navy man who opened a tool-and-die business after retirement, and Lillian Lilnora Parker Andrews, a telephone operator. She spent her happy childhood years in Portsmouth, Virginia, living briefly in Rochester, New York. The Andrews family returned to Portsmouth while Virginia was in high school.

While a teenager, Virginia suffered a tragic accident, falling down the stairs at her school and incurred severe back injuries. Arthritis and a failed spinal surgical procedure forced her to spend most of her life on crutches or in a wheelchair.

Virginia excelled in school and, at fifteen, won a scholarship for writing a parody of Tennyson's Idylls of the King. She proudly earned her diploma from Woodrow Wilson High School in Portsmouth. After graduation, she nurtured her artistic talent by completing a four-year correspondence art course while living at home with her family.

After William Andrews died in the late 1960s, Virginia helped to support herself and her mother through her extremely successful career as a commercial artist, portrait painter, and fashion illustrator.

Frustrated with the lack of creative satisfaction that her work provided, Virginia sought creative release through writing, which she did in secret. In 1972, she completed her first novel, The Gods of the Green Mountain [sic], a science-fantasy story. It was never published. Between 1972 and 1979, she wrote nine novels and twenty short stories, of which only one was published. "I Slept with My Uncle on My Wedding Night", a short fiction piece, was published in a pulp confession magazine.

Promise gleamed over the horizon for Virginia when she submitted a 290,000-word novel, The Obsessed, to a publishing company. She was told that the story had potential, but needed to be trimmed and spiced up a bit. She drafted a new outline in a single night and added "unspeakable things my mother didn't want me to write about." The ninety-eight-page revision was re-titled Flowers in the Attic and she was paid a $7,500 advance. Her new-generation Gothic novel reached the bestseller lists a mere two weeks after its 1979 paperback publication by Pocket Books.

Petals on the Wind, her sequel to Flowers, was published the next year, earning Virginia a $35,000 advance. The second book remained on the New York Times bestseller list for an unbelievable nineteen weeks (Flowers also returned to the list). These first two novels alone sold over seven million copies in only two years. The third novel of the Dollanganger series, If There Be Thorns, was released in 1981, bringing Virginia a $75,000 advance. It reached No. 2 on many bestseller lists within its first two weeks.

Taking a break from the chronicles of Chris and Cathy Dollanganger, Virginia published her one, and only, stand-alone novel, My Sweet Audrina, in 1982. The book welcomed an immediate success, topping the sales figures of her previous novels. Two years later, a fourth Dollanganger novel was released, Seeds of Yesterday. According to the New York Times, Seeds was the best-selling fiction paperback novel of 1984. Also in 1984, V.C. Andrews was named "Professional Woman of the Year" by the city of Norfolk, Virginia.

Upon Andrews's death in 1986, two final novels—Garden of Shadows and Fallen Hearts—were published. These two novels are considered the last to bear the "V.C. Andrews" name and to be almost completely written by

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