Midnight Whispers by V.C. Andrews

www.amazon.com

Released: November 1992

I decided to relive my preteen days with V.C. Andrews after watching Lifetime's version of "Flowers in the Attic" back in January. Normally I wouldn't take the time to review V.C. Andrews (because hasn't everyone already read these?), but Midnight Whispers was the ONLY book I owned that qualified for the July monthly keyword challenge at Bookmark To Blog. "Whisper" is one of July's keywords.

Midnight Whispers is the fourth book in the Cutler series. In this one, Dawn's daughter Christie falls prey to the same twisted incestual family curse as did her mother. After a fire destroys the Cutler Cove hotel and kills her beloved parents, Christie and her brother Jefferson are forced to live with Uncle Philip, his wife Aunt Bet, and their evil twin children, Richard and Melanie.

After a few months of misery living with Uncle Philip's family, Christie runs away with Jefferson the same night her uncle molests her in her sleep. The only solace that remains in Christie's life is Gavin -- the half-brother of her adoptive father, Jimmy.

I honestly don't even know why I stuck with this novel the second time around -- it's not exactly the happy, light reading material dreams are made from. In fact, I blew through it just so I could end my pain and that of Christie's and be done for good. For some reason, the torment these characters go through was fascinating to me as a kid, but as an adult, these novels really are a waste of my time. They're so depressing and melodramatic!

It makes me angry that the young women in these novels just let themselves be harassed, bossed around, and manipulated. In Midnight Whispers, Christie was faced with a billion opportunities in which she could have spoken up and gotten revenge on her nasty family members.

The Dawn Cutler series is the first full series written by V.C. Andrews' ghostwriter Leigh Nichols. I remember feeling disconnected from Dawn when this series was originally released, and she ended up being my least favorite protagonist from the early V.C. Andrews books. I think after I finish Darkest Hour, I'll wash my hands of this series for good. No more re-reads for me!