Another Andrews novel I don't remember much because it's been years since I've read it. I think it was good, though. ( )

"Petals on the Wind" is not your average sequel - - mainly because it surpasses the first book in the Dollanganger series, "Flowers in the Attic", in both literary merit and story.

"Petals" picks up where "Flowers" left off, with Chris, Cathy and Carrie having just escaped the attic and their formidable Grandmother. It follows the fractured family for the next twenty-five years - - through the kids finding a home with the lonely widower Dr. Paul Sheffield in South Carolina, to Chris attending medical school, Cathy becoming a ballerina and Carrie adjusting to life being the sole surviving twin. "Petals" is full of sadness and agony, in some cases even more so than "Flowers".

"Petals" also introduces the reader to a veritable encyclopedia of new characters and locales.

The constants throughout the story are Chris' continued love for Cathy, Cathy's desire for revenge on the Grandmother and her own mother and the extremity of Cathy's bad decisions. As Chris says in the book, it is amazing how intuitive Cathy was while locked up in the attic, but how damned dumb she became once they got out. And that was no small exaggeration - - and that is perhaps my only gripe with this novel. Her continued bad choices are legion - -whether it's in the area of romance, marriage, children or work, she leaves a path of destruction in her wake.

But overall, I enjoyed the book and plowed through it. I was disappointed when the story ended, even knowing that a third installment would await me.

If you are anxious to continue with the Dollanganger saga, dive right in. ( )

This book wasn't quite as great as Flowers in the Attic, the first book to the series. But it was enough to make you want to read the next book. ( )

Written by the author of 'Flowers in the Attic', this book continues to follow the story of the children, who are now growing into adults and have escaped from their confinement in the attic to the world outside. However their past continues to haunt them.

I pretty much wish they would have stopped after Flowers in the Attic. I began hating Christopher more and more in this book, though I understood and accepted how he came to have such feelings for his sister. It was his persistence that bothered me so much. I just couldn't get into this one as much as the first. ( )