This series in general, but this book specifically, is garbage. Seduce- 1. attract someone to a belief or into a course of action that is inadvisable or foolhardy. 2. Entice into sexual activityRape- Any act of sexual intercourse that is FORCED upon a personDo you see the difference? Apparently the ghost writer does not. The words 'rape' & 'seduce' are NOT interchangeable, despite his best efforts to make it so.Pg 105- (Willow at salon, after seeing the paper featuring Thatcher with Vera Raymond) I couldn't feel any worse if I had been raped, I thought. I HAD been raped. Instead of force, he'd used promises & sweet talk.Being in a willing relationship with someone & finding out he may have cheated, while sometimes heartbreaking, is not rape.Pg 328- (Willow to Thatcher) Our love making wasn't as soft & sensitive as it been during our honey moon & thereafter. It was more lusty & demanding. "You act like you just got out of solitary confinement or something," I told him, "If we weren't married it'd be more like rape."The audacity of calling it lovemaking and then comparing it to rape, jokingly at that! I am stunned! Rough sex does not equal rape, and rape CAN occur within a marriage. This is a rape joke & it is not funny.Pg 199, "Everywhere I looked, flowers bloomed radiantly & uniformed gardeners pruned & nurtured the fauna." Brings to mind images of little bunnies having their ears lopped off. Besides it's disgraceful attitude towards rape, the story itself is terrible. Willow is judgmental, whiny, & so incredibly stupid. It is hard to find anything remotely enjoyable about it.
After reading the first Debeers book, I was greatly disappointed. Back then when it first came out, I still had faith and hope in Mr. Neiderman's writing and hoped that he would go back to putting effort into the books he ghostwrote for the VCA name. But this book was plodding and shallow, and I found myself frustrated with the ending, along with Willow's sheer stupidity and refusal to confront the truth about her philandering husband, and how sloppily the book was put together. Willow is supposed to be really smart, she's studying psychology for goodness' sake, yet she doesn't show real intelligence in this book.
What do You think about Wicked Forest (2002)?
Willow moves her mother and half brother to the big house. She marries Thatcher who turns out to be a cad. Her mother dies and her half brother is so obsessed with her he tries to trap her in the house but her college professor saves her. She is pregnant with Thacher's baby and she and her professor get married. The end.
—Jackie
When I read these novels back in the day I would have given them 3-3.5 STARS and now would say about one StarI started reading VC Andrews books in the 1991 and stopped about 2003. I have read:-Dollanganger Series-Casteel Series-Cutler Series-Landry Series-Logan Series-Orphans Series-Wildflowers Series-Hudson Series-Shooting Stars Series-DeBeers Series-Broken Wings SeriesAs a preteen reading these novels was a rebellion and the gothic theme also seemed cool. I stopped reading this author because the novelty wore off, the novels are too formulaic that I could not tell one book from another and gothic aspect was lost.
—Kris - My Novelesque Life
This book continues the story of Willow. She has officially moved into the Palm Beach house with her mother (who unfortunately passes away), and her mentally disturbed brother. Thatcher, no surprise, has cheated on her and doesn't give her any problems getting a divorce. But Willow is pregnant and by the end of the book we know she has a girl and gets married to her psychology professor, Miguel. The book kept me intrigued, but the biggest annoyance I had was Willow calling her mother "Mother." W
—Anne Marie
