I have to start off by saying I have very mixed feelings about this book. I was one of those devoted V.C Andrew books in my teen years. I have most of her earlier books written before her ghost writer took over. Andrew Neiderman has been writing for V.C. Andrews since her death. I was fascinated to learnt that many of the books that I loved by V.C Andrews such as Garden of Lies was completely written by Neiderman. Sweet Audrina was one of the books that was completely written by V.C. Andrews. It’s been over ten years since I read that book but I remember how much I enjoyed it and how captivated I was by it. Taking that into consideration, I have not re-read Sweet Audrina so my own views on Whitefern maybe off. I also have to confess that once I learned that a ghostwriter was writing under V.C. Andrews, I lost interest in the books. Even though they were so of my absolutely favorite as a teenager.
When the story begins Audrina is still at Whitefern and married to Arden. Sylvia is Audrina’s younger sister who is mentally challenged. The story kicks off with the death of her father.
Ok, so somethings I liked. I think that Neiderman was able to continue the gothic feel to the story. The story felt dark and the tone was one of unease. I understand that Audrina is a housewife who has lived much of her life sheltered and I didn’t see a big character change in her even now as an adult. Arden I completely disliked. He was a complete jerk and it was difficult for me to make the leap from the young man in “My Sweet Audrina” to the controlling husband that he has turned into in “Whitefern.” Sylvia was also a hard character for me to understand and I felt that at times Neiderman deviated from her characterization. The author has a few secrets up his sleeve and eventually they come to light. So my humble opinion about this book. It’s interesting but not fantastic. I personally think My Sweet Audrina should have stayed as just a single book without a follow up to the story.
One of the great things after having read this is that I dug up some info on V.C. Andrews and she was an interesting woman. She died a millionaire off the success of her books. I can understand why her estate decide to keep her books going. She also suffered an accident that had her pretty immobile and even though her big ambition was art, writing was what eventually made her famous.
**ARC provided by Publisher**
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