Thank you Netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I was a fan of the original Flowers in the Attic series. I've tried a few of the newer titles and have been disappointed. From the blurb this book was meant to be a sort of prequel to the original series. It was TERRIBLE! The whole thing was more of a trailer for books sure to come. There was no real completion or satisfaction at the end. If I am going to read a trilogy or series I want the first book to have some resolution and sort of a tease to read more. I also noticed in this book the author found every possible excuse to use the words "Flower" and "Attic." It felt like a cheap ploy to make you nostalgic that just fell flat.

Actually, I read the original series MANY years ago. This book triggered vague memories of those stories.
I most likely will return to the originals - now that I have read Beneath the Attic.

The plotline is a bit shallow but it is easy to follow and a very fast read. The characters were played out well, I thought. However, I do not understand why Corrine did not question Garland as to why he had not tried to contact her in 2 1/2 months. I pretty much chalked that up to him thinking that Corrine didn't want to have anything to do with him.

Reading this brought back many memories for me. Although an easy read, it was quick enough and detailed aptly to make the book both enjoyable and interesting. Flowers in the Attic, anyone?

Many thanks to Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books and NetGalley for a good read!

I just recently re-read the original Dollanganger series after being away from it for several decades, so I was interested to see how Neiderman would construct Malcolm's mother's story. I read that there are to be two more books after this one and it did feel a bit like this book was more setting the scene for the others than it was shedding light on many secrets since this book ends before Malcolm is even born.

First, the strengths: I remember having a soft spot for Garland when I encountered him as an older man in Garden of Shadows and it was interesting to see him as a young man, charming, a bit arrogant, and possibly not to be trusted. I'll be interested to see how his character develops in the next two books. I also always like walking back through Foxworth Hall in my mind, so I did enjoy the descriptions in this book as well.

There were some errors, especially with respect to the 1890 setting, that I truly hope an editor will fix before the final release. Please get rid of the mentions of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O"Hara as these characters will not exist in literature for over 40 years after the setting of the book. Also, I hope someone will remove the use of the term "homeschooled" in reference to the family members who were taught in the attic classroom. That term would not have been used in 1890. And the use of the word "sexy" by Corrine would not have happened at that time, either.

This was not good. I have fond memories of the hilarity of Flowers in the Attic, but this book, about the orginial Corinne's grandmother Corinne, just sets up a lot of unresolved mysteries about her weird husband. Corinne is spoiled and hilarious but ultimately this book felt like set up, and it didn't really shed any light on the sequels that's actually interesting.

Fans of V. C. Andrews’ Flowers in the Attic will grab this one in the hopes of understanding why Corinne did the things she did, but most will stop reading befor they get any answers. The quality of the writing is poor and only seeks to titillate readers and isn’t even very success at that. Although in all honesty, I didn’t read much.