#Favorite #Books #Spotlight- #MySweetAudrina by #VCAndrews

(click image to go to the Amazon page for the paperback, with new cover art)

(From the back blurb of the copy I have Copyright 1982)

V.C. Andrews, author of the phenomenally successful Dollanganger series, has created a fascinating new cast of characters in this haunting story of love and deceit, innocence and betrayal, and the suffocating power of parental love.

Audrina Adare wants so to be as good as her sister. She knew her father could not love her as he had loved her sister. Her sister was so special, so perfect—and dead.

Now she will come fact to face with the dangerous, terrifying secret that everyone knows. Everyone except...My Sweet Audrina

I started reading V.C. Andrews when I was a teenager. Honestly, I can't remember what year it was, but I had to be thirteen or fourteen because I can remember that the middle school library had copies of her books. My introduction was through the first four books of in the Dollanganger Series, starting with Flowers in the Attic. I remember borrowing my aunt's four books (later discovering the 5th one along with several other series).

She hadn't read them, but I saw them on her bookshelf and was mesmerized by the haunting cover art and blurbs. I remember going home that first night with them clutched in my fingers and being scared out of my mind about whether these were horror novels or something else. After reading the first chapter late at night (around midnight), I was so freaked out, thinking it was a horror novel, that I put it down, turned off the lights and huddled under the blankets.

Soon after that though I discovered the depth of her novels, the description and emotions she put into the story lines and I've aspired to write with that kind of vivid depth of feeling and visuals ever since. Though I love all the books that V.C. Andrews wrote, I slowly lost interest after the ghostwriter took over and supposedly wrote based on her notes once she passed away. I'm sorry Ghostwriter, but you have nothing on V.C.

And though I love the series books, My Sweet Audrina is one that I can take up and read in no time because it is a stand-alone. Every time I read it, I get so caught up in the story, I forget I've read it numerous times before and the tears still come at the same places, just like all the laughter and joy.

It's books like this that remind me that great books, just like great movies or music, always take us back to a good place, a reminder of heartaches, happiness and how deeply affected we can be by emotions.

Have a Great Thursday and don't forget to stop by
Krista Ames'
A Passion for Romance for my
AUTHOR, AUTHOR interview and my MEATBALL recipe!

Does Action Speak Louder Than Words?

There's always that question lingering in the back of my mind when I see that a book is going to be made into a movie. How will it fare when the written word is translated into actions, mannerisms, behaviors? Can actors and actresses pull off the characters? Will the depth of the story be conveyed as well on the silver screen as it is between the pages? Or vice versa? Would the movie better serve the story ran the written word?

Here are a few that I have both read the book and seen the movie-

Favorites-

Dolores Claiborne

I don't remember whether I read the book first or saw the movie, but what I do know is that I feel this was handled well. The touchy subject matter of the story plays out onscreen with real raw emotion and Kathy Bates just happens to be one of those actresses who I seldom thing about, but then I watch a movie with her in it and remember all over again how wonderful she is and how well she adapts to the roles she takes on. Her portrayal of Dolores made the story believable just as easily as reading Stephen's words on the page. Either way, my heart ached for her and her daughter and for the pain that the past caused them both. My favorite line in that movie? Probably every woman's favorite line-

"Sometimes being a bitch is all a woman's got to hold on to."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dances with WolvesI do remember reading this book before I saw the movie. A friend loaned me a copy they had borrowed from a friend of theirs and I read it within just a few days, completely mesmerized by the western frontier, the strange bond between Dunbar and Two Socks and the Sioux, the romance with Stands with a Fist. Before I ever saw the movie, I shed tears too many to count for the struggles in the story. I love the movie just as much now as I did the first time I saw it and thought that Kevin Costner did the author proud in representing what the story was about.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Persuasion

Persuasion, I read after I saw the movie staring Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds, but I found that they too are quite companionable. I will always love Captain Wentworth and his letter to Anne Elliot and the idea that true love really does live on, even when we are apart from the one we love the most.

"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own than when you almost broke it, eight and a half years ago. Dare not say that a man forgets sooner than woman, that his love has an earlier death. I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For me- the worst offender-

Flowers in the Attic

I loved V.C. Andrews novels when I was growing up. I discovered them when I was around 13 or so and I loved the wonderful detail. She was a very talented author, who wove words in a way that put you right in that moment, right there with the characters and made you feel every joy and pain they endured. The book, by all means was more graphic in detail in these "children in jeopardy" sagas, so really, it wasn't any wonder when I accidentally came across the movie, staring pre-Buffy Kristy Swanson as Cathy. I had been devouring every V.C. Andrews novel I could get my hands on for a while and I was excited about the fact that there was a movie, but when I finally watched it, I was devastated that so much had been left out, but also that the movie was not made to be a continuing story, as the books were. I understand why so much was removed, as this story does carry a very weighted storyline, but what saddened me more was that V.C. Andrews herself had say in the production and she had a small cameo as a window washing maid of Foxworth Hall. It fell far short of my hopes for it as no other book-to-movie ever has.What's your favorite book-to-movie adaptation? Do you have a pick for YOUR worst? Have you ever seen a movie that was actually BETTER than its book? I would love to hear about it.

Happy Hump Day!

I can see the weekend from here!