Book Review: Forbidden Sister

Media Type: Print Book (ARC)
Title: Forbidden Sister
   *Series: The Forbidden #1
Author: V.C. Andrews
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: Paperback; 432
Release Date: February 26, 2103
Source: Publisher
———————————————————–
Content Screening: Mild Violence and Sexual Situations

HDB Rating: 3 Keys to My Heart

Recommended to: Readers who enjoy V.C. Andrews as an author, and books with tougher subjects.

Add it on: Goodreads / Shelfari / Amazon / B&N

When Emmie Wilcox, the younger daughter of Norton and Vivian Wilcox, was seven, her father, frustrated with his older daughter Roxanne’s misbehavior and defiance, told her to get out. At seventeen, Roxy left. Norton forbid her name be mentioned again and refused to call the police to find her and force her to return. Nearly eight years later, Emmie learns that her sister has become a highpriced New York call girl, living in a fancy hotel only a dozen blocks away. She sets out to spy on her sister and thus sets off a series of events and adventures that nearly tear her fragile family apart.

I haven’t read a V.C. Andrews book in many years, so I was very excited to be offered Forbidden Sister for review. It took me a little while to get into the grove of this book, as it moves a slower than what I’ve been reading lately. Andrews does what she does best, and gives the reader a window into a flawed family and their hidden lives. A father that is military in his parenting style, a mother that is a wilting flower, and two daughters who are as different as night and day make up our cast of characters. I settled into the book, and hoped to learn more about them.

It took me a while to warm up to Emmie. Living in the shadow of her older sister Roxy, her father micro manages her life to keep her out of trouble. What is surprising, or at least was to me, is that Emmie isn’t more upset about her situation. In fact, she almost thrives on it. Truthfully, this does make the tragedy that occurs even more devastating. The end of her innocence, and the need to grow up in a hurry, end up being what really drive this book forward.

Which of course brings Roxy into the picture. Although she comes across as extremely cold, it’s hard not to see underneath the frosty shell. I met a young woman who was so tired of being held under her father’s thumb, that she fought back the only way she knew how. By escape. Turning to the world of high-priced escorting was the means to an end. Emmie thinks it must be a glamorous life filled with money and clothes, but is it? This book doesn’t just touch on growing up, it touches on the difficult choices we have to make to survive.