Book Review - Willow by VC Andrews

Willow by VC Andrews
Series: De Beers, #1
First Published on January 1st 2002 by Pocket Books
Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, Romance
464 pages
Format: Paperback
Source: Purchased
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Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

All that glitters isn’t gold….
Wealth. Extravagant parties. Celebrity status. These are things Willow De Beers could only dream of until now. After discovering deep family secrets in her adoptive father’s journal, Willow bids farewell to her North Carolina college town and sets out in search of her birth family amid the ritzy glamour of Palm Beach.
Using an assumed name and pretending to conduct a study of one of the nation’s wealthiest communities, Willow takes Florida’s gem city by storm and quickly encounters Thatcher Eaton, a young lawyer who sweeps her off her feet. But as Willow spirals into a passionate love affair and becomes intoxicated with the lifestyle of the rich and famous, the dark truth about her birth family threatens her fabulous new life, pushing her to the brink of insanity….

Review

Just like the previous VC Andrews’ book that I’ve read, Willow had a difficult childhood. At such a young age, she was informed that she’s adopted eventhough at that time she didn’t really know what that word meant. At third grade she got to find out how they got her and how she came into this world in a really detailed manner. It was really messed up. Reading about how her adopted mother treated her makes me want to get inside the story and slap her. Her adopted father on the other hand is very nice to her. He’s not always around because of his work but when he does, he calls her mother out if she goes overboard. But despite all of that, she still feels loved because of her nanny whom she called Amou. She’s a really nice Portuguese lady who takes good care of her like her own child.

Years had passed and she grew into a really good woman despite her not so pleasant childhood. She’s 19 years old now and is a sophomore student at the University of South Carolina taking psychology following her adopted father. Seems like life has been better for her after her adopted mother’s death, but life has another plan for her. Her life turned into many uncertainties after her adopted father’s death and learned about her real parents. Just like any other girl of her age, she wanted to know more about them, particularly her real mother. She took a leave of absence at school to go to Palm Beach and get to know her mom.

I am particularly not fond of stories where the plot includes lying to get to know someone so I wasn’t really so keen reading those parts. But then it started to get interesting once she met Thatcher. I really like their chemistry together and Thatcher is such a charmer it’s hard not to get charmed. His parents were the definition of people with lots of money, but it was really refreshing to see rich people being so carefree like them. She’s new in town but they already trusted her and offered that she stayed at their place. His mom can be really childish at times, but I really like how she treated Willow. The same goes to his father as well. Despite acting like a “happy go lucky” parent, I think he’s a very reasonable man. Thatcher is very different to his parents and sister so I guess I can see why Willow got so taken by him despite not really looking for romance while she’s in Palm Beach.

The first meeting with her real mom was really nice despite her false pretense being there. She found out more about her life there and that she also found out that she has a half-brother. Their interaction with each other wasn’t that pleasant at first because of his dark outlook in life, but eventually their relationship became a little bit pleasant compared to their first meeting.

A lot has happened after that but I was really glad that all lies has been corrected. Unfortunately, Thatcher’s parents (I think it’s mostly his mom) didn’t like the truth and their relationship wasn’t that good compared to when she’s lying about being there. But despite all of that, I was still happy how everything turned up. This is just the start of the De Beers series so there’s really more to look forward to. Hopefully in the next book we’ve got to see some more romance and a solid HEA, *wink