Star (Wildflowers #2) by V.C. Andrews

After reading Misty, the first novel in the Wildflowers series by V.C. Andrews, I was really excited to dive into Star, because I wanted to see what her story entailed. I was so eager to read it, I read it in almost a single sitting (then again, it’s a short book), and I was glued to the pages throughout the entirety of the book.

As with Misty, the four main characters – Misty, Star, Jade, and Cat – are back in Dr. Marlowe’s office, ready to hear the tale of another one of their peers. The book picks up where Misty finished, with Star beginning on the following day after Misty shares her tale.

In the beginning of the book, Star’s grandmother encourages her to share her story and stop looking down on the girls who have more than she does. I really like Star’s grandmother, even though we don’t get to hear a lot about her in the beginning. As Star’s tale progresses, she becomes more and more involved.

“My mommy and daddy weren’t dead and buried, but they were dead to me even though there were no funerals. Instead of a procession to the cemetery, there had been a parade of lies and crippled promises limping along from the day I was born until today, until this moment, all of it parked outside, still following me everywhere, waiting to be told where to go.”

Anyway, Star begins her story by talking about her mother and father – her mother was a violent alcoholic who spent more time drinking than she did staying sober, and often at a bar downtown with all her friends. Star’s father dealt with her mother’s drinking, keeping a job and supporting the family the best he could – but her mother was mean, and drove him to stop caring as much.

One day, Star came home to her father moving out – in fact, he left the apartment without even saying goodbye to Star or her little brother, leaving them both to deal with their mother, who soon after starting bringing home boyfriends and drinking even more than before.

After a while, Star and her little brother go to live with their grandmother, whom Star lovingly calls “Granny,” and her life starts to get a little better.

Eventually Star meets a boy who knows how she feels about her mother’s drinking, and the two of them start a relationship. His father is an alcoholic, and a mean one, too. While they don’t know each other long, Star falls in love with this boy. However, when tragedy strikes, it strikes hard, and Star doesn’t know how to handle it.

I loved Star’s novel. I did. So you’re probably wondering why I only gave the book a 3 star rating, instead of higher, like I did for Misty.

I think the reason that I rated this book a 3 instead of  4 (and I did fight with myself about this for a while) was probably because I had a difficult time really getting into her character. Her story wasn’t quite as interesting to me as Misty’s was, and while it was a good one, full of secrets and painful details that she shares with the group, I think the way she narrated it just kind of made it difficult for me to really feel involved in.

I also don’t really care much for Star’s character. I feel like she’s kind of cookie cutter and just downright mean, and maybe that’s why I felt the way I did about her story. I guess I was kind of meh about it because I didn’t care for her character before I even read her story.

The beginning of Star’s story starts out kind of slow, but it progresses as time goes on. It’s not quite as dark in the beginning, but it gets a lot darker.

I really can’t wait to see what the next novel, Jade, has in store. I love this series so far and have been zipping through the books, getting completely lost in them.