My Review
Jade is the third novel in the Wildflowers series written under the name of V.C. Andrews. While I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy this one because I don’t care much for books that focus on law or legal goings-on, (it mentions Jade being a pawn in a courtroom drama in the synopsis), it oddly enough ended up being the book I liked best out of all of them.
Turns out, there wasn’t much of actual courtroom drama or anything at all going on in the book, and I loved Jade’s character. She was a spoiled rich girl, yes, but she had so much to offer in terms of weaving her into the story.
“‘What had happened to all the perfection? Where was my protective bubble? I was thinking about the embarrassment, of course, but I felt very frightened, too, like a bird that’s been flying and flying and suddenly realizes all her feathers are gone and any moment she’s going to drop to earth, hard.'”
Jade has sat patiently and listened as Misty and Star told their stories, and now, finally, it is her turn to tell them about the horrors going on in her life, and now it’s her turn to tell her tale. While Jade’s tale starts off sad but timid enough, with Jade discussing how her parents are fighting over her nonstop, each trying to turn her against the other and win custody of her as though she is one of their possessions, it soon starts to darken, becoming something that none of the other girls in the room could possibly ever imagine.
“‘Parents have so many expectations for us, demands, requirements, whatever. We have to behave and do well in school and be sure to make them proud of us and never embarrass them. We have to be decent and respectful and respectable, but why is it that they can go and destroy the family and drag us through all this to satisfy themselves?'”
When Jade gets tired of waiting for her parents to stop being so harsh toward her and instead love her like the daughter she is, instead of the possession they view her as, she turns to a stranger on the internet to help her through her tough times. Only he might not be who he says he is, and Jade ends up dealing with something far more sinister than her parents’ ugly divorce and custody battle.
Jade’s story isn’t a pretty one at all, and while Jade might come off as being shallow and narcissistic, once you get to know her character by reading this book, you will see that she is really the same as the other girls – afraid, sad, hurt by her family’s abandonment, and making terrible choices because of how torn apart she is by all of it.
I really loved Jade’s story. It was the best out of the whole series, I think, and it was incredibly emotional. Despite Jade’s character seeing so uppity, I truly found her to be the most interesting, and her story captured my attention way more than Misty’s or Star’s. Her character was really easy to love, even though she initially seems to come off as a spoiled rich girl.
I don’t want to talk too much about the ordeal that Jade goes through that’s even worse than her parents, but it’s definitely a twist that I didn’t see coming. It’s not the kind that you would want spoiled if you are planning on reading this series in the future, because being shocked makes Jade’s story that much better. This is definitely one that you won’t want to miss, and if you haven’t started reading the series yet (or even if you have!), check out my reviews for Misty and Star.