V.C. Andrews' Dollanganger Saga (2014 - 2015)

IT'S SEPTEMBER 1st, BEBE!

How's everyone's summer been going so far? Me - well, I've been surviving. This abomination of a presidential administration has put me on heart medication, and while I wait for the big beautiful obituary and getting through the stale, rust-colored heat of August, I rediscovered a past love. 

V. C. Andrews!

Oh how I devoured these books starting at around 12 years old. I could not take my eyes off the pages, reading about incest, mental/emotional/physical abuse, rape, racism, child abuse, decadence, wealth, abuse of power, the abuse of poverty, and the family ties bringing it all together to pass along to the next horrified generation. 

I think it's a cathartic right of passage for every teenage girl to read these novels. They prepare you for the very real life horrors of the world, while wrapped up in an overly dramatic blanket that is sopping wet in pulp and circumstance. 

Grimm's tales for the spicy, hissing, angry teen girl. 

I don't know how exactly this series was brought to my attention from Lifteime but as soon as it was, I was sat. I even started at the beginning beginning. Like, The Beginning:

Flowers in the Attic: The Origin (2022)

In the book series it's Garden of Shadows. 

Now, this show had me in a choke hold. I can't explain it. And then I kept going, like a maniac, down the story's time line. 

Flowers in the Attic

Petals on the Wind

If There Be Thorns

Seeds of Yesterday

And I didn't stop there!!

I just jumped right into the Landry series:

Ruby

Pearl in the Mist

All That Glitters

Hidden Jewel

Tarnished Gold

Oh but wait! I didn't stop there!!

On to the Casteel series I went!

Heaven

Dark Angel

Fallen Hearts

Gates of Paradise

Web of Dreams

For good measure I tacked on: My Sweet Audrina 

I have yet to move onto the Culter family but give it time. 

Every single one of these shows captured the pulp of the novels but not quite the experience of reading them as a kid. They are definitely made for the middle-aged woman who read the novels as a teen. Being this exact demographic, I have no complaints. 

The gothic ambiance, the sick and twisted connections, the portrayal of false happiness - it's all there and ravenously debaucherous.  

So this is my recommendation to binge these shows as we enter the spooky season. It just feels right. 

Let it go, folks, just immerse yourself in these worlds far worse then the current one. Or is it...? Oh who cares anymore. 

Every show here pairs with absolutely anything and with anyone. Though I highly recommend watching with a girl dinner and wine. I watched these shows all on the Lifetime channel, where you can also find A Lot of true crime inspired films and dramas for all your made-for-TV true life horror needs.