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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780743493864
ISBN number: 0743493869
Label: Pocket Star
Manufacturer: Pocket Star
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 432
Printing Date: August 30, 2005
Publishing house: Pocket Star
Release Date: August 30, 2005
Sale Popularity Level: 296779
Studio: Pocket Star
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Product Description:
APRIL HAD ALWAYS FELT LIKE AN OUTSIDER.
Her older sister Brenda was tall, athletic, competitive, and sure of herself. But April Taylour was short, sensitive, and overweight -- and she couldn't bounce back from their father's cutting criticisms the way Brenda did. April didn't know why their once-loving dad had become a coldhearted monster, but she was sure it had something to do with her. And she could see how his cruel behavior was tearing away at her gentle mother. But a glimmer of happiness returns when Brenda brings home her college roommate: beautiful, bewitching Celia. And April wonders if she might not be so different from Brenda after all....
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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I stopped buying VCA books after Black Cat, and sold all of my VCA books that came after the Logan series. The only reason I read the April Shadows was because my roommate had both books, and since it was free... why not?
Even free, I still feel used and wasted. These two books are NOT VCA. Nowhere even close. April is not a good VCA name like Heaven, Dawn, or Ruby. The titles did not make sense. April wasn't a real heroine. There were no horrible, dark secrets (her father's secret was laughable) and no real family secrets at all. This book focused a lot her stumbling (and unrealistic) explorations of her own sexuality. And two books for this series? Come on...
I'm waiting for V.C. Andrews to climb out of her grave and rip Neiderman a new one.
Rated by buyers 
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For many moons readers have been complaining about how similar all The VCA books have become.
This one is different. And that is a plus.
The story (by A.N.) offers a change-up to the franchise and is welcomed.
For once we do not have to put up with a raging beauty, but a regular girl who is trying her best to cope. The lesbian theme is different from previous novels.
The characters are written with feeling and depth. Brenda, Celia and April are easy to understand. I've yet to read the sequel, but have found this book to be a breath of fresh air compared to the last few (A.N.) novels.
Note to (A.N.) author: Please feel free to change the formula; it's gotten old and needs to be refreshed. We will still follow you.
Rated by buyers -
I keep finding myself thinking "who cares?!" This book drags on and on and on. There's no suspense AT ALL. In the very first few pages where we hear about Mr. Hyde, I pretty much deduced that Matt Taylour was in fact sick and that's why his behavior changed. No suspense. I knew the sister would end up gay--I don't agree with that lifestyle, but since I enjoy VC books (which occasionally had incest), I knew to expect one of the two. Figured out which it would be once they started pimping the fact that she never went on dates, boys liked her but she didn't give them the time of day, BLAH BLAH BLAH. It's all so very cliche. The story isn't interesting. April is a wimp, and halfway through the book, nothing about her has changed. It's making me feel as if it's not worth finishing. And that's disappointing b/c when I very first started reading VCA books in school, I couldn't put them down....loved the Casteels, the Cutlers, the Adares, the Landrys, Logans, and to an extent, the Hudsons. I would search high and low in my county's libraries for an entire series just so I wouldn't have to wait to read the subsequent one. Not soo anymore. I picked up the subsequent in the Shadows series, but it looks like I'll be returning it along with this unfinished one.
I hope one day the ghostwriter wakes up and goes back to VC's glory days.
Rated by buyers 
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What I like best about VC Andrews books is that I know they will just keep coming. There are so many lonely people types in the world to base books on. In APRIL SHADOWS, Andrews does it again, taking a person who is not picture perfect in her own mind and suffers many losses to deal with. Voila! Another dysfunctional situation as well as a character many can relate to, to get to know.
Glad to see gay issues out of the closet and onto the page. The Uncle and his big doll make for a wonderful twist(ed) addition, too.
Now, on to book two of the series. Good!
Rated by buyers -
I used to be a VCA fan. I even stuck with the books after Neiderman started writing them, and helped run the biggest (at the time) internet fan club for her. I grew out of her books somewhere after the Melody series, and since then haven't read her books that often. However, this book caught my eye. "Dares to break all the rules"! That's what the cover said! So I picked it up, and hey- April is short, sensitive, and overweight. Well, that does indeed sound different, I think to myself. How nice it'll be to read a book with a chubby protagonist, I wondered how the issue of her size would be dealt with.
Well, let me say this: poorly. Very, very poorly. Throughout the entire book April does not once ever think anything nice about herself or her body. She's criticized constantly for her size, and she refuses to stand up for herself. It's not at all an exaggeration to say that at least once every five pages there is some mention of her being "overweight", "obese", "20 pounds too much" or some other phrase that points a negative view on herself. There's huge focus on her dieting and on her sister and father being angry with her for doing things like - oh my god - eating a meal! To say that I was disappointed in this book is an understatement. In a world where there are so many young girls with eating disorders and self esteem and self image issues, this book only goes to further perpetuate it all. It's funny, because I always laughed at the typical moaning of VCA's characters over their "bony collarbones", but at least those characters appreciated their bodies for what they were, in spite of their flaws.
There are other issues in this book - yes, there's a homosexual theme. Yes, it's predictable. There are so many stereotypes floating around in this book that it's ridiculous. Brenda, the jock lesbian. Peter, the Native American whose sole purpose in the story is to tell April about native lore and to "follow the wheel." Of course, there's the chubby April, who's fat because she's lazy and eats too much.
I would say that the one and ONLY positive part of this book is in the way that it deals with Brenda and Celia's relationship - very straightforward and without a lot of explaining. Their relationship just is what it is, and there's not a lot of controversy around it. (You may insert your own controversy if you wish..)
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