Books like 'If There Be Thorns'

Readers who enjoyed If There Be Thorns by V.C. Andrews & Michael Görden also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

contemporary  romance  horror  mystery  20th century  gothic  drama  suspense  classics  family 

  • Replay by Ken Grimwood

    Replay by Ken Grimwood

    Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars
    · 42 ratings
    At forty-three Jeff Winston is tired of his low-paid, unrewarding job, tired of the long silences at the breakfast table with his wife, saddened by the thought of no children to comfort his old age. But he hopes for better things, for happiness, maybe tomorrow ...But a sudden, fatal heart attack puts paid to that...
  • The Changeover by Margaret Mahy

    The Changeover by Margaret Mahy

    Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Carnegie medal-winning supernatural romance from Margaret Mahy.The face in the mirror. From the moment she saw it, Laura Chant knew that something dreadful was going to happen. It wasn’t the first time she’d been forewarned. But never before had anything so terrible happened...
  • The China Garden by Liz Berry

    The China Garden by Liz Berry

    Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    When Clare moves with her mother from London to Ravensmere, an historic English estate, she can't shake the feeling that the residents already know her, especially Mark, a maddeningly attractive biker. Clare also feels compelled to take midnight walks in Ravensmere's abandoned China Garden. Then her mother reveals that their own past is tragically linked to the estate...
  • Heaven by V.C. Andrews

    Heaven by V.C. Andrews

    Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    Of all the folks in the mountain shacks, the Casteels were the lowest — the scum of the hills.Heaven Leigh Casteel was the prettiest, smartest girl in the backwoods, despite her ragged clothes and dirty face...despite a father meaner than ten vipers...despite her weary stepmother, who worked her like a mule. For her brother Tom and the little ones, Heaven clung to her pride and her hopes...
  • Dark Angel by V.C. Andrews

    Dark Angel by V.C. Andrews

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Second in the Casteel family saga series set in Virginia and Boston. As Heaven moves away from home she is determined to leave her traumatic past behind...
    Categorized as:
    classics  dark  drama  family  gothic  high-school  realistic  suspense
  • Drawing Blood by Poppy Z. Brite

    Drawing Blood by Poppy Z. Brite

    Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars
    · 32 ratings
    Escaping from his North Carolina home after his father murders their family and commits suicide, Trevor McGee returns to confront the past, and finds himself haunted by the same demons that drove his father to insanity...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  gothic  steamy  20th-century  adult  audiobook  book
  • Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey

    Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey

    Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    A thrilling debut story of death, love, destiny, and dangerLenzi hears voices and has visions - gravestones, floods, a boy with steel gray eyes. Her boyfriend, Zak, can't help, and everything keeps getting louder and more intense...
  • Tarnished Gold by V.C. Andrews

    Tarnished Gold by V.C. Andrews

    Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Her high school graduation just days away, Gabriel Landry is blissfully happy - until rich cannery owner Octavious Tate waylays her near a secluded pond and shatters her innocence, forever.Pregnant and desolate, Gabriel agrees to a shocking plan that will allow Octavious' frigid wife, Gladys, to claim the baby as her own...
    Categorized as:
    dark  drama  family  gothic  high-school  realistic  steamy  suspense
  • Tea with the Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy

    Tea with the Black Dragon by R.A. MacAvoy

    Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    Martha Macnamara knows that her daughter Elizabeth is in trouble, she just doesn't know what kind. Mysterious phone calls from San Francisco at odd hours of the night are the only contact she has had with Elizabeth for years. Now, Elizabeth has sent her a plane ticket and reserved a room for her at San Francisco's most luxurious hotel...
  • Garden of Shadows by V.C. Andrews

    Garden of Shadows by V.C. Andrews

    Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    Olivia dreamed of a sun-filled love, a happy life. Then she entered Foxworth Hall...V.C. Andrews' thrilling new novel spins a tale of dreadful secrets and dark, forbidden passions--of the time before Flowers in the Attic began. Long before terror flowered in the attic, thin, spinsterish Olivia came to Virginia as Malcolm Foxworth's bride...
    Categorized as:
    classics  crime  dark  drama  family  gothic  high-school  realistic
  • Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore

    Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore

    Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars
    · 54 ratings
    There is an alternate cover edition here.Jody never asked to become a vampire. But when she wakes up under an alley dumpster with a badly burned arm, an aching neck, superhuman strength, and a distinctly Nosferatuan thirst, she realizes the decision has been made for her...
  • Ruby by V.C. Andrews

    Ruby by V.C. Andrews

    Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    The New York Times best-selling novels of V.C. Andrews have captivated millions of readers worldwide. Now comes a thrilling new series about the dark, forbidden secrets that change the lives of the Landry family. Ruby Landry is a 15-year -old Cajun girl who lives on the Louisiana bayou. An illegitimate child whose young mother died at her birth, Ruby lives with her Grandmere Catherine...
    Categorized as:
    coming-of-age  dark  drama  family  gothic  realistic  steamy  suspense
  • The House of Sleep by Jonathan Coe

    The House of Sleep by Jonathan Coe

    Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Like a surreal and highly caffeinated version of The Big Chill, Jonathan Coe's new novel follows four students who knew each other in college in the eighties. Sarah is a narcoleptic who has dreams so vivid she mistakes them for real events. Robert has his life changed forever by the misunderstandings that arise from her condition. Terry spends his wakeful nights fueling his obsession with movies...
  • Pearl in the Mist by V.C. Andrews

    Pearl in the Mist by V.C. Andrews

    Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Fate whisked Ruby from a simple life in the Louisiana Bayou. But her new riches bring more treachery than happiness... Even after a year as a Dumas, Ruby still wonders at the splendor of the family's New Orleans mansion, and rejoices in the love of the father she had never known. But true happiness in her new home is as elusive as the swamp mist...
    Categorized as:
    dark  drama  family  gothic  realistic  steamy  suspense  teens
  • Devil May Care by Elizabeth Peters

    Devil May Care by Elizabeth Peters

    Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Ellie is young, rich, engaged and in love. These are the carefree days before marriage and new responsibility, and anything goes -- including house-sitting at eccentric Aunt Kate's palatial estate in Burton, Virginia...
  • The Woman in the Wall by Patrice Kindl

    The Woman in the Wall by Patrice Kindl

    Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    And hide is what Anna does throughout the course of this amazing book. She retreats into the fabric of a big old house, building a series of passageways and secondary walls that allow her to share the life of the house unseen by her mother and sisters. As Anna says, her family is not observant. But Anna herself is a quirky and perceptive witness to the life she has chosen to escape...
  • The Loop by Nicholas Evans

    The Loop by Nicholas Evans

    Rated: 3.92 of 5 stars
    · 36 ratings
    Helen Ross is a 29-year-old biologist, sent into a hostile place to protect the wolves from those who seek to destroy them. She struggles for survival and for self-esteem, embarking on a love affair with the 18-year-old son of her most powerful opponent, brutal and charismatic rancher, Buck Calder...
  • All That Glitters by V.C. Andrews

    All That Glitters by V.C. Andrews

    Rated: 3.85 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    Driven from the Dumas Mansion back to her beloved bayou, Ruby's only hope is that fate will let her begin anew...Living again in a humble shack, Ruby is determined to make a secure and happy home for her precious infant daughter, Pearl. Paul Tate-- her first love, whom she was forced to abandon-- is at her side once more, now a man of dazzling wealth...
    Categorized as:
    dark  drama  family  gothic  high-school  realistic  steamy  suspense
  • Melody by V.C. Andrews, Laurel Lefkow

    Melody by V.C. Andrews, Laurel Lefkow

    Rated: 3.85 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    Melody Logan knew her beautiful mother, Haille, was unhappy in their hardscrabble mining town....But with her wonderful father's unwavering love, Melody always felt safe — until a dreadful mine accident ripped her from her family's moorings.She was still devastated by her father's death when she left West Virginia with Haille to follow her mother's dream of becoming a model or actress...
    Categorized as:
    dark  drama  family  gothic  realistic  steamy  suspense  teens
  • Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite

    Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite

    Rated: 3.90 of 5 stars
    · 36 ratings
    At a club in Missing Mile, N.C., the children of the night gather, dressed in black, looking for acceptance. Among them are Ghost, who sees what others do not. Ann, longing for love, and Jason, whose real name is Nothing, newly awakened to an ancient, deathless truth about his father, and himself.Others are coming to Missing Mile tonight...
  • Hidden Jewel by V.C. Andrews

    Hidden Jewel by V.C. Andrews

    Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Hidden Jewel is the fourth thrilling novel in the V.C. Andrews Landry series. Following All That Glitters, the spellbinding story of Ruby Landry's daring struggle to find a happy life with Beau Andreas and to protect their precious daughter. Sheltered from sorrow, innocent young Pearl thrives in the sunshine of a loving home..
    Categorized as:
    dark  drama  family  gothic  high-school  realistic  steamy  suspense
  • Heart Song by V.C. Andrews

    Heart Song by V.C. Andrews

    Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Melody Logan was as alone as a solitary gull, with only the wild Atlantic wind to lift her spirits.... When Melody Logan's mother died in a car accident, Melody lost the last shred of family she had ever known. She was practically a stranger to the Logans, her wealthy relatives on Cape Cod, where she now drifted on a sea of dark secrets...
    Categorized as:
    dark  drama  family  gothic  steamy  suspense  teens  20th-century
  • My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews

    My Sweet Audrina by V.C. Andrews

    Rated: 3.87 of 5 stars
    · 38 ratings
    A haunting story of love and deceit, innocence and betrayal, and the suffocating power of parental love from V.C. Andrews.The idea of her sister hovered above them all. Audrina fiercely desired to be as good as her sister. She knew her father could not love her as he loved that other girl, for her sister was so special, so perfect—and dead...
  • The Captive by L.J. Smith

    The Captive by L.J. Smith

    Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars
    · 36 ratings
    Can The Secret Circle Survive...Lured into the most popular in-crowd imaginable, Cassie is intoxicated by her newfound strength, a power as addictive as it is perilous.Caught between two members' consuming desires to use the coven's mysterious force, Cassie turns to one of their boyfriends, Adam--and falls captive to her own dangerous love...
  • Companions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velde

    Companions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velde

    Rated: 3.79 of 5 stars
    · 19 ratings
    When Kerry's little brother forgets his stuffed bear at the laundry, Kerry ventures out at 11th p.m. to retrieve it for him. The laundry is deserted and kind of spooky, and while she's there three men burst in, dragging a bound and bloodied young man they insist is a vampire. Kerry helps him escape, only to be caught up in a desperate game between vampire hunters and their prey...
  • Heartlight by Marion Zimmer Bradley

    Heartlight by Marion Zimmer Bradley

    Rated: 3.70 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Heartlight is the story of Bradley’s greatest champion of good, Colin MacLaren, as he carries the banner of Light through the second half of the twentieth century. Ghostbuster, exorcist, student and teacher of the mystic arts, Colin meets Claire Moffat, who becomes his dearest friend, when he rescues her from a cult bent on human sacrifice...
  • Runaways by V.C. Andrews

    Runaways by V.C. Andrews

    Rated: 3.78 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    The spellbinding Orphans series concludes in this thrilling new novel from V.C. Andrews(R)... "All for one and one for all" was the girls' motto. In the grim foster home for orphans run by Louise and Gordon Tooey, at least Brooke, Crystal, Raven, and Butterfly had each other. Calling themselves "sisters," together they could forget the past and dream of a new chance...a real home...
    Categorized as:
    dark  drama  family  gothic  realistic  suspense  20th-century  abuse
  • Unfinished Symphony by V.C. Andrews

    Unfinished Symphony by V.C. Andrews

    Rated: 3.78 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Melody Logan had only just found a safe harbor when a new storm set her adrift all over again.... Melody had always believed her mother, Haille, and dear stepdaddy had died in tragic accidents — that's why she'd come to stay with her secretive Logan relatives on Cape Cod. But then a friend recognized Haille's picture in a catalog and kindled Melody's hopes...
    Categorized as:
    classics  dark  drama  family  gothic  realistic  steamy  suspense
  • Blood Pact by Tanya Huff

    Blood Pact by Tanya Huff

    Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars
    · 29 ratings
    It began with the call no daughter ever wants to get, the call that told private investigator Vicki Nelson her mother had died. Mrs. Nelson's coworker at the Queen's University Life Science Department told Vicki that the cause of death was a heart attack, and that they'd be waiting for her to arrive in Kingston to make the funeral arrangements...
  • Seeds of Yesterday by V.C. Andrews

    Seeds of Yesterday by V.C. Andrews

    Rated: 3.83 of 5 stars
    · 42 ratings
    The final, haunting novel, in the extraordinary story that has enthralled millions!The horror began with Flowers in the Attic, the terrifying tale of four innocent children locked away from the world by a cruel mother.The shocking fury continued with Petals on the Wind and If There be Thorns. Now V.C. Andrews has created the last dark chapter in the strange, chilling tale of passion and peril...
    Categorized as:
    classics  crime  dark  drama  family  gothic  high-school  realistic
  • Petals on the Wind by V.C. Andrews

    Petals on the Wind by V.C. Andrews

    Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars
    · 54 ratings
    They were such brave children to withstand such suffering. Such clever children to escape such terror!For Carrie, Chris and Cathy, the attic was a dark horror that would not leave their minds, even while they built bright, promising new lives. Of course mother had to pretend they didn't exist.And Grandmother was convinced they had the devil in them.But that wasn't their fault...
  • The Initiation by L.J. Smith

    The Initiation by L.J. Smith

    Rated: 3.77 of 5 stars
    · 37 ratings
    Cassie is initiated into her hometown's coven of witches but her love for the coven leader's boyfriend could prove deadly...
  • What Was She Thinking? [Notes on a Scandal] by Zoë Heller

    What Was She Thinking? [Notes on a Scandal] by Zoë Heller

    Rated: 3.73 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    Schoolteacher Barbara Covett has led a solitary life until Sheba Hart, the new art teacher at St. George's, befriends her. But even as their relationship develops, so too does another: Sheba has begun an illicit affair with an underage male student...
    Categorized as:
    classics  crime  dark  drama  family  realistic  suspense  20th-century
  • Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

    Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews

    Rated: 3.78 of 5 stars
    · 69 ratings
    Way upstairs there are four secrets hidden.Blond, beautiful, innocent little secrets, struggling to stay alive. Flowers In the AtticThe four Dollanganger children had such perfect lives -- a beautiful mother, a doting father, a lovely home. Then Daddy was killed in a car accident, and Momma could no longer support the family...
  • Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause

    Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause

    Rated: 3.75 of 5 stars
    · 48 ratings
    Vivian Gandillon relishes the change, the sweet, fierce ache that carries her from girl to wolf. At sixteen, she is beautiful and strong, and all the young wolves are on her tail. But Vivian still grieves for her dead father; her pack remains leaderless and in disarray, and she feels lost in the suburbs of Maryland. She longs for a normal life...
  • The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause

    The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause

    Rated: 3.70 of 5 stars
    · 37 ratings
    Zoe is wary when, in the dead of night, the beautiful yet frightening Simon comes to her house. Simon seems to understand the pain of loneliness and death and Zoe's brooding thoughts of her dying mother.Simon is one of the undead, a vampire, seeking revenge for the gruesome death of his mother three hundred years before...
  • The Girl in a Swing by Richard Adams

    The Girl in a Swing by Richard Adams

    Rated: 3.52 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    A shy young man meets a beautiful woman in the company of a young girl. He finds himself swept off of his feet and married to her, bringing her with him to live in his family home. She is his erotic dream come true; she does everything she can to bind him to her and join him in his comfortable life.Soon, however, odd things begin to happen...
  • Exit to Eden by Anne Rampling, Anne Rice

    Exit to Eden by Anne Rampling, Anne Rice

    Rated: 3.60 of 5 stars
    · 37 ratings
    Welcome to the club to satisfy all your desires. In the Caribbean sun, the champagne flows and the games of pain and pleasure never stop. Lisa is the perfectionist. Elliot, the client. In their meeting, they discover that Eden is a state of heart and mind where innocence and love can be recaptured...
    Categorized as:
    classics  dark  drama  steamy  20th-century  adult  audiobook  bdsm
  • The Enchantment of Lily Dahl by Siri Hustvedt

    The Enchantment of Lily Dahl by Siri Hustvedt

    Rated: 3.43 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    The protagonist of Siri Hustvedt's astonishing second novel is a heroine of the old style: tough, beautiful, and brave. Standing at the threshold of adulthood, she enters a new world of erotic adventure, profound but unexpected friendship, and inexplicable, frightening acts of madness...
  • Dark Reunion by L.J. Smith

    Dark Reunion by L.J. Smith

    Rated: 3.50 of 5 stars
    · 39 ratings
    Elena rises from the dead to recreate the powerful vampire trio. Summoned by Elena, Stefan keeps a promise to her and fights the most terrifying evil he's ever faced. Joining the brother he once called enemy, Damon battles this new horror with strength, cunning, and deadly charm...
  • The Fury by L.J. Smith

    The Fury by L.J. Smith

    Rated: 3.51 of 5 stars
    · 42 ratings
    A Love Triangle of Unspeakable Horror... Stefan Tormented after losing Elena, he's determined to end the feud with his brother, Damon--whatever the cost.Damon Mocking Stefan and Elena, he laughs in the face of doom.Elena Wild with her craving for blood, she confronts the ultimate evil.The terrifying story of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them...
  • The Struggle by L.J. Smith

    The Struggle by L.J. Smith

    Rated: 3.47 of 5 stars
    · 42 ratings
    This is the terrifying story of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them: Damon: determined to make Elena his queen of darkness, he'd kill his own brother to possess her.Stefan: desperate for the power to destroy Damon, he succumbs to his thirst for human blood.Elena: irresistibly drawn to both brothers, her choice will decide their fate...
  • The Awakening by L.J. Smith

    The Awakening by L.J. Smith

    Rated: 3.37 of 5 stars
    · 58 ratings
    A Love Triangle of Unspeakable Horror...ElenaSearching for the ultimate thrill, she vowed to have Stefan.StefanHaunted by his tragic past, he struggled to resist her passion.DamonDriven by revenge, he hunted the brother who betrayed him.The terrifying story of two vampire brothers and the beautiful girl torn between them...
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