Hidden Jewel - Virginia Andrews

Reading Challenge Category: Fourth book in the series

Official Blurb:

Pearl hopes for happiness, but destiny is drawing her deep into the shadows of her family's tainted past.
Raised in a New Orleans mansion filled with kindness and laughter, Ruby Landry's daughter Pearl dreams of becoming a doctor. But, after a cruel accident befalls one of Pearl's twin brothers, her tormented mother flees back to her Cajun roots, and Pearl's dreams of success swirl away with the hurricane winds. In the warm embrace of a gentle Cajun man, she discovers a refuge. But until the shocking truths of her heritage are finally uncovered, Pearl will never be able to find true peace of mind.

My Thoughts:

This is the fourth book in the Landry series, and this time we are following Pearl, Ruby’s firstborn, who was only a toddler at the end of the last book.
She is now all grown-up, graduating high school as Valedictorian and staring into a bright future, that is, until the summer from hell arrives.
At the beginning of the book, I was relatively bored as it seemed the worst thing Pearl had to worry about was whether she would fall in love or not. Expecting more from these books; it was a very dull storyline. Fortunately, it picks up when tragedy and darkness strike the family. I feel awful saying that, actually, but I don’t read these books for flowers and rainbows!
There was one tragedy after another, and at one point, it did become almost farcical, especially when Pearl is reeling off to Jack all that is currently happening. The book twists and turns around these events and brings us to the end of the story.
Ruby’s behaviour throughout the book is frustrating. Yes, I get she believed in all that otherworldly stuff, but she put her family more at risk by what she was doing; it made me mad. Once again, she was acting selfishly but portraying it as not. I’m glad we didn’t have her as the protagonist for this book and that we had moved onto a different perspective in Pearl.
I was very disappointed with the ending. It felt rushed, and after having spent four books leading up to this climax, it fell very flat. We are left not knowing what really happened to Pearl. Is it as simple as she lives happily ever after? Knowing that the fifth book is a prologue to the entire series, you know this is the end of the line, and it just sort of petered out to nothing. Very unsatisfying after having invested so much time and emotion in this series. Only a three-star read for me.