Mayfair by V.C. Andrews

Book Three of the Girls of Spindrift. From the New York Times bestselling author of the Flowers in the Attic and My Sweet Audrina series (now Lifetime movies) continues a haunting new series featuring highly intelligent teenage girls who struggle to survive a specialized high school and find their place in a world that doesn’t understand them.

Such is the burden of being brilliant.

Mayfair arrives at Spindrift School, and quickly begins to feel its walls are a prison, its teachers her wardens. Having become best friends with Corliss and Donna, the three of them become the de facto It Girls of Spindrift; the other students call them the Supremes—and not for their singing talents.

Jogging the grounds of Spindrift one day, the girls notices a hole in the fence leading to the nearby town that the students are never permitted to visit. Gathering up their nerve for an off-campus excursion, they venture to a local bar, and into the presence of a man Mayfair becomes enchanted by. Thrilling and new, this affair of the heart is the opposite of the rigorous study Spindrift demands of its pupils. And so for this ultra-smart girl, the question becomes: which is smarter, which brings more self-satisfaction, the path of the brain, or the wilds of the heart?

The four Girls of Spindrift novellas together form a prequel for Bittersweet Dreams—available now!

Book 3
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆
Mayfair is the third installment in the Girls of Spindrift series, as well as the sequel to the full-length novel Bittersweet Dreams. I recommend against reading as a standalone. Corliss, Donna, then Mayfair.

I rated the first two much higher, and I do believe that is in part due to the fact that Corliss and Donna began before the girls arrived at Spindrift, allowing the reader to forge an emotional connection with the characters, as well as weaving an air of mystery to Spindrift. Mayfair begins while at Spindrift, with a major event 'told' not shown, and this created an emotional disconnect between me and the narrator.

The residents of Spindrift take being geniuses to a whole new level, beyond the range of what an average, everyday person could even contemplate. This almost detached emotional state is difficult to connect to for the reader, at least it was for me.

I enjoyed watching the struggle unfold for the girls as they tried to assimilate back into the population – however, I felt it rather vapid, as if there is no in between. You're either beyond genius or only enjoy shopping and the mall, with no in between.

Overall, I just felt for someone so intelligent, every thought and action was emotionally and mentally stunted at the age of 10 or 12, which made for a difficult read for me.

While this was a quick read, and did fit into the series as a whole, I never connected, didn't truly feel entertained, and never connected to the story or the narrator. With such an original premise surrounding Spindrift, I'm unsure why Mayfair and what she told within her story was a focal point in the first place. With a beginning told (not shown), a dry middle, and it ended before I felt it began, what was or was to come would have been a more interesting focal point to read about instead of what was on the pages.

Recommended to fans of VC Andrews and this series.


Sarah – ☆☆☆
Finally! The girls get to Spindrift! Mayfair’s book starts once all three girls have settled in to Spindrift and formed a friendship of sorts. In a school full of socially awkward geniuses, the three beautiful young women are called the Supremes.

After wading through the first two novellas, I think I was hoping for something more once the girls got to Spindrift. And while we do get a sense of the physicality of the secure school facility, the secrets behind Spindrift are still merely hinted at.

Mayfair’s book somehow manages to spiral into something that almost resembles a romance. She might be a genius, but Mayfair’s decisions seem fairly stupid and her reactions are those of a defiant and somewhat spoiled rich kid. Mayfair isn’t a terribly likeable character. She is as smug as Corliss and Donna, but she also comes across as vain and shallow.

I really haven’t enjoyed the style of the writing in these three prequels. I don’t need my characters to be likeable – I quite enjoy a good antihero or an unreliable narrator – but I really couldn’t engage with any of the three girls and I found the painfully slow build of the story arc incredibly frustrating.

Also Available in the Girls of Spindrift Series

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

For reviews & more info, check out our Corliss post.

Book 2
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

For reviews & more info, check out our Donna post.

One of the most popular authors of all time, V.C. Andrews has been a bestselling phenomenon since the publication of the spellbinding classic Flowers in the Attic. That blockbuster novel began the renowned Dollanganger family saga, which includes Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday, and Garden of Shadows. Since then, readers have been captivated by more than sixty novels in nearly twenty bestselling series. V.C. Andrews’s novels have sold more than 106 million copies and have been translated into twenty-two foreign languages.

Sadly, V.C. passed away in 1986. She left several unfinished manuscripts and outlines that were completed by Andrew Neiderman.

Connect with V.C.

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Mayfair (Girls of Spindrift #3) by V.C. Andrews to read and review.