Rating: Summary: Paradise? Review: I have read every book V.C. Andrews has written. I absolutely love this book and highly recommend it.
Rating: Summary: The ghostwriter's laughable first attempt Review: I have two problems with this book. The first one is that the ghost writer did not use one single line of original dialogue throughout the entire story. He just rehashed the whole plot with Heaven again. If you read Fallen Hearts, you won't miss anything in this book. All the elements are there, and back again. Annie dies her hair blond, hmm....Somebody decides to go for a midnight walk and ends up in someone else's bed in the middle of the night. Sound familar? Tony completed deteoriated, the ghostwriter didn't even get the color of his hair right. And, he wasn't the strong, dangerous and intriguing character from the first book, he became a cookie cutter villian that spouted whole lines of dialogue from the previous books back at Annie when he was having a "moment". The ghostwriter blames this on senility. That sounds like an easy way out. The second thing is, as numerous other reviewers have pointed out, Annie is the most moronic, whiny, little fool. I guess Heaven and Logan really messed up there. I personally didn't care about what happened to her, especially since the same things from every other book VC wrote were just transferred onto her simpering, crybaby little head. What a horrible end to a genuinely touching series. This is one of the few VC Andrews books I never reread back when I was really gung ho for all these books. This is also the ghostwriter's ghastly debut. The good news is that he gets better. It would be hard to outdo this book with it's pure lack of everything. With this book, he could have just handed you a piece of paper directing you to the various pages numbers of previous VC Andrews books that he directly ripped off, instead of wasting more paper. A six year old with mad libs and a list of adjectives could have been more creative. But to give him credit, like I said, he does do better in some of his later series. So anyway, you probably don't want to buy this book. Get it in the library, before you go on a long plane ride.
Rating: Summary: A wonderful book, with a few downfalls... Review: I honestly liked this book, yet there were a lot of parts that irritated me. This was when Annie complained all the time. (Such as when she said, 'I miss this, and I miss that.. etc) There was a lot of repeating. I think we already knew that Annie missed her parents! However, more interesting parts consists of when she discovered Troy still alive after all that time she though he was dead, Tony being the lost and lonely person he was and how Annie managed to conquer it all and not let anyone stop her from being healthy again. I couldn't put this book down, so if you are weighing on whether or not you should read this book, I recommend it very much so. :)
Rating: Summary: Wow! Review: I loved this book even at my age of 11. I understood it and I thought it was so breathtaking the way Annie goes out from the Tatterton back to her home with Luke and her outrageous aunt Fanny. I found it trulky tragic that heaven died because I had read Heaven before that. I really enjoyed this too and hope you will.
Rating: Summary: Good but not great Review: I really hated that Heaven would not continue the narration spot as in the other three books. Although I know that is the formula V.C. uses I still don't like it much. You become so attached to the Heaven in the first three books that changing point of view to the daughter's side is kinda weird. I have to admit that in the Cutler series when the same thing happened in the fourth book I enjoyed much more. I think the only reason I didn't enjoy this one as much was because there wasn't much action. And all the mysteries in the book you already new the answers from the previous books. It was fun though to see your old favorite characeters progress. Like Aunt Fanny wasn't so immature anymore and Tony Tatterton really was a sick demented guy. I have to admit I always felt a little sorry for Tony in the past few books but not in this one. Definitely read it if you are intrested in the Casteel family saga but the first three Heaven books are much better.
Rating: Summary: PERFECTION Review: I think this was a great book. I LOVE V.C. Andrews. She's is one of my favorite authors! I like her style too, she puts you right in the middle of the book and treats you as if you are one of the characters. She's very interesting to read and I'd reccomend this book to almost anyone.
Rating: Summary: Too beautiful for this world Review: I've been reading V.C. Andrew's novels ever since I was nine. It is my favorite of all time. Of course I adore all of them, I am a HUGE fan! But there's something magical about this novel that touches me deeply each time I read it. And I've read it five times. Annie is exactly like me; wishing for her prince to sweep her away of to his castle, the eternal optimist. Even when they play their "fantasy game" it stirs something special inside. Luke is a perfect for Annie, they go together like two doves. When they're forced to be seperated by the car crash that takes Annie off to Farthingagle Manor, you feel them longing for eachother. It's so romantic! I don't know why I'm so affected by this book, but I am. If you haven't read it yet, go and read it now! It plays on your heartstrings, makes you fall in love with the characters. I LOVE it, and would read it another five times!
Rating: Summary: Fourth Book in the Casteel Series Review: Starting 17 years after "Fallen Hearts" ended, "Gates of Paradise" follows Heaven Leigh Casteel's teenage daughter, Annie Stonewall, as she copes with the death of her parents and her new disability. Like many of V. C. Andrews' heroines, Annie has one forbidden love--her half-brother, Luke Casteel, Jr--, who she misses terribly when she is sent to her grandfather's mansion (Farthinggale Manor) in Boston to recuperate. While she's there, Annie is not only mistreated by her nurse (Mrs. Broadfield), but by her delusional grandfather, Tony Tatterton, who mistakes her for Heaven and Leigh quite often. Because she's isolated from most of her family, Annie has no one to really turn to, except a mysterious older man who calls himself Timothy Brothers and lives in the cottage nearby."Gates of Paradise" is the only disappointing book in this series; the other four books--"Heaven" (#1), "Dark Angel" (#2), "Fallen Hearts" (#3), and "Web of Dreams" (#5)--are all terrific. I had a hard time liking Annie's character; she was too whiny and weak and nothing like her mother, Heaven, who was quite a fighter. Plus, the plot was a little dull with Annie confined to her room or her wheelchair. There weren't a lot of new secrets revealed either; most of them had been uncovered in the previous three books. So, what exactly was the point of this book? Despite "Gates of Paradise", the Casteel series is still one of my favorite series by V. C. Andrews. And if you want to find out how all of this confusion and incest began, then don't miss the fifth and final book: "Web of Dreams".
Rating: Summary: Could've been better Review: This book has Heaven's daughter Annie as the main character. You think that Heaven would have a stronger, more likeable daughter, but it's anything but that. Annie is childish, immature, and I didn't care for her at all. What 18 year old calls their parents "Mommy" and "Daddy?" The story is rehashed from all the other Casteel books, and the ending just lacks emotion. It could've been so much better.
Rating: Summary: Not too bad. Review: This book is a must read if you are reading the series of books as a whole. It's not the best book, but it's worth sticking out till the end. Annie is not my favorite character, but I liked her better than Christie in the Cutler series.
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