Celeste

Rating:
Summary: Review
Review: I read this book in about 2 weeks, I thought it was a very good book, and would recommend it to anyone of any age. It is a very good story that keeps you wanting to read more and more. It is a good book for girls who are just trying to figure themselfs out, about where they belong and what they were meant to do in life.
This is about a young girl Celeste hows mother believes in the spirital world. And when she is forced to take on her twin brothers identity and become her brother, she forgets about her self, about being a girl. But a neighbor boy helps her discover her true self again.


Rating:
Summary: I didn't think it was possible...
Review: ...for a "V. C. Andrews" novel of recent years to disappoint me more than the De Beers novels did. And yet "Celeste" left me both angry and sad. The legacy begun by Virginia Andrews, a truly gifted story-teller has been completely tarnished by Andrew Neiderman. I fear he has ruined her legacy beyond repair.

I honestly thought the first novel in the Gemini series would be Neiderman's redemption. I thought Virginia's ghostwriter had taken a good look at his previous three mini-series, his De Beers series, and his Broken Wings series, and had decided to try something truly different: make a real effort to produce a piece of literature, not just something to enthrall the masses of tweens that read these stories these days.

From my first glimpse of "Celeste's" cover, I was mad. The phrase "A mother's love as deady as Mommy's in FITA" caught my attention, and kept it. Andrew Neiderman has not, and will never earn the right to compare *his* V.C. A. writing to what Virginia herself wrote.

(The actual book itself was boring...an interesting concept, but horribly written.)

Virginia was a story-teller. She spun yarns. Her words...her tone...her plots...they all pulled you into the world she sought to create. By the end of one of *her* novels, you felt as though you knew each and every character personally. You rejoiced with their triumphs and ached with their sorrows. Her stories moved you...or at least, me.

No main character after Ruby Landry (aside from Rain Hudson, Brody Randolph, and Melody Logan) moved me. No series after some parts of the Hudson series, and no mini-series plot or character has ever moved me.

Neiderman's stories try to live up to V.C. Andrews and fall flat. And his recent stories don't even make that effort. They are full of stale pop culture references, weak characters, and pathetic, female, idealized leads.

In closing, I would like to urge everyone to refrain from reading "Celeste." It is not worth your time, and will only continue to tarnish your good memories of the brilliant story-teller Virginia Andrews, and her stories.

Rating:
Summary: A Mixed Bag...
Review: A few years back I was a fairly dedicated V.C. Andrews fan, but then I got tired of her repetitive and familiar work. While recently browsing the bookstore I stumbled upon her latest effort, Celeste. I was quite intrigued after reading the plot's summary on the back cover. It sounded...original. Not that Andrews' work is ever bad, but lately its been a little lacking in all respects.

Celeste is about a crazed woman and her relationship with her two children, Celeste and Noble. The novel begins very slowly, attempting to give depth to the characters. It succeeds in this respect for a while, but when you hit the 100 page mark and the main conflict of the novel (Noble's death and the insane mother's attempt to turn Celeste into Noble) still hasn't begun, you start longing for more plot to chew on.

The previously mentioned plot, though, is quite riveting...as are the conflicts that arise from it. But, the novel suffers in its pacing and lack of a true climax. Andrews attempts to take the plot in two directions: one dealing with ghosts and spirituality and the other dealing with the novel's central conflict. There is almost a tug of war with the conflicts...leaving the reader wondering what is more important. And in the end, you'll feel as though the characters have not grown or changed from the moment the conflicts arose. They end back at square one and the journey you've taken with them feels pointless.

"Celeste" is more of a good idea than a good book. Yes, its premise is different and intriguing, but all of the book's filling is same old same old V.C. Andrews. Fans will probably adore it, but everyone else might get lost in Andrews' overly rich language and slow plot development. I am happy to say that, at least for now, V.C. is headed towards truly original, controversial, and memorable writing once again. This is a step in the right direction.

Rating:
Summary: BRAVO! CELESTE BREAKS THE MOLD! A DEFINITE MUST-READ!
Review: Bravo for Mr. Neiderman! He has successfully "broken the V. C. Andrews mold" with CELESTE! On the cover of the book, it says, "A mother's love as deadly as Mommy's in Flowers in the Attic." And how true that is! Mommy is indeed deadly. And whacko!

While it is not my approach the review the book page by page, let me point out the strengths of CELESTE. Much like WILLOW and the original V. C. Andrews books, this one takes place over a period of many years. There is very little "teenage interaction" and this is a much more adult-oriented book. The characters are strong, likeable (well, not Mommy!), and understandable.

While reading the book, I kept wondering how the character Celeste could be so willing to go along with her mother's deception. Then it finally hits you... Mommy has so traumatized Celeste that Celeste has no other choice. Pleasing Mommy is so important to Celeste, the least favorite of the twins (Noble and Celeste). Their very separatism from town and from other people allows Mommy to mold Celeste into her ideal of Noble.

One cannot help but look foward to Black Cat and beyond. Personally, I am hoping that in the next book Mommy gets hers and gets it good! Although in the past in my other reviews of V. C. Andrews books I was unwilling to give away the secret -- who the ghostwriter is -- here I am proud to say it is Mr. Andrew Neiderman, the popular horror and suspense author. I can easily imagine CELESTE being a "Neiderman-branded" book for its fine suspense and storyline. If in the past you have grown tired of the "sameness" of the V. C. Andrews formula, pick up Celeste and enjoy its unique qualities. You will be hating Mommy too very soon!

A TRIUMPH! A MUST-READ!

Rating:
Summary: BRAVO! CELESTE BREAKS THE MOLD! A DEFINITE MUST-READ!
Review: Bravo for Mr. Neiderman! He has successfully "broken the V. C. Andrews mold" with CELESTE! On the cover of the book, it says, "A mother's love as deadly as Mommy's in Flowers in the Attic." And how true that is! Mommy is indeed deadly. And whacko!

While it is not my approach the review the book page by page, let me point out the strengths of CELESTE. Much like WILLOW and the original V. C. Andrews books, this one takes place over a period of many years. There is very little "teenage interaction" and this is a much more adult-oriented book. The characters are strong, likeable (well, not Mommy!), and understandable.

While reading the book, I kept wondering how the character Celeste could be so willing to go along with her mother's deception. Then it finally hits you... Mommy has so traumatized Celeste that Celeste has no other choice. Pleasing Mommy is so important to Celeste, the least favorite of the twins (Noble and Celeste). Their very separatism from town and from other people allows Mommy to mold Celeste into her ideal of Noble.

One cannot help but look foward to Black Cat and beyond. Personally, I am hoping that in the next book Mommy gets hers and gets it good! Although in the past in my other reviews of V. C. Andrews books I was unwilling to give away the secret -- who the ghostwriter is -- here I am proud to say it is Mr. Andrew Neiderman, the popular horror and suspense author. I can easily imagine CELESTE being a "Neiderman-branded" book for its fine suspense and storyline. If in the past you have grown tired of the "sameness" of the V. C. Andrews formula, pick up Celeste and enjoy its unique qualities. You will be hating Mommy too very soon!

A TRIUMPH! A MUST-READ!

Rating:
Summary: Like a REAL VC book...the very best the GW has done.
Review: CELESTE has elements of both Flowers in the Attic and My Sweet Audrina, rather than being just another Heaven rip-off. Celeste's character is intriguing because she honestly believes everything her mother tells her, as opposed to a Dawn-like heroine who KNOWS everyone around her is wacky. Celeste doesn't even realize how traumatized she is. For once, I didn't feel it was the same old character speaking.

Sarah is absolutely nuts, and it's not just "I want to stay young and beautiful forever." It's refreshing to see characters who are not what we'd expect...for instance, I expected the "boy next door" to be a sympathetic character. He's not.

Finally, a reader can easily see why the next two books are NECESSARY, not just filler. All in all, a very satisfying VC experience, which hasn't happened in a long time. (Of course the GW's aggravating writing style such as "Her eyes grew small" is still apparent, but try to ignore it and enjoy the plot.)

Rating:
Summary: It's an improvement
Review: Don't be so harsh. Personally, I found Celeste to be much more of a novel than the latest books prior to this one. The GW seemed to have spent more time writing Celeste. The old "formula" was not used quite as fluent as it is in all of the family series (poor beautiful girl finds out she's really a rich beautiful girl with a dysfunctional family of greedy people; she is always tortured by the mean ones and always has a man madly in love with her). In this story there is more of a mystery. Some things surprised me here. Celeste's character was bit different. She was quite the little wimp, but it's understandable coming from her backround, though I was always hoping she'd turn around, slap her psychotic mother and run away. At least here the girl can stomach a few lies and disobey orders occasionally. The insanity of her mother was interesting at times as well, like the way she goes completely psycho when something disturbes her or "the voices" tell her something is wrong. A different range of characters appear, and I'm so glad there is not sight of one of the GW's most favorite character: the beautiful woman who is obsessed with beauty and looking young. Those women all say and act the same, making you feel like the same character is appearing in all sorts of books under a different name. Celeste's posing as her brother is creepy and strange, reminding me of My Sweet Audrina, VCA's finest work. Though this book would never add up, it too had aspects of the late-VC's masterpiece.

This book took me a while to read because I never found time to read it all at once, but once I did I was hardly satisfied. There are a few things that stand out as huge annoyances for me: The mother needs mental help; Celeste needs to come out and be the female that she is, and she should also go to college or something and actually (gasp!) make a friend or so. Now that Celeste is older, can't she just get out from her mother's clutches? She's nearly an adult herself. The "Mommy" and "Daddy" thing still happened, too. It drives me insane! NO MORE "MOMMY" AND "DADDY"!! Can't they just ONCE say "Mom" or "Dad", "Mother or "Father"? I feel like I'm reading a book designed for pre-schoolers here, listening to the girl talk about what Daddy said or Mommy did...

This book is strange with one tragedy following another. But it's definitely a bit more interesting than the recent works, meaning the books following The Casteel stories, where they all just went downhill.

Rating:
Summary: Celeste
Review: First, i'd like to point out, Celeste and Noble are NOT identical twins. Boy/Girl twins are never identical. they are always fraternal. They can look so much alike as to appear identical, but as they grow older, they won't. Anyway, enough about that.

Celeste was a welcome change. Rather then then the usual poor to rich girl, we get a girl growing up on a farm. You can only assume they are well off, from the mentions of the mother's inheritance from a gtrandparent. The children are home schooled by their mother, a former school teacher. Their father runs a buisness(i'm not quite sure, but i think a construction sort of thing).Other then the mother's rather odd beliefs, they have a happy,if rather isolated laugh.Things good rather well, until a tragic accident takes first the father, then later, the brother Noble dies.

Noble was the favorite, and his death appears to send Celestes mother over the edge. And thats all i'll say. Definetly worth a read or two.

Rating:
Summary: All Too Familiar
Review: Honestly, I very much enjoyed the book. I found the character Celeste "Nobel" very interesting and found the homosexual under tones appealing as well. The thing that bothers me though is that it's all most too much like Flowers in the Attic.
Even the writing style it self.
I have to wonder though if stuff like this really happens any more. It's imaginative but all most too imaginative, and too much like Flowers in the Attic.
Yes I do like the book and I will be awaiting for the sequel. Still it's all too serial.

Rating:
Summary: 3.5 Stars
Review: I am not a huge VC Andrews fan. I wouldn't even go so far as to say I am even a fan. But I find I can't stop reading the books. I have to see what's going to happen next, even though I know what's going to happen next since the story NEVER changes.

So I entered into Celeste thinking, maybe, this time things will be different. Of course not. There are changes, but nothing major. There's still the same constants: the father is a kindly man who loves his family and dies, the mother is a nutjob, the young, beautiful, talented, and special daughter wants her mother to love her, and the family is torn apart by tragedy after tragedy.

I liked the idea of twins. I liked the idea in the Landry series. But I had hoped that the twin brother would last longer. But no, that would be too different and then nothing would happen. But the brother is the favoured child and is not insanely jealous of his sister. Nor, does he want to begin an incestuous relationship with her. So, that's different. The young boy that is supposed to be the special, one true love of Celeste isn't all that great.

It's not a bad book, but it seems to me that the author spends a great deal of time rehashing the same issues over and over again. I don't mean issues from the other books (I expect that) but the same issues from teh same book. Celeste wants her mother to love her and so goes along with her crazy schemes. Celeste keeps wanting her mother's love and isn't getting it. Over and over, Celeste has the same conversation in her head, "If only mother would see me as a girl who can see spirits, then she would love me." This gets a little dull.

It's a typical VC Andrews style book. You know the storyline, you know most of the characters, but you can't help but read the series. It's like the road home. You know the way very well, and you know the destination very well. And if someone changed any of it, you feel very much put out.