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Celeste (Thorndike Press Large Print Core Series)

Celeste (Thorndike Press Large Print Core Series)

List Price: $30.95
Your Price: $30.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
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: 1 stars
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: 5 stars
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: 4 stars
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: 3 stars
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.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Very twisted story...
Review: I don't want to say i disliked this book..I didn't love it like the "Flowers" series...but it did reflect back to it in a way. Sarah has some big issues when she decides to turn Celeste into her brother Noble...and then keeps Celeste from being a mother to her own child. I can't wait to read Black Cat.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Closer to VC Andrews Pen
Review: I enjoyed Celeste, much to my own surprise...

Years ago, I was addicted to the books by V.C. Andrews -- specifically the Flowers in the Attic series and the Heaven series. Andrews could spin a story with mystery, secrets, love, incest -- and all of it would work together so beautifully. Honestly, there are no authors I have found that are comparable in style to V.C. Andrews.

Consequently, I was disappointed with the books that were written "in her honor" after she had passed away. At first they were all right, as if she had outlined them to begin with. Gradually, they didn't hold my interest anymore. They were lacking...something...

Celeste brought back the old feelings that so well reminded me of the author of the spellbinding My Sweet Audrina. As if someone had studied Andrews well enough to truly mimic that style that entrances you to turn page after page.

The storyline promised much -- and made the book a quick read.

What was missing in this book, however, was that ray of light. One bad thing after another befalls Celeste Atwell. I thought by the end that there would be some glimmer of hope for Celeste. I walked away feeling dismal about the entire experience. Will I read Black Cat, the upcoming sequel? Probably. But I wish there had been some small happiness for Celeste in this book - like Heaven's Logan or Cathy's brother Chris.

Anyway, I found this book better than the past few novels in V.C. Andrews' name. The storyline carried the book for me. If you liked Flowers in the Attic, give this one a chance.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Dont read if you havnt read the book yet!!!!!!
Review: I have to say I'm a fan of V'C Andrews estate books, although I never really read her original work, on the exception of seeing Flowers in the Attic which was very good, I find her book family series to be good. All of the family series are always simalar, you know, the rich spoiled girl, falls in love with one of her family members, they run off together after something really bad happens, she loses her virginty to him, or she gets raped, etc. Its all so predictable, i just wish that the people who write these books can make them a different for once. I found Celste to be a little bit different, I liked the character Celeste but I just thought that her crazy mother just messed up Celeste childhood up to the point where Celeste grew up forcing herself to believe she's really a male when she isn't, and what I found the most annoying is that it actually seemed like Celste loved her mom after all that witch put her through, another thing I cannot stand is that her mom always gave Noble the most attention which was so wrong, parents who are actually like that should be ashamed of themsleves, I admit the begining was kind of slow and hard to get into, but got alot more interesting as Celeste got older and her next door male neighbor moved in. Another part that was so irritating was how when Celeste finally gave birth to her baby boy, she let her mom take control of the baby like it was her's. There are parts of the book when I actually wished that I can just be Celeste for a moment and just slap her insane mother and run a way, if that had happened this novel would have been more of a satisfied read.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Nice try! Too bad it flopped!
Review: I'll give an extra star to the ghostwriter for trying, but c'mon! These books are terrible! The Andrews family should have stopped these books once V.C. died instead of churning out these poorly-written, sappy, unrealistic novels. It's worse than watching an episode of Days, for crying out loud! Either get a new writer or stop this all together!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Read!
Review: I've read all of the V.C Andrews books and this was another great one! I can't wait for the next title in the series to come out!


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