Re read for me. Still loved it!

Back when Andrews books were actually being written by Andrews herself, her main characters seen to be stronger thank the one's we find in 'The New Virginia Andrews' books.

Although Heaven does fall into some of the same traps, for example, sleeping with a guy she doesn't really want to. She does have a more fight about her.

Yes she is sold and abused in her new home by her fake mother Kitty, but she does stand up to Kitty a fair few times and she is always raging at her father throughout the book.

Talking of Kitty, I first read this book almost twenty years ago and I haven't been able to take a bath since, without thinking of that scene. Being dunked in a boiling hot bath and scrubbed with disinfectant must have been horrific and I have never been able to get it out of my head.

Heaven hasn't had any romantic dealings with her brother yet, although they are very close. I can't remember what happens in the rest of her books, though I have a feeling the incest happens with her uncle and not her brother.

Looking forward to re-reading the rest of the series.

This was a favorite from my early teenage years, so when I saw it on sale, I thought I'd see if the magic was still there. The answer was a resounding NO. Sad.

The first half of the book wasn't so bad. Heaven Leigh Casteel (the name should have been my first clue...) lives in the hills of West Virginia, and her family is at the bottom of the pecking order in their small town. Actually, the Casteels live out of town, up in the hills. (Seven miles away from town, to be exact. Yet it only takes them an hour to walk to and from town for school or church, but if Grandpa is with them it can take them them up to two hours. Quite the speed-walking family.) She cares for her younger brothers and sisters with her hard-working but increasingly depressed stepmother, while her father is largely absent. So far, so good. Heaven is a bit of a wuss, and the conversation is stilted, but there's not much to complain about.

Halfway through the book, Heaven's father sells all his children to childless couples, for $500 each. In her new wealthy household with a new stepmother and stepfather, Heaven turns into a complainer: she has to wear K-Mart clothes (which aren't good enough for her fashion tastes, even though she had only rags to wear before), she has to do chores around the house (this sort of whining probably appealed to me as a teenager), and her new stepmother doesn't love her enough.

Oh, and when her stepmother is in the hospital, Heaven seduces her stepfather and then feels terrible about it. Um, gross?

From what I remember, the series keeps getting worse, with worse and worse things happening to Heaven, who never learns to stick up for herself. So I won't be reading onward.

(Side note: I think V.C. Andrews is the only author I know of who has written more books after dying than she wrote when she was alive. Seems kind of unfair to other authors, whose careers stop at death.)

“If you work to obtain your goal, and realize from the very beginning that nothing valuable comes easily, and still forge ahead, without a doubt you’ll reach your goal, whatever it is.”

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS BOOK!!!! Highly Recommend

Well written but not my kind of story. Heaven Leigh Casteel undergoes many ordeals (thankfully none too horrific for my squeamish tastes though some came close). The main reason that this isn't my kind of story is that I don't feel that I, the reader, gained anything from this harrowing of my soul that I experienced reading this. And I didn't like the ending which was basically upbeat if you can believe that Pa really had changed his entire character. Kitty's deathbed conversion seems more probable. I did like the way the Rev. Wise was shown in his true colors by Fanny's goodbye visit to Heaven, though my more vengeful side would have liked it if he had been exposed to the whole town. But after all of Heaven's insights into people's character & motivation throughout the book, it offended me that she suddenly lost this ability in the final chapter. I felt that she would have recognized that Cal & Tom were trying to do what was best for her, even if it wasn't exactly what she wanted.

This one was pretty crazy lol!! Had tons of family drama, sadness, love, sex! Wow!! A typical VC Andrews book! I felt so bad for all the things that Heaven went through in her childhood, and throughout her young adult life!.

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Is this a well written literary work of art?! Hahaha absolutely not!! BUT it was twisted, fun, and crazy! Sometimes you just need to read a book just for fun!!.

Another typical VCA novel! Liked this one least when compared to Ruby’s & FITA’ first books but it was good anyway.

The accents were hard to read but you get used to them. The plottwists and stuff were good and impactful as always.

Heaven’s character became less likeable from the point she stood up to Kitty and had something with Cal. But then again who wouldn’t change after everything that happened.

We read Heaven by VC Andrews for Episode 45 of The Bookstore. You can listen to it wherever you get your podcasts.

It's really a shame that we lost VC Andrews so soon after she began getting published. I'd really love to have a few more interviews with her about her life. She's been central to the identity of so many young readers, that some times I can't believe we ever talk about anything else.

Heaven is a teen girl, the oldest sister of the Casteel family; known in their small mountain town for being poorer than poor social outcasts. Aside from this aspect of class struggle, it hits many of the VC Andrews points that you've come to know and love (love is a very, very bad word for this):
1. An obsession with youth
2. An emotionally unavailable mother
3. An impossibly handsome, but abusive father
4. Incest-y tones
5. A traumatic bath
6. Lolita-like siblings
7. The only trustworthy adult is also an idiot who disappears right when you need them the most
8. Sexual encounters that are definitely actually rape

Of course, the spaces between these occurrences tend to be long, drawn out, boring sections that are also very confused about the timeline because, I'm actually convinced that VC Andrews wrote these books from first page to last without any planning or editing. I don't think Heaven handles any of these themes in a way that is more interesting or excitingly than Flowers in the Attic or My Sweet Audrina, but if you're a completist or looking for a wild read, or just want to read about a teacher who insists his student take a pregnant hamster home for the weekend that her step-mother will not allow in the house, but he really needs Heaven to do it because he's going on vacation and he's taught Heaven how to use a camcorder and he needs her to film the hamster's labor to share the miracle of childbirth with his class, then this is your book.

I read this somewhere around the beginning of middle school, and if I had first read it as an adult it probably wouldn't have been given anywhere near 4 stars. I couldn't bring myself to rate it lower for a couple reasons: I remember absolutely loving the book, and on the "V.C. Andrews" scale of literature, it's probably her most engaging story.

I went on to read what must have been a dozen or more by Andrews during my childhood and adolescence, and I've forgotten the majority of the plot lines from her other books. The other reviewers are largely correct in that it's soap-opera fluff and pure guilty reading, but I'm praising it in purely relative terms. It's less formulaic than the others and even a bit less incest-y.

I always had this impression that Flowers In The Attic was on the 'General Public Required Reading List' simply because of its notoriety. I would suggest that if any uninitiated reader wants to read Andrews, they read both that book and this one (and hell, read Ruby too, it wasn't half bad). The rest can be safely skipped.

I read this book when I was 14 years old and I fell in love with it. Heaven was a wonderful passionate heroine because she rose above so many obstacles what I liked about her was she reminded me so much of myself she was shy,beautiful,smart,passionate,and courageous. I really liked the romantic aspect of it Logan was the knight in shining armor that saw something that nobody else did what made it even more passionate was the rivalry between her and her sister fanny. Kitty's character in the book was unbelievably evil and ignorant it was disgraceful the way she treated heaven she didn't want a daughter she wanted a slave. More than anything heaven wanted love and the warmth of a family what made me feel sorry for her was she always tried to please those around her because she wanted to be loved and to be accepted. This was really about the story of a girl who was trying to find out who she really is. What I loved about v.c. Andrews books was they were about feminine heroines who were trying to rise above circumstance and these were strong empowered women that I've come to treasure. The overall message of v.c. Andrews books was what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Drama, drama and more drama

Heaven is so dramatic and compassionate and considerate of others, it almost makes me cry to read about her continually being mistreated. Just when you honk things will look up, something happens and drags her back down. I'm ready to start reading about her finally getting something good because she is the kind of character that you keep wishing well for.

fucking madness as per usual. simultaneously incredibly fun and an insane slog through misery. not as good as flowers in the attic. vc andrews was a woman who knew exactly who she was and by god she was going be herself AT you.