A typical Virginia Andrews book but I can't help but get sucked in and struggle to put it down. We'll see if this stays as we go further into the series.

Heaven lives in a very poor family and is looked down on as a hill girl. The children band together quite well in Heaven's house, and her sister Fanny is not as bad as a lot of the sisters in other Andrews' books. Also, her brother doesn't make a move on her in this book but that is unlikely to last in an Andrews' book.

All the children get sold to various households and Heaven goes to Kitty, a woman who hates her but her life is a lot better. She is predictably taken advantage of by the man who is now her father.

The book ends with her going to track down her mother's family. I am looking forward to reading the next one.

I decided to revisit this book that I read as a pre-teen, and wow did it take me back! Scandalous, heartbreaking, and vivid. I’ll definitely be re-reading the next book in the series.

I was almost embarrassed to admit that I read this, but whatever. Who doesn't like a fluffy book every now and again? This one was pretty damn craptastic.

50th book of the year! #Proud of myself because this time last year I hadn’t even read one book in years even though I used to absolutely devour them constantly for most of my life. Anyways this was Sliving but also like they always are, traumatic and just a bit wrong. But I always really enjoy VC Andrews books because the way she writes and the perspective she has on trauma and women and just everything I care so much about is so individual and so unhinged I think it’s excellent

(Rating based on my remembered feelings when I read this book as a 14 year old.)

An oldie but a goodie. I’ve read this before, but perfect read when in an airport.

While I felt that the Flowers in the Attic was a excellent book, I feel that the Casteel series is overall the best (at least, the parts written by VC herself) I have read this book 7 or 8 times, and I never get tired of it, as I notice something new every time I read it.

You can't help but feel bad for this poor girl since she is so mistreated by her father for something that was not even her fault! And you also have to wonder how someone like Heaven's mom would fall for someone like Luke Casteel, but then as the story goes along you see what a suave and charming bastard Luke Casteel can be.

You wonder why things happen the way they do, but much like Flowers in the Attic, the story of Heaven continues through a series, and the Heaven series is just as enjoyable, with VCA's writing talent but a different story from Flowers in the Attic so that this book isn't repetitive or boring. Enjoy!

The book would be better if it was 300 pages vs 450. I found the first half very repetitive, but it picked up in the 2nd half. Looking forward to reading the next book in the series

The writing is atrocious but the maudlin drama is WHAT I AM HERE FOR. And nobody does tawdry like VC Andrews (and her ghostwriters).

Liked the book but hopefully the rest of the series will be better

I'm disappointed in you, Andrews!

Unlike most of V.C. Andrews staples, and the precedent Flowers in the Attic set, this book lacks in the incest department. However, this has all the other hallmarks of a V.C. Andrews works- a family saga, an underprivileged girl from a distant privileged background, a doomed love story, a distant father, a complex relationship with a mother, and so on. There is some form of incest (after all, this is Andrews), but it's of the adoptive parent kind. Heaven is raped repeatedly by her adoptive father, Cal, although she doesn't fully recognise it (which I'll get to soon), and Fanny reveals that she is having her adoptive father's baby, her adoptive father being a reverend no less.

I will momentarily praise Andrews for writing Heaven's reaction to her repeated rape in a somewhat believable manner. Heaven is desperate for the love of a parent all throughout the book. Her grandparents loved her- and I believe her grandfather was belittled and abused by his son for so long that he no loner stood up to him, even when he was selling his children off- but she longed for a parental figure. I think Sarah appreciated her more than loved her, but I do sense some kind of care there. But then there was Kitty and Cal. Cal showed Heaven everything Kitty wouldn't, and the rest of the adult figures in her life didn't. She wanted love, and with that, kind, physical attention and touch. After being beaten and abused by Kitty, Cal's kind touch would have been a blessing, even though he had other intentions. Heaven knew what was going on was wrong, but she accepted it. This doesn't mean she wanted it, and it's said again and again she knew it was wrong, but she accepted it because she thought it meant Cal loved her. It's only at the end that she finally realises he doesn't, and he's just using her. Cal is a grey character. I refuse to believe he's meant to be seen as a villain in the end, but he's not an all-round nice guy.

As far as rating this book goes, it's V.C. Andrews. It's not fine literature, and my copy was riddled with spelling and grammatical errors (including here instead of hear), and as always, the characters speak in an overly-floral manner. And the prose isn't as purple as it is Flowers in the Attic, as well, which was a welcome surprise. In short, it's trash, but it's the better side of trash. If you've read Andrews before, you'll know what to expect.

Overall enjoyable, I'm ashamed to say.

Okay, so here's the thing.
This is a series. This is actually written to be the first in a series. Like there are four more books.
And yet... this one book is a whole freaking saga in itself.
Heaven is like many other female protags in Andrews' novels. She is young, innocent, and unwittingly attractive so of course every man is in love with her. Obviously that is a character design that works for this author. But I loved her anyway. More because she persevered so much in so little time. Nothing about her story is outrageous - compared to being locked in an attic, for example. She just got handed a really bad card.
This really felt like three different books rather than just three different parts. This could have been separated. I did enjoy the parts in the Willies more than being with Cal and Kitty. I feel like Andrews' whole Orphans series was based on that one part. For some reason that whole living in the hills was more interesting, mostly, I think, because it was so different. Also, it reminds me of what my grandparents told me about their lives.
I did feel like the reveals at the end were pretty predictable. Like how Tom was being abused and basically enslaved. That was obviously why he was bought and his letters probably only convinced Heaven otherwise because that's what she wanted to believe. And no shock that Fanny is pregnant by the minister after knowing how promiscuous she already was and how his wife was described. I feel so bad for her, though she is taking full advantage.
Really eager to see how Heaven's trip to Boston goes!