I probably read all of V.C. Andrews books in my late 20's many moons ago and was addicted and highly anticipated each and everyone of them. All great stories and reads!

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The Casteel series was the last of the family sagas that V.C. Andrews had a hand in before she died and her ghostwriter took over. It's impossible not to compare it to the Dollanganger series, especially since both approximate what you'd get if you decided to adapt a bodice-ripper for the not-so-discerning young-adult audience. On a scale of one to trash, this ranks a solid Bertrice Small: the writing is just as melodramatic, and Andrews regularly and predictably makes out parental figures to be abusive the same way that Small could be counted on to make all of her villains libertines and deviants.



HEAVEN is about a young girl named Heaven Leigh (get it?) Casteel. She lives in the hills, cramped in a small shed with her four other siblings, grandparents, father, and stepmother. She is the only child from her father's first marriage; her mother died in childbirth, and her father kept her on a pedestal in his mind. No other woman can match up, not even his daughters or his new wife, so he mostly ignores his children, abuses his wife, and is a regular attendee of the local "den of ill repute" despite the fact that they're all starving.



Heaven catches the eye of a rich boy because of her beauty, and this is a trope of Andrews's, too: there's always a soft and sensitive boy hero figure to whisk the heroine away from her wretched life-- until he proves to be just as disturbing as everyone else, only better at hiding it. Logan doesn't have a chance to show off any true colors he might have, though, as Heaven's father gets an STD, and kind of loses it after his wife has a deformed stillborn child; he gets the brilliant idea that the solution to their money problems is to sell off his children for $500/ea. to local rich people in the area.



Heaven gets sent off to live with a woman named Kitty, but her nickname could be "Mommie Dearest." She lives in a house filled with creepy ceramic animals and everything is pink. She has violent mood swings, and living in Casa de Crazy, you could find yourself having your hair lovingly combed out one minute, only to be thrown into a scalding hot Lysol bath the next (note: pretty sure this Lysol name-drop in the book was #notsponsored). Her only solace in this house is Kitty's young husband, Cal, but his feelings towards Heaven-- as you would expect-- aren't exactly pure.



HEAVEN was a good book-- and by a good book I mean it told a good story, even though the writing was arguably not good. It reminded me a lot of the stories I used to read on FictionPress back in the day, with its long laundry list of soap opera plot devices, and the fact that virtually every character in this book except for the good ones were villains. I hated Kitty, and I also hated Heaven's siblings, especially Fanny and "Our Jane." Tom was also creepy, and he and Heaven definitely had a "Flowers in the Attic" vibe going on, and I'm worried about what might happen with their relationship in the next book. Logan will be back, I'm sure, but whether he stays nice and heroic is anyone's guess.



If you're into bodice-rippers and vintage sleaze, I really can't urge you strongly enough to pick up V.C. Andrews's books. There is nothing quite like them, and you can take that how you like.



3 to 3.5 stars

I always enjoy some V. C. Andrews drama.

Plot Summary:

Heaven is a teenage girl living in "the hills," basically rural, poverty-stricken mountains. At first, things look up, with a new boyfriend and possible higher education, but then stuff happens and her father decides to sell her and her siblings away for $500 each. Ouch.

More stuff happens, including abuse, statutory rape, and general fucked-up-ness. Warning for the abuse and rape.


Review:

Ah, another trashy V.C. Andrews book. If you know, you know what to expect. A beautiful protagonist, evil relatives, abuse, family secrets, incest, and a pimped-out house with its own name. (Okay, the last two don't happen in this book. But wait for the rest for the series . . .)

Heaven is a genuinely nice girl with goals in life - she just has terrible things keep happening to her. I actually liked her character. Her boyfriend Logan and sister Fanny were as annoying as hell, though. Also, many of the characters talk in an exaggerated country dialect that's painful to read.

I mean . . . this book is just batshit. Like, there are very few published works out there with this level of batshit. I'll describe two such scenes.

Scene One: When Heaven is brought to her new home by the people who bought her, she is given a painful hot bath where her new mother Kitty pours bleach in. Seriously, bleach. And poor Heaven is forced in while Kitty alternates between calling her a dirty hill girl and soothing her by saying it's for her own good.

Scene Two: Later in the book, Kitty tries to get Heaven to take another bath. See, Heaven brought home the class hamster (which was pregnant) to take care of. Kitty does not like this. Her response? To brutally murder the hamster and string up its babies, and put it all in the bathtub, and then begin to draw the water and ordering her to get in.

Seriously. V.C. Andrews is just disturbing.

who suffered more heaven leigh or jesus

Candace Thaxton gives a truly captivating performance as she brings the world of Virginia Andrews' "Heaven" to life. The story is an instant classic Gothic Horror, with compelling characters and a twisted story of family secrets and betrayals. In my opinion, this is one of the best Andrews novel - Heaven is a much stronger heroine and the darker themes of this book had a chilling tone of realism, which kept a reader captured throughout. Thaxton gives perfect voices for each of the characters, especially Heaven as the narrator, who she stays perfectly in character for.

A truly great book, but this audiobook made it a much more enjoyable read.

Es como un culebrón súper dramón pero engancha.
Cuando parece que nada puede ser peor, lo es.
A veces tanto dramatismo es cansino.
Pero a pesar de todo, continuaré con la saga porque me ha dejado con ganas de más.

It's been a while since I've read any VC Andrews books but the recent film event on Lifetime made me go back and start this series. It's definitely a lot better than the ghostwritten ones in recent years. I loved them growing up but as I got older, they just didn't work for me anymore. But since VC herself actually wrote this one (and most of this series as well), I gave it a go and really enjoyed it. I'll have to get the second one out from my local library soon!

if i wasn't now fixated on finishing all the original vc andrews books, i probably would have left this alone. but there are worms in my brain

I first read Heaven, by V.C. Andrews, in high school and it has remained one of my most beloved books. I have reread it countless times over the years, as the ripped cover and loose binding can attest. Each time I am drawn back into the enthralling world of Heaven Casteel. Heaven, her ma and pa, grandparents and four siblings all live in a one room dilapidated shack deep in the hills of West Virginia. They are among the poorest of the hill people and the crimes of Heaven’s uncles have tarnished the Casteel name. Heaven is close with her siblings, especially kind-hearted Luke, but life is hard. In addition to Pa’s drinking, prowling and nasty temper, the harsh terrain, no money and scarce food contribute to their daily struggles.

Heaven, the beautiful and brave heroine, and her four siblings suffer through abandonment, deaths, cruel unrelenting winters and near starvation. When a closely guarded family secret is revealed, Heaven begins to question her own identity and place among her family. Andrews' vivid imagery and attention to detail makes me feel as if I am suffering their ordeals and celebrating their small joys right along with them. Through her descriptions of the unforgiving yet beautiful landscape and the traditions their dwellers hold dear, I can see why many remain, despite the hardships. What I love about the characters is that they are complex. No one is all good or all bad. Everyone has their flaws, but ultimately they are all just trying to survive against overwhelming odds and a crippling circle of poverty. Heaven’s story is heartbreaking at times, triumphant at others. It is also a tale of first love and the fragile bonds of family.

This book is full of surprises, twists and turns. It is fast-paced and mysterious. If you enjoy this book you will also love the sequels. Five stars!

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VC is such a good writer!
As usual this book really left me frustrated and sad, like you can never get out of your bad circumstances, no matter how hard you try.
From all the books I’ve read from VC I think this one made me feel the most disturbed, usually there is a level of over-the-top-ness so the books are also little funny. However, this one felt very real. I really got why most of the characters made their choices in this book! I mean Cal and Kitty are really bad, but their evil feels much more real than Vera from my sweet Audrina, which makes them feel way worse than her.

Also a warning that some phrases dont age well, and then you’re like: ‘ahw Heaven you are almost there, but also not at all’

It's impossible to rate this book fairly. On the one hand, it's far from great literature. On the other, it fulfills its purpose (trashy, soap-opera fun) so well, it's hard to give it a low rating.

Plus, it's masterfully designed to hit all the sweet spots in a preteen's psyche. The fact that my classmates and I lived in the area where this book is set and loved it in spite of its insulting and ridiculous hillbilly stereotypes just goes to show the bulletproof appeal of this book to middle-school students.

Also, if you ever need to argue for the value of a good sex-ed curriculum in schools, you can just point to this book. Because, really, would you rather your 10-year-old learn about sex from V.C. Andrews?