Customer Reviews

Celeste (Gemini Series)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

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.

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.)

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!

I decided to give Celeste a try, after giving up on V. C. Andrews years ago, because of the different plot description. I bought it right away and read the story and was moderately impressed, but not to the point where I'm buying V. C. Andrews books again. But, over all, for V. C. Andrews fans, read this book.

The strongest point of this book is that it's different. Yeah, way different from the previous family series and miniseries books. This book reminds me very much of My Sweet Audrina.

The book starts off and continues on for quite some time with Celeste and her brother Noble as kids. Sarah, their mother, insists that she can see spirits, and she wants her children to see them as well. From the beginning, we realize that Sarah favors Nobles much more than Celeste. Even though Celeste's father states that she is the smarter twin, Celeste is the most impressionable one, maybe because she craves to have her mother's attention without realizing it. When Celeste does get the "gift", and not Noble, instead of her mother being fully proud of her, Sarah is silently disappointed that her beloved Noble doesn't have it. She orders Celeste help him achieve his gifts. The responsibility of Noble, and his unpredictable ways, leaves Celeste with a heavy burden, for if she fails, her mother would surely reprimand her, something she does not want.

Tragedy strikes again and again in this novel, and Celeste world keeps going upside down. When her brother Noble dies, her mother snaps, and Sarah convinces herself that her son didn't die. In fact, she convinces herself that Celeste has died (with the help of her "spirits"). This is the part where Celeste's identify is taken and replaced with her dead brother. Of course, this masquerade is not perfect, and things go horribly wrong.

The characters are stronger and more complex in Celeste, and (finally!) I felt something for the main character. But at times I found the plot moved a little too slow, but it made up for the different atmosphere, characters, and situations that this book brought to the table. This book is indeed a breath of fresh air, but I found that it could have been...more? No matter. Most fans who will enjoy it. 3 ½ - 4 stars

Twins Noble and Celeste Atwell are part of a close knit family though their Mommy Sarah favors her son over her daughter. Mommy takes the children to purchase amulets to ward off evil over the concerns of her increasingly worried husband Arthur that Sarah is over the edge and their kids are suffering. Not long afterward, Arthur, a skeptic of mystic powers, dies from a cerebral aneurism. Mommy knows that the spirits took Arthur away because he failed to heed her advice about protection.

Mommy becomes displeased and concerned when Celeste displays mystical prowess before Noble. At a nearby stream, Celeste and Noble push and pull with his fishing rod. When she lets go, he falls, cracks his head on a rock, and dies in the accident. Mommy is stunned that her "daughter" died as from now on Celeste is to be Noble and she is so convincing that the authorities believe the female twin died. Though a bit confused, Celeste's personality wanes over the years as with Mommy's impetus Noble takes over until adolescence sets in encouraged by Elliot moving next door.

Though CELESTE is the author's usual theme of a dysfunctional family in which the suffering of the children from deranged adults surface in adolescence, C.V. Andrews provides an intriguing thriller. Still the initial reactions that Celeste could not pose as Noble and how did the authorities get fooled are overcome when one realizes how isolated the twins were and how Mommy believed that the girl died. Though Mommy seems out of the Bates Motel, Celeste as Noble and later as female yearnings surface makes for a fine tale that will excite fans of the author.

Harriet Klausner

I have been reading V.C. Andrews books since I was in eighth grade. I am now a freshman in college and continue to purchase and read every single V.C. Andrews book that is published. This book was definitely a classic V.C. Andrews book chock full of death, rape and being housebound with odd family members. It was quite predictable but I was kept entertained. Unlike the other series, this book portrays quite a different family. Usually the heroine of the novel goes through highschool meeting the love of her life, however, in this book that does not happen.
Celeste is housebound and imprisoned by a mother who is obsessed with supernatural powers. She can't go to highschool because she has to stay at home, resembling her dead twin brother. Honestly, I can't wait until "Black Cat" comes out because I'm curious what is going to happen to the new arrival third member of the party.

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.

This book is TERRIBLE. It is perhaps the slowest-paced book I have ever read. We know from the back cover that Noble is going to die & Celeste is going to be made his surrogate. This has the potential for great stories, intriguing psychological drama, and other things one might look for in a book like this. But not when it takes half the author hundreds of pages just to get to what should be the starting point. The reader is forced to sit through page after page of the family eating dinner, or playing in the yard, or other pointless minutiae that serve to develop neither the plot nor the characters. Not to mention that it's written in a simplistic style that might be considered artistic when the narrator is 7, but is merely degrading by the time she reaches adulthood.
Do yourself a favor and watch paint dry. It would go faster and be more worthwhile than this book.

This series made no sense to me. The premise of twins with 'gifts' was a interesting one, but not appropriate for the VCA genre.

This book/series bothered me in so many ways. NO reason is given for Mom's obsessive preference over Noble. She doesn't explain or give any indication as to why Noble is her valued child, even though his 'gifts' are apparently lacking. The preference for Noble is so obvious, and when Celeste is forced to assume his role, that really goes too far. After Celeste had to assume his role, the story only spun into more silliness and implausibility. I just wanted to shake everyone in this story. Why didn't Celeste run away and get help? Why didn't she stand up to her rapist? Why didn't she insist that she was Celeste?

This book was just filled with holes and poor writing, and I am ashamed that this was published under Miss Andrew's name. Neiderman should just publish these under his own name!

I thought that V. C. Andrews books couldn't get any weirder or any more heartbreaking. But once again Andrew Neiderman blows that thought out of the water. This is the most refreshing start to a series in a long time. Celeste's story is bizarre, to say the least, but I can't help feeling it is possible. One complaint is I really don't think it is possible or scientific to have identical twins that are different genders. But besides that the book shines. The mother in this book is so twisted. First off, she hates Celeste for having the visions before Noble when they are younger. Did she ever think, maybe just maybe, he took after the father side? Probably not because she is so wrapped up in her own little world. Then one tragedy leads to another and Noble dies. Celeste takes his place really out of guilt. She blames herself for her death, because they were fighting when it happened. So out of this guilt, she goes along with her mothers sick and twisted plan. Then Elliot Fletcher comes on to the scene. He really is a jerk even before he finds out Noble is a girl. He is a troublemaker and just bad news. And what he does to Celeste is dispicable. He is really your basic lowlife in the V.C. Andrews books. Nothing good happens through this whole book (maybe the dog is good, but it ends terribly). And just when you think that maybe it will end happily, hah, you'd be wrong. I'm hoping that Black Cat is better in that regard, but it isn't so far (reading it now).