Web of Dreams (Casteel, #5) in V.C. Andrews

Jun 03, 2015 Leigh rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2020, 2015, audio, 2022, old-favourites

After struggling through the last two books of the Casteel series, I was reluctant to start this one. However I wanted to re-read the whole series and I had to see it through to the end. When I first read Web of Dreams I was in my teens and I loved it mainly for the fact that the main character has the same name as I do, same spelling and everything. To my great surprise unlike me no one ever misspelled or said Leigh VanVoreen's name wrong (at least I don't think they did) and that alone was a r After struggling through the last two books of the Casteel series, I was reluctant to start this one. However I wanted to re-read the whole series and I had to see it through to the end. When I first read Web of Dreams I was in my teens and I loved it mainly for the fact that the main character has the same name as I do, same spelling and everything. To my great surprise unlike me no one ever misspelled or said Leigh VanVoreen's name wrong (at least I don't think they did) and that alone was a reason to enjoy the book. The older me went into this story more reluctant. As I said I had a tough time with Fallen Hearts and Gates of Paradise. While not my favourite book any more, I have to say that Web of Dreams was still quite enjoyable. It certainly brought out emotions in me and when you get angry at, or upset with fictional characters the book can't be all bad. I despised Jillian, hated Tony for being such a creep from the moment we meet him (why was his hair dark in this book, it was blonde in all the other books?), was charmed by Troy and found like I liked my namesake character. It took guts for her to decide to leave everything and go live with her grandmother. It took even more guts to go and live in a remote shack in the mountains with people you don't know, no water, heat or electricity and an outhouse after living in one of the grandest homes in the country. I loved Luke but still wonder what turned him into the cruel person he was in Heaven. Maybe he saw Tony when he looked at her and that's why he hated her, or else he just felt resentful that Heaven really wasn't his daughter. It was nice to see younger versions of Annie and Toby. I was disappointed in Leigh's father Cleave and how he virtually abandoned her when she needed him the most. The part about Jillian having an affair before her marriage and Leigh's father being someone else was ridiculous and didn't really need to be in the story at all. Needless to say the whole series has been a sort of roller coaster, the first two books were amazing, Heaven has become a favourite, the next two not so great and it ended on a decent note with a truly sweet romance between Leigh and Luke, so I think in the end it was worth re-reading all five books again. ...more

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