The latter half of the Casteel Series, ghostwritten by Andrew Neiderman. It is subject to Fanon Discontinuity because Only the Creator Does It Right.
Fallen Hearts, the third book in the series (and the first to be written by Neiderman), picks up two years after Dark Angel, with Heaven, now a successful schoolteacher, on the verge of marrying Logan Stonewall while still grieving the deaths of her loved ones. Tony invites them to spend their honeymoon at Farthingale Manor, to which Heaven reluctantly agrees, leading to a plan to build a Tatterton Toy Factory in Winnerrow in hopes of reviving the impoverished community. But Heaven's uneasiness around Tony, Jillian's mental breakdown from the previous book, and her suspicions of her jealous sister Fanny's behavior around Logan drive Heaven once again to loneliness, and having a one night stand. Yet another tragedy leads to Heaven seeking custody of Drake, Luke Casteel's youngest child from his third marriage, ending in a final confrontation with Fanny.
Fallen Hearts was followed by Gates of Paradise, taking place about 18 years later. The story revolves around Heaven's daughter Annie, who is paralyzed from the waist down in a car crash. Tony invites Annie to Farthy, promising to care for her as an an act of atonement toward Heaven. Annie, who has dreamed of visiting Farthy since childhood, is shocked to see its rundown condition and disturbed that Tony keeps mistaking her for her mother. Tony feels he let Heaven escape Farthy once before, and he is determined not to let Annie slip through his fingers.
The series concludes with Web of Dreams, which is framed as a Secret Diary belonging to Heaven's mother Leigh. Daddy's Girl Leigh is shocked when her seemingly perfect parents suddenly divorce. Her mother Jillian immediately marries the handsome (and much younger) Tony Tatterton and takes Leigh to Farthingale Manor. In spite of Farthy's luxury and prestige, Leigh finds her new home lonely and cold, her only comfort being Tony's five-year-old brother, the precocious but fragile Troy. But Farthy is a much darker place than Leigh could have ever imagined, forcing her to leave Troy behind and flee Farthy forever.
Tropes
- Armor-Piercing Question: In "Gates Of Paradise" when Tony feebly tries to claim that he was "confused" as an explanation for why he tried to rape Annie. Annie realizes why Heaven herself fled Farthingale and rhetorically asks, "Did you get "confused" with my mother too?!"
- Attempted Rape: In Fallen Hearts, Tony attempts to rape Heaven, thinking she is Leigh. Heaven, justifiably disgusted and horrified, leaves Farthy the next morning with Drake and never returns. A nearly identical scene plays out in Gates Of Paradise with Annie. Though she is unable to leave on her own, she is mercifully rescued by Luke and Fanny the next day.
- Covers Always Lie:
- The cover of Fallen Hearts shows a boy (presumably Drake) as the center focus, as if he was the protagonist (much like the cover of If There Be Thorns with Bart, one of the two narrators). In the book itself, Drake doesn't appear until about halfway through (though he is still an important character) and Heaven is still the main character.
- In the Gates of Paradise cover Annie is shown standing up, despite being disabled and in a wheelchair for most of the book.
- Distant Finale: The framing device of Web of Dreams takes place years after Gates of Paradise, with Annie and Luke having sense married and had children, and Troy dying seemingly of natural causes.
- Dramatic Irony: As Leigh goes into labor at the end of Web of Dreams, she looks up at the stars and tells Luke that when she goes to bed, she wants to feel like she is "sleeping in heaven." The reader knows by this stage that she died giving birth to her daughter Heaven.
- Driven to Suicide: Jillian in Fallen Hearts.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: Heaven and Logan are both killed in a car crash at the beginning of Gates of Paradise in order to allow the focus to shift to their daughter Annie.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In Fallen Hearts, it's revealed that Troy faked his death so that Heaven could marry Logan and live happily with him.
- I Was Quite the Looker: In Web of Dreams, Grandma Jana confides in Leigh that in spite of her current dumpy, frowsy appearance, she looked very much like her beautiful daughter Jillian when she was young, and that Leigh takes after them both.
- Not Blood Siblings: In Gates of Paradise, Annie had been in love with her apparent half-brother/cousin Luke Jr. since they were children but couldn't pursue a relationship with him due to their supposed relationship. Fortunately for them Troy reveals that he's Annie's real father and that she has no blood relation to the Casteel family, letting the two of them be together.
- Odd Name Out: "Web Of Dreams" is the only book without a religion-oriented title.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted, as Web of Dreams contains two Tobys, one being Heaven's grandfather Toby, and the other (a girl) being a classmate of Leigh's at Winterhaven.
- Redemption Equals Life: After reconciling with Heaven at the end of Gates of Paradise, Fanny becomes a much kinder and more responsible person; and as a result is one of the only "bitchy/jealous/promiscuous sister" figure not to be killed off (whereas Clara Sue Cutler, Giselle Dumas and others all die.) Although to be fair, Fanny was never as awful as the others and underneath all her bratty behavior did in fact love Heaven and her siblings, she even said so herself and it's not like she didn't have her own problems and emotional hang ups.
- Retcon:
- Tony was described as blond in Dark Angel, but in Web of Dreams he has dark hair.
- For no reason whatsoever, Gates of Paradise retcons Drake's full name from 'Walter Drake Casteel' to 'Drake Ormand Casteel.' (This is made a little more exceptional considering that kid's name is explained in canon, as Tom named him after his favorite explorers, Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake.)
- The Reveal: Web of Dreams: Jillian tasked Leigh with 'distracting' Tony so that his horniness wouldn't tire out Jillian, who feared that too much sex would ruin her youth.
- Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Heaven and Logan in Gates of Paradise in order to shift focus to Annie. Troy passes away right before the framing story of Web of Dreams, with Annie and Luke returning to Farthy for his funeral.
- Tangled Family Tree: Stick with us, it's about to get complicated: in Fallen Hearts, Heaven takes in her father Luke Casteel's orphaned son Drake. Her sister Fanny kidnaps Drake out of jealousy. Since neither woman is the child's legal guardian, the law can do nothing about an orphaned child "visiting" his half-sister, so Heaven attempts to sue for custody by pointing out Fanny's irresponsible lifestyle. Fanny, in turn, proves that Heaven's biological father was not Luke Casteel, therefore Heaven is not related to Drake at all. It appears that Fanny will win custody of Drake until Heaven's heartfelt appeal (and an offer of a million dollars) persuades Fanny to give up the dispute. Meanwhile, Fanny has a son, Luke, fathered by Heaven's husband Logan. As they grow up, Heaven's daughter Annie and Luke fall in love, but believing they are cousins (and also half-siblings due to sharing the same father), they sadly put aside their feelings. Only when it is revealed again that Heaven and Fanny are not really sisters (and that Annie and Luke do not share a father) do the two realize they are not blood-related and can be together happily. (Ironically, in the course of learning that her love for Luke is not incestuous, Annie finds out that she is the product of incest—her real father was Heaven's half-uncle Troy. Her mother's incest means Annie's incest isn't really incest! It's like multiplying negatives to get a positive!)
- Took a Level in Kindness: Fanny, as of Gates Of Paradise, practically becoming a substitute Mama Bear to Annie, rescuing her from Tony, assuring her not to worry about being a burden and that her feelings for Luke are not sick or wrong, etc.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Fanny's daughter with Reverend Wise, Darcy, is never mentioned after Fallen Hearts.
- Younger Than They Look: In Web of Dreams, an older boy says to Leigh (who is 12 at the time) that she could pass as a teenager with no problem.
