User Reviews

I have watched the whole series, and the biggest problem for me has been the casting of the lead characters. I simply could not get past it. The girl cast as Heaven was a buxom, healthy looking redhead, when Heaven was supposed to be a dark haired waif. Annie is supposed to look just like Heaven.

Then, in Web of Dreams, Leigh is supposed to have silvery blond hair. She is supposed to be stunningly beautiful in an angelic way. The girl that was cast did not reflect the character in the book at all, and she didn't seem like she would catch the eye of a young Tony Tatterton. She was just kind of an awkward teenager. In the book Jillian knows by looking at her that Leigh is competition for her. Why didn't they cast an actress like this for the movie?

I'm not criticizing the acting chops of any of them, but I felt that the casting directors could have done a much better job. It was distracting to me throughout.

Troy is dead. Annie and Luke has returned to Farthinggale Manor. Annie is given her grandmother Leigh's journal. Leigh (Jennifer Laporte) is devastated when her father is kicked out of the house. Her mother Jullian (Cindy Busby) allows her relationship with Tony Tatterton (Max Lloyd-Jones) out in the open. Leigh is forced to move into Farthinggale Manor as her mother gets ready to marry Tony.

Prequels are often problematic since the story is already set. In this case, much of the twists and turns have already been laid out by the earlier movies. There are no real surprises. The situation is still brutal and the movie lacks tension with the exception of those few scenes. Quite frankly, this would work a lot better as the first movie.

I wish they would have made the relevant parts of this movie the first one in the series. It explains much and the series as a whole was so disappointing I'm sure not enough people stuck around this long. Thankfully they replaced Tony in this the 5th movie (possibly because of the incredibly lame performances by Jason Priestley). I found the leads much better actors than in the preceding films. They would have saved some of the distress of the other films. Also, the story line was better - with fewer holes than the first 4 movies.

Dear lifetime please stop making movies, over the years your movies have gone from bad to worse. My favorite books since I was sixteen have been the casteel series by VC Andrews. I have always imagined what it would be like if this series was made into a movie.. I was so excited when I heard that my dream was coming true but hesitant because of course it was coming from lifetime. I gave up watching the series after dark angel they really screwed up that one and let's not begin to talk about heaven.. those two movies didn't even follow the book, come on lifetime you had a script why change it to some mediocre teenage adaptation the real heaven and dark angel was much deeper than portrayed in the films. Oh how I wish someone else would redo this series.. on to web of dreams: I can say that they followed the book more with this adaptation I was surprised.. however I still didn't like how the characters looked. Leigh looked nothing like Leigh she was suppose to be beautiful the young lady in the movie wasn't even average. Tony was too short but was good looking. Jillian was casted well she owned her part well. I had my 16 and 14 year old daughters watch the series because they have never read the books and both of my girls said that the series was boring and they were often confused.. this series has no depth please don't waste your time reread the series

Saved the best for last.

I didn't read the books, so I was not hung up on hair color and bosom sizes being accurate etc. While watching. Not saying book readers don't have a valid complaint, but it just didn't enter into my judgment of the movie.

I thought "Web of Dreams" was the best of the series, and "Heaven" was the 2nd best. "Fallen Hearts" was absolutely HORRIBLE, and nearly made me stop watching the series.

Leigh (Angel) may not have been the prettiest, but she was very sweet and goodhearted, and looked quite lovely when she smiled.

I am not sure a twisted rapist like Tony would fall in love with her when her pretty on the outside, but hideous on the inside mother was where his tastes lay, but I could see a good and honorable man falling in love with her, and feeling protective of her very easily.

But I can tell you being from rural Virginia that the Casteel family as presented in this episode would not have been considered back woods trash. They just accepted Leigh with no judgment about her pregnancy, were kind and respectful of others, had all their visible teeth, and kept their yard tidy and free of junk vehicles and old rusty appliances, spoke good English etc. They would have been respected members of that community.

And they would be familiar with the tragic events concerning Luke and his wife, and WOULD NOT have just treated the children like worthless trash with no one trying to help them.

I guess Luke fell apart after she died, but still... the thought the entire family would be considered as trash is quite frankly ridiculous... So either this didn't match the book or VC Andrew had a thing about making people really nasty and overly judgmental and hateful of others.

Just like she likes writing about incest. Vain and horrible mothers, hot baths and rough scrubbings, fatal car accidents killing parents, horrible sibling rivalries, jealousies and resentments, based on events that they had no control over etc.

She certainly had some grooves her mind would slip into when writing these stories.

Finally Tony really did seem completely villainous, and not just tortured by pain from his past, and being too controlling because of a fear of being abandoned...

I am glad I kept watching after the dreadful "Fallen Hearts" because Web of Dreams closed the series out as decently as "Heaven" opened it.

Web of Dreams basically stuck to storyline with the usual exceptions for time Tony, Jillian were cast well. Leigh and Troy seemed too old to me. Luke Casteel was way to clean cut. I don't remember Tony's obsession with Leigh starting until after the disaster of a honeymoon. I also remember the prenup being in Jillian 's favor, explaining why Tony couldn't divorce her. Leigh's time at school was never addressed and her boyfriend's was changed from Joshua to some guy named James. All and all, I wish they made Jillian, Leigh, Heaven and Annie look alike except for their hair. This was an important plot point that was missed.

This prequel is actually quite good. It is interesting to see what happened before the first book. You know the bare outlines. Filling in the gaps is fun.

Cindy Busby is a pretty good wacko. Her character was played by Kelly Rutherford in the earlier movies.

Worth a watch.

Seriously, who is in charge of casting?

Did you even read the book? Did you even read a summary of the book? Why didn't anyone involved protest this casting? Did this actress pay her way into the movie? I'm so genuinely confused.

Book-Leigh is supposed to be INCREDIBLY beautiful with silvery blonde hair.

Hair aside, the movie would have been much more believable if they casted someone angelic in appearance. This girl was quite sturdy with dorky hair. I just- I don't get it.

Did anyone else notice the tatterton doll in the first movie had long red hair exactly like movie-Heaven and it was supposed to be a replica of her mother. And in the second movie Tony mentions Heaven has her mother's hair? WHY DOES SHE HAVE SHORT BLACK HAIR IN THIS ONE? It's bad enough to change the hair from the book, but at least be consistent in your own movie adaptation. How the heck would Luke Casteel keep confusing Heaven for his precious Angel when they look nothing alike?

I am appalled at the execution of this series. It's insulting to those who loved the books. It's confusing to those who didn't read the books.

Lifetime needs to never make an adaptation of ANY book ever again.

What's this. All of the good characters from the first three or four shows are all missing. Probably been killing them all off like they do on the game of thrones.

I think this goes for all of the movies in the series. I wonder if when Lifetime casts these movies they get pretty decent actors, but make sure to say, "Just remember, though, this is a Lifetime movie, so let's not go overboard. Make sure you're not too good."

But seriously, how could things that were of such importance in the books be completely changed? Heaven was supposed to have dark, dark hair (thus the name of the second movie, Dark Angel) and her mother was supposed to be an angelic girl with silvery blonde hair. This Leigh is dark and just does not fit my description of "angelic." She's far too . . . Sturdy. Honestly, she looks like she could kick Tony's ass.

My favorite series turned bad onscreen. They cast the ugliest characters when they were supposed to be beautiful. They didn't follow the books at all. Leigh was supposed to be a gorgeous doll with silvery blonde hair. A copy of her mother only young. And Jillian was supposed to be model looks with gorgeous legs and blonde hair as well. The whole thing was a mess. Don't get me started on how they cast Heaven. Sheesh wth???? Way to ruin a great thing Lifetime. The author would have hated it.

Whoever cast the lead should be fired. I'm assuming it was whomever cast Heaven. Leigh has silvery blonde hair, and is supposed to be breathtakingly beautiful. This lead actress is 100% opposite. It makes it distracting for those of us who have read the books. Extremely disappointing.

Along with the other numerous inconsistencies with the novels, they BARELY touched upon Jillian's maniacal obsession with her looks, which was a huge and important part of her character.