Book Review: "Celeste" by Michelle Devon

 

I am participating in the Virtual Book Tour for Michelle Devon's new book: "Celeste".   Anyone who leaves a comment will be entered in a random drawing to receive a free copy of her book. 

 

When I first saw the title of this book, I thought it was going to be about "Celeste".  I figured it would be a story about a woman scorned who had lost her ability to trust.  The main character is not "Celeste", however, she does play an integral part of the story and is a complete mystery. "Celeste" builds on suspense and ends with questions and events that need answers. The reader is left to draw their own conclusions.  

 

The main character in this story is Kyle McRoy, an average guy you would say, who is also a millionaire. He does not seem to value material things and just wants to have a life like everyone else.  We find out that Kyle was admitted to a mental health institution for a period of time after his parents died. He lost his mind and started imagining that his dead mother would cook meals for him.  Now he is seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Lower, once a week. He tallks to this doctor about how he wants to feel "normal" and the only person who makes him feel this way is "Celeste".  He had met "Celeste" while being institionalized, and he believes  she was a "volunteer/student" there.  We don't get to know too much about "Celeste", not even Kyle knows much about her, not even where she lives or really what she does for a living.  However, "Celeste" makes Kyle happy. He discovers he is falling in love with her and wants to ask her to move in with him, as well as ask her to marry him.  One thing holding him back: he has not introduced her to his only brother, Mark. He does not want to, for fear that things will change, that is brother will be critical of "Celeste" or that "Celeste" would somehow lose interest in him. Kyle's perfectly balanced life would be in jeopardy.  Eventually, he convinces himself to introduce "Celeste" to his brother, at a family get together. "Celeste" promises to meet him there but never shows. Kyle repeatedly calls her cell phone but it is disconnected. Things are getting a little weird at this point.

 

Little by little, throughout the story, things start to unravel. For instance, there are purchases done with Kyle's credit card that he remembers nothing about and he questions "Celeste" about having his house key.  Kyle gets more and more paranoid and it would seem he is losing his mind all over again. His doctor prescribes some anxiety pills to take and some other unnamed pill, for on "as needed" basis. Kyle does not want to get on any type of medication, but takes the anxiety pills to save some of his sanity, as his paranoia progresses.  Does "Celeste" really exist or is she just a figment of his imagination?. Kyle refuses to believe that, it can't be that all the time he spent with her was a hoax.

Kyle's whole sense of purpose is shaken up, and he is far from feeling "normal" again.  The story makes it so that you yourself do not know what to believe. You are rooting for Kyle from the beginning, and are happy that he is happy. Then you start to feel that you have been strung along, all the time, believing "Celeste" to be a real person.  Yet, the scene at the end of the story, leaves you wondering and second guessing yourself as to what is real or not. At this point, you feel sorry for Kyle, since he has been through so much turmoil in his life, and had supposedly overcome mental illness. Now, he is back to square one. You sense Kyle's frustration, exasperation, torment, loneliness, disbelief, and you can't help but wish that this was all a bad dream. That "Celeste" did exist.

Michelle Devon has done an expert job in weaving this story, keeping the reader guessing as to what  and who to believe. Is Kyle being set up by his brother, Mark, Dr. Lower or "Celeste" herself? Do they want to cheat him out of his inheritance? Or is Kyle just as crazy as he was before?

This is a suspenseful, easy to read, a must read, could not put it down, type of book. It captivated me from the first page. Thank you, Michelle Devon and Jennifer Walker, from Walker Author Tours, for giving me the opportunity to read "Celeste"  and post this book review.

Please leave a comment and be entered in a random drawing for a free copy of Michelle Devon's book, "Celeste".