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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
So, in reading the description of Wake Unto Me prior to buying it, I thoroughly expected cheesey, tweeny paranormal goodness, not unlike "Dead is the New Black" or perhaps "Hex Hall". I mean, creepy French castle boarding school? With a portrait of a lady that seems to be watching? And dating a ghost? These, in fact, were the reasons I quickly downloaded the book and swore to never update it onto my goodreads status, no matter how many books short I am of my early count goal!!
Alas. No. It was nothing like the description I read. However, there were some points I really enjoyed. *SPOILER ALERT*** The twist about HER being the ghost, in her dreams? Adored. Thought it was great.
But you never really knew if the whole "Fortuna sisterhood" thing were on decidedly good, which they were, or evil, which I thought they were and therefore was confused. Plus the whole "sisterhood" never really played out which I thought was an option that might have been explored.
Otherwise, pretty decent.
Alas. No. It was nothing like the description I read. However, there were some points I really enjoyed. *SPOILER ALERT*** The twist about HER being the ghost, in her dreams? Adored. Thought it was great.
But you never really knew if the whole "Fortuna sisterhood" thing were on decidedly good, which they were, or evil, which I thought they were and therefore was confused. Plus the whole "sisterhood" never really played out which I thought was an option that might have been explored.
Otherwise, pretty decent.
Held my attention and was a fun read. Nothing groundbreaking
Caitlyn Monahan has never fit in in her mundane life in Oregon; especially with the weird dream-visions she often gets. When she receives a scholarship to a boarding school in the south of France she jumps at the opportunity to leave everything she knows behind.
When she reaches the school she meets the intimidating Eugenia Snowe, headmistress of the Fortune School, who secretly believes she is the "Dark One" that she and the Sisterhood of Fortuna have been searching for.
As Caitlyn settles in to her surroundings and her new friends she begins to have strage, vivid dreams about a young man named Raphael who is searching for the lost templar treasure in the castle.
As her relationship with Raphael develops she begins to get pressure in her waking life from headmistress Snowe. Then she learns about a mysterious ghost that haunts the castle called the Woman in Black.
Who is the Woman in Black and is the lost love she calls out for the same Raphael Caitlyn is in love with? Who is Bianca de'Medici and what does she want from her. And will she ever find "the heart in darkness" and save her Raphael? Read the book and find out, you won't regret it!
I love this book. DO NOT BELIEVE THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS!!!! if you like paranormal romance books you will like this book. :)
When she reaches the school she meets the intimidating Eugenia Snowe, headmistress of the Fortune School, who secretly believes she is the "Dark One" that she and the Sisterhood of Fortuna have been searching for.
As Caitlyn settles in to her surroundings and her new friends she begins to have strage, vivid dreams about a young man named Raphael who is searching for the lost templar treasure in the castle.
As her relationship with Raphael develops she begins to get pressure in her waking life from headmistress Snowe. Then she learns about a mysterious ghost that haunts the castle called the Woman in Black.
Who is the Woman in Black and is the lost love she calls out for the same Raphael Caitlyn is in love with? Who is Bianca de'Medici and what does she want from her. And will she ever find "the heart in darkness" and save her Raphael? Read the book and find out, you won't regret it!
I love this book. DO NOT BELIEVE THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS!!!! if you like paranormal romance books you will like this book. :)
To be honest, I felt a little disappointed and cheated after reading Wake Unto Me. I had such high hopes for it, but unfortunately, from the moment I cracked open the spine and began reading, I found myself struggling to maintain interest. The story only got interesting, for me at least, midway through the book but by then, I had already gotten impatient and my sole purpose in continuing with the book was just so that I could finish it.
There are secrets behind the stone walls of Chateau de la Fortune, buried for centuries along with the mystery of who killed Raphael, the charming ghost who visits Caitlyn at night. But as Caitlyn unearths the history of the castle, nothing scares her as badly as the secret she learns about herself, and the reason she was chosen to come to the Fortune School.
And nothing breaks her heart as badly as falling in love with a dead guy.
The cover was what pulled me in, and after reading the summary, I was intrigued, so I can’t help but feel a sense of betrayal after finishing the story. This is not a book I should have paid money for unfortunately.
Basically, Caitlyn is an American girl who feels lonely in her life. She doesn’t feel like she can relate to others and she has but 2 friends in her life, both of whom are not particularly close to her anyway. She is, essentially, haunted by her mother’s presence, because she left her a tarot card before dying and she can’t stop thinking about it. She gets terrifying nightmares so much to the point that her father and stepmother believe she’s borderline schizophrenic. So when she receives a scholarship to a French boarding school, she sees this as the perfect escape from her horrible life.
Firstly, I can’t see what’s so wrong about her life. Yes, she has terrible nightmares, but she has a loving family, who, it seems to me, she pushes away. I cannot muster any sense of sympathy for her and when she’s actually informed of the terms and conditions of her scholarship, I find myself wanting to hit her with something really hard. Surely, her life cannot be so bad that she would want to stay for the scholarship!
The story’s essence, I suppose, is the love story, but I do not find myself mesmerized or intrigued by it. For one, it progressed far too quickly for me. Just because someone gave you a tarot reading and said that you’ll meet a “Knight of Cups” doesn’t mean the next guy you meet is someone for you to fall in love with automatically. Caitlyn meets Raphael and instantly, she feels “a connection to him” and basically, falls in love with him. This I cannot accept.
The redeeming factors for Wake Unto Me is perhaps the twists and turns in the story then. I must say, there were quite a few of them and I wasn’t expecting them at all, making it at the very least, an interesting read. The rest of the time, however, it felt like I was reading a history novel and a boring one at that. The ending wasn’t a cliffhanger but I can’t say I felt very satisfied by it. In the end, for me, Wake Unto Me just turned out to be yet another disappointing YA novel. 2.5 stars with an additional half star for the cover.
There are secrets behind the stone walls of Chateau de la Fortune, buried for centuries along with the mystery of who killed Raphael, the charming ghost who visits Caitlyn at night. But as Caitlyn unearths the history of the castle, nothing scares her as badly as the secret she learns about herself, and the reason she was chosen to come to the Fortune School.
And nothing breaks her heart as badly as falling in love with a dead guy.
The cover was what pulled me in, and after reading the summary, I was intrigued, so I can’t help but feel a sense of betrayal after finishing the story. This is not a book I should have paid money for unfortunately.
Basically, Caitlyn is an American girl who feels lonely in her life. She doesn’t feel like she can relate to others and she has but 2 friends in her life, both of whom are not particularly close to her anyway. She is, essentially, haunted by her mother’s presence, because she left her a tarot card before dying and she can’t stop thinking about it. She gets terrifying nightmares so much to the point that her father and stepmother believe she’s borderline schizophrenic. So when she receives a scholarship to a French boarding school, she sees this as the perfect escape from her horrible life.
Firstly, I can’t see what’s so wrong about her life. Yes, she has terrible nightmares, but she has a loving family, who, it seems to me, she pushes away. I cannot muster any sense of sympathy for her and when she’s actually informed of the terms and conditions of her scholarship, I find myself wanting to hit her with something really hard. Surely, her life cannot be so bad that she would want to stay for the scholarship!
The story’s essence, I suppose, is the love story, but I do not find myself mesmerized or intrigued by it. For one, it progressed far too quickly for me. Just because someone gave you a tarot reading and said that you’ll meet a “Knight of Cups” doesn’t mean the next guy you meet is someone for you to fall in love with automatically. Caitlyn meets Raphael and instantly, she feels “a connection to him” and basically, falls in love with him. This I cannot accept.
The redeeming factors for Wake Unto Me is perhaps the twists and turns in the story then. I must say, there were quite a few of them and I wasn’t expecting them at all, making it at the very least, an interesting read. The rest of the time, however, it felt like I was reading a history novel and a boring one at that. The ending wasn’t a cliffhanger but I can’t say I felt very satisfied by it. In the end, for me, Wake Unto Me just turned out to be yet another disappointing YA novel. 2.5 stars with an additional half star for the cover.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Caitlin Monahan described herself as freaky. Even though she has friends and a family who loves her, she still felt she didn’t belong because of her freakiness.
Dreams were always a constant companion of Caitlin. She never knew or understood what it meant so she kept a journal for her dreams. Her dreams were mostly nightmares, ghastly figures who scream at her which was why she called them Screechers.
Everything changed when she received a scholarship to a prestigious school in France. Her dreams were becoming more and more real like Raphael, the gorgeous adoptive son of Bianca de Medici who was burned at stake as a witch.
The longer that Caitlin stayed at Chateau de la Fortune, the more she learns about the mystery of the castle, the people who owned it and herself.
Wake Unto Me definitely was one of the most interesting books I have read so far.
Really interesting!
At first, I thought it was another YA paranormal ghost story.
It’s not!
Ms Kach gave a whole new twist to the concept of ghosts. I was surprised at how much I thought it was possible to be dead and alive at the same time. It was just gorgeous. How everything came together at the end of the book was fantastic. I never expected it to end the way it did. At first I thought, Caitlin just was time travelling and this book would somehow be similar to one of my favorites, Timeless, but its not. She was time travelling but there was more to the story than just that.
This book was full of all my favorite genres: romance, mystery, the gothic feel and history. At the author’s notes at the back of the book, she gave her sources of information and which ones were based on true historical facts and which weren’t. If I didn’t read that, I wouldn’t have guessed that some of the historical snippets from the book were just fiction. That was how well-woven everything was in this book.
At first I didn’t really like Caitlin much. She thinks so badly of herself. She felt like she didn’t belong and nobody wants her and stuff like that but as the story progressed she became a very likeable character.
Raphael was well… Unbelievably gorgeous! Hahaha. Well, I always fall for the guys rather than the girls in books I read. One thing I like about his was his faith in people. I admired him more because of that.
Caitlin’s friends, Amalia and Naomi, were too hmmm… How would I say it? Excited? They weren’t skeptical as most people would be when you tell them about something supernatural. It wasn’t normal. Well anyways, I liked them so I’ll stop at that.
Ms Kach’s writing style was impeccable. She described Chateau de la Fortune precisely as if it was real. As I was reading it, I felt sort of an ache to see the place for myself. Also, I loved her new take on how ghost were like. It was UNIQUE. There were so many things in this book that I wasn’t expecting which is totally an awesome thing!
I would like to congratulate Ms Kach for doing a great job. Most of the books released nowadays were series, it’s a good thing this one wasn’t. This book was so rich with everything that I got me curious as to how she made everything fit in just one book.
4.5!
Dreams were always a constant companion of Caitlin. She never knew or understood what it meant so she kept a journal for her dreams. Her dreams were mostly nightmares, ghastly figures who scream at her which was why she called them Screechers.
Everything changed when she received a scholarship to a prestigious school in France. Her dreams were becoming more and more real like Raphael, the gorgeous adoptive son of Bianca de Medici who was burned at stake as a witch.
The longer that Caitlin stayed at Chateau de la Fortune, the more she learns about the mystery of the castle, the people who owned it and herself.
Wake Unto Me definitely was one of the most interesting books I have read so far.
Really interesting!
At first, I thought it was another YA paranormal ghost story.
It’s not!
Ms Kach gave a whole new twist to the concept of ghosts. I was surprised at how much I thought it was possible to be dead and alive at the same time. It was just gorgeous. How everything came together at the end of the book was fantastic. I never expected it to end the way it did. At first I thought, Caitlin just was time travelling and this book would somehow be similar to one of my favorites, Timeless, but its not. She was time travelling but there was more to the story than just that.
This book was full of all my favorite genres: romance, mystery, the gothic feel and history. At the author’s notes at the back of the book, she gave her sources of information and which ones were based on true historical facts and which weren’t. If I didn’t read that, I wouldn’t have guessed that some of the historical snippets from the book were just fiction. That was how well-woven everything was in this book.
At first I didn’t really like Caitlin much. She thinks so badly of herself. She felt like she didn’t belong and nobody wants her and stuff like that but as the story progressed she became a very likeable character.
Raphael was well… Unbelievably gorgeous! Hahaha. Well, I always fall for the guys rather than the girls in books I read. One thing I like about his was his faith in people. I admired him more because of that.
Caitlin’s friends, Amalia and Naomi, were too hmmm… How would I say it? Excited? They weren’t skeptical as most people would be when you tell them about something supernatural. It wasn’t normal. Well anyways, I liked them so I’ll stop at that.
Ms Kach’s writing style was impeccable. She described Chateau de la Fortune precisely as if it was real. As I was reading it, I felt sort of an ache to see the place for myself. Also, I loved her new take on how ghost were like. It was UNIQUE. There were so many things in this book that I wasn’t expecting which is totally an awesome thing!
I would like to congratulate Ms Kach for doing a great job. Most of the books released nowadays were series, it’s a good thing this one wasn’t. This book was so rich with everything that I got me curious as to how she made everything fit in just one book.
4.5!
The main 15 year old protagonist leaves her home in Oregon, her dad, stepmom and step siblings because she feels like she just doesn't belong. Luckily she was accepted on a full scholarship to a boarding school in faraway (can you blame her) France. Unfortunately, for the protagonist - not the reader, our young heroine drags her disturbing dreams and nightmares with her. While some of the events of this tale were a little predictable, author Lisa Cach is a master story teller and kept my attention throughout. The ending was a somewhat different than what I expected and a little disappointing but, I am still glad I read this novel. I enjoyed it well.
First off, I want to think Jessica of Chapter Chicks (blog, youtube) for sending me this book. She wanted to know my opinion, so here it is!
Wake Unto Me is about this girl who feels like a total outcast because she can’t relate to anyone around her, even the two girls who are supposedly her best friends. Then one day, a letter came in the mail about this amazing opportunity to go to Fortune School in France! She thinks it’s any old boarding school until she starts having these very vivid dreams about a boy named Raphael from many centuries ago.
The book follows Caitlyn on her adventures both at school and in her dreams. I would say that is it both paranormal romance and historical fiction.
There is a lot of detail with this book since it is historical fiction. In my opinion, the plot doesn’t get juicy until the twist. Well, there’s a pre-twist twist, and then the actual twist. The pre-twist reminded me of Mal (Cobb’s wife) from Inception in that she questions which part is a dream and which part is reality. And then there is a twist that I predicted about 20% of it beforehand, but the majority of it caught me by surprise. This book is definitely not like anything I’ve read before.
I’d definitely say that the juicy parts are definitely juicy. The romantic scenes were good, but weren’t long enough to make it the main focus of the book. I really admired that.
The setting is FULL of history. There’s a castle. She goes. and lives. IN A CASTLE. And I love all the mystery that surrounded the gouffre. That was fantastic.One thing that confused me was how Caitlyn didn’t get the hint that this was a school for girls who weren’t necessarily normal. They explain it near the end, but throughout the novel, I wondered why these girls were only taking what I’ll call muggle classes. They were probably the same classes she was taking back in Oregon. In her acceptance letter, they suggest that they’ll help her hone in on her skills, but where is that?! I know Madame Snowe gives her a DNA test to make sure she’s related to the de Medicis, but that’s about it. I think this is just me being curious. It probably would have just added more detail to the story rather than helping anything.I would definitely recommend this book to people who like historical fictions. And don’t be deterred by the cover. Also, about the cover. The MC’s hair is BLACK in the book. Like, it’s mentioned a bunch of times. I’m sure the author had no say in this, but c’mon publishers! Read the story. The cover should at least try to reflect the story. Please and thanks.
Wake Unto Me is about this girl who feels like a total outcast because she can’t relate to anyone around her, even the two girls who are supposedly her best friends. Then one day, a letter came in the mail about this amazing opportunity to go to Fortune School in France! She thinks it’s any old boarding school until she starts having these very vivid dreams about a boy named Raphael from many centuries ago.
The book follows Caitlyn on her adventures both at school and in her dreams. I would say that is it both paranormal romance and historical fiction.
There is a lot of detail with this book since it is historical fiction. In my opinion, the plot doesn’t get juicy until the twist. Well, there’s a pre-twist twist, and then the actual twist. The pre-twist reminded me of Mal (Cobb’s wife) from Inception in that she questions which part is a dream and which part is reality. And then there is a twist that I predicted about 20% of it beforehand, but the majority of it caught me by surprise. This book is definitely not like anything I’ve read before.
I’d definitely say that the juicy parts are definitely juicy. The romantic scenes were good, but weren’t long enough to make it the main focus of the book. I really admired that.
The setting is FULL of history. There’s a castle. She goes. and lives. IN A CASTLE. And I love all the mystery that surrounded the gouffre. That was fantastic.One thing that confused me was how Caitlyn didn’t get the hint that this was a school for girls who weren’t necessarily normal. They explain it near the end, but throughout the novel, I wondered why these girls were only taking what I’ll call muggle classes. They were probably the same classes she was taking back in Oregon. In her acceptance letter, they suggest that they’ll help her hone in on her skills, but where is that?! I know Madame Snowe gives her a DNA test to make sure she’s related to the de Medicis, but that’s about it. I think this is just me being curious. It probably would have just added more detail to the story rather than helping anything.I would definitely recommend this book to people who like historical fictions. And don’t be deterred by the cover. Also, about the cover. The MC’s hair is BLACK in the book. Like, it’s mentioned a bunch of times. I’m sure the author had no say in this, but c’mon publishers! Read the story. The cover should at least try to reflect the story. Please and thanks.
Wowee this book was something. It was such an enigma and i promise you if you don’t keep up with the plot you would be left utterly confused. However I loved the mini-heart attacks and not so subtle twists in the book. It was a definite fantastic read.
Eishh random alert! How did Ghana get into this? “Queen of the Ashanti Tribe” cracks me up!
Eishh random alert! How did Ghana get into this? “Queen of the Ashanti Tribe” cracks me up!