Review of Wake Unto Me by Lisa Cach

Release Date: March 31, 2011
Publisher: Speak
Pages: 306 pages
Author Website: http://lisacach.com/
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Rating: 4 stars
Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: A haunted castle, a handsome young man dead for four hundred years, one heck of a scary portrait of a witch, and a treasure hunt -- not to mention a princess for a roommate! -- all await 15 year old American girl Caitlyn Monahan when she earns a scholarship to a French boarding school.

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.

Review: In Wake Unto Me, we meet Caitlyn Monahan, a 15-year-old girl who knows she is different from everyone else and always feels misunderstood and alone. She has very vivid, frightening dreams that feel very real to her but in the past, when she told her father and stepmother about them, they thought she was going crazy. Caitlyn is desperate to get away from her small Oregon town and when she gets an unsolicited and fully paid offer to attend an exclusive private school in France, she jumps at the chance for a new start.

Wake Unto Me has a little bit of everything. Mixed in the unique paranormal elements are bits of European history, some real, some created by the talented author and a gorgeous castle setting in rural France. This story is not what I expected. It starts a little slow, but the mystery behind it keeps you reading and it does pick-up. I don’t want to give too much away, the novel’s mysteries are best discovered layer by layer.

Something that bothered me was how depressed Caitlyn got. She felt so unloved in Oregon and even though she does not have a very emotional relationship with her father, her stepmother and friends were very affectionate but Caitlyn made no effort to reciprocate. It seems like she chose to be lonely. It’s hard for me to read that a 15-year-old decides to give up on her (loving) family and prefers to use some tarot cards her dead mother deals her in a dream to guide her through her life instead. She also gets very depressed toward the end of the book as well, not healthy behavior.

Wake Unto Me is a haunting, well written story with a satisfying ending. I am not sure if there will be a sequel, but it works as a standalone book. I am giving this book away, so stay tuned, I will be announcing the winner of the Hoppy Easter Eggstravaganza Blog Hop!

Content: Profanity (in French), Caitlyn uses someone else’s prescription drugs to help her fall asleep and induce dreams.