*Review--Wake Unto Me by Lisa Cach*

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.

Lisa Cach's debut YA novel, Wake Unto Me, was a very nice "ghost story" novel. When I first saw the cover months ago I was immediately hooked. It reminded me of Jenny Carroll/Meg Cabot's The Mediator series with a girl and a ghost, so I was looking forward to reading it and it was a rather fast read too!

Caitlyn is really kind of your average girl at school, although she has two good friends, other people make fun of her for no reason really, and when the opportunity comes to go to a prestigious school in France comes up, she jumps at it, hoping that it would take her away from her too ordinary life.

Although lately she has been having really freaky dreams with images that terrify her and screech at her. But once she enters France she starts dreaming of a cute guy and can't help but think that there's something growing between them. It's all a little weird at first, Caitlyn isn't sure at times what's real and what's not. What's a dream and so forth, she begins to wonder about her sanity at a point. All she knows that Raphael is the guy she's been looking for all her young life.

The romance was a good buildup--I actually just read a review this morning that appreciated this part as well--while the two feel drawn to one another, they're not a "couple" right away. It takes time. But there is still a definite mystery going on at the school. And believe me my theories were constantly challenged, in the end I didn't really see much coming!

I like when books can take you completely by surprise at the final moment. Sure, you get an idea where it's heading but the end? Still a shocker in its entirety! But again, I did guess at one or two tidbits pages before the answer was revealed and was glad that I was right! Finally!

The pacing was okay. At times I thought it a little slow, because not too much "ghost" stuff was happening. And it wasn't necessarily the "ghost story" I was expecting, yet it was still really good. Just different! There was also quite a bit of history woven into the book as well that was all intriguing as well. And people say reading is boring! Heck we get to enter fantastical worlds and still learn a bit of history while we read fiction!

Overall rating 4/5 stars

This book was apart of my 2011 Debut Author Challenge