Come Vote on Book Cover and Title!

Hello my lovelies! 

Mike's event went well! Although we did have some technical issues, (as is bound to happen when you have a new event using new software) we had a great interview and thanks to modern technology, you can watch the interview at any time on my youtube channel! I will be doing a break down next week on what we learned from the event, and what you might want to know when you plan your own event. 

The winners of the Black Agnes CD event were Chris Lyons, Kim Worthen, and John Harrison! Congratulations, folks! The CD will be out to you in June!

Now, I need your help everyone! 

My next book will be out in June and it has been brought to my attention that All is Well is... kind of a boring title. I'm inclined to agree! So I would like votes on a title. 

The story is a psychic thriller/ paranormal romance. I know, interesting blending there, right?! 

Here is the back cover blurb:

How do you catch a serial killer who is always two steps ahead?

Grant Anderson is a detective in a small town in rural Montana. His job was quiet and easy, until three girls end up dead. It would seem that he has a serial killer stalking the young ladies in his town. Without the high tech equipment of big cities at his fingers, Grant must rely on good old fashioned police work; but with no discernible pattern and no clues to follow, the case seems to be grinding to a halt.

 Then Grant gets a visit from a mysterious woman who knows things about his case that not even he knew. Who is Clear Angel? What is her connection to the case? If Grant is to believer her, then he must accept that she has “seen” these things; but Grant is a professional. He cannot believe in psychics! Yet when another girl goes missing, and Grant’s search is yielding nothing he is desperate enough to try.

Clear Angel has always been special. At a very young age her parents discovered that she was a genius. Her parents realize that no one would ever accept what she can do. To protect her from the nightmares and the scorn of others, they move her to a small, secluded town in the Rockies.

Then the nightmares begin again. She does not know what to make of them. Are they premonitions of events to come? Are they the sick fantasies of a madman? Then one evening she runs into a stranger and finds out that not only are they real, but they are happening here in her home town. After a lifetime of running and hiding from what she can do, she is now forced to reach out to the most unlikely person in an effort to save innocent girls and perhaps the world.

Grant and Clear team up in an effort to stop a madman bent on the destruction of the world and find in one another two lonely and hurt people reaching out for solace. As their feelings grow, they try to deny them; but when Clear goes missing, Grant must face his feelings and vows to save her before it is too late.

So, the titles suggested are:

1. All is Well

2. Elements of a Broken Mind

3. Broken Minds

Please post your vote in the comments as so: Title (and then the number you like best!) 

And one more thing to vote on: The cover art. I am posting a handful of options. Please put your vote in the comments below and use the title of the cover to indicate which one you prefer! 

Here are the options: 

Cover 1

Cover 2

Cover 3

Cover 4

Cover 5

Thank you so much for your time in voting! I appreciate your contributions! 

Until next time, 
Keep Writing!

Time Travel Party, Join us!

Hello all! Want to come to a party? 

Well, you are invited to join us for Mike Dunbar's Time Travel party this Saturday May 25th at 11 am EST. We will be having a Google + hangout and it will be live! If you send an e-mail to castletonseries@gmail.com, we will send you an invite. (please keep in mind that you must have a gmail account to access Google +, and see our hangout!)

At this party, author Mike Dunbar will spend a few minutes talking about his inspiration for the book and his path to publication. Then you get to bombard him with all the questions you have! 

I will also be there to talk a little bit about where the series is going, our plans for publication and other exciting news! 

Also, there could be a really hot special guest who has the voice of a God.... could be! 

As a thank you to our fans, and because it is cool, we are hosting a raffle giveaway of three cd albums from Black Agnes' first CD, signed by the author and the lead singer of the band. If you don't know who these guys are, then you definitely want to attend the time travel party and find out what this awesome band has to do with The Castleton series! 

In the mean time, go ahead and enter the raffle on the top right side of this page!
There are several things that you can do in order to get more entries into the raffle, so get going and do them! 

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday! 

Until next time,
Keep Reading and Writing!

Book Review of Wake Me Up Inside by Lee Bice-Matheson

Genre: Paranormal YA mystery

Synopsis: Paige Maddison finds herself moving from the city, to her grandparents rural country estate so that her mother can help take care of her aging and ailing grandfather. Paige has been having strange dreams, but does not directly associate them with the move. She also keeps seeing strange things. Eventually she begins to suspect that her grandparents house is haunted... and the ghost is trying to kill her grandfather. Can she figure out why this ghost is holding a grudge before it is too late?

The Good: The story takes a quick pace, and is a relatively short read at only 103 pages. It sort of reminds me of the Nightmare Hall series, and this is designed to be a series as well.
Although the subject matter and the age of the characters is technically YA, the writing style and length are probably more appropriate for the younger end of YA, maybe even mid-grade. (I read Nightmare Hall when I was ten and eleven.) The author does a fairly good job of setting up the chapters in such a way as to leave you wanting/ needing to read the next chapter to find out what will happen next.

The Bad: I could not relate to any of the characters, which was very frustrating. I found Paige's emotions to fluctuate like quicksilver. There is a guy she has a crush on and that seems as important, if not more important, than preventing the ghost from killing her granddad. The relationship between the parents and grandparents is also strange. They haven't had any contact since Paige was a little girl, but are willing to up and leave their established lives to help take care of the grandfather, who was the cause of the upset in the first place... oh, and the author never tells you what the upset was. (I presume that it will be revealed in subsequent books, because at the very beginning the author tells you that there will be more books, and at the end you are left with a huge cliff hanger ensuring that there absolutely will be more books.

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The Ugly: I love series reads, but I prefer books that can stand alone, or that you need to have read the first book to be able to read the next; but at the end of the book you are only left with one or two questions which whet your appetite for the next book. This book has so many events left unexplained that if it were a stand-alone I would say it has more plot holes than a back road in Montana. But it is not a stand alone. I cannot know how many of these points she will address in the next book, how integral they are to the series, or if they will indeed become plot holes.

And there were several grammar/ spelling issues that drove me a little nuts! For example: defence... it drove me nuts!!! Apparently it is an alternate spelling in Britain (sort of like grey/gray) but there were no other indicators to British spellings. I can't say that I have read a lot of books by Canadian authors. I'd never noticed this style of grammar and spellings before, anyway. Not saying that it was wrong, just that it was so distracting that several times it pulled me out of reading the book to go and look up if the spelling/ grammar was correct. Yeah, I am weird like that! 
 

Overall: The author writes some beautifully descriptive parts, and the story drew me forward, but in a morbid way. I did not like Paige, her logic, or her reasoning.  I found her quite annoying! (Of course, I found Bella annoying too, so maybe it is just me!) Parts of the story felt quite contrived, but that may be simply because my brain works differently from the characters. I never would've found myself in these situations.


The big last minute plot twist that ensures that there will be a second book just did not grab me. I guessed it somewhere around page 29. The main plot is convoluted by all these bizarre twists and turns of questionable relevancy.Part of me really wants to read on, just to see if these points are ever addressed, but unfortunately, I just don't think I could go through another Twilight, clinging to a potentially interesting story, despite not liking or being able to relate to the main character at all. We'll have to see.

If it sound like something that appeals to you, feel free to follow the link on the upper right to purchase a copy! 

Until next time,
Keep Reading!