ROSI'S CASTLE
Rosi's Doors (Book I)

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New England Book Festival 2013 Winner for Best Young Adult Novel

Readers' Favorite 2012 Silver Award Winner for Best Young Adult Sci-Fi / Fantasy Novel

Newly orphaned Rosi Carol is sent to live with her mysterious Uncle Richard in his eerie castle on the New England coast.
Rosi feels even more of an outcast when she discovers the townspeople believe the Carol family has some kind of magical hold over New Richmond. Even her new friends are afraid of her.
She soon discovers there may be some truth to the rumors. The castle seems to have a mind of its own with lights turning off and on and doors locking and unlocking with no one in sight.
A strange dark cloud has dogged her since the train station. The ghosts of the Widows from New Richmond's past blame Rosi for their husbands never returning from the sea. Her only allies are a Girl in Black who is gone as suddenly as she appears and a paranormal reporter named Jesse that no one else can see.
Can Rosi discover what the Widows want? What about the Girl in Black? Can Jesse help her find the answers or is he another big mystery? And why can't her watch keep proper time?

ROSI'S CASTLE [©2011] Book I of the Rosi's Doors series by Edward Eaton | Young Adult Fantasy (PG) 200 pages / 58,000 words | Available in ebook, hardback, and paperback from the DFP Books label of Dragonfly Publishing

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PAPERBACK [EAN 978-1-936381-21-0 | ISBN 1-936381-21-4] 6x9 library trim (200 pages) | Average Price: $11.99

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EXCERPT FROM CHAPTER 1:

ROSI opened her eyes to find that the car had stopped.
Had she fallen asleep?
Had they arrived at The Castle?
She wiped the sleep from her eyes and yawned.
She shivered in a sudden chill.
Now she could meet the infamously evil Uncle Richard. Out in the middle of the woods?
There was no castle or house of any sort. Just trees, branches, bushes, and the rock face of a small ravine.
Other than the car and herself, that was it.
Rosi got out of the car and sat on the trunk for a few moments, but the driver did not come back.
"James?" she called out. "Whatever you name is? Hello?"
Jumping down, she crossed her arms and stomped her feet hoping to chase away the early morning chill.
Why would someone leave her stranded in a car in the middle of the woods? She backtracked along the ruts the tires had made. If something was wrong with the car, the driver might have gone to the road. If you could call the rutted dirt path she saw a road.
If she had thought the train station was dark, this place was spooky. What little moonlight there was only served to reinforce the oppressive blackness around the car.
Ahead, in the headlights, were plants that looked to Rosi like they were straight from the set of a science fiction movie, and the moon looked odd. Closer? Had there even been a moon earlier?
She was just about to head back to the car when she heard some sort of snuffling in the odd-looking brush.
Rosi froze.
She had been so busy looking around, that she had not paid attention to the noises. Now she did. There were some nasty animal sounds. Not too close, but close enough to send a chill down her spine.
Rosi tried to recall what she had read online about the area when she first heard about the move. There were foxes and some sort of large cat, but nothing too dangerous.
She noticed that it was hotter than it had been a few minutes before. A lot hotter. It was also humid. Dripping, Rosi slipped off her sweatshirt and tied it around her waist.
She jumped when a shadow ran along the ground in front of her. She looked around at the large rocks and then laughed to herself. A shadow on the ground meant something up above, she reminded herself. She looked up and saw something that looked to her like a huge bat or giant bird or mutant eagle circling above her. She opted for mutant eagle.
She edged toward the brush, but noticed the eagle adjusted its circling when she moved so she froze again.
Rosi stole a glance in the direction of the car but could not see it. She must have gone around a bend. She could not be too far from the car, but she wasn't sure she was close enough to sprint to it. This mutant eagle seemed to know what it was doing. It swooped several times in an ever-tightening circle.
The mutant eagle didn't even seem to be scared of the cat noises Rosi now heard somewhere in the towering forest that ran along a low valley and stopped at the edge of huge snow-capped mountains. Skiing must be great here, she thought, and then focused on the mutant eagle that was stalking her.
She kicked around with her feet, trying to find some loose stones to throw at the thing.
No luck. Probably a good thing. Don't want to anger it.
It was the catfight that distracted it. The cat Rosi had heard a few moments before was joined by another cat, or dog, or something else very large, and they began to fight. Ferociously. Loudly.
The eagle thing seemed to think that meant a tastier snack and moved off.
Rosi let herself breathe for the first time in what must have been minutes. She edged herself under the shade of a tall plant of some kind that looked sort of like a huge palm shrub and tried to collect herself.
She was scared.
She was not supposed to be scared. She was from New York City, not some small backwoods town. She once walked across Central Park alone in the dark when she had stormed out of a party because her date was flirting with another girl. And the jerk had not even followed her.
Anyway, she took a deep breath, saw the mutant eagle dive out of sight, and started moving.
That was when she heard the snuffling sound again.
"Hello?" She peered into the gloom. "Who is it?"
She saw something crawling through the brush ahead of her. She could tell it was a person. An animal would not have been so awkward.
"Stop! You!" Rosi scrambled after the person. It must be the driver trying to scare her. I'll show him.
She grabbed onto an ankle and spun the person over. She raised her fist but stopped herself from hitting the woman who lay quivering on the ground beneath her.
"What are you doing here?" Rosi demanded.
Rather than respond, the woman simply started screaming and struggling against Rosi, who tried to hush the woman, to assure her that she was in no danger, and finally had to slap her twice.
The second slap worked. The woman fell silent, as did the rest of the woods.
"Who are you?" Rosi asked, trying to stay calm.
"Lilbet." Scared and shivering, the woman used her sleeve to wipe tears from her eyes and nose. She wore a long brown skirt and a shirt that might have been white once upon a time. Her cloak looked to be nothing more than old blanket.
Rosi helped her to her knees. Lilbet would not stand up, but Rosi was able to see her in a shaft of moonlight. Her hands were rough and calloused. Her face was worn and beneath the fear was an anguish that was permanent. Rosi could not tell if the woman was fifteen or fifty. If she was fifty, she had once been pretty. If she was fifteen, she never would be.
"Everything will be all right," she told the frightened woman. I have a car near here. The driver will know what to do."
Lilbet shook her head violently. "You come with me."
Rosi pointed in the direction of the car. "The car is not far away. Trust me."
"We have to go back." Lilbet started pulling Rosi in the other direction, toward the tall and spooky looking mountains.
"There?"
"No! Back! They're waiting for you! You must come or they'll be ever so angry."
Rosi was not sure who 'they' were, but she had no intention of going anywhere but back to the car. The woman, whatever her age, had gained some strength. She could not drag the woman with her, just as Rosi could not pull free of her.
Lilbet kept repeating that Rosi had to go back with her. It took Rosi a few moments to realize that Lilbet started to refer to her as the 'Carol girl'.
"How do you know my name?" Rosi asked.
"I'm bringing her," Lilbet yelled over her shoulder.
"Is there somebody there? Hello!"
Rosi almost fell over when she heard what sounded like a hundred voices whispering: "Bring her."
It must have been the wind.
No, there wasn't any wind...

[Copyright ©2024 Edward Eaton | No unauthorized reproduction or distribution]

READ REVIEWS

"This fantastical tale by Edward Eaton intertwines the paranormal with history and mystery. Young Rosi Carol is sent to live with her uncle in a New England town where she feels like an outsider. Upon arrival she realizes an ominous feeling, which stays with her for the following days. As such, many of townspeople stop and stare as she walks by and some speak as if they have known her for some time. In confusion she begins to try to comprehend her surroundings and her life in this town. An air about the town is not right, but as she learns more about the town's history she realizes the townspeople are more familiar with her and her family's name. A mysterious story takes twists and turns through the pages revealing her role in the town's past and future. At the end of book one with the help of her uncle and her two friends she becomes to understand the concept of time and her conflict in accepting her legacy. Will she turn her back on her name, the town, and her family's legacy? Eaton writes with ease and breaths appealing characters to life. We begin to see a heroine emerge in ROSI'S CASTLE and as readers we hope she accepts her quest and lives up to her name. The characters and setting are written well and will capture the minds and interest of any reader. The relationships between the characters are reminiscent of middle or high school angst, so it is well suited to the age group of YA Lit. Furthermore, the male young adult characters are easily related to, so anyone will enjoy this story. The first book of three reels you in and the reader will want to know what will happen to Rosi next. As an educator I could surely utilize this novel to teach literary elements to students where a high interest genre would be appropriate." ~ reviewed by Mirta Espinola [FIVE STARS]

"Interesting twist on time. The author weaves a compelling tale through a vivid landscape he's created. Highly recommend. Am buying the second book immediately." ~ reviewed by Allen Gaines for Amazon Reviews [FIVE STARS]

"What a delightful fantasy series this is! Combining contemporary insight and input (the author has a marvelous grasp of his adolescent characters-and the adults as well) with historical data that is accurately and vividly rendered, the series engrossed this reviewer (I can't wait to read Book-III, ROSI'S COMPANY) and found its place on my shelf of re-reads. Rosi (pronounced Ro-see, not the usual Ro-zee) is fifteen and convinced that her dad did not suffer fatality when his plane went missing. However, after six months, the attorney insists on the Reading of the Will, and without explanation she is packed off to New Richmond, New Hampshire, to live with an uncle she doesn't know, 'to make things right' (according to the Will). Well, making things right means more than staying with an unknown uncle in an actual castle, making new friends, and discovering life is almost (quite literally) magical. It also means training as a Guardian, one who oversees the tears in Time. It's not easy seeing what others don't (multiple time eras all layered together), but it's even more difficult traveling through time oneself, unexpectedly and unavoidably. I can't recommend this series highly enough! Even higher middle-grade students will love ROSI'S CASTLE, as well as high-school grades (and even us oldsters, too)." ~ reviewed by Mallory Heart Reviews [FIVE STARS]

"ROSI'S CASTLE will capture the curiosity of the YA reader when an orphaned young teen is catapulted into the world of the bizarre and paranormal as she is sent away to live with an uncle in a small New England town. She settles in an eerie castle that holds dark secrets and magic deep within its walls. Unbeknownst to her, she discovers that she holds the magic key and learns the town's secret to the never-ending paranormal events around every dark corner. Shades of the 1980's thriller THE FOG came to mind. Rosi's quick wit and sharp tongue surprisingly save her on many occasions. Rosi was left with a lot of responsibility here and a huge burden to bear. Edward Eaton is a master at setting the stage with great descriptive wording. I felt myself right there with Rosi as she discovers this charming but gloomy place. The plot is highly believable and I even found myself feeling sorry for the victims. I feel young teens who enjoy the paranormal will find this story very enticing. Eaton has included some well known interesting factual data on the paranormal and some bits of new age science terminology which strikes a cord of high interest. Each magical event held a different level of excitement. As an enthusiast myself and an author of this subject, I was engaged all throughout the story. As a veteran Reading Specialist I can tell you this was always the kind of genre my students craved!" ~ reviewed by Lorraine Carey for Readers' Favorite [FIVE STARS]

"A real page turner! I loved ROSI'S CASTLE and how it all came together at the end. I couldn't put it down and at times wanted to 'peek' at the ending just to see how it ended, but I refrained. Looking forward to the next one." ~ reviewed by an Amazon customer [FIVE STARS]

"Though ROSI'S CASTLE is a young adult fantasy/paranormal book, it is rooted in fresh reality. All in all, a great beginning for a YA trilogy with sparkling and surprising insight into the mind of a teenage girl thrown into unusual circumstances." ~ reviewed by Megan Henrich [FIVE STARS]

"ROSI'S CASTLE is a very fast-paced, engaging book with a mystery to fuel the plot but whose 15-year-old heroine's feelings and thoughts provide the substance." ~ reviewed by an Amazon Customer [FIVE STARS]

"ROSI'S CASTLE is a wonderful tale set in a New England background sure to captivate any reader. But being a local to the area I am biased and I love a good New England ghost story." ~ reviewed by an Amazon Customer [FIVE STARS]

"Eaton has created a fascinating town filled with weird people. ROSI'S CASTLE is really an excellent book." ~ reviewed by Atanas Mihalev [FIVE STARS]

"ROSI'S CASTLE is a fun read full of mystery, adventure, and intrigue." ~ reviewed by Mahesh Acharya [FIVE STARS]

"ROSI'S CASTLE is an enjoyable young adult fantasy and a good start to what looks to be an interesting trilogy." ~ reviewed by J.A. Beard [FIVE STARS]