The Color of Clouds

by J.C. Whyte

Nearly everything that CAN go wrong does go wrong when a cruise ship encounters dark matter in the middle of the ocean. The adventure begins when a strange column of light appears on the horizon. And when it crosses the bodies of two passengers on the cruise ship, a psychic and a skeptical physicist must join forces to save them. Yet natural -- and supernatural -- obstacles keep getting in the way.

Genres: Paranormal

313 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 31, 2015

About the author

J.C. Whyte discovered her love for writing at the age of eleven when her 6th grade teacher told the class to write a poem about a sport. She knew her classmates would probably choose a popular sport like baseball or football, so J.C. chose to write a funny poem about golf. To her surprise, the teacher really loved it and encouraged J.C. to continue writing. So she did.

Then that summer, students were told to choose 26 books from a reading list, read them and write a book report on each. BLAH! J.C. wanted to enjoy her summer, not spend it reading. Back then, she was a very slow reader and didn’t much enjoy the experience. Plus, kids didn’t have the fun books which are available today. But her wise teacher told J.C. she could write 26 stories instead of reading them. That was genius. J.C. didn’t actually write a full 26 stories, but she wrote at least one which made her teacher laugh out loud in class. And the teacher gave her an “A” on her summer reading assignment. J.C. never forgot that wise and wonderful teacher who let the budding author play to her strengths.

So as a result, J.C. knew at an early age she wanted to become a professional writer. Yet when she reached college, she also understood that writing stories seldom paid the bills. So she got her degrees in Journalism and Communications Management. Then for many years she channeled her creative energies into the field of Public Relations.

Marriage, kids, and several more degrees and occupations later (including stints as a travel agent and paralegal), J.C. entered law school – mostly because of the challenge of writing creative arguments for the court. But while in law school, she became a columnist for the student newsletter, writing humorous pieces on the strange and quirky life of a law student. She was thrilled when one of these articles was chosen for publication in The National Jurist, a magazine distributed to law students throughout the USA.

But after graduating and passing the Bar, J.C. realized within a few years that creative writing was still what made her heart sing. So now, as a grandma, she’s returned to writing for children. And with the publication of Karmack, J.C. has come full circle, back to where her writing journey truly began.

Reviews

[Majanka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book Review originally published here: http://www.iheartreading.net/book-tou...

In The Color of Clouds, Pedro is a spirit guide who helps conveys messages from the deceased to the living through a psychic named Gwen. Pedro usually doesn’t interfere much in the affairs of either the living or the deceased (besides conveying the messages) but that changes when he meets a young boy who passed away just recently and is very troubled, and Pedro decided to help him. His psychic friend, Gwen, agrees to go on a cruise that could help Pedro with his quest to aid the boy.

Deanna and her husband Paul are on a relaxing cruise trip together. Or at least, “relaxing” was the point, but now they’re seated with an elderly couple and a table, Ernst and Sylvie (who keeps on calling him Ernie) and Gwen (aforementioned psychic) and her sister Jo. The six of them quickly become acquainted and realize they might have more in common than they at first thought. But when Gwen gets a message about “danger” ahead, a strange light slips past the ship, and two passangers fall into a coma, the six of them soon find themselves in danger.

As a fan of everything related to ghosts, I enjoyed The Color of Clouds. The book focuses on the six characters: Gwen and Jo, Ernst and Sylvia, and Paul and Deanna. They all have a different personality and are unique enough to merit a POV of their own. The POV sometimes shifts to other characters to, like Herman Lunz, head of security on board of the ship. All the POVs blend nicely, providing a few plot twists I did not see coming.

The writing is fast-paced, and once you start reading, it’s hard to stop. The book manages to blend science-fictoin and paranormal in a story that kept me on the edge of my seat.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pedro is a spirit guide, wandering around the space that comes after life and before moving on. He stays in-between in order to help the living receive messages from those who have passed. Pedro is able to pass messages through a psychic, Gwen. Something big is brewing in the spirit world, though and Pedro must break some rules in order to help a lot of people. On the Viking Maiden cruise ship, Gwen and her sister Jo have boarded to help other passenger with Pedro’s guidance; two elderly friends, Sylvie and Ernst are old friends meeting for their annual trip; and Paul and his wife Deanna who are finally getting over a tragedy. Expecting a relaxing cruise, a nuclear explosion in the middle of the ocean places Sylvie and Ernst into a strange coma where they are sent into the spirit world with Pedro. Paul is accused of murdering a housekeeping staff and with a tsunami on the way; Gwen and Pedro just want everyone back to where they are supposed to be. Brought together by Pedro, all of these passengers are in for one exciting cruise.

This book had a lot going on; paranormal forces, nuclear explosion, a murder mystery and a natural disaster all play a part. While I didn’t think all of this was quite necessary, it kept the story moving. The characters are what kept me reading, though. I was most amazed by Ernst and Sylvie’s relationship and personalities. They seemed very real to me and their humor was infectious. Even though they were out of their bodies for most of the story, Ernst and Sylvie managed to have the best development, conversations and definitely the most fun. I did like the combination of paranormal and science fiction for the explanation of the in-between, the dark matter and I wish that aspect was explored a little more. The last quarter of the book really picked up pace as the many elements came together for a dramatic ending.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

[LuAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

When we talk about the color of clouds, we're usually talking in grayscale, with the darker the cloud, the worse the storm. Unless of course, the sky 'goes green', and then it's a different kind of storm entirely.

In The Color of Clouds by J.C. Whyte, there's a whole rainbow of cloud colors going on and each one means a different thing. But clouds don't only exist in the sky.

Despite the book beginning with narration by the angel agent Pedro (I don't know if he was an 'angel', but it sounds nicer than dead guy), talking about a recently deceased young man, I soon got the idea (however wrongly) that Paul and Deanna were the 'main' characters.

But this was definitely ensemble casting and each character had their part to contribute to the story. Each had their own pieces to the story puzzle that only they could contribute. And while normally I identify more strongly with one characters than the others, in Clouds I hopped back and forth. It was a novel (ok, small pun intended) and fun experience.

Clouds strays a little more into the paranormal than the presence of a dead spirit or two and a psychic may indicate. I can't tell too much without giving too much away, if that makes sense. People believe in ghosts and other 'other than natural' phenomena or they don't. I appreciate Whyte's use of sceptics in the story and the fact that it wasn't like a world where everybody believed, or that only one person did and they had to protect their loved ones.

I, for one, cannot wait to see what Whyte comes up with next!

(Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest and unbiased review)

[Joy D. Fanning · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The premise was refreshing and new, the plot line kept everything moving forward and the book itself was edited nicely. The great thing about this book though, is that it shows that there are more than one way to look at something. We each can see the same evidence and yet have different ways of processing this information. In this book, Gwen, looks at the information though the spiritual eye, mainly through her connection with Pedro. Paul is a scientist and sees though through a more logical eye. It's hard for him to come to the same conclusion via the way Gwen does, but when he seeks the truth on his own, finds a scientific explanation for it and comes to the same conclusion as Gwen, he realizes there is more than one way to skin a cat. This dynamic that this story has is not something I read about a lot. I felt it had great real life take-a-ways.
Besides the deep different views and characters coming to conclusions and working together, this book is funny, explains the science parts so you don't feel like an idiot, and is easy and quick to read due to the high caliber of editing that was done. I know not everyone believes in spirit guides, if that is a struggle for you I would strongly suggest looking past it and read this book. Totally worth it!!!

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice little read that you can settle in for the night with. A little out of my comfort zone, which makes it even better. The plot of the story and the characters were pretty amazing and kept me interested in the book. I actually finished the book quicker then I had thought I would. Nice little twist on the paranormal side of things. A book everyone will enjoy!



*Received for an honest reviews*

[Kristine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This suspenseful mysterious other worldly novel is rated at THREE STARS from The Schwartz Reviews.

“But even as she smiled, Deanna felt uneasy. Danger ahead, the psychic had said. And that’s exactly what I’d told her.”

Schwartz Synopsis:
After Deanna’s husband suffered a heart attack six months ago, she and Paul decide to take a relaxing cruise together. Unfortunately for them, the cruise ends up being anything but relaxing. When they arrive at their assigned meal seating and are introduced to a wonderful elderly couple, and a psychic and her sister, things begin to get a little strange. A strange light slips past the ship, changing the lives of these six characters and placing them all on a hunt for answers. Nothing is what it seems, and things begin to escalate quickly… for the worse. Can Paul figure out what is going on? Will they all get off this cruise alive? Only time will tell, for Pedro (a spirit guide) is not allowed to foretell just what will happen to these six characters that were thrown together.

“When Drew lifted Carly’s mask with his good hand, he was stunned to see her blank-looking eyes staring wide open at him.”

Schwartz Thoughts:
I found that this novel began extremely well, capturing my complete attention while I began my own hunt for answers. It was quite mysterious. It was a very unique story, one I have never read anything like before. Although it was extremely interesting I did have a harder time with this novel due to its slower pace. Yes I was interested. Yes I wanted to know what was going on. But it just wasn’t happening fast enough for me.
I was impressed with the amount of work that went into this book. My hats off to the author for all the research that it must have taken to complete writing this book. I didn’t understand the physics behind a lot of it but the author explained everything just enough that I was able to follow the characters theories. It was clear that there was a lot of research behind the pages and that the author didn’t just try and make things up as the story progressed.
I did find some errors and some inconsistencies throughout the pages. Not many mind you, just enough to make a reviewers notes (I’m a bit of a perfectionist when reading). I was able to keep reading though so the mistakes shouldn’t be a reason not to pick up this novel. Another thing that I noticed was the fact that this book seemed to be somewhat all over the place. Again, the story is easy enough to follow but things just kept happening that seemed strange or out of place somewhat. It all tied together in the end rather nicely. I guess my only complaints really lie with the middle of the novel. The beginning was fabulous, the ending was superb, but the middle was slightly slow paced and bouncy (like I said earlier, it was all over the place). Things just kept happening and it was crazy bad luck for the characters.

“Oh, so now you think we’re dealing with the paranormal?”

I would recommend this novel to anyone who loves reading paranormal suspenseful mysteries.

-The Schwartz Reviews

[J.C. Whyte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed By Jack Magnus for Readers’ Favorite:

J.C. Whyte's contemporary paranormal fiction novel, The Color of Clouds, blends physics, dark matter and the paranormal in an entertaining and fast-paced suspense story. Pedro, as the narrator, is engaging and sympathetic to the suspicions and outright disbelief he encounters from Paul, and his limitations are put to the test as he is unable to be more proactive in dealing with the urgent human affairs he encounters. I especially liked the strong science fiction element of the plot, starting with the strange white light that travels across the ocean and is encountered by a diving couple as they perform an ecological survey. I loved how the author incorporated dark matter and quantum physics into the story as well. There's also a tasty murder mystery that occurs aboard the Viking Maiden which should please fans of police procedurals as much as it did me. The Color of Clouds has something for just about everyone, and the paranormal theme works marvelously. It's highly recommended.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The Color of Clouds" by J.C. Whyte follows a group of people, whom meet on a cruise ship and encounter a strange light one night passing over the ship, that puts two elderly characters Sylvie and Ernest into the hospital. The book follows both the elderly characters journey while "on the other side" and their newly found friends journey in discovering what has happened and how to bring their friends back from their coma, all with the guidance of "Pedro" their spirit guide. I am rating this book a 3.5 as the book had some interesting and suspenseful parts, but overall I found the book to be very slow and especially the beginning somewhat boring.



***Reviewer for Paranormal Romance and Authors that Rock***

[Manish Singh Thakurathi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Acha likha hai, aap sb kuch Sikh sakte ho...really brozom👌