Don't Close Your Eyes

Lisa McMann

This is a very unique book, with an interesting plot that id bet I wouldn't be able to come up with myself.
Before I explain what this book is about, I want to explain that "Don't close your eyes" is actually three books put into one, its a series and you can buy them separately. Their individual titles are "Wake, Fade, and Gone."


The beginning of this book I found to be very confusing... it kept jumping around from different times to different years all throughout Janie Hannagan's life, but as the story settled in it got much better.

Janie has a gift, (or a curse...) depending on how you look at it. She is a dream catcher. Which means she has the ability to go into other peoples dreams. That sounds pretty cool huh? Well it comes with a catch. She has no control over it. If someone falls asleep in the same room as her, she is automatically sucked into their dream. So you can imagine if she happens to be driving and someone fell asleep with their window open in the house on the side of the street... it could be very dangerous. She looses all her senses when she is about to go into someones dream. She cant feel her arms or legs and she ends up as worthless as a rag doll. Until the dream is over and she regains her vision.

Janie is lost, confused, and angry that she was chosen to suffer with this curse. All while having to put up with her alcoholic abusive mother. With all this bad going on in her life, there must be something good, correct?
That would be her love Cabel, the one good thing in her life.

As the story goes on it gets a lot more complicated, she finds out even more downsides to her 'gift' as if things couldn't get any worse. She finds her long lost father she never knew, that is in a... coma!

It seems that in the book for every bad there is something good, which is a good life lesson, teaching you that something good can always happen. There are a lot of surprise twists and unexpected events that every good book should have. Lisa Mcmann did an excellent job with the twists. Overall Ill say this is a good book, not a waste of time, but if it were this book vs something Cassandra Clare wrote, Id choose Cassandra in a heartbeat.

This book isn't the worst, but its definitely not the best. Overall I give it 6/10 stars.

Have you read Don't Close Your Eyes?
Do you Agree/Disagree with my opinions?
Are you a fan of the book ?
Let me know in the comments! I'd love to hear!

To: All my viewers...

Always remember, 

Laugh often, 
Love without control, 
And smile till your cheeks grow sore... and then just a tad bit more! :) 

THE SIREN

This weeks review is "The Siren" by Alison Bruce

                                            Author Alison Bruce





This story begins with a matchbook from a club dropped and left to burn in a kitchen sink and a little boy named Riley who only wants to watch Thomas the Tank. While peacefully snuggling with her small son, Kimberly sees a news bulletin of a car being pulled out of the water and the passenger identified.

This disturbs her as more than a random news event, since she knows very well who was in that car and worries that the whole event is coming back up, literally in the form of the car and figuratively in the form of murder.

Her first inclination is to talk with someone who already knows the details, her best friend Rachel. Rachel is married to the unlikable Stefen. Within a short twist of events, and while babysitting Riley, Rachels house ends up on fire. The police are able to find the body of Rachel but not Stefen or little Riley.

Thus the entrance of police investigator Gary Goodhew.He finds Kimberly understandably distraught but reluctant at the same time to give any information that might help find her son.

The characters in this book are very well defined and easy to get inside of. You are able to relate to and understand each of their motivations which is a great ability this author has.

Goodhew comes across as a quirky but highly capable detective and part of the enjoyment in reading this book is seeing how he relates to everyone in his life. While not detracting from the solving of the mystery itself, this adds another note of flavor to the readers senses.

The author is British so there are British phrases and terms used as well as the description of places and things uniquely British in origin. This is not a deterrent to the story however. Her descriptions are so well written that it is quite easy for an American reader to immerse themselves in the story through out.

This book is part 2 in a series of 5. I read it first as it was given to me and I didn't realize that it was part of a series featuring detective Goodhew. It is well enough written though that I will go on to read the other books, if for nothing else, it will be interesting to see how Goodhew evolves as a character. He is hard to forget when you put the book down. 

If you would like to read the series from the beginning, the first book is entitled "Cambridge Blue". I think a reader will heartily enjoy meeting this intuitive and character and his offbeat approach to life.    

Indie
http://thebookloverz.blogspot.com/

The reading of all good books is like a conversation with the finest minds of past centuries. - Rene Descartes

A long long sleep

By, 

Anna Sheehan 

Imagine your whole world, everything you care about, love, the small things you take comfort in, gone, right before your eyes. You were put into stasis, by your parents, the head owners of one of the largest companies in the world. They were supposed to wake you up when they got back from their business trip, but instead you find out they died in a helicopter accident while you were asleep, leaving you all alone, no one to wake you up.  

You wake up 62 years later, to a boy standing over you, once he realizes who you are, your world changes even more. Now 'you' are the soon to be owner of your dead parents business, once you come of age of course. You just woke up, you're drained with stasis fatigue, your overwhelmed by loss, and you have all these responsibilities. You have to find your place in a world where everything has changed, technical wise, to the way people speak, to going to a new school and dealing with students who hate you for reasons you cant even understand... sounds pretty bad huh? Well that isn't even the worst part. 

Who's living this horrible life? Sixteen year old Rosalinda Fitzroy. Once you read this story you will be super thankful that, that isn't your name. Now I know what I was thinking while reading this book, 

"Seriously? How could her life get any worse?"

Although if you think about it, the story line is sad, and for those of you who don't like sad stories, you probably don't care to read this book, but ill tell you this book isn't a waste of time. There is always something about it that grabs you and intrigues you to turn the next page to see what happens. It is well written, and lets you be able to connect with the characters. Its full of surprises and unexpected turns, that at first lets you think you understand everything and you know whats going to happen, then it takes a sharp right and you're left in an intriguing shock. 

One thing I enjoyed from this book is how despite everything that happened, Rose would find something she still enjoyed doing, like painting or sketching, and focused on that. Or how she would take comfort in her dog that was given to her. I'm not sure if that was the Author was trying to go for, but it spoke to me, how there always seemed to be something good in her life, even through all the bad. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes in The Hunger Games series. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Ill give it... 6 out of 10. I strongly recommend. 

Have you read A long long sleep?
Do you Agree/Disagree with my opinions?
Are you a fan of the book ?
Let me know in the comments! I'd love to hear!

To: All my viewers...

Always remember, 

Laugh often, 
Love without control, 
And smile till your cheeks grow sore... and then just a tad bit more! :)