Sarah DiCello

Background: Danielle is an 18 year old girl who is living a normal life in Georgia, attending college and hanging out with the same group of friends she has had since she was young. On the first day of summer she has a nasty fall and gives herself a concussion and then begins having very weird realistic dreams about people in another time period. A few weeks later, on a weekend trip with her best friend, she sees a man that looks oddly familiar but she cannot place him, until she realizes that he is from her weird dreams.

Review: I have some likes and some dislikes with this book and I am a little torn about it. So I liked the plot it was interesting, I have read a few really bad time travel books and this one is interesting because it is more a dream state than time travel, so it was very cool to witness the occurrences taking place.

I disliked the romance, and there is a lot of romance. I found it very teenage 'OMG I AM SOOOOOO IN LOVE WITH YOU!' And it is supposed to be an 18 year old and a 26 year old. The age difference was fine, whatever, but the instant love was weird, I can understand a physical attraction but not an immediate feeling that you know everything about someone and you met them a week ago (I have been with my husband for years and we still learn things about one another...)So that was a downfall for this one.

I think Danielle is naive and has an issue with confidence which is kind of annoying but she does gain some composure through the story. Ben is very passionate and romantic and I have a feeling more female readers will swoon over him. Danielle's friends are a little annoying and stereotypical, you have the beautiful oblivious bestie, her arrogant boyfriend, and another guy friend who as we all know is friend-zoned for life.

I kept reading to hear more about the other time period and find some resolution as to why Danielle is experiencing this strange ability...sadly no explanation was available in book one...so I am reading on. I will let you know how that goes.… (more)

Background: As I Wake picks up where the story left off in As I Close My Eyes, Dani is still having her dreams, only now she is living a different past. We have left Cape May and are now in 1920's New Orleans. Dani is trying to figure out why she continues to have these dreams and what they are trying to tell her.

Review: There may be some spoilers to book one, so please be aware as you continue reading. I found book 2 a little better than book 1 in this series, I was used to the instant love thing already which made it an easier read than the first. Danielle is starting to figure out what her dreams mean and why she is having them and I like the explanation rather than just the dreams like in book 1. I enjoyed the growing relationship between Dani and Eric as well as Dani finding out more about her father and brother through herself. I think the character development in As I Wake was stronger than in book 1.

I again had a few dislikes, mostly with common sense issues of the characters, like ...yes it is fine to take a parents car and tell them you are going an hour away and then take an 8 hour trip, and yes lighting candles in a dusty bookstore is a GREAT idea (can you hear the sarcasm as I type?). I would love to see how the story ends, it seems like as the story progresses the author does a better job of fixing some of these issues little by little, but we will see.

This read does have some steamy bits and is more of a romance than anything. I think that a lot of people will enjoy the book regardless of these issues, it was a quick and easy read and I was able to fly through it.… (more)

Due to copy and paste, formatting has been lost.

I can honestly say that I didn't like this book at all. I went into it with good thoughts - but I came out severely discouraged. I liked the idea behind As I Close My Eyes, but for me it just didn't deliver. We never get a real answer for why Danielle is slipping back and forth between worlds, and I feel like too much of the story was focused on the insta-love between Danielle and Ben.

It was just too hard for me to get into. The writing was very choppy in the beginning - which usually doesn't matter, because sometimes it takes a little bit for me to adjust to certain writing styles. But I never adjusted to this one - it was a jarring narrative.

But that wasn't my biggest problem - my biggest problem lay with our main character, Danielle. She's trying so hard to be an adult, but she's just failing so miserably. Her mom cleans her room (!!), but she's "18 and I can do what I want". I just didn't like that. I don't really like her, to tell the truth. Dani's mom is said to be "so protective", but she doesn't even blink at the idea of a boy staying over while they were gone. I just couldn't get behind her. She was flat, and I saw no inflection in her dialogue, or feeling from her at all. She was just... boring to me. I was disappointed with the lack of characterization and development of the characters in this book - Danielle was not the only one that I disliked. But she was the most dislikable one. She never tries to make any of her relationships work.

Don't even get me started on Ben - I don't understand why they were together, honestly. They met* and then they fell in love instantly - that upset me. They were declaring their love and wanting to be together forever... but... I didn't feel it. At all. Ben was kind of a jerk. He "loves her", but he was always trying to make her a different person. He tells her not to embarrass him. I just don't find that to be an acceptable relationship - he never apologizes or anything, and he repeatedly tells her (paraphrased) "not to act crazy" or "don't pass out and embarrass me". No. Just no. There is no reason for that - it seems like an unhealthy relationship. The romance was so disappointing. And honestly, I wasn't even looking for a romance with this one - I was looking to find out about the other person who can flip time; yet I never even got a hint of it. Not to mention the fact that the ending was a big cliffhanger - and super melodramatic.

I'm going to admit that I skimmed the last thirty pages or so. There was just so much meaningless drama, and it all added up to... nothing. The plot felt like it was just thrown together. I don't think that the author knew where she was going when she started.

As I Close My Eyes had the potential to be a good book - but it didn't deliver at all. In all honesty, I couldn't believe the amount of cliches that this book had in it. "The tall, handsome stranger who I felt a deep connection to instantly."

I wanted to see more flashbacks, the reason that I started this book - but they were few and far between. And they honestly didn't make a lot of sense - I have no idea how they related to Danielle's life in the future.

All in all, As I Close My Eyes really wasn't my thing. I wish that I could have loved it - or even liked it. But I didn't.

*actually, I lied. They didn't meet - Danielle saw him across the room in a restaurant, then again in the bookstore that he owns. Then she stalks him until he asks her out.… (more)