What do you do when your lifelong nightmares turn out to be real ? Annie, has dreams but thinks that's all they are till she attends a funeral and reconnects with a family member who asks her if she remembers. She talks to the police who don't believe her it was over 20 years ago she was a child. Her family tells her she's crazy, they avoid her, she doubts herself. One officer Mark cold case specialist, a man she has admired from far every morning at the local coffee shop, tries hard to believe her but...it's hard when all evidence is against her. What unfolds is a real nightmare.
I liked this thriller, the pacing was perfect. I hated the family, and Annies passiveness with them. Her own mother ! UUUUUUGGGG ! I wish I could tell you it was so irritating. I didn't love the characters, but I will give book 2 a try to see if they grow on me. ( )

Annie Lakes has had nightmares all her life and they have destroyed any good aspects of her life. When she attends her uncle’s funeral at the insisting of her mother, she begins to piece together that the nightmares are true and her cousin Jenny was murdered many years ago. She tries to explain this ti Detective Mark Sutton, who thinks she is wacky or is she?

I understand that this is a romantic suspense, but not everyone in the world is gorgeous with or without their clothing, but in this story they are. Of course, Annie and Mark hit it off quickly and want to jump each other’s bones. Once I got passed that part of the story, then I could concentrate on the suspenseful part. Yes, Jenny disappeared, but was she murdered or not? There was a slow build out with a surprising twist. To me, the romance was contrived, but the suspense kept me reading. ( )

Please see all of my reviews on my blog at www.robinlovesreading.blogspot.com.

Why is Annie Lakes having recurring nightmares of a time when her cousin Jenny disappeared? Is Annie Lakes crazy? That is what Detective Mark Sutton initially believes when Annie approaches him at the police station telling him of her dreams. But, forever the dogged cop, Mark asks enough questions anyway and soon realizes that something awful really did happen when Annie was a child.

As Mark is a detective with cold cases, he is allowed to go further with the investigation. Annie is relieved in more ways than one. The thing is, she has been noticing the handsome detective for quite some time at a local coffee shop. There is just something about this detective. He seems to be as haunted as she is. Is that part of the draw? Mark struggles to keep his own past behind him, but his job takes just so much away from him, causing him to behave in a manner rather unbecoming at times.

While Mark searches for answers, Annie is suffering with a family living in denial, desperate to convince her that this was all in her head. While trusting in Mark, the two share an undeniable attraction that they just cannot ignore. As threats and answers abound, Mark and Annie draw closer together.

I thoroughly enjoyed Don't Close Your Eyes. I was riveted to the story from the very first page, when Annie was having another of her nightmares. The story stayed at that pace page-after-page. I was both anxious for the answers that Annie desperately needed, and quite pleased that she and Mark found one another. The conclusion did come rather quickly on more than one count. I sort of wished that there could have been a couple more chapters as things were resolved with the mystery as well as the romance. This was most certainly a quick read, one that I did in one evening, as I was completely drawn to the story.

Many thanks to Forever for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion. ( )

I was sent this book from the publisher. My ratings and reviews will be my own personal opinions and are in no way influenced by publishers or authors who may have sent me books to review.

If you love mystery/suspense with steamy romance, then Don’t Close Your Eyes is the book for you. This is a detective story following cold cases and sexy Mark Sutton. This does involve murders and deaths around children as several of the cases being investigated involved children. Annie Lakes enters the story, and Mark has to decide if he believes that she seen her cousin being buried when they were children or if she is crazy. As they begin to unfold a family old mystery, they also have to navigate their attraction for one another.

There was so much going on in this story to keep my interest. As soon as this started, we had family secrets involving Mark, Annie, and the cold cases. I was not sure if this was actually the first book in the series, but it is. Do not worry though as everything will be unraveled the more you read. We learn about the dark pasts involving Mark and his childhood, we meet Annie’s crazy mean family, and learn what happened to a missing/murdered child. You will also get to see what others will do to keep these secrets buried for good. Along the way, you will read about addiction, murder, child abuse (both physical and sexual), and more. It is a wild ride and will keep your heart pounding until the end.

The ending was rushed a little bit, and it does lead into possible cases for book two in the series. I think this could have been about fifty pages less with some parts less dragged out. I was not a huge fan of how everything wrapped up with Annie and her family. I wanted a little more around this mystery/murder and a little more towards the end. I know this is the first book in the Texas Justice series, so we may get more later though.

In the beginning, the men do come off pretty sexist, but I am not too critical around those things as long as you can identify them as problematic. It did not take away from the story for me personally, but worth mentioning.

Overall, this was a very captivating mystery that kept my interest until the end. I ended up really enjoying it and can’t wait to see what the next cold case/homicide will bring. ( )