Reviews: As I Close My Eyes + As I Wake by Sarah DiCello

Recently, I had the chance to read As I Close My Eyes and As I Wake, the first two books in Sarah DiCello's Breaking Fate series. Both reads were great, and today, I thought I would share my thoughts on both. So without a further ado...

As I Close My Eyes (Breaking Fate, #1)

Summary/Cover Image from Goodreads:

When she looks into her own eyes, she sees a ghost.

And when she looks into his eyes, she knows she has seen them before ...

Danielle Grayson is a beautiful, intelligent young woman in present-day Georgia, but when she closes her eyes, she becomes someone else in a different time, one hundred years earlier in fact.

Danielle's other life is as entrancing and romantic as her current one, and the contrast between the lifestyles is intriguing and enlightening, but what starts out as being dreamlike soon becomes real and strangely familiar.

Worse, whatever happens to her as Danielle seems to change the past, if it is a true past.

And when she finds she is not alone in being able to flip between the two worlds, life, love and death become increasingly disturbing.

Review:

When I was first offered the chance to read and review As I Close My Eyes, I instantly said yes. The Breaking Fate series sounded like just my kind of read, and as a huge fan of time travel/incarnation books, I thought it would be the perfect fit for me. Thankfully, I enjoyed As I Close My Eyes quite a bit, even though I did have a few slight problems with it.

As I Close My Eyes tells the story of Dani, a self-proclaimed "plain Jane" who is currently enjoying the summer with her three closest friends. However, everything changes for Dani when she's involved in a boating accident and hits her head. Suddenly, she's dreaming off a past life, one that occurs in Cape May during the 1800s. Dani doesn't know what to think, especially when she runs into Ben, the attractive young owner of a local bookshop who looks like just her romantic interest in her dreams. Is Dani going crazy, or is their a rational explanation to this all?

I will admit that I had a hard time getting into this book at first, and most of that  had to do with Dani. Don't get me wrong, I came to like her as the book progressed, but at first, she got on my nerves so bad with her whining. Dani's pulled the typical "my best friend is prettier than me...blah...blah..blah...no boys see me" card.  I can understand being unsure of yourself...I mean, I get like that, but still, when it occurs on nearly every page, it gets a little out hand, especially when it's no where near to being true for the MC. Thankfully, Dani managed to snap out of it, and she figured out that she was a great catch. Anyhow, moving on, I really enjoyed the other characters in this one. I thought Ben was an interesting guy, and while Dani and Ben's romance was a bit insta-love, it made sense given the circumstances they were under. I especially enjoyed reading about Dani's parents in this one as well as Eric. They all added something special to the book, in my opinion.

Now onto the plot...it was a little slow to start up, but once everything got rolling and new twists and turns were introduced, it was smoking. As mentioned above, I love when books include time traveling and incarnation, and luckily, As I Close My Eyes managed to deliver in these areas. Dani's times in the past where always interesting and eventful, and better yet, it was a ton of fun to see her as well as Ben try to figure everything out as the book progressed.

In all, even with a few small setbacks at first, As I Close My Eyes managed to pull through by the ending, making it well worth the read, in my opinion. However, word of warning: it has a KILLER ending!

Grade: B

As I Close My Eyes (Amazon, Goodreads) is now out in paperback and eBook formats!

Source: Author- thanks, Sarah!

As I Wake (Breaking Fate, #2)

Summary/Cover Image from Goodreads: 

Readers entranced by "As I Close My Eyes" will once again be thrust into the enchanting life of Danielle Grayson in "As I Wake," the second book in the Breaking Fate series.

A secret of Dani's past is revealed and she must find the answers before it's too late. Can she change the fate of her one true love or will he suffer the same destiny for all of time?

As Dani rekindles her relationship with Ben she finds herself torn between her present day life in Sugar Hill, Georgia and a new past she has yet to discover. But something in her past makes her question the journey she has chosen. Time is running out and she is the only one who can understand the path that must be taken. But will it be enough? Has the story of Dani and Ben been written in stone never to be undone

Review:

After finishing As I Close My Eyes, I was so happy to have As I Wake on my iPad based on the ending alone. I couldn't  wait to see what would occur next, and from what I had seen in other reviews, As I Wake was better than the first one. Thankfully, within As I Wake, Sarah DiCello really managed to step up her game, making it a suspenseful and well presented book from the first page to the very last.

As I Wake picks up the story just a few days after As I Close My Eyes ends. Dani's recovering from her and Ben's car accident, but all she really cares about is that she has him again. However, with the car crash comes the start of a new set of dreams, all of which take place in a new time period: the 1920s. What's in store for Dani in this past life? And more importantly, what happens when a fortune teller reveals to Dani there's more to her past and her abilities than she could have ever imagined?

There was so much I enjoyed about this one, and one of those aspects was the characters. As mentioned in my review for the first one, Dani and me had a hard time meshing at first. However, in this one, she managed to surprise me furthermore. She started to stand up for herself and what she believed even more, and better yet, she developed some true spunk. I also really enjoyed seeing Ben again. It was fun to see him grow as well, and I loved seeing him and Dani interact with each other. They are an adorable couple! Surprisingly, I developed an new favorite in this one and that was Eric. In some ways, I liked Eric even more than Ben, so to say I was happy to see what big of a role he played in this would be a serious understatement.

Moving on,  I also enjoyed the plot in this one. Sarah developed Dani's abilities even further and managed to throw in some awesome twists and turns with it. Throughout this, I was constantly on the edge of my seat, dying to know what would happen next. I wanted to know who Dani got her powers from as well as what certain parts of her dreams really meant. The best part, though, was the ending. It had me biting my nails up to the very last sentence, which is always the sign of a good book in my opinion.

In all, As I Wake is a fabulous second novel, one that I highly suggest to fans of As I Close My Eyes, and even if you were on the fence with the first one, I still suggest you give it a try. It's an amazing book to say the least.

Grade: A

As I Wake (Amazon, Goodreads) is now out!

Source: Author- thanks, Sarah!