Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 by Lisa Unger
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
**3.5-stars**
Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 features a extreme version of Hide-n-Seek, played by various daring Adults, and streamed online to countless fans.
Maverick Dillan is a wildly-popular creator and influencer in the Adventure space. This game is his baby, and even though it has been played before with disastrous consequences that still haunt him, he’s up to host another round.
This round of the game is set to be played on the remote Falcao Island. In addition to Maverick and his people, we follow single-Mom, Adele, whose children get her to sign up for the game.
After her husband left them, Adele has had to wear a lot of different hats in their family, including resident badass. When her kids show how enthusiastic they are for the game, and how much they believe in her, she would be hard pressed to say no.
Plus, the $1,000,000 prize could change everything for them.
This story is very social media based, so it’s not surprising we get snippets in a mixed media format to introduce the Reader to the game and the players.
While I loved the set-up and the premise behind the game, as well as all the players involved, the social media aspects did feel a bit over-exaggerated. It felt a little, and this is just my opinion, that maybe the author was perhaps pandering a bit to the BookTok crowd.
That’s a very minor point though. I thought the set-up and basic premise of this story were both very well developed. I love how pulled into Adele’s life I felt, and how much I was rooting for her as a contestant.
The game itself did remind of Hide by Kiersten White, but honestly, I feel like it was executed better here. No offense to anyone who loves Hide. I get it, but that one definitely fell flat for me with the gaming element.
This one gave me more of the fast-paced energy and drama that I wanted. I would recommend it to Readers who enjoy books with a gaming trope. It’s worth the read.
This does give a lot of insight into Maverick and his partners in their dealings behind the scenes of the show. That was a good element to add, although personally, I did feel like that took over a bit.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time with Close Your Eyes and Count to 10. I loved the idea of the game having a bit of a survival element, and the setting on a remote island was great. Also, Unger added in inclement weather, which I always appreciate.
Unfortunately, the further it went along, the more it started to lose me. I wanted more time with the contestants and what they were going through, and instead I felt that aspect was sort of overshadowed by the drama going on amongst the game’s hosts, as mentioned above.
It was still an entertaining read, however, even with these minor complaints. I just wish I could have felt as connected and intrigued with it at the end, as I did at the beginning.
I would recommend the audiobook format. It was engaging and kept me flying through. I found the narrator very believable, particularly in Adele’s perspective.
Thank you to the publisher, Harlequin Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I haven’t read a lot from this author, but I do want to pick up more of her work.
Even though this wasn’t perfect for me, you cannot deny the fluidity and captivating nature of her writing.