ARC Review: When You Open Your Eyes

When You Open Your Eyes, Celeste Conway 

Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars

Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult

Publication: 3/20/2012, Simon Pulse

# of Pages: 320 (Hardcover)

Buy It:


Source:  I received an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis from Goodreads:  The more you love, the more you stand to lose….

Tessa’s head over heels for Lucien, the son of a French diplomat. Sexy, artistic, and daring, he brings out a completely new side of her. With him, Tessa feels beautiful and exotic.

So when Tessa’s strict father forbids her to see Lucien, she’s determined to keep their relationship a secret.But as Tessa gets caught up in Lucien, he becomes increasingly volatile. What she once found alluring about him now feels alarming. Tessa must figure out how far she’ll go for Lucien before she risks losing not just him, but everything she loves.

My Review:  I'm struggling with what to say about this book. It's not that it was bad, because it wasn't. It just wasn't that good. It was fine. There's a nice description for you, right?

All I can say is that there's nothing technically wrong with it. It was well-written (though my ARC did have a few disconcerting typos and formatting errors). I just failed to connect with Tessa and the rest of the characters in any significant way. I could sympathize with her, sure. But overall I didn't care what happened to her or Lucien. There were also these long passages about how incredible Lucien was. How Tessa finally mattered because he loved her. How deep, and profound, and artistic, and creative, and mysterious he was. It got to the point where I was like, okay, I get it. I understand why Tessa is attracted to Lucien. Can we move on now?

Maybe it is because I was never the girl who was drawn to the dark, repressed, or dangerous boy. I like my guys stable and clean cut. But Lucien just failed to do it for me. It was also slow. A long read for a short book and while the pace picks up as we neared the conclusion, at the end of the day, not much happened. I'm kind of disappointed.

Bottom line, some people may enjoy it—especially fans of contemporary YA fiction—but not me, so I can't recommend it to my readers.

---