Close Your Eyes And Count To 10 by @launger

Thank you to Harlequin Audio for the gifted audiobook and HTP Books/ Park Row for the e-ARC. I rotated the digital arc with audio.

Let me preface this by saying that I am newer to audiobooks that are fiction. So please know that it takes me some time to get used to. I usually do audio memoirs.

The synopsis alone says this is an extreme game of hide-and-seek. However, I felt the excitement didn’t hit the mark for me until the last 25% of the book. We have many POV. Everyone is struggling with something. I usually can follow a big cast but I seemed to struggle with keeping up.

One thing that bothered me was how Adele was an influencer who wanted to make it big. Stream with your followers that you’re on an isolated island in a high stakes game? 😳 All the chat and emoji references were a bit too much for me. That’s just me.

A highly anticipated slow burn thriller. If you’re a Lisa Unger fan and enjoy slow burns, you just might like this one. Please read other reviews, as many have loved it.

Pub date 2/25/2025
3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a slow burn for me. While not extremely action packed or crammed with twists and turns, this book still held my attention and kept me wanting more. I found myself rooting for the characters and reading on to find out what happened to them. This is told from a multi-person perspective and it works so well because of it! The character development in the novel is superb. Even the abandoned building itself seems to become a menacing character. My first Lisa Unger book will definitely not be my last!

This was a fast paced novel that involves a "reality show" for a game of "hide and seek" on a remote island in the Atlantic, where things go very wrong. This was the second novel I've read involving a reality show setting (Ruth Ware's One Perfect Couple), and both novels involved a natural disaster - this one was a hurricane. The story had multiple characters to follow, and it begins with a young mom who signs up for the game as as way to hopefully eliminate a financial disaster she found her self in after her husband disappeared in the wake of a white collar crime five years previously. The "game" itself was also a social media stunt of sorts, as a way to make a quick buck with sponsors. Like many books, the various storylines managed to come together at the end.

The novel has a lot of different spins and characters, I enjoyed it, but did not love it.

Thank you to HTP Books for my copy of CLOSE YOUR EYES AND COUNT TO 10. This one publishes on 2/25.

This one was one of the slowest burn books, but with lots of characters who are easy to confuse with each other and also with their own side issues to keep track of. I had a really hard time getting my brain around all the people and keeping up with the story. I feel like this could have been edited down a little more and it would have been much better. I don't recommend this one.

3.5 stars, rounded up!

This was a quick read, a thriller with some unexpected twists and red herrings. Three influencers are invited to participate in the ultimate hide and seek game for a large cash prize. Of course, a perfect storm emerges both literally (a tropical storm bears down on the property) and figuratively (missing persons, local opposition, potential murder, embezzlement, etc, etc). I found this book entertaining but it also somehow fell flat. I think there were just too many characters, and none of their stories really got fleshed out enough? Also, the game, the premise of the book, was really not a factor in the story. I think this book could have really been amazing, but instead, it's a quick, entertaining, but ultimately forgettable read.

This was an ARC from NetGalley. The book could use a clear focus. The plot was all over the place in timelines, unnecessary POVs, subplots, and made it difficult to get invested in the story. Were you supposed to care about the contestants, that got little development and kind of participated in hide and seek, but not really, considering the title of the book, , the kids back home, that added little to the progression of the plot, or Team Extreme, that were clearly the villains from the beginning? There was little mystery or intrigue to keep the reader engaged. #netgalley #closeyoureyesandcountto10 #trappedonanisland #whodunit

“Ready or not, here I come!”

A “Survivor” meets social media game. A one million dollar prize. A mother desperate for a better life for her children. What started out as a game of hide and seek becomes something much, much darker.

I enjoyed this book. It had me hooked pretty much right away and I found myself quickly turning page after page, wanting to know what happened next. There are multiple povs, and a bit of back and forth with timelines. With the many different storylines, I don’t feel like I ever got lost and had an easy flow to it. However, I knocked a star off because with all of the different storylines, I feel like a few of them just didn’t end well with little to no explanations of how and why they made the decisions they did.

Still, a very easy and enjoyable read and I will absolutely be recommending this book once it’s released! Thank you to the publishers for the opportunity to read this eARC!

“Ready or not…here I come”—in the ultimate game of hide and seek, influencer mom Adele is determined to win the extreme game (and the prize money) to stabilize her life with her two kids following her fugitive husband’s mistakes. After signing up for the contest at her son Blake’s urging, she finds herself stuck in an approaching severe storm along with two other contestants and the crew of Extreme. On top of that, a local from the island is determined to get the reality TV cast and crew to leave before the storm hits. Determined to not give up, they all choose to remain on the island. Who will win? And will they make It out alive?

I enjoyed the pace of the story and Unger’s style of writing. At times, I struggled with following the back stories and involvement of the multitude of characters in the underlying plot, but felt it was all laid out well by the end.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this advanced reader copy in exchange for my honest review! You can find Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 on shelves near you on February 25th, 2025.

Unfortunately, I was quite bored reading this. It’s pitched as a riveting thriller with an extreme game of hide and seek, but they don’t tell you the game doesn’t start until about 70% into the book.

This was very slow and more about character’s backstories than the game, which was a real bummer since the majority of the characters are unlikeable and not in a fun way.

I really liked one book by this author (Christmas Presents) but their last book and this one really missed the mark for me.

This was a good, suspenseful thriller read. I loved the overall concept of this book and how the story followed many different characters. There is a lot packed into the story making it an intriguing and captivating read. I loved the isolated island setting and the hide and seek components and overall I found this to be an enjoyable read.

Read this if you like:

📖 Isolated & atmospheric settings
📖 Locked room vibes
📖 Multiple povs
📖 Hide & seek
📖 Reality shows

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted arc.

Amazing! A bit of a slow start, but each character line had me hooked quickly and made the book hard to put down. It was a bit predictable in the sense that all of the storylines were going to come together, but HOW they came together was still unexpected and well crafted!

* ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 🚫🌶️
* A desperate mother of two, an extreme game of hide and seek on a creepy haunted remote island being broadcasted live with a 1 million dollar prize
* My toxic trait is thinking every book will have some type of romance in it.
* Multiple pov
* There is a lot of stories going on in here. It’s not just a hide and seek game. Everyone seems to have their own side problem they are working on

I found that there were just way too many POV’s and plots that it completely took away from what could’ve been a great story. This one missed the mark.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars

A Survivor-style game of hide and seek in an abandoned and decrepit luxury hotel sets the stage for this thriller. Full of eerie and haunting imagery, Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 is a captivating new read from Lisa Unger.

I overall enjoyed the book and was definitely hooked throughout the story, but I feel like there were too many plotlines fighting for your attention. Maybe that wouldn't have been so confusing if it has been written in third person, but the first person chapters from the many characters and switching in and out of the game was distracting. I understand the overall purpose and see where the author was going with it, but it left me confused more than once. I had a hard time getting track of the characters.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for the gifted ARC.

A game of hide and seek becomes a deadly battle for survival. I love Lisa Unger books but this one wasn't my favorite. It's about influencers doing absolutely anything to get more followers and a mother trying to provide for her family.
A huge thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC .
Publishing date is February 25, 2025.

Such an interesting look at social media and how it can be just a highlight reel and not show the truth of someones life.
Lisa Unger painted a beautiful picture of the lengths a mother will go to for her children.

Add in a missing husband and a child's hidden online life and you've got yourself quite the mystery!

Are you ready for an unforgettable game of hide-and-seek on a remote, abandoned island, where the stakes are a whopping one million dollars? "Close Your Eyes and Count to Ten" is an exhilarating thriller that weaves together the crazy world of social media with a locked-room mystery set against the eerie backdrop of an abandoned and crumbling resort on the remote Falcao Island.

Meet Maverick, a daring influencer and extreme adventurer who organized this highly controversial event despite ominous warnings from the local community and a massive storm on the horizon. His thrill-seeking spirit makes for good entertainment, but the real drama unfolds when the players arrive.

Then there's Adele, a single mother drowning in debt after her husband walked out. She's willing to leave her kids for a few days with the chance to change her family’s future hanging in the balance. What could go wrong? Adele is fit, ready, and determined to win, but once she steps on the island and the game starts, she starts questioning her decision.

Thanks to Harlequin Audio and Park Row Books, I had the opportunity to dive into the ebook and audiobook versions of this gripping tale. Experiencing the story while listening to it adds a new layer of depth, enhancing the thrill! I've admired the narrator, who brings characters to life with her talent.

Unger is one of my favorite authors, and I try to grab early copies of her books whenever possible. This book might not reach the heights of some of her earlier works, but it still delivers a heart-pounding survival thriller that will keep you engrossed.

#CloseYourEyesandCountto10 #LisaUnger #HarlequinAudio #HTPPublishing #ParkRowBooks #htpbooks #htpinfluencer #thehive #ARC #capcut #lefttoread #reader #read #honestreview #thriller #bookreviewer #thrillerbooklovers #thepulse #thrillerfriendsunite #thrillerobsessedbookishclub #lovetoread #lovebooks #booknerd #readaholic #bookstagrammer #booktok #bookish

This atmospheric thriller had a fun concept, but I found the execution to be slightly lacking.

Influencers are invited to play extreme hide and seek on an island for a cash prize, and of course things go badly wrong. From a giant storm to locals wanting them to leave to secrets in the Extreme team hosting the challenge, if it can go wrong it surely does.

I loved the island setting and thought single mom Adele was a pretty badass character. The concept poked fun at YouTubers and the wild things they do for views and likes, and I enjoyed all of that.

Overall, I think there were too many different storylines going on and none of them felt fully developed. The book also skipped around so much that it confused me several times- a character would be running to hide one chapter, then sitting by their tent in the next. The continuity was off, making things unclear. There were side storylines that really didn’t add much to the story as well, adding extra length but not additional substance.

Thank you to HTP for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

Adele is a single mom influencer who agrees to participate in a social media challenge on an isolated island. Maverick runs the challenge, but there’s a lot of mystery and controversy surrounding him.

I’ve enjoyed several books by this author so I was excited about the premise and setting of this one. Unfortunately, it turned out to be rather lackluster. I enjoyed Adele’s grit and determination to fight for her kids in the face of her circumstances, but there were so many characters/POVs there wasn’t enough time to fully explore her character. In addition, there were so many storylines I was hoping would converge but the ending just felt rushed and incomplete. Around the halfway mark, the story picked up steam and I found myself wanting to keep reading for answers but I was ultimately disappointed.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing a free ARC for review via NetGalley.

This book had plenty of suspense but I felt like the random little plot lines weren’t fleshed out. I loved the idea of the Shaman and thought there would be more with her storyline than what was actually happening (and the most predictable). Unger did a great job with the atmosphere of the book and the detailing of the creepy island. I do wish it leaned more in that direction than focusing solely on the streaming show. The book started off strong and I was definitely intrigued but again, it felt like random little plots that kind of were brushed under the rug.

There was a lot of repeated detail on the backstory of the characters (that really felt unnecessary to the story and who they were). The writing also felt kind of all over the place. There are a LOT of storylines and characters to keep up with and sometimes it felt like it just ended there and we didn’t get more reasoning of why or what this character was doing? Just felt very muddled and rushed at times.

I think that the premise of this book is super intriguing I just wish we got a little more thrill and twists! Overall it was a good read, but just didn’t quite live up its potential!