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A review by meganlouise815
Close Your Pretty Eyes by Sally Nicholls
4.0
4 stars
Nicholls took a sensitive subject which most authors don't write about and added a paranormal twist to it which made it even more unique. Olivia's keen sense of everything around her was an interesting ability to explore and the story behind it was heartbreaking. Plus, with the addition of an old portrait of a creepy women, I found myself on the edge of my seat.
Although this book may be classified as "middle-grade", I still enjoyed it for what it was and I liked that Nicholls didn't go out of her way to tone-down what could have been seen for 11 year olds as spooky. However, as this was aimed for a more middle-grade audience, I sometimes felt that the descriptions where very bland and not as good as they could have been.
Olivia annoyed me at times as well. If I don't consider her background, I would see her as stuck-up, rude, obnoxious and spoiled but seeing as she had previously been abused and labelled as a "devil child", I can be a bit more lenient. But she seemed to think that being told she was evil meant she had to act like a brat and do the opposite of what everyone told her to do. Rather than this annoying me, it made my sympathise for Olivia and how confused, lost and angry she was.
My main problem was that the other characters, namely Jim and Daniel, weren't as whole as I would have liked. I liked both of their characters but they just didn't seem real and that's one of the things I look for in a book.
Overall, Close Your Pretty Eyes was a very good book with some minor character development issues.
Nicholls took a sensitive subject which most authors don't write about and added a paranormal twist to it which made it even more unique. Olivia's keen sense of everything around her was an interesting ability to explore and the story behind it was heartbreaking. Plus, with the addition of an old portrait of a creepy women, I found myself on the edge of my seat.
Although this book may be classified as "middle-grade", I still enjoyed it for what it was and I liked that Nicholls didn't go out of her way to tone-down what could have been seen for 11 year olds as spooky. However, as this was aimed for a more middle-grade audience, I sometimes felt that the descriptions where very bland and not as good as they could have been.
Olivia annoyed me at times as well. If I don't consider her background, I would see her as stuck-up, rude, obnoxious and spoiled but seeing as she had previously been abused and labelled as a "devil child", I can be a bit more lenient. But she seemed to think that being told she was evil meant she had to act like a brat and do the opposite of what everyone told her to do. Rather than this annoying me, it made my sympathise for Olivia and how confused, lost and angry she was.
My main problem was that the other characters, namely Jim and Daniel, weren't as whole as I would have liked. I liked both of their characters but they just didn't seem real and that's one of the things I look for in a book.
Overall, Close Your Pretty Eyes was a very good book with some minor character development issues.