Author: Corrine Jackson
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal Fantasy
Goodreads
Remy O'Malley heals people with touch- but every injury she cures becomes her own. Living in a household with an abusive stepfather, she has healed untold numbers of broken bones, burns, and bruises. And then one night her stepfather goes too far.Review by Nara
Being sent to live with her estranged father offers a clean start and she is eager to take it. Enter Asher Blackwell. Once a protector of Healers, Asher sacrificed his senses to become immortal. Only by killing a Healer can a Protector recover their human senses. Falling in love is against the rules between these two enemies. Because Remy has the power to make Protectors human again, and when they find out, they'll be coming for her- if Asher doesn't kill her first.
This is Book One in the Touched trilogy.
One thing I can say about Touched is that I would have enjoyed it a lot more had I not read Twilight and Touch of Power before. Basically, there are way too many parallels between the books that seriously impaired my enjoyment. Let me explain (contains some minor spoilers for Twilight and Touched):
Twilight vs Touched
Twilight: Protagonist Bella Swan moves to her father's home in Forks when her mother meets a new man.
Touched: Protagonist Remy O'Malley moves to her father's home in Blackwell Falls (I think that's what it was called...) when her stepfather abuses her.
Twilight: Bella meets Edward, who is practically royalty in Forks: phenomenally rich, good looking etc. and is able to win him over after initial avoidance/hate.
Touched: Remy meets Asher, who is practically royalty in Blackwell Falls (which, incidentally, is named after his family): also phenomenally rich, good looking etc. as well as a playboy, and manages to win him over after initial avoidance/hate.
Twilight: Bella's blood is like the finest wine to an alcoholic (or other some such crap) to Edward (who is a sparkly vampire by the way) and so is cautioned not to get too close to him for fear of causing injury/losing control and sucking her like a juicebox. She should also stay away from the rest of the family in case they lose control and suck her dry.
Touched: Whenever Remy and Asher touch, green sparks fly (rather like static electricity) and Remy attempts to heal Asher, causing him great pain. Oh, and there's also the risk that Asher steals all of Remy's energy and Remy dies. Or Asher dies. Yay! (that was sarcasm, in case you couldn't tell). Remy should also stay away from the family as draining her energy means that a Protector can feel human again and it's possible that Asher's brother or sister may accidentally (or purposely) kill her for the chance to regain their human senses.
Twilight: Edward has the ability to read minds, but is unable to read Bella's for reasons that are later explained (in Breaking Dawn). Edward is also immortal (being a vampire)
Touched: Asher is Remy's Protector and therefore has the ability to read her mind. Asher is also immortal.
Twilight: Bella is disliked by Rosalie, one of Edward's sisters.
Touched: Remy is disliked by Asher's sister (whose name I can't remember)
Twilight: Bella is endangered by Edward's vampire buddies, and is stalked/hunted by James (one of said buddies).
Touched: Remy is endangered by Asher's Protector friends and is stalked by her stepfather (whose name I also cannot remember- yeah this book is turning out to be pretty memorable...)
Touch of Power vs Touched: title similarity questionable?
Touch of Power: "Laying hands upon the injured and dying, Avry of Kazan assumes their wounds and diseases into herself."
Touched: "Remy O'Malley heals people with touch- but every injury she cures becomes her own."
If I thought about it, I could probably draw more parallels, but I really can't be screwed. Honestly, if I hadn't read Twilight before this book, I would have easily given it 8 or 9 out of 10, but I couldn't give it such a high score for such blatant copying of ideas. Have a read and judge for yourself.
(Also, not quite sure why 5 Goodreads users shelved it as "erotica" because if it is, I obviously wasn't concentrating while reading the book, because I didn't see anything that would justify shelving it as such.)
Similar Books:
1. Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder
2. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (Oh wow, never guessed that you'd include this one, Nara. Yep, I'm full of surprises.)
3. Blood Will Tell by Samantha Young
It was okay
Ratings
Overall: 6/10
Plot: 2/5
Writing: 5/5
Characters: 3/5
Cover: 3/5
