Review: Touch by Jus Accardo

Published Date: November 1st, 2011
Finished Date: October 1st, 2011
Publishers: Entangled Publishing
Format: eARC from Publisher
Series: Denazen Book 1

Blurb from Goodreads:
When a strange boy tumbles down a river embankment and lands at her feet, seventeen-year-old adrenaline junkie Deznee Cross snatches the opportunity to piss off her father by bringing the mysterious hottie with ice blue eyes home.

Except there’s something off with Kale. He wears her shoes in the shower, is overly fascinated with things like DVDs and vases, and acts like she’ll turn to dust if he touches her. It’s not until Dez’s father shows up, wielding a gun and knowing more about Kale than he should, that Dez realizes there’s more to this boy—and her father’s “law firm”—than she realized.

Kale has been a prisoner of Denazen Corporation—an organization devoted to collecting “special” kids known as Sixes and using them as weapons—his entire life. And, oh yeah, his touch? It kills. The two team up with a group of rogue Sixes hellbent on taking down Denazen before they’re caught and her father discovers the biggest secret of all. A secret Dez has spent her life keeping safe.

A secret Kale will kill to protect.

My Review

This book epitomizes "epic-ness at its pinnacle"; It is an electrifying, stunning debut.

I don't know what to say about this book, cause frankly, it was perfect, in every sense of that word. The suspenseful, action-packed, complicated but wholesome plot to the professional characterization, they were all wonderfully delivered. The thrill of the chase, hide-and-seek and having to second-guessing everyone's motives, the pain and heartache the characters felt and went thru permeated out of the pages and boy, was it nice to soak up all that lovely Paranormal YA goodness.

Deznee "Dez" Cross is your typical adrenaline-junkie teenager who loves to bungee jump off buildings and to surf trains. Ok, maybe not that typical. But she does have the normal dosage of rebellious-ness blazing within her. She drinks the coffee her dad said was a strict "no"; Dated guys whom her dad said was a strict "no"; Earned a tramp's reputation (not really by action. She spreaded the rumor herself) which - I hope - all dads would say is a strict "no". Pretty much everything her dad said "no" to, she did them. And when fate comes to play, things get real messy and everyone's innermost secrets would be laid in the dirt for all to witness...

And must I elaborate? It came in the form of Kale no-last-name. Kale who didn't know how to put on and remove his sneakers, Kale with the intense gaze, and Kale who seemed like he didn't want to touch anyone. Ok, the last was a dead giveaway, but oh well, now, the leap is yours to make.;)

No one's not without a secret, and when all secrets are out, all hell breaks loose. At least for Deznee.

Well, all I can say is: This is how you write YA. This is how you write Paranormal.

The first thing that I feel obligated to highlight, is the complexity and entirety of the plot. It was so detailed, so well-thought of and planned..it was just amazing, really. All that, and it never got confusing. Mind you, "confusing" and "complicated" are 2 very separate entities. It actually made it all the more believable.

The second most important thing - Kale. The ultimate girl-killer. That tortured, strong, fiercely-protective, strangely innocent soul that was our male protagonist. I've been emailing Stacey (Accardo's publicist at Entangled Publishing), and even she admitted she loved him. @Stacey, ADMIT IT!! Ratting you out. Haha.

Anyway, yes, I loved Kale. He had been kidnapped, tortured, and coerced to kill for the "law" firm, Denazen, but he came out stronger and quicker than ever. Even tho he doesn't know much about the outside world (yeah, Dez gotta teach him what is a kiss by demonstrating the different types of it to him. Loved that scene), he still knew how to survive, kick-butt, and develop some healthy level of looove for Dez, all in good time too. By the way, the cover Kale is perfect. That mysterious, dangerous aura about him suits him perfectly, and well, that's exactly how I pictured him to be - maybe even more accurate than what I imagined him to be in the beginning!

Initially, I wasn't very taken by the whole adrenaline-junkie, all punk-girl attitude that was Dez , but she became mature and she knew how to take matters into her own hands. I liked that about her. Her inner strength and resilience, add to that a funky and funny personality, it all just made her such a likable character.

This series is a very refreshing take on the whole YA Paranormal front, a very impressive debut. A nice little blend between the cool-ness of Xmen and his buddies, a little mix with the big, evil organization of the MINDER series by Kate Kaynak (click to see my review), and add in the fray Dan Brown's awesome mystery skills and you have TOUCH. This book, in its own right, is in a league all on its own.

Random Musing:

THIS BOOK ENDED WITH A CLIFFHANGER!!! NOOOO. Imagine being sucked up into this wonderful wonderful world and being ripped out of it all of a sudden..*pants pants*. Lol, ok a little exaggerated there, but...:( It wasn't really a cliffhanger, not like Aprilynne Pike's Illusion (and definitely not as poorly written), but the sort of thing that will leave you with a little nugget of information that'll leave you thinking and speculating about it..SOMETHING THAT YOU WILL BE DYING TO KNOW ABOUT...*pants pants*. Lol. But yes, I am dying to continue reading and seeing for myself where it'll lead Kale and Dez.

P.S. I want the next book nooowww, yesterday. Whatever. Pronto!!

My Rating