Touch (A Denazen Novel)
Genre: YA, Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Dystopia,
Written by: Jus Accardo (check out her website here.)
Available as Paperback and Kindle edition
Buy it here
Published by Entangled publishing, November '11
bookshelves: book-boyfriends, to-be-reviewed, best-of-ya
“If I had the ability to touch anyone else in this world, I still don't believe I'd want it to be anyone but you.”
I'm not entirely sure what I was expecting when I started this book, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't this. Most of all, I did not expect it to be so full of action and plot twists. I could hardly catch my breath. What a nice surprise.
The story:
Meet Deznee Cross, cocky seventeen year old self proclaimed adrenaline junkie. She lives her life seizing every opportunity she can find to piss off her dad, wether it's by staying out until the early hours of the morning, getting bad grades in school or hanging out with the 'wrong crowd'
After another one of those long nights out, she finds herself face to face with a beautiful stranger, dark hair, broad shoulders and the most beautiful eyes.. He opens his mouth and ask her for... her shoes?
Asks? Well more like demands.. Figures.. Hot guys are always after something, eh? On normal occasions though, not necessarily girls shoes, but hey.
He's covered in bruises, nasty looking cuts and looks immensely freaked out.. And you ask yourself.. Alright, what's the deal? If I stumbled across a handsome stranger in the middle of the night, I sure as heck wouldn't give him my shoes.. My number.. maybe? Shoes.. Never.
I'm a girl, HELLO?
The situation almost almost escalates when a pair of serious looking guys in black appear, frantically looking for the shoe thief. Dang, hot AND a bad boy? Well, I certainly like where this is heading...
With a quick lie from Dez' lips they end up running the other way and she turns back to the stranger in hiding... who's still wearing her red Vans, despite them being at least 3 sizes to small for his feet.
She saved his butt and all he does in return is asking her for food? What's he gonna ask for next? A kidney?
But then..
wouldn't bringing home a strange boy at 1AM in the morning just be the PERFECT opportunity to piss off her dad? So of course...without further contemplation, they both head to her house. The more she talks to him however, or at least tries to, she realises that's there's definitely something more to this kid, something weird. He's skittish and almost acts like he's been living on Mars..
''Is this your family?'' He brought the box closer and narrowed his eyes, turning it over in his hands several times. ''You're asking me if, - '' I stood and looked on my tiptoes and looked at the box in his hands. Uma Thurman glared at me from the cover, wearing her iconic yellow motorcycle suit-''Uma Thurman is a relative?''
That one and the bit in the shower were two definite favourites.
But then, of course, something even stranger happens and 'Kale' suddenly starts to ramble about her dad, who he recognises after seeing a photo of her real family. ''He's the devil. You can't make me go back. I'll kill you!'' Alright there buddy, steady on..
''My father is a shit, but devil? Little harsh, don't ya think?''
It's always the lawyers eh?
(If you're a fan of NBC'S heroes, you better keep reading!)
To be honest, I had a little bit of a hunch that something like that might happen, maybe not that her dads the one calling the shots, but I figured he'd be involved in some sort of shady business.
Anyhow, the situation escalates as her dad returns, instantly pointing a gun at Kale and Dez quickly finds herself in a chokehold.
After that, chaos ensues and the action kicks in, we experience a lot of danger, mystery and slowly uncover more deep and dark secrets which will keep you at the edge of your seat. Thrown into a fierce battle between her father and the sixes, I had a tough time not to get swept away by all of the action.
To be honest, I really just wanted to punch her dad in the face, stuff him into a box.. heck, stuff Macy in the box with him and ship 'em to Timbuktu.
Think I can safely say Dez was my favourite character, she is strong, witty and takes shit from no-one. But despite that, you still get to see her softer side. I just adored how much she cared for Kale, despite hardly knowing him.
It was so easy to believe that Kale was new to modern life and had absolutely no clue what was going on. The way his character was build was incredibly endearing and I couldn't help myself from 'awwing' a couple times. ..Okay, maybe a couple hundred times.
"Why do you care if she lets me kiss her? She holds my hand now, not yours!"
However amusing this was bit was at first, I couldn't help but feel slightly awkward, but then again, how else would you react, if this was truly the case? And you'd never been exposed to those kind of feelings?
His innocence was almost sickly sweet, but also coupled with certain awkwardness, especially since he's supposed to be almost twenty, but then sometimes behaves like a 15 year old boy just going through puberty. Which is essentially what's happening, I mean he grew up so isolated, he never really got the chance to learn how to behave like a boy of his age. Or anything in regards to relationships, that is.
So if you think about it, all those situations were really well done and certainly believable. It didn't feel like she was just grasping at straws or making things up as she went along. You could really see how much thought went into it and that was rather refreshing. Plus, the attention to detail was superb.
The ending was pretty intense and I felt myself holding my breath until I turned the last page. It wasn't abrupt or too overwhelming, with enough added spice. You'll enjoy the ending if you're not particularly keen on cliffhangers, then again who is? It's one of those endings where you know it's far from over and there's more exciting stuff to come, but subtle enough, you won't have to bite your nails until the next book comes out.
(Which is available on amazon, if you're ready for round two! Just Click here.)
One last thing... Can we please look at the cover for sec? I couldn't keep my eyes off it! How about you?