Review: Touch by Jus Accardo

Book: Touch by Jus Accardo
Series: Denazen #1
Genre: Young Adult / Science Fiction(?) / Paranormal Romance
Buy A Copy: Amazon | Book Depository
Available Formats: Ebook / Paperback
Publication Date: November 1st, 2011 (Entangled Publishing)
First Sentence: "I couldn't see them, but I knew they were there, waiting at the bottom."
How Did I Get This Book: From Publisher, For Review
Description: 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.

 I do not really know how to put this delicately, so I am going to just come out with it. Touch by Jus Accardo was in a word (or two), freaking amazing. The characters, the plotline, the pacing; everything was just spot-on.

Kale is quite literally starved for touch. He has never been able to touch a person without killing them. When he discovers that he can in fact touch Dez, he cannot seem to get enough. He’s extremely affectionate with her and it’s just so incredibly priceless. He’s not only been starved for touch, he has spent his life basically in isolation from the outside world. He doesn’t understand things; he doesn’t quite have a grasp on the social norms and customs. In a sense he kind of reminded me of Brendan Frasier’s character in Blast From The Past. He’s ignorant when it comes to social interactions – especially those with women. I particularly love this little scene.


Then, making a spur of the moment decision, I brushed the lightest of kisses on his left cheek.
He sat up straight, eyes wide, and touched the tip of his index finger to his cheek. "What was that?" I blushed. "A kiss."
"That's what a kiss feels like?"
"Well, technically. There are a lot of different types of -"
"Show me."
"Show you what?"
"Show me some of the other kinds."
"You're asking me to kiss you?"
He nodded, hands curled around the edge of the bed. "is that not right?"



The internal dialogue used as she narrates situations like this just killed me. When she is forced to describe why people hold hands to Kale, I nearly died. Deznee just has such a spark; it’s impossible not to love her. The same goes for her relationship with Kale. Their connection is fierce, exciting and absolutely adorable all at the same time. There were a number of moments between the two that just melted me into a pile of goo.

The storyline itself is packed to the brim with action. Accardo grabs your attention from the very first page and never relinquishes control again. I was completely enthralled by Touch; it has action, excitement and an incredible romantic storyline as well.

I simply could not put it down. I read the entire thing in one sitting and then went back through my favorite parts and read them again. I still am flipping back through my favorite quotes and rereading them. You need to give this book a shot, because believe me, you won’t be sorry.

Favorite Quotes

Buzzed or not, I was still pretty sharp. Whoever those guys yelling in the woods were, they were after him. Drug deal gone south? Maybe he'd gotten caught playing naked footsie with someone else's girlfriend?

Mr. Mime didn't seem like he was rocking a sense of humor.

Stay calm? Was he crazy? He was pointing a gun in my general direction! If anything about that situation said calm, I was missing something.

He reached for me, hesitating for a moment before pulling his hand back. "Can... can I touch you again?"

"You're a human being, not a weapon. You don't belong to anyone."

I didn't know how to respond. Imagine that. Me. Speechless. Glaciers were probably popping up all over hell.

I sighed. If I had to have the sex talk with a guy my own age, I was going to die. Baseball analogies wouldn't work. He probably didn't even know what baseball was.

If possible, the rain fell even harder now. We were soaked almost instantly. Fantastic. Now on top of homeless chic, I'd be rocking the drowned rat look.

The guy who'd tumbled down the embankment, landing at my feet - the Six who'd tried to kill me, was more than that now. I didn't know when it happened, or how, but there it was.

I'd had a lot of guys look at me like I was a fun vacation on the beach, but the way Kale's ice blue eyes devoured every inch of me, full of heat and hope, I felt like Christmas morning. Timeless and perfect.

I understand now, Dez," he whispered sleepily. "I understand the hand thing."

Just you wait. Payback's a bitch, Daddy.

I waited a few minutes for them to get it out of their system - testosterone and all that. It took longer than I'd hoped, but eventually they'd settled for menacing glares and silent seething.

When we finally came up for air, he was smiling at me. It seemed to come easier to him now, smiling. It did funny things to my stomach.

"Just you. Only you. Always you."

"For me.," he said. It came out as a cross between a choked growl and a whimper. It was shocked, and it was possessive. Full of pain and laced with joy. "You were made for me."

A chair. Someone had thrown a chair at me. What the hell was this, WWE?