R&R Review Sunday: Touched by Elisa S. Amore

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Touched Saga #1

Goodreads Blurb:

"Based on a Norwegian legend
A Sealed Fate
An Angel of Death
A Forbidden Love

What are you willing to sacrifice when the only person who can save you is the same one who has to kill you?

After vampires and werewolves, after wizards and fallen angels, a new breed of Angels is here to usher you into their dark world. An ancient, deadly, inescapable race.
No one can see them. They’re shadows of destiny. They’re knights of death. They’re the Subterraneans and they’re here to claim our lives.
Commanded by a mysterious congregation called the Màsala, the Angels of Death ensure that each man’s destiny takes its due course on Earth.
But what happens when love intervenes?
Can an Angel of Death deny his own nature and challenge destiny?
Can love rebel against fate?

When Gemma’s eyes first meet the dark, piercing gaze of Evan James, an ominous shadow creeps into her life, ultimately leading her to face her destiny. She doesn't realize Evan is one of Death's soldiers and that Death is summoning her.
Her time is up: Gemma must die . . . and Evan has been sent to kill her.
But what if she’s the only one who can truly see him?

Against every rule. Against fate itself. Against everything and everyone. A story of forbidden love and star-crossed destinies.

Dark. Romantic. Dangerous.

Touched combines devastating passion and unconfessable secrets, heartrending decisions and deep emotions, giving life to a love story as intense as the feelings that unite Evan and Gemma, as inescapable as the destiny that looms over them . . ."

Review:

Thank you to the author, Elisa S. Amore, and publicist of Touched for gifting me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review!

This book just wasn't for me.  You may ask why I still gave it 3 stars and that's because I could definitely see myself loving this book two years ago.  As a more mature reader that's becoming more and more immersed in more complex YA, NA, and Adult books, I think I'm leaving behind these kinds of novels.  Let's get into it!

1.  The plot.  In the blurb, it says this book is based on a Norwegian legend.  Now, I'm not an expert on Norwegian legends so I won't even try to go that route.  But what I don't understand is why it's always the guy in a heterosexual relationship that has to be the mysterious one with powers.  This book also felt incredibly long; almost as long as the Eragon series felt (the first book is 503 pages which this book is 462 pages).  With that being said, this book has a very start and go type of flow.  There are multiple climaxes and plenty of description in between.  This made the book tremendously easy to read in some places and slightly difficult in others.  Overall, though, I do like the direction the plot took.  While it was slightly typical, I found that it was still enjoyable.  The ending is also something I want to address.  While I liked it for the most part, I thought it a little strange that it ended without even referencing Gemma's friends.  It's like they ceased to exist once Evan came into her life (except for brief cameos).

2.  The characters.  I did like the characters themselves.  While slightly underdeveloped for a book of this length, they aren't inadequate and are quite at home in the setting that's set up.  Their dialogue and interactions flow well together (with exception in the romance which I'll address next).  I enjoyed getting to know Evan and Gemma as well.

3.  The romance.  Now this is where my problems come in and where I think someone else would be better suited for this book.  The romance was insta-love, true and simple.  However, it had that fantasy element in it which makes you think there's some else going on in their relationship, however we never really get any explanation on that front (perhaps in the next book?).  Furthermore, Evan's attitude toward Gemma and telling her the truth about him really irked me.  It's an important conversation that he just couldn't accept which leads me to believe their relationship was much too advanced, too soon, but again, there wasn't really any information there.  Two years ago, I loved these types of relationships with the mysterious guy who swept the girl off her feet.  But now, not so much.

4.  The writing.  The writing of this book reminds me of LOTR because of all the descriptions and the flowery language.  I loved how, when I was in Gemma's head (there are two POVs, Gemma's and Evan's), more flowery language was used to illustrate her expanded vocabulary because of her reading habits.  I just loved how that was showcased.  On the flip side of that coin, however, is the potential for being too drawn out.  If you don't like that type of writing, I'm not sure how you'd get along with this book.

The Final Verdict:

While I didn't enjoy the romance of the book, the core building blocks are well installed.

3 stars