A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford

A Touch Mortal

Leah Clifford

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Release Date: February 22, 2011

Series or Standalone:  Touch Mortal #1

ISBN: 9780062004994

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 432

Source: Bought

Websites:

Leah Clifford – Website

Leah Clifford – Blog

Leah Clifford – Twitter

Rating: 4 Stars

I’ve been waiting a long time to read this book. For some reason it’s impossible to find it around where I live but this week I drove to Boston for a signing with Leah Clifford, Courtney Allison Moulton and Lisa Desrochers so I finally got a copy! And of course the first thing I did was read it.

I was thoroughly entertained by A Touch Mortal. This book was a dark, sexy and intriguing read. I really loved the world that Leah Clifford created. I loved the Siders. They were a very interesting and new type of paranormal creature. The whole idea of the power of the Touch was awesome. I really felt like Leah Clifford created her own new type of supernatural creatures.

While I did really like the Siders and the power they had, I will admit for the first hundred pages or so I was bit confused by what was going. Like the main character Eden, I was confused by what was going on, but as Eden learn who she was and more about the powers she had, I too was no longer confused. Once I really understand about the Siders and the Touch I started to really get into this book and engrossed in the story and could not put it down. The story just captured my attention and I wanted to see where Leah would take us.

A Touch Mortal is definitely a darker YA read, but I love it! Eden was a very conflicted main character. She has this power stronger then most people, is basically immortal because she herself died and must deal with the boy issues. I loved that all the Siders became Siders if they committed suicide. Imagine wanting to end it all only to wake up after you killed yourself and find that your immortal. God that would suck. But I really liked that darker, more morbid element to the Siders and the book itself.

My one wish in with this book was that the pacing in the beginning was slower. I think part of my confusion in the first hundred pages was that everything happened bam, bam, bam in a row. After those first hundred pages I felt the book slowed down and really found it’s pace.  I really wish that in the relationship between Eden and Az was more developed in the beginning. I felt like as a reader we never saw their relationship grow. One minute they meet and then the next minute they were in love. I just wish I saw more of their relationship so I could understand why Eden loved him so much.

I loved the ending of this book. I loved how the everything in the book slowly built up to the moment in the end. And I feel I should talk a bit about Gabe now. I love Gabe and so much more than I thought rested on him and his actions. Gabe really is one of the best characters in the book. I don’t know why I liked him as much as I did, but I think a lot of it has to do with his actions at the end of the book. The ending really took me by surprise. I really want to read A Touch Morbid to see where Leah Clifford takes these characters next, especially with how she left them at the end of this book.

A Touch Mortal is a dark, stunning, and sexy debut. And while it wasn’t perfect I was just drawn into it and loved it. I highly recommend it, even if you feel like your not really into the darker paranormal or darker YA. It definitely is unique and will leaving you wanting more.