At First Touch, by Mattie Dunman, was released May 28, 2012. It is a YA paranormal/suspense read. Let's take a look, oh, and don't forget to check out the giveaway too!
Liz Hannigan has been on the run since she was twelve years old.
Her mother is dead. Her father has lost his job. And thanks to an experimental procedure, Liz is now able to ‘download’ the contents of every brain around her with a simple touch. Forced to hide from both the federal government and a darkling group of morally deficient scientists known as the Coalition determined to exploit her abilities, she moves with her father to the bucolic coal town of Pound, West Virginia.
But the hunt for Liz and her abilities hasn’t ended, and her hopes for peace are shattered when she inadvertently downloads the enigmatic Carey Drake, whose unusual good looks and charm conceal a secret as shocking as her own. Stunned by the knowledge that she has found someone else who has extraordinary abilities, Liz finds herself drawn to Carey, discovering a deep attraction, and dares to hope for the first time she might find love.
But when an agent of the Coalition begins stalking her, Liz must find a way to work with the government agency she most mistrusts as she strives to build a longed-for normal life and take down the agent who has tracked her down. Caught up in a struggle to save herself and those she loves, the girl who sees all is blind to true danger until it is too late.
My Review:
Can you imagine what it would be like if you
could read others minds? I remember as a
child, playing games with friends, trying to figure out what the other was
thinking. How we thought it would be
really cool to be able to do that. As we
all got older, the game stopped but you still wondered at times what others
were thinking. Now imagine, with one
touch, you could know not only what they were thinking, but their entire life
story…the good, the bad and the ugly bits.
That’s what life is like for the main character, Liz, and as we learn
from her, it’s more than any person bargains for and comes with a hefty price.
As I was reading this book, I shared the premise
with my coworkers. It led to a healthy
discussion of what others would think if they could know what we were thinking
at any given time. Some of us wondered
what our husbands would think when we got the naughty thoughts about particular
actors, for me Ian Somerhalder comes to mind, and we weren’t sure how our other
half would react. We joked about it, but
we all knew that we would never want anyone to know everything about us. We all have some kind of skeleton in our
closet that we just want to keep there.
This story is a well thought out one with the
author painting a vivid picture through her descriptive details. As you read, you find yourself in your own
little movie and you are Liz with everything happening to an around you. In some books, you feel like you’re there but
on the sidelines, with this one you are living through Liz’s eyes. Written in first person POV, you learn the
life of Liz, her struggles, her triumphs, her heartaches, disappointments,
tragedies, happiness and feeling of just wanting to be like everyone else…normal.
As the story plays out, you meet the hot headed
Preston, the hottie with the secrets Carey, the new bestie V.J., a mercenary,
FBI agents, The Coalition and more. You
learn what happened to Liz to turn her from a normal kid to a walking, talking database. I say database, because along with learning
everything about the people she comes in skin on skin contact with, she also is
given the knowledge they have. Give her
any subject and she can tell you more about it than a college professor who
teaches it day in and day out. Physical
combat, she can pull up the info on how to perform defensive and offensive
moves at the drop of a hat. The thing
is, other than her father and a group looking for her, nobody knows what she
can do. People are led to believe that
it’s OCD that has her wearing gloves all day.
You are drawn into the story after Liz and her
father have yet moved to another town and she’s endearing yet another day as
the new kid in school. She goes through
a hell of a first day of school but through this finds herself wanting to
finally plant some roots. She’s 16 and
hasn’t had true friends in over 4 years and there are people at that school who
she really wants to get to know better.
And even though she dresses fully covered, even wearing pants and a long
sleeve shirt with gloves to PE class, she finds that there are many people at
this school that are truly excepting of the way she portrays herself than she’s
ever experienced before. She finds
herself in the fight of her life to be left alone by others to be able to live
without the intrusions of those who want to just experiment on her. And this girl can fight!
What I liked?
I liked feeling that I was Liz while the story played out. I wasn’t someone on the sidelines watching
what was going on. The characters that
the author brings to the table are ones you will find yourself loathing,
repulsed, and rooting on along with Liz.
You don’t feel like you’re in a guessing game with how she’s reacting to
everything.
What didn’t I like? I found it interesting in just how quick she
let people into her life this time around.
Maybe the author did it to just get the story moving. I also found that there were many areas that
were just way to drawn out. I guess you
would say some fluff that could have just been shortened or left out
altogether.
Do I recommend this book? Yes I do.
I recommend this to anyone looking for a good paranormal read without
all the clichés. For those looking for
some suspense mixed with action. For
anyone who just wants to think a bit outside of the box. I look forward to the second book in the
First Touch series, which the author Mattie Dunman is currently working on.
Buy on Amazon
About the Author:
Mattie Dunman is a lifelong resident of "Wild & Wonderful" West Virginia, and has dreamed of being a writer since she first held a pen in hand.Mattie has pursued several useless degrees to support this dream, and presently enjoys teaching (or tormenting, as the case may be) college students the dying art of public speaking. She spends most of her free time writing, but also indulges in reading and traveling.
She is the proud owner of an adorably insane American Eskimo named Finn, and a tyrant cat named Bella, who take up more of her attention than they probably should.
Mattie is currently working on the second book in the First Touch series, and is ecstatic about her new release, At First Touch.
http://www.amazon.com/Instinct-ABNA-2013-Entry-ebook/dp/B00B9N8PVS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1364936148&sr=8-2&keywords=mattie+dunman
Author Links:
Website: www.mattiedunman.com
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