Dec 17, 2012

Review: Touch of Death by Kelly Hashway


Title: Touch of Death
Author: Kelly Hashway
Publisher: Spencer Hill Press
Publication Date: 1.15.2013
Pages: 235
Genre: Mythology; Fantasy
Series: Yes (Touch of Death #1)
Source: ARC from publisher

Rating: B+

Summary (from Goodreads):
Jodi Marshall isn’t sure how she went from normal teenager to walking disaster. One minute she’s in her junior year of high school, spending time with her amazing boyfriend and her best friend. The next she’s being stalked by some guy no one seems to know.

After the stranger, Alex, reveals himself, Jodi learns he’s not a normal teenager and neither is she. With a kiss that kills and a touch that brings the dead back to life, Jodi discovers she’s part of a branch of necromancers born under the 13th sign of the zodiac, Ophiuchus. A branch of necromancers that are descendants of Medusa. A branch of necromancers with poisoned blood writhing in their veins.

Jodi’s deadly to the living and even more deadly to the deceased. She has to leave her old, normal life behind before she hurts the people she loves. As if that isn’t difficult enough, Jodi discovers she’s the chosen one who has to save the rest of her kind from perishing at the hands of Hades. If she can’t figure out how to control her power, history will repeat itself, and her race will become extinct.

Review:
Bravo to Kelly Hashway for writing a winner right out of the gate. Touch of Death is a romantic and thrilling spin on Greek mythology that left me pining for more. There are just too many months between me and the sequel!

Jodi is just a likeable character. She had her dramatic moments, her awesome moments, and even her “WTF is the thinking?” moments. She was a very real character in that she reacted to most situations the way I think a lot of people would. There was no overt posturing or eye roll inducing heroic/martyr moments.  I won’t say she’s a character I fell instantly in love with, but there’s this winning quality to her that will keep me coming back to read more about her. I’m excited to see how Hashway progresses and develops Jodi in the rest of the series.

The only small negative that still kind of grates on me is the insta-love between Jodi and Alex. It sort of made my head spin, but the romance is hot and written very well. Because I love these two, I was able to pretty much set aside my inner grumblings about how fast their relationship came to be for the most part.

While it may seem that Greek mythology has become a fast-rising trend in YA, I do enjoy the 13th zodiac spin Hashway employs here and the zombie spin. I hadn’t encountered that yet in a novel, so  that part was refreshing. This is a great start to a new series.


15 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you enjoyed Touch of Death, Hannah! :)

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  2. I so want to read this book. Glad you did a review of it.

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  3. OMG! This book sounds really cool! I dread adding another book to my TBR, but I cant resist one that sounds this awesome!
    Thanks for sharing it Hannah :)

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  4. Ew insta-love :/
    However, this does sound like it has enough going for it to make up for that, so I'll probably check it out anyway :)

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    1. I know; I usually loathe insta-love, but it works. Go with it. ;)

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  5. A take on Greek mythology. I like this!

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  6. I love the synopsis for this book, the cover is amazing, and I am just crazy ready to read it! I always look forward to books that have a likable main character. And tolerable insta-love is better than what we normally get! Thanks for the review!

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  7. This sounds really interesting! I definitely am adding it to my to read list. Thanks for the review!!!

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  8. Thanks for a great review, I added to my read list.

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  9. Oh goodness, insta-love. Hopefully that won't make the book a lot less enjoyable, especially since I've been looking forward to reading this for a long time.

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  10. This sounds like a great read and most of the time I can look past the insta love if it's written right. Can't wait to read this, great review!!

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  11. I love Kelly as a person and I can't wait to read this book. Even though I don't love zombies, Ithe Greek myth element has me well beyond hooked.

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