Review: Touch of Death

Touch of Death
by Kelly Hashway
Series: Touch of Death #1
Pages: 229
Release Date: January 15, 2013
by Spencer Hill Press

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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.

*A copy was provided by Spencer Hill press for review purposes*

Even though I’ve heard of books like this one, this is the only “my kiss/touch can kill you” book I’ve ever read, and I must admit, it was pretty decent.  I really loved how Hashway got right into the story from literally the first sentence, and then kept the non-stop action going from then on.  The idea was really good and original, and the writing was good.  I do feel like around the ending of the middle/the beginning of the end of this book Hashway got a little sloppy, and the story suffered for it.  Her writing became choppy, and it was like she was trying to make it fast-paced, but didn’t write it correctly.  Also, there was a bit of a twist concerning the romance, and when I read about it I literally groaned because the story was so good up until that point, and then it got so clichéd afterwards.  But other than that, this was a really great book.  I loved the twists and turns and the romance.  The ending was also really good.  Sometimes authors make it too sudden, or they make it too easy, but in this book Hashway wasn’t guilty of either of these things, so props to her.

This cast was relatively small – two characters – but I really enjoyed reading about Alex and Jodi’s story.  Alex is just awesome – funny, smart-ass, cute, nice, and sexy.  He really cracked me up, and most of the book I was like “why aren’t your real?!”.  I also really liked Jodi.  She was feisty, smart, kick-butt, and also smart-ass, so they balance each other off nicely.

Even though there was a twist I didn’t like and some choppy writing, this was an action-packed, fast-paced, kick-ass book with a freaking awesome cover, so I ended up really enjoying it.

3.5 pink flowers