Blog Tour #Review: Touch Of Death by Kelly Hashway

Touch of Death               
(Touch of Death #1)
by Kelly Hashway
ebook, 1st Edition, 235 pages

Expected publication: January 15th 2013 by Spencer Hill Press
Purchase:
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*Arc sent from publisher

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 descendents 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.

 

 

 

 

I was highly anticipating this book and loved the cover, and thought the synopsis told me, it was a must read, but what turned out to be me being super excited about this book set me up for failure. Now, don't get me wrong it wasn't so bad that I couldn't finish it, but at times I was struggling.

 

 

 Let's get to the positive side of this book. The story behind the whole touch of death was unique and thought provoking. I enjoyed reading about the mythology aspect behind it, I mean having the touch of death and being a descendant of Medusa is what had me drawn into the story, in the first place. The whole aspect of the 13 sign of the zodiac intrigued me. I also enjoyed the aspect of having zombie's included in the story. Zombie animals sounded so cool.

But, what started out to be a unique concept slowly failed and had me weighing in the negatives. For one, I didn't care for the repetitive aspect of the story. Many times it seems that sentences repeated themselves and it showed the lead character Jodi, as being, not very intelligent and very immature, so much so, I felt I was reading a children's book. Now, I know Miss Hashway writes children's books, and this is her first leap into the YA genre, so maybe that's the vibe I'm getting.

I felt Jodi's character as not being strong enough to face everything she goes through, and at times felt that she didn't understand the whole concept of what her powers involved, even though it was repeated to her many times. Another aspect that I felt was off, was the whole accident prone part. I mean yes, you can be accident prone, but I mean really having this many accidents in a one week period doesn't seem to fly, and if you knew you had the "touch" wouldn't you take more precautions, maybe put two and two together, at least? And if a guy was stalking you, would you just act calm if he shows up at your doorstop wearing a pizza uniform, especially after your boyfriend just called the cops on him, and the police are staking your house. To just open the door and seem to have a casual conversation with said stalker, and wonder out loud how he managed to slip past the po-po, score a pizza uniform, and knew she was ordering pizza? See, perfect example of what had me not fully enjoying this book.

I also wished the zombie animals/zombies story would of been more elaborate. Show me the what these animals are capable of, how they are eliminated, etc. I really didn't "get" the whole nonchalant attitude of the people involved with these menacing creatures. The squirrel scene was good, but I felt it could of been better. 

I will give Miss Hashway the benefit of the doubt, because I think if her second book in the series shows Jodi becoming a stronger, smarter character, than I'm in. I mean come on she has to, she does have Medusa's blood running through her veins, and Medusa is strong, powerful, and very cunning, right?



3/5