Hi, sweeties! I’m glad to finally be able to write down all my reviews again. My life is full of things to do, right now, and I seem to have not got enough time to do it all within the 24h we are allowed to. Today, in particular, I feel like I don’t have enough time at all, and I’m PMSing hard, very hard. Enough said, I hope you will enjoy my review!

PREMISE
As my life became full of new things to do, I had to rearrange my schedule. It was hard the first times. Right now, it’s still hard, but I’m finding a new balance. I love new experiences and experimenting new things altogether, I just love everything about them, even the difficulties. So, I decided to read a short book from NetGalley, and I came across it. The cover was very enticing and interesting, so I decided to give it a try. Well, I was extremely disappointed. So far, this is one of the worst books I’ve ever read from the site.

SYNOPSIS (FROM GOODREADS)
Sloan left home a year ago, hoping to escape her past.
One night, a chance encounter will change her life forever. Sloan crosses paths with a dangerous being. He is ancient. Evil. And she has caught his attention.
Sloan attempts to continue with day to day life but soon realizes that she has become his obsession. Not only does he stalk her by day, but he can enter her dreams, tormenting her while she sleeps.
Desperate, Sloan searches for answers. And time is running short.

REVIEW
Where do I start from this review? This book was really promising, at the beginning. I really liked it. But then it sunk like the Titanic did against the iceberg, it sunk both grammatically and cohesive narration inside the novel itself.

The story begins with Sloan Stolar, a twenty-something that fled from her past in Los Angeles and decided to live in Seattle. She has troubles adjusting to the weather, united with the fact that she was used to the Californian sunny weather. Sloan’s main trait is that she’s a not-fuck-with-me person, and prefers to face her problems by herself, and doesn’t even have a close friend. Well, she would have a close friend if she only let Mille get closer to her as a friend. It seemed that Sloan’s main and only characteristic was her unfuckwithable personality – but she didn’t seem so, to my eyes. To my eyes, she appeared the damsel in distress that couldn’t handle get closer to other people, and act like a badass in order to mask it. I would say it now, a thing that one editor told me years and years ago: it’s not necessary to describe everything a character wear, because it’s boring. At first, I continued writing like Elle wrote: three or four lines only about the characters’ clothes. Then I began to understand that yes, you can talk about the characters clothes, but not in a describable way: you have to make the character move in order to describe what you want to describe. My writing improved, and it wasn’t neither dull nor boring. This is important to me, considering I’ve find trouble finished reading this book. At one point, after noon, I started jumping off all the descriptive scenes. It was extremely boring, too boring for me.

As Sloan, in one night like the other, approaches a stranger with white hair and black eyes – full of nothingness and blackness – she feels a spark of electricity coursing through her body. From now on, her life will never be the same as before. From beginning to feel something for a cute fisherman – that’s describe in the book as a hottie and I might say, it could have been a better character him too – to acting stubbornly with angels and demons – or something that look like them.

I tried. I really tried to like this book, but there many too many grammatical errors: for instance, “its” used when it was necessary to use “it’s”, or the three points after a sentence united to the next sentence, or even the fact that some words were outdated and off-key in a contemporary urban fantasy novel ‘fowl’ for example didn’t suit well for describing a bouncer. These, though, were the least problems this book had. I found numerous editing error – for example, at the beginning, Sloan is making for herself a dish of shells (a typical Italian pasta) and then they become noodles, or the fact that was off tune her sexual encounter in the middle of a battle. Or the fact that all the characters were mono-dimensional and dull, boring like something I’ve never read before.
The extremely detailed descriptions of every piece of cloth made everything boring. Walls and walls of text overall that, as I said before, made me jump off them and read directly the dialogues – that were scarce, considering how much descriptions I found. I feel like the author made the opposite of what every book about writing says: show, don’t tell. Instead, I found only and only tell, don’t show. The excessive stubbornness of Sloan, especially about the end of the book, made her look like a silly girl. Even more than her instant-love with James.

I expected a twist of events, regarding professor Imperial, that didn’t show up. That would have made things more interesting for the reader. Concluding, I gave this book 2 stars because it has so much potential that hasn’t been fully utilized. A good editor would have cut all the walls of text, and made the book lighter – because yes, those long descriptions made the book boring, even when it had all the potentials to be a good book.

I salute you with a quote from this book, hoping that the author will improve in her next work and will put out a better story for herself and her reader. Because your story is full of potential, simply it wasn’t well taken advantage of.
“I would always be broken. But broken things could mend and transform into something beautiful. I wanted to live and see new possibilities unfold.”
(Sloan Stolar)

Xoxo,
Giada

I lost interest in Dark Touch by Elle Lewis but I still pushed through it. I was hoping for something more then I got. the other book in the series might get better as time goes but didn't see it with this one. I also won't be continuing.

This was an interesting start to a new series. There were a few slow parts to the story but it started picking up. I was glad to see that happen because the story was one that I enjoyed reading. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this novel.

This was the first book I've read from this author and I really enjoyed it. The story was different from anything I've read recently and really captured my attention.

You know the film 'The Room', well this is the literary (I'm using that word loosely) equivalent.
Despite the tropes (poor little rich girl, insta-love, 'perfect' female with the power to save humanity etc...) there was the potential for an entertaining story, but the style of writing coupled with some poor copy reading (please note I am reading an advance copy, perhaps these will be rectified in the published copy) did hinder my enjoyment. A bouncer is described as 'fowl' mouthed, somebody 'managed to get passed them', Sloane 'pursued' each 'isle' when infact she perused each aisle! Sloane walks into a coffee shop and instantly wants espresso, but two pages later orders a large Americano with cream.etc... etc... I think perhaps the best line though, that pretty much sums up my observations is this little bonne-mot:
'The truck was not brand new but not too old either.'

My thanks go to the publishers and Net Galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

Sloan is touched by an ancient evil. Her life changes suddenly. Lewis writes a great tale. Characters are well developed and story moves along nicely. I am looking forward to next in series.

Dark Touch fits perfectly into the paranormal and urban fantasy genre. What I liked most about it, apart from being my favorite genre, was its original mythology. The market is saturated with stories about vampires, werewolves, and witches (which I love and write about it, too). Therefore, a story that brings in new supernatural creatures is like a breath of fresh air!

This is not epic fantasy, so don’t expect intricate world-building, just enough for the plot to make sense. The characters, on the other hand, are intriguing and the fast pace of the story kept me engaged till the last page. By the way, if you’re planning to read it, arm yourself with patience, because it ends with a cliff hanger! But you’ll get some sort of closure, so it’s not bad, just leaves you wanting for more!

Sloan, the main character is touched by a supernatural creature and is supposed to die instantly. When she doesn’t, she attracts the attention of both the being who tried to kill her and others who want to protect her. A tug-of-war ensues. Sloan finds herself hunted both in the real world and in her dreams.

“Flashes of the battle raced across my thoughts. There were three of the warrior beings. I replayed what was said, trying to piece together information. Give her to me, Dark One. The warriors prevented Darrow from taking me. But it seemed as if they wanted me as well. For what reason, I still didn’t know.”
Read more here: https://www.summonfantasy.com/book-reviews/book-review-dark-touch-by-elle-lewis

An interesting idea. But the writing was lacking. It's not even really YA quality to me, because the standard was raised a while ago. A good editor and rewrites are needed here.

Dark Touch by Elle Lewis, a quick enjoyable fantasy read. Sloan is on her way home and runs into a man who is more than he seems and evil might just be the best description for him. When she gets away from him, she realizes that he is after her for reasons unknown and if he gets ahold of her who knows what will happen.

Thank you to Black Rose writing for the arc of this book.
This book was an interesting read, it held me from the get go, and had a very interesting take on the whole demons and angels.
I look forward to seeing what happens next with Sloan, and hopefully James.

I give this book three stars because I believe in second chances and I think there is potential and since is the first book of a trilogy maybe the story will get better in the next two books. maybe if it was a little longer and the ending a little less confusing I would loved it better.

I'm sorry author, but this is not one for me.
Perhaps younger readers may enjoy it, however, I would not recommend to anyone that reads a large amount of diverse work or about more complex themes.
It's YA. So YA it's giving me a headache. It also commits about five of the worst novel crimes in the first chapter.
Here's an example:
'My fingers flew over the keyboard, contributing to the small orchestra of key strokes that echoed within the dismal office....'
This is the first line of the book. Don't start your first line with such a glut of adjectives. Fingers can't fly. Yes, of course, use simile andmetaphor and adjectives throughout your work, but to start a good story, you must draw the reader in with a simple hook. The first sentence must be the bait. Not a vomit of evocation.
It continues, merely two paragraphs down; 'thundering noisily'. Thunder is noise. By definition. Thunder cannot thunder quietly. Therefore, thundering noisily is just completely unnecessary and to someone that wants to be grabbed by an idea and hooked into a book, this is the sort of thing that really, really puts me off.
It's a simple edit to correct this kind of mistake.

So too, do I find myself metaphorically forehead slapping over the "character stands in front of the mirror to describe herself" and "character is not like all the other girls" and "character immediately puts down the first other female character to enter her space".
One of these things, I forgive. The purple prose. The adjective overuse, the clichés, the misused tropes. But together, I got about a chapter and and threw this away in disgust.

Not recommended for anyone. If you want killer YA fiction, I would recommend Kesia Lupo or Charlie N. Holmberg or Roshani Chokshi.

Less Twilight-style, tighter writing, a few courses on authorship, please.

This is a great story I read in one sitting, fast paced, intriguing characters. A whole new twist on the good vs evil story. I liked the fact the main character has real responses to her situation and struggles with it. The main reason I dropped a star is that the ending got a bit too confusing and over complicated and it ended with no real answers. I know it’s a cliffhanger but you tend to get some clear direction, but there wasn’t one. I will be definitely looking forward to the next book though, as I need answers.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest review