I must admit, going into this book I wasn't sure it sounded like my cup of tea. However, I am thrilled to have been proved wrong!

Elise can see the death of anybody she touches, and has withdrawn into herself to try and avoid such a curse. Claire, a vampire, has been sent to help her master this power and use it for the leaders of the paranormal world.

The characters were easy to engage with, and the world building smart. There were twists and a hint of mystery that kept me hooked to the end! Definitely a book I intend to pick up again.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

You had me at queer vampires - and this book only drew me in from there. Heartwarming, supernatural, charming, funny; heartbreaking too. This book has it all.

The Coldest Touch follows the lives of Elise, a girl who goes from ordinary to one of the most powerful supernaturals in existence without even knowing why or how; and Claire, a girl who was turned into a vampire at 17 and has to deal with being 17, for eternity. But she wants nothing more than to be human again.

Told in dual POVs, we watch as Claire is assigned to teach Elise how to control her powers (she sees the death of everyone she touches) for The Veil, the supernatural government let’s call them. They want her to be their Death Oracle, controlling people’s fates and death, killing those that oppose them, and lengthening the lives of those who can pay. Elise, however, just wants a normal life; and her dead brother back.

While Claire is teaching her control, and Elise is figuring out what her life will be now, feelings start to develop, and this is a beautiful story about finding out who you are beneath everything else. You get to watch Elise figuring out her sexuality, and it is so subtly written that you are feeling everything she feels, as she feels it. And then there is Claire, who has been 17 for a long time, and has been burned before. We see Claire begin to open her heart again, to let her guards down and truly let someone see HER, and it is beautiful.

However, as with any story, there can’t be love without heartbreak. When Elise finds out her brother is alive, and a vampire, and that there is a cure to make him human, there is a heartbreaking decision to be made. What if only one can be made mortal again? As much as Elise wants her brother back, can she choose him over her feelings for, and a possible future, with Claire? This is the most heartbreaking part of the story; we know how much Claire wants to be human, but she loves Elise. So she gives up her chance of mortality for Elise, so she can get Nick back.

The ending is open, there is still a chance for Claire to be made human, but the story ends with Claire and Elise just beginning to figure out what their life could be, together.

There are so many moving parts to this story, interwoven together, and the story keeps you guessing to the very end. It is full of magic that draws you into the very rich world that has been built. The characters are so well crafted that you fall in love with them, even the “villains” who are my favourite type of villain - morally grey characters with so much hurt and so much anger you can’t hate them. You feel for them.

I absolutely adored this book and I really hope we get to see Elise and Claire again.

The Coldest Touch follows the story of Elise, a normal teenage girl until her brother tragically dies and suddenly she can see the death of anyone she touches. Enter Claire, a vampire who has been sent to help guide Elise in her new powers and must brave the depths of high school to help her. Their budding relationship is complicated by a series of murders, quests for revenge, old enemies and powerful secrets.

I was actually really pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this. YA contemporary (adjacent) takes a lot for me to be super invested but I really loved both the plot, the romance and all the supernatural elements. This book felt very nostaglic to me as it reminded me of the circa-2010 paranormal YA era (but in my opinion much better written lol) I grew up reading and gave me all the comfort feels. It feels like a fresh new (sapphic!!!!) take on twilight-era classics.

I really liked both Claire and Elise as characters, both have been through quite a lot in their lives so far but they manage to maintain kind-hearted spirits and motivated to help others. I thought the exploration of grief through Elise's character and her family was really well done and very touching. Claire as a character I also thought was a great example of a jaded immortal, old by human standards but stuck in a teenage body and young by vampire standards and the internal conflicts this creates. I really loved the side characaters as well, it's great to see suppportive friends (often I feel this is lacking, esepcially in queer YA contemporary) and some of the older vampires were really intriguing. And you know I always love a sexy evil villainess lol.

The paranormal elements to the book were really fun. I love the whole concept of the veil and having a powerful society of supernatural creatures controlling the underworld, seemingly benevolent on the surface but with a lot of dark secrets and hidden agendas. The vampires feel fairly traditional - they probably felt most similiar to vampire diaries (adding another layer of nostalgia) but even so I loved all the blood and drama. The plot is also super interesting, if slightly predictable I did still really want to figure out how our characaters would react to things and see what they would do next.

I also really liked the exploration of sexuality and the discussion around it's never too late to come out and realise you might be queer, especially as someone who was late to realising myself. Also the sapphic pining and slowburn relationship build up was so good and felt so authentic. Does she like me or like-like me? Are we touching plantonically or romantically? Is this fake kiss scenario we got ourselves into stirring up feelings??? It's all so good hehe.

Overall a really enjoyable read, especially if you are in the mood for a feel-good nostaglia-inducing vampire novel with an adorable, angsty sapphic romance and an engaging plot and mystery.

Our main character, Elise, has been struggling to find happiness after her brother’s death. She blames herself, and ever since this accident Elise has not wanted to touch anyone as she can foretell a person’s death if she does.
Initially, it was hard to tell what was going on with Elise. However, there is a young woman following her. Claire seems to know more about Elise than she should, but we don’t get to know much initially.
What we eventually learn is that Claire is a vampire. She has a vested interest in getting to know Elise…but there’s someone else trying to get to Elise. Someone who has the potential to make things very difficult for her.
The story of two sides battling one another for control is not a new one. The humour and developing romance offer us something to get interested in…and there’s definite hints that this is far from over.
Thanks to NetGalley for granting me the opportunity to read this before publication in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This book did a lot of great things, and part of me was interested in how everything would play out, but it was very slow to start for me and unfortunately I didn't get pulled into it. I just didn't feel invested in it. Because of that, I didn't finish it.

I am once again so sad to not have liked a book. I really enjoyed the author's first duology (even if the first book was definitely the strongest one), so I hoped I would love this standalone as well.
Sadly, there's not a single thing I can save: the plot was basic and predictable, the characters flat and the writing style very simple and a bit cliché. I really didn't like the two main character's POVs, they felt very similar, probably because neither of them had any depth.
I liked the diversity, but that's not enough to save a book which is not enough fantasy, not enough contemporary and not enough mystery. I think the author needs to work on the characters a bit more and maybe in the edited version they will be more interesting, but as this ARC, I didn't feel for them. I always say that good characters, for me, can save a plotless or predictable book. If I fall in love with the character, I can close an eye as far as the story is concerned, but really they felt super fake and they had zero personality. I didn't even like the secondary characters, which is rare for me (they are usually my favourite).
Another thing I strongly disliked is the romance, which felt forced and not at all engaging.
Maybe vampires are not for me, but I think it's more the book's fault. Hopefully, someone else will enjoy this book more than I did. Maybe if you are new to the YA paranormal fantasy subgenre, you'll really like this.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an e-ARC.

I was given a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t have the highest hopes for this book. Looking at the description I thought it was going to be cheesy and corny, but fun for October. I was pleasantly surprised, this book is full of magic, twists and turns, and some really great characters.

[I received an eARC from NetGalley in return for a fair and honest review].

TL;DR:
bi MC, sapphic LI/MC, non-binary & bi side characters. Witches & vampires & psychic-death-seeing-mortal. Alternating character views.

I should preface this review with the fact that I've read every other published book by Isabel Sterling before this & loved them and the writing style.

Overall, this book was so much more than I anticipated - I don't know what it was about the blurb of this book but it repeatedly just slipped out of my mind so I knew this had a wlw plot line but not much more.

One of the things that stood out big time was how unexpected the plot twist regarding the brother was. I'm usually a reader who constantly thinks forward to see 'what's going to happen??' but I was completely blindsided this time.

The chapters switch between being from Elise's perspective and Claire's perspective, which at the start I did find a bit confusing, but as I became more immersed it became easier to follow. It was nice to see the romance blossom from both perspectives, because they're both written as quite opposing characters personality wise.

The plot line was really well rounded, and
tidy. Each plot question was dealt with by the end of the novel, and I didn't find I was left with loads of unanswered questions.

I'd honestly recommend this to almost any YA reader who enjoys sapphic or witchy and supernatural fiction books.

Take this review with a pinch of salt because I *naturally* can't stand vampires and any book that has a slight appearance of the bloodsuckers goes 📉📉

Let's be honest, it would've been 2 stars had it not been sapphic. Ugh, I just love women. I loved the forced to work together (maybe even enemies) to lovers. It's been over a month and I still can't tell whether the blonde is Elise or Claire. First world problems, I know.

The seeing death jazz is NOT new and never will be. This magical power has been recycled in most YA fantasy books and not only is it usually boring but it never makes sense. If you can SEE death, are you immortal? or are you just nOT LiKE OThER GirLS.

The romance was underdeveloped and lacked chemistry and the magic system wasn't explained enough for me to understand how everything worked. The veil kinda feels like a copy of the one present in Victoria Shwab's 'City of Ghosts' and I'm not entirely sure if this is the case but that's how I made myself understand the worldbuilding.

Overall, quite enjoyable but I still prefer her duology over this one :)

“We rarely get the deaths we deserve. The universe doesn’t care about fairness.”

This story follows Elise, a teenage girl with a curse who can see the death of anyone she makes skin to skin contact with, all while going through the grief of losing her older brother.

Claire, a vampire who is trying to find revenge on the girl who turned her, is assigned to help Elise master her rare powers.

The description was really interesting but reading it was so much better. The author did really well with creating this paranormal world and understood the feelings a teenager would feel (even a 17 year vampire too)

The only reason this was not a 5⭐️ was it was a little slow in the beginning and there was a consistent annoyance was how the author described everyone. Claire, a white girl with blonde hair. James, a black boy with brown hair. Hazel, a white woman in her fifties. It just was not described very well and happened way too often.

But I really did like the main two characters and how they acted towards each other. I loved how Elise was really sympathetic towards Claire and apologised for simply hurting her feelings. I could really relate to both characters and especially love Wyn and Nick. They were such a good side characters and will hopefully get to see more of them!

I also loved the bisexuality rep, especially when nick has said “there is no time limit on when to come out” when Elise really thought it was too late to realise you can be bisexual. This was such a good thing to read which made me smile because I could have really done with hearing that as a teenager.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and have so many highlighted notes! I really cannot wait for the next one to go into depth about Elise powers and how her and Claire’s relationship will develop.

Thank you for the publishers and Netgalley for letting me read this prior it being published!

This was a nice YA paranormal read for those looking for representation beyond the typical heterosexual pairings. The characters were likeable and believable as teenagers, and I particularly liked the dynamic of Elise and her ex-boyfriend remaining friends and neither's bisexuality being invalidated by their past relationship with each other. Other than that, unfortunately the plot and world-building of the novel felt a little generic, with predictable plot-beats--this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it was a fine reading experience but I wasn't blown away enough to give it a higher rating.

(Many thanks to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.)

A spooky diverse and inclusive YA full of vampires that was a truly enjoyable read. Although not my personal favourite (I know I'm not the intended audience), I know my students will devour this!!

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

When I came across this book my first thought was "VAMPIRES??? GAY??? I'M IN." and I immediately requested it. Now? I have a lot of things to say.

Well, first off, I'll start with the detail I liked most about this book: the representation. If there's something The Coldest Touch doesn't lack it's diversity. We've got people of color, non-binary characters, and, of course, the two main characters, one of which is a lesbian vampire. Isn't that just so cool? The book, too, doesn't make a big deal about it!

The side characters were fun and well written. I'd even go as far as saying I enjoyed Wyn, Jordan and Maggie more than the two main characters, which leads me to my first complaint: how rushed it all felt. As their relationship progressed, my thoughts were always "hey, slow down!" - it felt like it was going too fast. There was a lack of depth to their relationship at some point., I'd even dare to say there was a lack of chemistry, at least in the beginning. I feel like the author eventually made up for it, but it's something that still stood in the way of the 5 stars.

I wasn't a fan of the writing style either. It's something more personal, a preference of mine, but I disliked how off some sentences sounded inside my head.

However, even though the first half of the book wasn't so good, the second half left me on the edge of my seat! Plot twist after plot twist, I found myself not being able to put the book down as I couldn't wait to find out how it all would be brought to an end. If I'm giving this book 4 stars, it's because I enjoyed the rest of the book so much it overshadowed the things I wasn't so fond of.

Note: I'd very much like to marry Wyn.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
I enjoyed The Coldest Touch.
I really ended up liking the two main characters.
This book was definitely a great spooky YA read!
I definitely recommend it especially if you are interested in a Sapphic Vampire story!

The Coldest Touch is a tale of a vampire and a Death Oracle who are also just seventeen year olds trying to make peace with who they are. After her brother dies in an accident, Elise has a curse: whenever she touches someone, she sees their death. When Claire, a vampire masquerading as a high school student, turns up to help Elise master her powers on behalf of the mysterious Veil, Elise is at first sceptical, but things turn out to be more complicated, as she predicts her teacher's violent death, and Elise must work out if she really trusts Claire.

Yes, this is a 'vampire and a human fall for each other and meet in a high school setting' novel, but it also knows it is one, making the odd Twilight joke and, even better, actually addressing the fact that the vampire, Claire, is stuck as a seventeen year old. In addition to that, it covers ideas of non-straight or non-cis vampires getting to exist in times that have different views than when they were human, and the complexity of a vampire wishing they were human but also liking now being in the modern age. The love story element of the book is woven into the plot, not the driving force behind why things are happening as the narrative is happening because of Elise's powers, and that was satisfying if not what I expected from the cover which presents it as more of a vampire/mortal school romance rather than a tale of paranormal politics and navigating your own potential.

The book is told from both Claire and Elise's points of view, which works well to both unfold the plot and show their characters whilst keeping the reader understanding what is going on. At first it took a little while to get into, but I found myself gripped by the story and the growing trust between Elise and Claire, and I was glad that it has a standalone narrative even though it feels like there could be more stories set in the world.

The Coldest Touch is a fun story that combines vampires, strange powers, a paranormal organisation, and two girls falling in love despite all this. It has the epic sense of vampire lore and history that is enjoyable in vampire book series, but also some interesting exploration of paranormal (both vampire and otherwise) existence in terms of purpose and self. I'd definitely read more about the queer vampires and their lives as taking the often more implicit sexuality and gender questions in vampire stories and considering the realities of that is very interesting.

A great premise and such a good read, I loved the characters and the setting. A really enjoyable read