Title: At First Touch
Author: Mattie Dunman
Format Acquired: pdf provided for book tour
Publication Date: May 28, 2012
Publishing House: self-published
IBSN: 9780615659
Summary:
Liz Hannigan has been on the run since she was twelve years old.
Her mother is dead. Her father has lost his job. And thanks to an experimental procedure, Liz is now able to ‘download’ the contents of every brain around her with a simple touch. Forced to hide from both the federal government and a darkling group of morally deficient scientists known as the Coalition determined to exploit her abilities, she moves with her father to the bucolic coal town of Pound, West Virginia.
But the hunt for Liz and her abilities hasn’t ended, and her hopes for peace are shattered when she inadvertently downloads the enigmatic Carey Drake, whose unusual good looks and charm conceal a secret as shocking as her own. Stunned by the knowledge that she has found someone else who has extraordinary abilities, Liz finds herself drawn to Carey, discovering a deep attraction, and dares to hope for the first time she might find love.
But when an agent of the Coalition begins stalking her, Liz must find a way to work with the government agency she most mistrusts as she strives to build a longed-for normal life and take down the agent who has tracked her down. Caught up in a struggle to save herself and those she loves, the girl who sees all is blind to true danger until it is too late.
Review:
At First Touch is one of those indie novels that you would
have never known about if not presented an opportunity, but then once you get
it you just can't put it down. I loved At First Touch. My favorite books are
those that involve a main teenage girl with a unique power, and somewhere
somehow, in the novel they fall for a guy that understands their situation. At
First Touch was just what I was looking for and more. This story line was
different in the fact that the main character had a power unlike any that I
have read before in my collection of paranormal romance novels.
Liz is the protagonist in the story, and she is a pretty
good one at that. Her character
flourishes in the story along with the advancement of herself and her powers.
At the beginning, Liz is a loner girl that bounces from town to town in order
to avoid those that are after her abilities. It turns out there are two
organizations that have captured and exploited her in the past, and this has
made her put of a barrier. But, Carey and V.J. come into the story and they
break Liz out of her shell and she is able
to live again, but there are consequences. The past does come back with a
vengeance in this story. I was definitely in for a ride the entire time!
Overall, I really enjoyed reading At First Touch! It was
absolutely thrilling and I loved that I was able to be there through Liz's
journey. Carey was also a complete gentlemen and if I could marry him, I probably
would. Don't hesitate to try this book out. I guarantee you will love it if you
like paranormal romance!
Overall:
Author Bio:
Mattie Dunman is a lifelong resident of "Wild & Wonderful" West Virginia, and has dreamed of being a writer since she first held a pen in hand.
Mattie has pursued several useless degrees to support this dream, and presently enjoys teaching (or tormenting, as the case may be) college students the dying art of public speaking. She spends most of her free time writing, but also indulges in reading and traveling.
She is the proud owner of an adorably insane American Eskimo named Finn, and a tyrant cat named Bella, who take up more of her attention than they probably should.
Mattie is currently working on the second book in the First Touch series, and is ecstatic about her new release, At First Touch.
Buy Links
Amazon buy-site: http://www.amazon.com/At-First-Touch-ebook/dp/B00873W5ZA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339176981&sr=8-1
Excerpts:
Excerpt 1—AT FIRST TOUCH
I was out on the main road and about twenty minutes into my
run when I heard the sound
of a motor gunning and the beep of a horn. I slowed my pace
and turned around to see Preston’s
truck chugging along about two hundred yards behind me. His
head was out of the window and
he was screaming at me; I couldn’t understand what he was
saying, but I felt pretty confident that
it wasn’t complimentary.
I came to a stop, wondering if I should do something. I
wasn’t really concerned; it wasn’t
as though he would run me over or anything, but the blind
hatred on his face made me a little
nervous. Finally, I decided to ignore him and let him get
his fill of throwing abuse my way and
then drive on past. Picking up the pace again, I resolutely
faced forward, pretending that the
continued screeching behind me was a trick of the wind.
Suddenly the engine gave an almighty roar and I heard the
unwelcome sound of
squealing tires. With only a second to register that I had
vastly underestimated Preston’s anger
and mental instability, I swirled around in time to see the
grille of the truck just a few feet from
my face. I made to jump out of the way, but all my knowledge
and stolen tricks didn’t make me
fly, or move faster, or be any less breakable than any other
human being. I knew in that moment
how useless my ability really was. In the face of the giant
metal monster brimming with torque,
my mind was of no matter, it just screamed out with the
desire to live, to keep going.
There was a blow like a train hitting me, but strangely
there was no pain, and I was
moving faster than I could have imagined away from the truck
and into the field next to the road.
I was sure that the truck had hit me and I was just flying
through the air to my death, by some
fortunate stroke lucky enough to be spared the pain of
impact. In another instant the movement
had stopped and I realized I was being held in a pair of
strong arms against a rock-hard chest.
Carey looked down at me, his eyes frantic. “Are you alright?
He didn’t hit you, did he?”
“N-no,” I stuttered. Having downloaded Carey I was aware of
his incredible speed, but
there’s something very different about knowing something
theoretically and experiencing it
firsthand.
He put me down gently in the grass and I just sat there, too
dumbfounded to speak. Even
as he anxiously surveyed me for damage, we heard the rending
scream of out of control tires and
the heavy metal sound of Preston’s truck crashing into
something.
“I’ll be right back,” Carey said and then I blinked and he
was gone.
Excerpt 2—AT FIRST TOUCH
The first thing saw when I opened my eyes was my father’s
concerned face. His beloved,
weather-beaten features were blurred by the dryness of my
eyes, but I could still read his shock
and relief.
“Oh honey,” he choked, voice trembling with emotion. “You’re
awake. Oh God, you’re
awake!”
I glanced around me, slowly becoming more lucid. I was
hooked up to so many wires and
machines I briefly thought I’d been turned into the Bionic
Woman.
“Daddy, what’s going on? Where am I?” My 12-year old voice
was thin and hoarse, as
though it hadn’t been used in a while. His eyes shone and he
bit his lip before he answered me.
“Sweetie, you were in an accident. You’ve been…in a coma…”
he broke off as he
succumbed to tears and lifted my frail hand up to his cheek,
weeping openly as he kissed the
palm and held it tightly. More than the word ‘coma,’ his
behavior startled me. My father had
always been affectionate, but rarely this emotional. I
didn’t think I’d ever seen him cry before.
“What do you mean? What…?” My voice shattered as it happened
for the first time.
There’s no way to describe the sudden attack on my mind that
took place as my father
took my hand. It was as though some switch in my brain was
thrown and a deluge of information
poured itself into me, straining at the edges of my mind,
stunning my whole body into rigid
shock. Suddenly I was bombarded by images, words, tightly
wound strands of data that stormed
through my consciousness and filed themselves away with
sharp precision, leaving me breathless
and shaken. It had only lasted a few seconds, but when the
paralysis faded I stared up at my
father with new eyes.
~I received a complimentary E-copy of At First Touch from Reading Addiction Blog Tours in exchange for my unbiased review.~
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