A Touch Mortal

Title: A Touch Mortal

Author: Leah Clifford

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Publish Date: 22 February 2011

Pages: 422

ISBN: 978-0-06-200499-4

Source: bought

Genre: Young Adult, angels, demons, romance

Series: A Touch Trilogy

Other books in series: A Touch Morbid

Eden didn't expect Az.

Not his saunter down the beach toward her. Not his unbelievable pick up line. Not the instant, undeniable connection. And not his wings.

Yeah.

So long happily-ever-after.

Now trapped between life and death, cursed to spread chaos with her every touch, Eden could be the key in the eternal struggle between heaven and hell. All because she gave her heart to one of the Fallen, an angel cast out of heaven.

She may lose everything she ever had. She may be betrayed by those she loves most. But Eden will not be a pawn in anyone else's game. Her heart is her own.

And that's only the beginning of the end.

Eden was sitting on the beach thinking about how she was going to get out of New Jersey after graduation when she met Az and Gabriel.  After that, things were never the same.  Her and Az hit it off and she fell for him.  What Eden didn’t know was that she is what is termed a “sider.”  Meaning she will commit suicide.  And that Az and Gabriel are both angels. 

Gabriel is bound and Az is not.  Gabriel is trying to prevent Az from becoming one of the fallen.   Luke wants to push Az over the edge, so that he will join him in the ranks of the fallen.  He has tortured everyone that Az has cared about in order to persuade him to his side without fail.  But that was before Eden. 

Eden dies and Gabriel and Az arrange for her to stay with Kristen in the city.  Kristen is also a Sider and is supposed to show her the ropes of giving touch and what exactly everything means.  When Eden wakes up in Kristen’s house after supposedly dying in the ocean, she isn't sure what to expect.  Kristen teaches her and Eden finds out by mistake that she has a gift that not all Siders have.  Kristen locks her away to become one of the “Screamers,” those who are locked in room and scream.

Eden sees Az again and is angry with him when she realizes that he knows what she is, he is alive and he knew what would happen.  Az is on the verge of falling completely and so must be removed by Gabriel.  Kristen promises Az that she won’t hurt Eden, but that doesn’t mean she won’t lock her up again.  When Kristen is gone, Adam, a fellow Sider helps her escape.  They leave Kristen’s house and start off on their own.   What will happen when other siders realize that Eden can help them?  Will Luke ever stop trying to hurt Az?  Will Az fall?

I first heard of this book while at another book signing.  I immediately put it on my TBR list and just never got around to reading it.  I really liked that this book gives you a different angle on the angel story.  I really like the way that Clifford writes.  She draws you in with the emotions that are felt from Eden and Az.  

On the cover is a girl with dark hair with burgundy highlights.  I’m presuming this to be Eve.  I like the contrast in colors on the cover.  I like the quote on the front of the book: “She’s been betrayed by life by love and by death.”

•Eden.  She is a Sider, which meant she would’ve committed suicide and has to spend eternity spreading touch to survive.  Eden doesn’t like spreading touch because that makes the people she touches have bad thoughts or do bad things.

•Az.  He loves Eden.  Plain and simple.  You can easily see how much he cares for her when he talks to Gabriel and what Luke has done to girls he liked in the past.

•Gabriel.  He is Az’s friend and is also Bound.  He is trying to prevent Az from falling completely, which isn’t always an easy task.    He is there for Kristen and Eden, just as he is for Az.

 

•Luke.  Why must there always be someone who has to mettle in things and make it hard for people.  I guess it wouldn’t be a good story if there wasn’t though.  He is trying to “help” Az fall, so he can join his ranks.

•The swearing in the book. I knew to expect it though.  I had first heard about this book from Leah Clifford’s mom, who sat next to me during a Maggie Stiefvater book signing.   She told me that it was a good book, but there was a lot of swearing and f-bombs.  “I don’t know where she gets that from,” she told me.

•Libby.  She is the Sider that Eden, Adam, Jarrod and James took in.  There is just something about her that rubs me the wrong way.  She seemed too eager in the beginning.  Kind of like your much younger sibling wanting to hang out with you and thinking everything is cool.