Something I want to do on this blog is talk about, rant about, wax-lyrical about, all the millions of books I read every year. Some I love, some I only kind of like, some I hate, but usually I won’t finish that one unless its for class (and yes I will probably talk about those too). This post will be the first of many of its kind, and hopefully as I go along I develop a good format for them. As for right now, please, bare with me and my large learning curve.
Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley
Title: Close Enough to Touch
Author: Colleen Oakley
Format: Audio book
Page Count/Read Time: 336 pages/11 hrs 38 mins
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Love has no boundaries...
Jubilee Jenkins has a rare condition: She’s allergic to human touch. After a nearly fatal accident, she became reclusive, living in the confines of her home for nine years. But after her mother dies, Jubilee is forced to face the world - and the people in it - that she’s been hiding from. Jubilee finds a safe haven at her local library, where she gets a job.
It’s there she meets Eric Keegan, a divorced man who recently moved to town with his brilliant, troubled adopted son. Eric is struggling to figure out how to be the dad - the man - he wants so desperately to be. Jubilee is unlike anyone he has ever met, yet he can’t understand why she keeps him at arm’s length. So Eric sets out to convince Jubilee to open herself and her heart to everything life can offer, setting into motion the most unlikely love story of the year.
When I picked up this book, I was so excited to see where the story went. I was ready for a romance and interested in how the author would accomplish it with the caveat that Jubilee couldn’t be touched. But then the story began, and all thoughts of the potential budding romance faded away. I knew that this story isn’t what it set out to be. Before this, I had never read a romance novel where I walked away from the story wishing it had less romance.
As I read, I was much more interested in Jubilee’s life and her independent story. How she found out about her allergy. How it affected her relationship with her mother, her peers, and the general world around her. How she coped with it by becoming a recluse and eventually developing agoraphobia. Her journey back into the world and how, after all this time, she finally thought her mother did something to help her (even if that something was dying). I could have read a book twice as long that was only about Jubilee and her personal struggles and conquests.
Instead, what I got was a story that flaked away into a lukewarm romance and fell into a version of the damsel in distress trope. The moment that Eric entered the scene, I felt like the story was no longer about Jubilee, but rather about Jubilee and Eric ‘together.’ The chemistry between the two feels forced. Even Eric’s sister tells him that he only seems to go after girls he knows he could never have. The biggest issue I had with their relationship was that Jubilee started making life decisions based upon Eric. I really wanted this story to be better than that. Her happiness was based around Eric and when Eric was gone, she made her big life altering decision based on another guy. For this book to have hit the mark for me, it should have been more about life than about love, and the romance should have been relegated to the B-story.
I left this story with so many unanswered questions as well. I love books that leave questions to think about when it’s over, but this one doesn’t do that. There are two storylines that are begun and never revisited or wrapped up when we get to the end.
The first is Aja, Eric’s adopted son. We are introduced to him in the first chapter from Eric’s point of view (POV) and he plays a major role in bringing Jubilee and Eric together. For how important of a character he is, I feel like we don’t get enough of his story. Was his final diagnosis from the therapist that he was grieving? That doesn’t explain most of his behavior, but sure let’s just leave it at that blanket statement. He believes he has super powers? That’s okay, we only bring it up when it is relevant to the plot. And of course Aja and Jubilee stay in contact for the five years between when he and Eric move back home and Eric runs into her again. It’s not like they fly past that detail until they need it later on in the story to make a moment more “interesting”.
The second is Ellie, Eric’s daughter. She plays a large role in decisions that Eric makes throughout the story. Like Aja, we are introduced to Ellie and her struggles only when it is convenient to the romance plot. She is a teenage girl who turns to some bad habits in order to deal with her parents’ divorce and those habits land her on a bad path, both in her relationship with her father and in life. Ellie’s story, and how it affects Eric, should have been played into with more detail so decisions on both ends made more sense.
Character Shout Out
From first introduction to final bow, I couldn’t get enough of Madison H. Her story arch is beautiful. From befriending Jubilee in order to clear her guilt, to understanding Jubilee without asking for too much from her too fast, she proves to be a great friend over and over again. Plus Madison’s character brings in both some much needed levity as well as the grounded logic when both Jubilee and the reader need it the most. She really made the middle of the story for me. The author does a beautiful job of introducing her as a stereotype and then building her into a layered human. Her mere existence, along with her relationship with Jubilee, brought this book up from a two star to a three star for me. Props to Madison!
Final Thoughts
Overall, I did like the read. Jubilee and Madison’s relationship was beautiful and fun to watch. Aja and Jubilee’s bonding moments were cute and endearing (although I could have had more of them). Even Jubilee and Eric have a few cute moments. But truthfully … I wouldn’t recommend Close Enough to Touch. If you picked it up I wouldn’t tell you to put it down, that it would be a waste of your valuable reading time. However, it isn’t a “run out and tell all your friends,” “everyone has to read this,” “I need to read this over and over and over and…” kind of book.
Now I want to hear your opinions! If you’ve read Close Enough to Touch, did you like it? What were your thoughts on the “side characters”? Did you think the romance was story enough?
Thanks for stopping by and I’ll write again soon!
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