Rowena’s review of Dangerous to Touch
Hero: Marc Cruz
Heroine: Sidney Morrow
Too powerful to ignore All her life Sidney Morrow had tried to repress her disturbing psychic visions. Until a vision of murder shattered her fragile serenity. She had to go to the authorities make them listen. But Lt. Marc Cruz didn’t trust her one bit. In fact, the sensual homicide cop treated her like a suspect. And sent her senses haywire….
The dark-haired beauty knew something about the serial killer Marc was after. But he was certain “visions” had nothing to do with it. Determined to be her constant shadow Marc wasn’t prepared when desire blindsided him and put them both in the path of a relentless killer.
I’ve been meaning to read this book for a while now because the author told me that this book was set in the city I used to live in: Oceanside, California. It’s been a long time since I’ve been out to Oceanside but Jill Sorenson did a phenomenal job of taking me back to my old stomping grounds. There were a lot of times that I would be reading the book and she’d mention a street name or a park and I would immediately see the park and the street corner in my head. I think because I had a visual in place in my mind, the story came to life a lot easier for me. It was great to visit Oceanside again vicariously through Sidney and Marc.
A series of murders that Marc is investigating brings him into contact with Sidney Morrow. Sidney has special abilities, in short she’s a psychic and a simple handshake will tell her everything she needs to know about you so there aren’t very many secrets you can keep from her. She touched a dog that belonged to a woman who was murdered and by that simple touch; she was able to piece what happened even though she couldn’t see who made it happen. Marc doesn’t believe a word that’s coming out of her mouth when he first meets her and Sidney finds herself on a very short list of suspects.
As Marc tries to find a killer, he starts to get to know Sidney and realizes that she’s not the killer and she might not be such a fake either. He also finds himself fighting an attraction to her that might cost him his job but he can’t stop it. Their biting attraction is something neither of them wanted but it was fun watching them fight it.
What I liked about this story was that it didn’t feel like a short read. It was a short read but it didn’t feel like it was. Sorenson did a good job of fleshing the characters out in such a short story and that couldn’t have been easy. I had a good grasp on just who Marc Cruz was by the end of the story as well as Sidney Morrow. They were both lost souls who needed someone on their side for once and they found it with each other.
Marc’s character was this hard nosed cop who didn’t trust anyone but himself and he trusted women even less. He comes off as this big ass and while he was, I never once thought he wasn’t good enough for Sidney. I never once not liked him. He exasperated me, he made me want to kick him in his balls but he didn’t turn me off. I enjoyed getting to know him and was rewarded at the end when he finally got his shit together.
Sidney’s character is more complex. She shies away from interactions and relationships with others because of her special abilities. It’s hard to become friends with someone when you know everything that they’re thinking. Seeing Sidney come out of her shell with Marc made for an interesting draw out. She made mistakes but I didn’t think she was TSTL. She was as normal as one can be with being psychic and all. It didn’t help that her family wasn’t as supportive as they could have been with her abilities. Her mother was an ice bitch, her father was a little bit better but not much and her sister was a crazy sack of shit.
This story unfolding one layer at a time and seeing the story come together was an entertaining way to spend a few hours. I enjoyed getting to know the characters, I enjoyed visiting Oceanside again and I just enjoyed the book. Jill Sorenson is shaping up to be a good contemporary go to author for me. I’ve got Set the Dark on Fire in my TBR pile and I’m thinking I need to read that one as well.
Grade: 3.75 out of 5
This book is available from Silhouette Romantic Suspense. You can buy it here
I’ll have to keep my eye out for this one. I enjoyed Crash Into Me and I have Set the Dark on Fire in my TBR shelf too. This one sounds right up my alley.