Touch by Rebecca Miller is a story of trauma. Trauma comes in all forms. Some have loss of a loved one. Some are not able to handle truths in life, and for some, it is hell. And trauma is what Rebecca has portrayed in her story, but with an exquisite writing style  she entwined the light of hope as well. Touch is story that addresses issues in the young adult population, that people don’t tend to read or acknowledge.

I was instantly intrigued by the storyline in this book. What had occurred in Megan’s (Meg) life that she lost all color from her life? Her family suffers, grieves and her father has made a decision to move. A change of pace, for her and for me certainly. Yet, for Megan its all the same. As morbid as it sounds, I love when authors are able to depict negative emotions. Rage, depression and emptiness. That’s what Megan and her family feels. But meeting Shawn…changed Megan. One of the things I observed is that, to help Shawn, Megan had to accept her grief, move on and help someone else. Maybe not accept, but over time she grew up, her heart grew more so that she could help Shawn, even if it began as a simple crush over the quiet boy. This relationship, to me, feels like it has an emotional depth rarely found in other novels and is indicative of the passion with which the author creates the characters and their connections.

As the story progressed the horrible things that happened with Shawn were revealed and it may be hard for some readers to process. I still read through and I feel like the hero is Megan’s father. He singlehandedly took care of Shawn in a professional as well as a personal manner. A widower, struck with grief, he still cares for his children so much that he took care of another child who was lost.

While I enjoyed this story I felt that the pacing was slow, taking its time to build connections and setup story points, at times feeling like a series of events that happened, but stick with it, it comes together in the end.

Touch is an impassioned coming of age story that will stir the soul. With interesting characters and grounded interactions between them, this novel feels like an authentic expression of that time in our lives and readers will be able to connect with it.

Pages: 459 | ASIN: B091V3PQ45