Touch Me Not by Apryl Baker Pages: 245
Published by Limitless Publishing, LLC on September 22nd 2015
Series: Manwhore #1
Genres: New Adult, contemporary, Romance
Source: ecopy from Publisher
A past tragedy has left Lily Holmes burdened with a devastating secret…
Since the death of her twin sister, Lily can’t bear to be touched. Not accidentally, not casually…and certainly not intimately. This makes it impossible for her to confess to her best friend Adam Roberts that she’s in love with him. She can’t give him the sort of relationship he needs, so she watches in silence while he plans his wedding with someone else.
Enter Nikoli Kinkaid, the campus manwhore…
Nikoli is a self-proclaimed connoisseur of women, and he wants to add Lily to his list of conquests, but she wants nothing to do with him—until he makes her an offer she can’t refuse. He’ll teach her to enjoy human contact again, giving her a chance to win over Adam, while Nikoli uses all his considerable charm to seduce her.But Lily raises the stakes…
Lily loves cars. Her late father was a racer, and she grew up under the hood of a car and on the racetrack. Nikoli has a limited edition 1970 Plymouth Barracuda she covets, so she informs him the terms of their deal also require he not sleep with anyone for six months. If he does, she’ll win the car. If she surrenders and ends up in his bed, his beloved ’Cuda is his to keep.In an intricate dance of control and surrender, a reluctant friendship becomes something more. Lily begins to crave things she never believed she could, and Nikoli realizes there is more at stake than his reputation.
If Lily overcomes her phobia, will she crave Adam’s touch as she’s starting to crave Nikoli’s? Or will she only find pleasure from the touch of a semi-reformed manwhore?
Touch Me Not is the first in a new, new adult contemporary romance series by Apryl Baker. It is called the manwhore series, named after the main character Nikoli. I had a hot and cold relationship with this book. The start was very, very bumpy for me. The book eventually picked up momentum and became more enjoyable for me, but the start had me wavering on just what I would say in my review. Let me try and explain.
Touch Me Not overall, is a fun and sexy new adult read. It has so many elements in it that I love- a bet, great chemistry, and a college setting. And the romance really did build up into something really great for me. I even ended up liking Nikoli, but not at the beginning. And not for the typical, oh he is a total pig reasons. I would have been fine with that. My main issue is that the characters seemed one dimensional to me. I don’t know how to describe it other than they felt flat for me. The story picked up steam and the plot interested me enough to make me want to keep reading, but the characters still felt a bit lacking. That says a lot about the plot, because I am a character driven reader so for the plot to make me want to keep reading when other aspects of the story felt stilted is a strong positive in the plot column for Touch me Not.
The turning point in Touch Me Not came at about 30% into the story, that was when I put aside my frustrations with the characters and the kind of blunt narration and really dove into the storyline. When the agreement was upped to include the car is the scene where I found myself saying,”now this this getting interesting.” I was also interested to see how the whole touching phobia was going to play out. And how it played out, ended up being a solid new adult romance. The first 1/3 of the book was a solid 2 star for me, but the second 2/3rds was more like a 3.5 star read, so it averaged out to right around 3. If you are die hard fans of new adult romances that feature bets, and you love a good reformed manwhore, then check out Touch Me Not. I think it will be right up your alley. And if you are like me, and the start has you cringing a bit, push through it- it really does get better!
kindlemom1
Glad the plot kept you interested because like you mentioned, that doesn’t always happen, especially when we (me too here!) like character driven novels. Wonderful honest review Michelle!
Rowena
This one sounds interesting but I’m kind of wary to check it out. I’m kind of over the whole manwhore changes his ways bit. Thanks for the review anyway. Do you know if this series will center around this one couple (since it was named after Nikoli) or will it feature other couples as well?
Olivia Roach
This sounds like a decent read. I am glad you could enjoy it somewhat, but after reading this review I know this isn’t going to be one for me. But I can appreciate you reading and enjoying it!
My recent review: http://olivia-savannah.blogspot.nl/2015/10/the-butler-movie-review.html
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Hmmm … if it took you that long to get into it, I think I’ll skip this one. I’ve been trying not to invest time in books that aren’t keeping me interested, and this one doesn’t sound easy to connect to.
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Lekeisha
The same tropes have been overused in New Adult, since the beginning. I’m rather tired of it myself. Though, this one seems to have a different little spin. I’m not sure about it yet. Great review!