ARC Review: Don't Touch by Rachel M. Wilson

Don’t Touch

Author: Rachel M. Wilson

Series: -

Pages: 432

Publisher: HarperTeen

Amazon

Release date: 2^nd September 2014

Synopsis:

A powerful story of a girl who is afraid to touch another person’s skin, until the boy auditioning for Hamlet opposite her Ophelia gives her a reason to overcome her fears.

Step on a crack, break your mother’s back. Touch another person’s skin, and Dad’s gone for good.

Caddie can’t stop thinking that if she keeps from touching another person’s skin, her parents might get back together…which is why she wears full-length gloves to school and covers every inch of her skin.

It seems harmless at first, but Caddie’s obsession soon threatens her ambitions as an actress. She desperately wants to play Ophelia in her school’s production of Hamlet. But that would mean touching Peter, who’s auditioning for the title role—and kissing him. Part of Caddie would love nothing more than to kiss Peter—but the other part isn't sure she's brave enough to let herself fall.

Perfect for fans of Laurie Halse Anderson, this debut novel from Rachel M. Wilson is a moving story of a talented girl who's fighting an increasingly severe anxiety disorder, and the friends and family who stand by her.

Includes back matter from the author.

Review: 3 ½ out of 5 stars

Don’t Touch is a story about a young girl named Caddie who has ambitions to be an actress but suffers from severe anxiety and has a fear about touching anyone. She created ‘games’ such as Touch another person’s skin, and Dad’s gone for good as a way to justify why she doesn’t touch.

The characters Caddie was an MC I unfortunately found lacklustre, I definitely felt sorry for the way she suffered but she wasn’t honest or forthcoming with anyone at all, especially with her family and her childhood best-friend Mandy who I thought was a wonderful support and Peter who despite his own personal struggles was fabulous; she was surrounded by a great group of new friends at the academy who were all developed well and likable.

The plot was interesting and relatively slow paced as we watch Caddie face her fears, yearn for touch, play Ophelia in her favourite play, grow close to her peers and find love – Caddie had not only her OCD to deal with but also moving to a new school and her parents separation. I liked seeing the progress Caddie would make; the author wrote her issues and reactions perfectly and with kindness,

Rachel M. Wilson’s writing is engaging and sympathetic, she knew her subject matter extremely well and wrote with compassion; as a sufferer of anxiety myself I found myself nodding along to Caddie’s reactions on numerous occasions - her writing is personal and gets right inside the MC’s mind. It is a wonderful debut.

What I liked:

• Don’t Touch is a standalone! We need more of these.
• The romance was done very well and wasn’t at the forefront of the story.
• The acting and Shakespeare scenes.
• I want a best friend like Mandy!
• I liked that Caddie was seeking professional help to deal with her problem; it wasn’t brushed off and ignored.
• The authors note at the end.

What I wasn’t a huge fan of:

• The MC came across as flat, her anxiety was the main focus and her passion for acting I didn’t feel was fully portrayed in her actions, I would have liked to have seen more of her personality shine through.

Overall, despite struggling with the main character, I did enjoy Don’t Touch and the overall storyline which I feel the author wrote extremely well.

Thank-you kindly to HarperTeen for the opportunity to read and review Don’t Touch.

 

About the author: Rachel M. Wilson is the author of the contemporary YA, DON'T TOUCH, forthcoming from HarperTeen, Sep. 2, 2014. 

She graduated from Northwestern University and holds an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Rachel grew up in Birmingham, AL, and she currently writes, acts, and teaches in Chicago, IL.

Rachel's all over the Interwebs: 
On Twitter @byRachelMWilson
On Instagram: @byRachelMWilson
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On Tumblr:http://rachelmwilson.tumblr.com/