Leni's Reviews > Touch

The first thing I noticed was the cover of Touch by Clare London. I have a thing for Charles II and Chariz, I presume, looks like a handsome Cavalier. The story itself reads like a fairy story with lyrical impressions of people, the rooms and ultimately Oriel. My first impression of Chariz in the story is that he is selfish, entitled and rather cruel-he gains his sense of power by frightening others through his unearned influence. The only person more powerful is his mother who makes it clear that what she says, goes. There does not seem to be any maternal bond. Throughout this exchange, Oriel is treated by both like a passably interesting package.
Oriel is a tortured creature, and he appears to accept his lot in life as being filled with pain and no reward. I wanted to reach in and hug him. Oriel is a man of magical or empathic talents, and it is unexpected when Chariz makes him his only bedfellow. Previously, Chariz got bored easily and moved on. In this way we see that even he recognizes that there is something special about Oriel. It begins with Chariz feeling that the sexual act between them was ‘like ice breaking. Like pain thawing’. Magic abounds. The sex is both sensual at times and crude in that Chariz takes Oriel when and where he wants to. Clearly, he is infatuated by Oriel but still very selfish and only concerned with his own wants and desires.
It turns out that others have heard of Oriel’s magic and want to steal him away and it is only here that we hear Chariz speaking of Oriel as if he is a person who might have some value- “I don’t want him involved’. There is care and love being talked of and while Oriel is in danger, ‘we breathed as one’. This is where it becomes a romantic story, a true love story. It is not a fairytale ending but it is a beautiful one. I felt sad but grateful.