In the world of Isabelle de Grey, eyesight isn’t the only way to see. Her psychic ability gives her a second type of vision. When she touches objects and people, she looks into their past. But her gift is equal parts curse. She has yet to find the lover who can accept the brutal truth of what she sees. Isolated and rejected, she is ready to leave Los Angeles and abandon her career when she meets FBI profiler Gavin “Mac” MacMillan.
Thrown together when the daughter of a mutual friend is abducted, Isabelle discovers that Mac could be the man who won’t push her away. Despite his controlled exterior, she senses a fevered passion in him that boils just below the surface. But as she and Mac give in to their desires and race to save a young girl, Isabelle must learn yet again that every touch has its price.
Hazel and her husband stopped being separate people years ago. They live their happy life in the always crowded, mostly sunny, and sometimes sweltering city of LA. Though they haven’t managed it yet, plans are afoot to add a kitty to the household, thereby giving the allergist fits.
Hazel has been writing full-time for several years, with some traditionally published work in other genres. But it’s her indie-published romance that fuels the creative fire. It turns out writing isn’t a job, it’s an obsession.
When you can pry Hazel’s fingers from the laptop, you’ll find her: on the elliptical watching a documentary, indulging her audiobook habit, or spending quality time with Candy Crush. Although she’s vegan, she’s a disaster in the kitchen. Luckily, potato chips and pinot noir come ready-made.
Intriguing short story (episode) with angsty h, who is psychic. The FBI H doesn't hide his doubts BUT works with her in more than one way! Teases about her back story while I enjoyed it, it's a cliffie. Have to buy the series it seems.
So, this had the potential to be pretty great. I'm pretty easy with mysteries and I always love when something paranormal is tied in to help a criminal investigation.
Isabelle is a psychic, but not one that can see the future. Rather through her hands and touching objects or people she can see and read the past. And she always wears colorful gloves to prevent her from continuously reading people or items she doesn't want to read. She kind of reminded me of Elsa from Frozen in that regards. She feels isolated and lonely not forming relationships with others from the lack of understanding.
But she has numerous clients and one just happens to be the wife of an FBI agent, and their daughter is kidnapped. The mother insists Isabelle helps and the husband (who has an ad version to Isabelle and her power that I never fully understood) calls in the man he mentored at the FBI, Mac.
OK, so a few things. I liked Mac. I liked Isabelle. I could see liking them together and the sex was pretty nice if that's your thing,but it felt so out of place within the novella. One minute everything was focused on the investigation and BAM they'd be fucking for long passages. I hate insta-love and while I wouldn't classify this as that exactly, it felt it went beyond simple lust. There was no flirting, no teasing, no tension before the throbbing cock entered her wet folds. The feelings and statements made no sense based on what was on the page. They'd been together what a day and Isabelle is saying after Mac disappointed her "Except, once upon a time, she'd also thought Mac was different." WUT??? And dennnnn...cue wacko God speaking serial killer scene.
I liked parts of the investigation and the serial killer may develop better later, but he felt just dumped on the page and I'm asking myself: wait, what are his motives, why does he want to speak to the psychic, why when the "twist" happen did he get so upset, etc. Build this stuff up.
It honestly felt like two different novellas smashed together to create a mystery erotica with neither getting the attention they deserved.
It will be interesting where the series goes, but I hope in future instalments the books feel more balanced.
There may be some spoilers below, but they are why I could not connect the MCs.
I was hoping that this would not go down the same road as so many other suspense stories involving psychics, but it did. The hero who is a detective does not believe that the heroine is a true psychic. He thinks she is phony. The story is that the heroine is asked by her friend to help find her daughter who was kidnapped while at college. The hero is a detective on the case. There is the whole banter of him not believing the "powers" of the heroine and it got annoying and repetitive quick. I was hoping that for once, it would not take more than half the book to convince the hero.
The heroine has sex with the hero before he even believes that she is the real thing. The heroine is likable but I was disappointed that she slept with the hero before he believed her and she slept with him the first day they meet. The had sex before there was any real connection. There was nothing there to make the "connection" real or believable. I think the heroine touched the hero's hand and saw that he was kind of pining for someone and that he liked the heroine's legs. It was stupid. Plus the sex scenes were TOO long and when you do not feel the connection between the characters you can care less.
The story is written in the hero. heroine's and the kidnapper's POV. There is a sequel. I really liked the mystery/suspense of the kidnapper, but the relationship between the MCs is not appealing enough for me to continue. There should have been more scenes of him believing her before they had this intimate moment and his whole pining thing explained. What is the deal with that and how could the heroine want him when she knows another woman is making him sad?? Poor character development. I have read book with less than 100 pages before that gave more. Maybe less fighting about "you are not a real psychic" and more focus on the characters and their background.
It was okay.. not my cup of tea. The story line was too drawn out that took takes up half the story. Good plot idea, but I could careless about the characters. Reading for a reading challenge. Thank goodness this was free book from Amazon, cause if I paid for it I would be pissed off.
I found this book off-putting. It has very little character development and very little relationship development except for his mistrust of her psychic abilities and her irritation with him because she accidentally read him. In less than one day there were in bed together. Not realistic.
The kidnapping was not intriguing. The other characters were not interesting.
I have no intention of finishing this book. It holds no appeal for me.
New to Hazel Hunter I am now a dedicated fan! This book was written with such brilliance. Right from the start you lived this kidnapping from the parents perspective the leading officer and the support staff. Interacting with the paparazzi and really bringing out the scepticism surrounding psychic ability. The characters were strong but in different in their subtly of action. Mac and Isabelle are brilliant together. Can't wait to read the next part of their story!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
My Disclaimer: I was provided a complimentary copy of this book. I am voluntarily providing an honest review in which all opinions are fully my own. I am not being compensated in any way. ~ Judi E. Easley for Blue Cat Review
What it's about... Ben Olivos, Assistant Director of the FBI for the Los Angeles Field Office has a daughter who has disappeared. He's called in the FBI's best profiler, Gavin MacMillan.
His wife, Anita, has called in her psychic, Isabelle de Grey. The director is not happy. Neither is the profiler. All psychics are fakes. Aren't they?
But what if she isn't? One touch brings her his other thoughts, too. "He likes my legs? He thinks they're shapely? Psychobabble? Pretty pink lips? Hot."
Can Gavin and Isabelle keep their thoughts and their hands working on finding Esme before her kidnapper turns into her killer?
Technical Tidbits...
The cover is eye-catching, but it really doesn't relate well to the story. At least the one that was on my copy of the book, the one at the top of my review. The small one I show to the right here is a newer one that coordinates with the rest of the series, and it is even farther from the story. This story is about a woman with psychic touch abilities. She should be on the cover with her brunette hair.
The storyline is really good. It's realistic in that it could work.
The characters develop through the course of the story fairly well. They aren't the deepest couple I've met, but they aren't too shallow.
The pace is good. Ms. Hunter keeps you hopping from scene to scene to figure out what's happened and to save Esme.
The tension is there throughout the chase. The author has the knack of blending the tension of the case with the tension between the couple really well.
Writing quality is quite good. There is a lot of description in this book. The author makes you see things so that you experience them more intimately.
And this is where you STOP if you don't want to see any SPOILERS...
The good, the bad, and the ugly...and how much it lit up my life... ✰✰✰✰
The cover really doesn't have much to do with the story. The city skyline and a hunky guy with a black armband or bandage. Nope. Not even close to relating to the story. This takes place in LA. That's probably a picture of LA's skyline, but I really can't tell. But the profiler on the cover doesn't do it. He wasn't the story. Her psychic ability with touch was the story. She should have been on the cover. And she should have had the correct features - pink lips, long brunette hair and great legs. With all the description in the book, the attention to her appearance would be important on the cover.
The police aspects of the story seemed very well done to me. The only thing that wouldn't have been done, is that the psychic wouldn't have been allowed in there. But their conversations about the status of the case as things changed seemed realistic.
Ms. Hunter wrote the love scenes like she was frosting a cake, with long, smooth strokes. The scenes were really drawn out and steamy. She describes every lick and stroke between the couple from start to finish. And it was obvious that both of them had been without for quite awhile and had to make up for lost time. This one can definitely be classified as hot and steamy.
One weird little twist that I've never come across before occurred at the end when we get to witness the kidnapper toss away his disguise. He was practically rubbing his hands in glee looking forward to doing this sort of thing again. He thought LA was a great little place to do it and walked away chortling about it.
Isabelle is a psychic with the gift of touch. All she has to do is touch something to get a series of visions about it, which, at times, can be overwhelming. That’s why you always see her wearing gloves.
Right now, she’s on the case for the missing daughter of a retired FBI agent, who brings in his protégé for assistance. However, Mac doesn’t need a so-called “psychic” to get in his way, even if she did have the most ravishing legs he’d ever seen. Even though they may not see eye-to-eye, the two make an electrifying team and neither will rest until they find the kidnapper. Of course, they make time for a romp in the sack though.
All in all, this was an easy and enjoyable read, but it just seemed that the story didn’t concentrate on the missing case so much and mostly revolved around the two having sex. And she kept the gloves on the whole time. I mean, we don’t even find out what Mac’s deal with this woman from his past. I guess we’d need to find out on the next story of the series. Still, the ending was too convenient and weak. I wish we would’ve had more psychic action rather than regular action.
I downloaded Touched as a free novella from Amazon. I enjoyed this novella, although it doesn't offer anything new to a psychic-cop duo storyline. While there are no surprises with the protagonist's relationship and characters, the story has twists and turns to hold reader interest. If you can pick this up as a free read, like I did, you may be tempted enough to read on to see what happens next. While a cliffhanger, there are threads left loose and unresolved, I was satisfied where the story broke off.
This first book in a series can be read as a standalone but it has a small cliffhanger by the end and happy for now ending. In all it was a good read but I’m not fan of cliffhanger stories. This was a fast paced read, with some actions and hot moments. The main characters are quite total opposite, one is a man of science and proof, while she is dealing with paranormal. I liked the author took the time to describe how the heroine is dealing with daily life because of her talent. I suppose the next books will give more insight of Isabella’s gift and the struggles she faces.
A psychic who sees through touch is an interesting idea. It is a talent that would definitely make life difficult, or very interesting depending how you look at it. Isabelle seems to have a hard time when everything she touches gives her readings thus the need for her to wear gloves all the time. Mac the FBI guy doesn't trust psychics but he has a change of heart. This is a great start and I look forward to more of their story.
This was my first Hazel Hunter book and I really liked the story. I like the main characters, the suspense and the physic touch. Also the romance. I didn't realize until about 3 quarters of the book that it was probably headed to there being at least one more book. I am about to purchase the next book and since it is time I get a few hours of sleep I will have to put off my reading for another day. Just a Texas Girl
Isabelle psychic and gets involved in an investigation dealing with the disappearance of her client's daughter. Mac is the FBI profiler taking on the case. They begin working together and sparks fly between them.
This was ok. Disturbing serial killer, FBI profiling, psychic visions...I enjoyed the story over all. The romance is what lost me. There was no build up just BAM sex.
Interesting story. It’s less romance and more dark abduction than I wanted but it’s really was interesting. I love paranormal so I was interested in the physic twist which was handled as a thing that just was a part of her and not an otherworldly thing. The story did have some romance but expect it to really be about the case.
The psychic/FBI skeptic match is good as well as the characterization and the crime. Because it's a novella, it feels underdeveloped. However, because it's a series, that feeling may change after I read the next one if I can begin to view them as a whole. We'll see! Still a fun read of a genre I enjoy!
This started of so well and has a huge potential but I felt it very rushed it went from Mac doubting to bedding Isabelle in 30 sec which for me and some of the books I read is pretty fast! Just wish the author had have put a few more chapters in and not have it so rushed!
I enjoyed this book and this author's take on psychics. Enjoyed the characters full believable. Realistic and engrossing storytelling. I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
This was a good little quick read. Full of heat and an interesting twist at the end. I can't wait to dive into the next book to find out what happens next.
It definitely is a romance because it borders on more sex than FBI work or psychic ability, but was still a good FBI psychic story was a happy ending and a little twist
I really enjoyed reading this book.I love stories like this with suspense, a serial killer-crazy by the way but somehow rational at the same time, the fbi, a profiler(Mac)...umm oh and a psychic(Isabelle). Until now I haven't read a book with a psychic to help solve the case. Only saw that on discovery. But I liked it.
And I have to say it was well written, it gave it a plus because you sometimes find books.
I have no complaints about the sex scenes, they were very good. But it was too short for me. I want more. Fortunately, there is going to be another part in Mac and Isabelle's story.
Characters
Isabelle: She's a psychic and Anita's friend. She was planning to stop working as one but her friend's circunstances obligate her to use her ability again. It's painful for her to use her second sight as she calls it. That's why she uses gloves, to not touch people directly. She can see everytime she touchs a person with her bare hands.
Mac:the family's friend. Ben was his trainer.He's a profiler. Almost until the end, he doesn't believe Isabelle's "ability" though he's attracted to her.
Ben: the father. He calls Mac to help in the investigation. He only tolerates Isabelle's presence there for his wife.He doesn't believe in her ability.
Anita: the mother. She wants Isabelle to work in the case too even though her husband doesn't like/believe in Isabelle.
Esme: The girl who was kidnapped
Prentiss: The kidnapper/killer. Crazy man who seems to want to "purify" this world. Purify Esme. At first, he seems to be a religious fanatic. Along the end of the story,you realize it's more like an act. He only wants the popularity, to be recognized.