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Touch Not the Cat
Blackmailed into marrying Highland woman Catherine McClelland, Nicholas, Duke of Efington, learns of the terrible ancient curse that threatens her life and seeks to break the curse while learning about the legend at its origins. Original.
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 1998
58 people want to read
About the author
Tracy Fobes
13 books27 followersTracy Fobes writes historical, contemporary and paranormal romance; as well as in the horror/thriller genres. She’s been writing fiction in various genres for twenty years and has won numerous awards for her writing.
Tracy also writes contemporary and historical erotic romance novels under the pen name Georgina Sand.
Tracy also writes contemporary and historical erotic romance novels under the pen name Georgina Sand.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 26, 2011
Oh my goodness. This is the best-worst historical paranormal romance ever written. It's absurd and ridiculous and repeats phrases such as "eyelashes spiked with tears" (I counted that one four times). The best part is that the strapping lad on the front cover looks JUST LIKE Steve Carell.
April 15, 2025
When the hero first lays eyes on the heroine he imagines her to be a break in the routine of his life- a spark of adventure. She is a stunning creature not only physically but also in her manner of walking and her overall confidence which practically pours from her making every other woman in the room disappear. Too bad he makes an ass of himself, pushing too hard and allowing his pride and ego to put a bad opinion of him in her head.
The heroine hates society life and fears discovery of her curse. She doesn't imagine ever seeing the hero again after how he behaved but unbeknownst to her, he made a late-night visit to the townhouse before she and her father left London. His intention was to apologize for his behavior but he ended up dooming them both. See he possesses a birth mark that proves he's a bastard and not only that but the son of the family who can break her curse. So, in his dying breathe, the heroine's father proclaims the Earl is to be her husband because he's blackmailed him. She is at first horrified by guilt and then by fury. How dare her father, the man who has granted her so much freedom in her life, suddenly betray her like this? So she makes the trip to London to confront the hero and break off their engagement. The hero was beyond furious when he heard the news his mother has given him away like a virgin bride but the fear of damaging her reputation makes him accept his fate. But he refuses to acknowledge his bride. Marry her he will but she'll receive none of his money or affections.... And so, a whole winter season passes while he tries to decide to annul their marriage or not and the deciding factor is his lust. He can't stop thinking about her and it seems she has bewitched him. So, he travels to Scotland to solidify their marriage. The heroine is angry to imagine this stranger as owner of her house and she does everything she can to cause him discomfort and inconvenience. He is an arrogant man who fancies himself Laird of the castle but she is still the leader of her clan and she will save them. They fight at each other like cats and dogs, always quick and eager to think the worst of the other. But the hero is in for the shock of his life when he discovers his wife hold the mystical leopard creature inside her. And the heroine is stunned by the notion her husband will not turn her to the mob as expected but instead shows concern and interest in keeping her safe. He follows her when she can't within the shift and cares for her afterwards, cleaning her up and carrying her back to the house. But it seems that with every advancement in their relationship there is something or someone who drives a wedge between them once more. The heroine's insecurities about other women, a little tart who looks to compromise her husband and worst of all, someone is trying to frame the heroine's cat form for the attacks on animals and people. Now the hero must put his loyalty to the test and believe the best of his wife, knowing that without him she'll never survive.
It was a nice book, nothing particularly special but it possesses an intriguing premise of having the female lead be the shifter. It also was pleasing to have the hero discover the truth of the heroine's curse fairly eagerly on as it became a challenge of trust and protection rather than love and betrayal like most novels are want to do. The constant arguing between the hero and heroine could be quite funny at times and the hero even admitted to enjoying his wife's anger more than her fake smile. That didn't stop him from raging every time he imagines a betrayal of some sort and it seems he was very quick - almost quicker than the heroine- to jump to the wrong conclusions. Granted the heroine's issues were real-imagine witnessing your husband in multiple compromising situations even if most of them were set ups to cause problems for their marriage. He was still almost always in the presence of another women and when there is tension between him and his new wife it's understandable for her to doubt him. Honestly, I could say I didn't love or hate this book but rather it placed sort of in the middle-where I won't have much interest in reading it again but I will remember the grimalkin for some time. If only for the hilarious cover of horrible 90's CGI.s book.
The heroine hates society life and fears discovery of her curse. She doesn't imagine ever seeing the hero again after how he behaved but unbeknownst to her, he made a late-night visit to the townhouse before she and her father left London. His intention was to apologize for his behavior but he ended up dooming them both. See he possesses a birth mark that proves he's a bastard and not only that but the son of the family who can break her curse. So, in his dying breathe, the heroine's father proclaims the Earl is to be her husband because he's blackmailed him. She is at first horrified by guilt and then by fury. How dare her father, the man who has granted her so much freedom in her life, suddenly betray her like this? So she makes the trip to London to confront the hero and break off their engagement. The hero was beyond furious when he heard the news his mother has given him away like a virgin bride but the fear of damaging her reputation makes him accept his fate. But he refuses to acknowledge his bride. Marry her he will but she'll receive none of his money or affections.... And so, a whole winter season passes while he tries to decide to annul their marriage or not and the deciding factor is his lust. He can't stop thinking about her and it seems she has bewitched him. So, he travels to Scotland to solidify their marriage. The heroine is angry to imagine this stranger as owner of her house and she does everything she can to cause him discomfort and inconvenience. He is an arrogant man who fancies himself Laird of the castle but she is still the leader of her clan and she will save them. They fight at each other like cats and dogs, always quick and eager to think the worst of the other. But the hero is in for the shock of his life when he discovers his wife hold the mystical leopard creature inside her. And the heroine is stunned by the notion her husband will not turn her to the mob as expected but instead shows concern and interest in keeping her safe. He follows her when she can't within the shift and cares for her afterwards, cleaning her up and carrying her back to the house. But it seems that with every advancement in their relationship there is something or someone who drives a wedge between them once more. The heroine's insecurities about other women, a little tart who looks to compromise her husband and worst of all, someone is trying to frame the heroine's cat form for the attacks on animals and people. Now the hero must put his loyalty to the test and believe the best of his wife, knowing that without him she'll never survive.
It was a nice book, nothing particularly special but it possesses an intriguing premise of having the female lead be the shifter. It also was pleasing to have the hero discover the truth of the heroine's curse fairly eagerly on as it became a challenge of trust and protection rather than love and betrayal like most novels are want to do. The constant arguing between the hero and heroine could be quite funny at times and the hero even admitted to enjoying his wife's anger more than her fake smile. That didn't stop him from raging every time he imagines a betrayal of some sort and it seems he was very quick - almost quicker than the heroine- to jump to the wrong conclusions. Granted the heroine's issues were real-imagine witnessing your husband in multiple compromising situations even if most of them were set ups to cause problems for their marriage. He was still almost always in the presence of another women and when there is tension between him and his new wife it's understandable for her to doubt him. Honestly, I could say I didn't love or hate this book but rather it placed sort of in the middle-where I won't have much interest in reading it again but I will remember the grimalkin for some time. If only for the hilarious cover of horrible 90's CGI.s book.
May 28, 2023
Dying Scottish laird blackmails bastard Duke into marrying his beautiful, spirited daughter who (occasionally) turns into a wildcat. My first paranormal historical romance. I thought it would be silly. It was not. Catherine's curse added an unexpected layer of complexity and even sweetness to this "forced marriage/thwarted desire" love story.
March 6, 2020
This book was readable and the author's take on lycanthropy was good.
My problem with the book is that it wasn't until you get halfway through that anything really starts to happen. My second issue with this book is that there were way too many "come here, come here, come, here, get away, get away, get away" scenarios. Catherine and Nicholas get close, then one or the other does something to anger the other one and this goes on for half the book with nothing being resolved. Halfway through the book, when Nick's mom, best friend (Harry) and his wife (Clarissa who was the woman Nick was going to marry) enter the picture by paying a visit to Nick and Catherine.
Catherine is what is referred to in the book as a grimalkin and turns into a leopard. This was due to a curse put on the female line of the MacClellands many years ago. When Catherine and Nicholas' visitors arrive the two main characters must keep the knowledge of the grimalkin away from their guests. From here on out the plot is fairly predictable and it's not hard to figure out who the villain is. Still, once the plot gets moving the book becomes quite enjoyable.
If you are out of books to read and someone hands you this book, give it a read. It's not that bad once you get halfway through it. :)
My problem with the book is that it wasn't until you get halfway through that anything really starts to happen. My second issue with this book is that there were way too many "come here, come here, come, here, get away, get away, get away" scenarios. Catherine and Nicholas get close, then one or the other does something to anger the other one and this goes on for half the book with nothing being resolved. Halfway through the book, when Nick's mom, best friend (Harry) and his wife (Clarissa who was the woman Nick was going to marry) enter the picture by paying a visit to Nick and Catherine.
Catherine is what is referred to in the book as a grimalkin and turns into a leopard. This was due to a curse put on the female line of the MacClellands many years ago. When Catherine and Nicholas' visitors arrive the two main characters must keep the knowledge of the grimalkin away from their guests. From here on out the plot is fairly predictable and it's not hard to figure out who the villain is. Still, once the plot gets moving the book becomes quite enjoyable.
If you are out of books to read and someone hands you this book, give it a read. It's not that bad once you get halfway through it. :)
July 6, 2015
The prologue happens in the 1400's and the main part of the story in the early 1800's; but overall, the book has a decidedly medieval feel to it. Most of the story takes place in the Scottish highlands. The descriptions of Scottish life and landscape seemed very authentic.
I really liked that it was the females that carried the curse this time. That was a nice gender twist as it is usually the love of a good woman that relieves the cursed man. So a turn about was very welcome. Both the protagonists did a slow dance of falling in love so there was lots of head butting and building steam.
The middle of the book drug a bit but then unexpected house guests brought a great deal more tension. The end of the book showed influence of The Beauty and the Beast Disney movie. I thought it was a very pleasant read and give it a thumbs up. 3.8 stars. A stand alone book
I really liked that it was the females that carried the curse this time. That was a nice gender twist as it is usually the love of a good woman that relieves the cursed man. So a turn about was very welcome. Both the protagonists did a slow dance of falling in love so there was lots of head butting and building steam.
The middle of the book drug a bit but then unexpected house guests brought a great deal more tension. The end of the book showed influence of The Beauty and the Beast Disney movie. I thought it was a very pleasant read and give it a thumbs up. 3.8 stars. A stand alone book
May 21, 2016
I read this book for my book club pick of the month. This months theme was "smutty book club judges books by their covers". While this book does have an awesomely bad first cover (it has been recovered) it was a great story. I loved the by play between the two main characters. It has the perfect amount of paranormal and regency mix.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews