Midas Touch

by E. Cameron

Jamie has always known what he wants in his life. Being raised and conditioned from a young age, all he has ever known is his father’s expectations and standards of him. To be successful and to live by a peaceful and simple way of things. The one thing he didn't want, is to spend summer with his mother, which in an unexpected turn of events led him to the bay area of San Diego. Far away from home, Jamie begins to learn about the world outside of his own sheltered one when he meets Sam, and how cruel, dark and unfair life really can be when he finds himself being faced with challenges he never thought came with it.

Trigger contains themes of alcohol abuse, drug abuse, sexual abuse, violence, eating disorders and suicide. Not suitable for audiences below the ages of 18.

333 pages, Paperback

Published July 31, 2024

About the author

Born in England, E.Cameron (or just Cameron) lives in the South East with her two cats and her mum. She writes all types of genre from dark romance, to horror, to fantasy.

Reviews

[Morgan Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was emotional. I loved Wade and Lucky. I cant wait to see what else she does with this series

[scarlett · Rating 3 out of 5]

I jumped into "Midas Touch" without any expectations, and it was my first time reading an MM romance. Totally different from my usual reads, but I gave it a shot. Lucky was kind of a downer-yeah, his life sucks, but he didn't need to be a jerk all the time. Despite that, I liked seeing him connect with other characters. I just wanted more between him and Wade. What really bothered me, though, was all the cheating. I hated that the main character thought it was okay for him but not for anyone else. If you're into slow-burn romances and are just starting to dip your toes into spicier stuff, this one's worth checking out.
🌶️🌶️🌶️

[what_emmareadnext · Rating 4 out of 5]

I jumped into this book without expectations and I absolutely ✨LOVED IT ✨

I was enchanted by Lucky and Wade. The author writes the characters so well, demonstrating their complex personalities and I ate up every on page moment.

I really enjoyed the authors eloquent style of writing. Are there some errors? Yes. Do they detract from the quality of the writing? No. This is self-published and honestly outstanding.

I look forward to the next in the series and reading more by this author.

Thankyou for gifting me an ARC, apologies for my slow reading 🤣🫶🏻

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read a lot of MM romance but I really enjoyed this one! The writing was beautiful and the characters even more so. I felt very connected to the storyline and found myself not wanting it to end. I look forward to more from this author!

[Jordan Peña · Rating 4 out of 5]

✨ "Midas Touch" by E. Cameron ✨

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆ (3.5/5)

E. Cameron’s Midas Touch is an enchanting dive into a world of secrets, intrigue, and rich relationships. The characters are complex and layered, each harboring their own hidden truths. The eloquent writing style drew me in, though I found some parts a bit confusing—perhaps a reflection of my own reading pace rather than the author’s skill.

As a newcomer to MM romances, I was captivated by Lucky and Wade, though I wished for more page time with them. The plot twists are absolutely unreal, keeping me hooked from start to finish! The relationship between Maya and Wade is particularly poignant, illustrating the exhausting impact of loving someone grappling with addiction.

I’m eagerly anticipating the next book, hoping to delve deeper into Lucky and Wade’s evolving relationship and to explore more of Lukas’s connection with Lucky and their family. If you’re into intricate relationships and jaw-dropping twists, add Midas Touch to your TBR!
📖💖

[Books_withtish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Woah a lot happened in this book.. Lucky meets Wade when he moves to Australia to try and reconcile with his mother,, at first I thought he was a teenager but you find out he is 24 and has been with her girlfriend for 10 years.. his mum and dad treat him like he a child and I’m glad he starts to kind of get back bone towards them both until the end which is a shock and I was so angry he agreed to do it! Wade is only 18 and is a little bit lost in drugs and fighting.. but they seem drawn together when they meet at a beach party and their story starts… a lot happens between them! More bad than good so I’m hoping for a redemption for them both in book 2 I hope to see them as a couple!!! As we only got a snippet in this first book!! A good read for E.Cameron debut novel… thankyou kindly for the Arc… look forward to your next book.

[FireSerene Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice!

The immersive storytelling with everything explained clearly made the experience captivating. I appreciated that every character was more dark than grey. The characters were unhinged, each hiding their own secrets, which made it intriguing to see who had the worst skeletons in their closet. The ending was shocking.

[Lizz_reads._ · Rating 5 out of 5]

OH MY GOD!!! THIS BOOK RIGHT HERE IS ABSOLUTELY AMAZING !!😩❤️ RUN !!! Read this book is incredible!🥺🫶🏻🫶🏻I cried over this book like what !? This story is such an emotional rollercoaster 😭😭I’m absolutely in love with Wade and Lucky like omg!! 😍these two are meant for each other and when I read the second half of the book my jaw literally dropped like how could this happened to my bbys 🥺🥺 they literally deserve the world. The ending oh god it has me on edge. I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THEIR STORY !!! LIKE RN !! PLSSS GIVE IT TO ME !! PLSS.🛐🛐😫 Sooo excited to read the second book !! I can’t wait!! 😩❤️

[__boundbybook__ 🥀Shaunie🥀 · Rating 5 out of 5]

~ 𝓘 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓼𝓱𝓸𝔀 𝓱𝓲𝓶 𝓱𝓸𝔀 𝓶𝓪𝓷𝔂 𝓼𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓮𝓼 𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓽𝓽𝔂 𝓵𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓵𝓮 𝓶𝓸𝓾𝓽𝓱 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓶𝓪𝓴𝓮.

This is a more mentally dark book so make sure to check out the TW!

I loved the way the story went it was like you were really inside of the head of the MMC and everything was explained so well!
The MMC was also definitely not a good guy and didn’t care about that at all and i really like this aspect of it since you don’t find it like this is often!

It has
~ Broken family
~ Troubled life
~ MM romance
~ Both in straight relationships
~ Secrets

🥀𝔐𝔶 𝔣𝔞𝔳𝔬𝔯𝔦𝔱𝔢 𝔮𝔲𝔬𝔱𝔢🥀
“𝒯𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓂𝑒 𝒾𝒻 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝑜𝑜, 𝒾𝒻 𝐼 𝒸𝒶𝓂𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓌𝒶𝓎, 𝓉𝑜 𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓃𝑜𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓌𝒶𝓃𝓉 𝓂𝑒 𝓉𝑜 𝑔𝑜. 𝐼’𝓁𝓁 𝑔𝑜. 𝐼 𝒿𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝐼 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓃𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝓈𝓉𝑜𝓅 𝑔𝑜𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝓃 𝒸𝒾𝓇𝒸𝓁𝑒𝓈 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓊𝓃𝓉𝒾𝓁 𝐼 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝓈𝒾𝒸𝓀 𝑜𝒻 𝓂𝓎𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝒹𝑜𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝑜.”

[Mia Lockhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arc review
First thank you so much for letting me read your masterpiece which I enjoyed so much and loved everything of cause I couldn’t put this book down at all.

I highly recommend others to read the triggers before reading this book and I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did and happy release day.
I felt really connected with both Lucky and Wade I hope to see more of them.
Favorite quote:
“I could show him how many shapes his pretty little mouth could make”

~Tropes~
🖤 MM Romance
🖤 Broken Families
🖤 Lies and Secrets
🖤 Dark
🖤 Big reveal in the end
🖤 Cliffhanger
🖤 Dark Characters

[Heather. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lucky has to go spend time in Australia with his mother. While hanging out at the beach he meets Wade and Maya, who try and become friends with him. While he doesn't want to make friends, he doesn't want to be at this mother's house either, so he ends up hanging out with them. Lucky keeps pushing them away as his feelings for Wade grow. Leading to secrets, lies, and even betrayal.

[BFXBOOKS · Rating 4 out of 5]

I COULD SHOW HIM HOW MANY SHAPES HIS PRETTY LITTLE MOUTH COULD MAKE

I really liked this book because the story is more mentally dark than just dark romance so I liked this change.

The story is about Lucky who moved with his younger brother Lukas from Italy to Australia to spent the vacation with their mother and her new husband and son. Lucky has a girlfriend back in Italy named Evie and they have been together for a really long time but Lucky doesn’t have loving feelings for her nor has he had the feeling to have sex with her. In Australia Lucky meets Wade and Maya who is the girlfriend from Wade they have been dating for a long time to and have their own problems in their relationship. Wade has a sister Wren who becomes a friend of Lucky so he meets Wade a lot. The relationship between Lucky and Wade starts as enemies because Wade doesn’t like the fact that Lucky is around Wren a lot. There is a lot of bickering and tension between the two and the moment both of them give in there happen a lot of things that keep them apart.

The story ends on a cliffhanger but I recommend giving this book a chance. Please check the trigger warnings before reading.

[Priri.Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you E. Cameron for the Arc.
This is a dark book so please check the trigger warnings before reading this book.
I went a bit blind into this book and needless to say I was very surprised with the turn of events in this book.
Lucky and Wade had a lot of potential and I hope we get more of them in the sequel.
Every character more dark than grey, and I personally liked it. Lucky was not a good guy and he knew it and the same with Wade. I wanted more of Wade and Lucky though. The characters were unhinged in this book, everyone has skeletons in their closet, it's just the question of who has it worst honestly/
The reveal and cliffhanger at the end had me throwing my phone on the bed and staring into oblivion. I was NOT expecting THAT. I can't wait to read the next book and find out what Lucky does next.
Again I cannot specify this enough, read the TW before you get into this book.
what you can find in this book-
-MM romance
-broken families
-lies and secrets
-dark
-big reveal in the end
-cliffhanger
-dark characters

[liatheloser · Rating 4 out of 5]

𝔐𝔦𝔡𝔞𝔰 𝔗𝔬𝔲𝔠𝔥 𝔟𝔶 𝔈. ℭ𝔞𝔪𝔢𝔯𝔬𝔫 🖤

★★★.75

“𝙃𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙠, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙂𝙤𝙙 𝙙𝙤 𝙄 𝙛𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙞𝙩”

Midas touch is a MM dark romance book following 24 year old Lucky. This book took me a couple days to read and I really enjoyed it! I loved the characters and how their personalities were showed, the more romantic scenes were my favourite (the office scene 😮‍💨). Personally I don’t know if I would count this one as a dark romance but more as a book about mental health HOWEVER apparently the next book in the series gets a lot darker. I do wish there was a bit more romance and the ending did get slightly confusing. Other than these points I really enjoyed it and it was a good read!

“𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒕𝒐𝒐.”

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is quite dark so please check the trigger warnings before reading.

But my gosh authorecameron does it so well! This is my first MM romance and I’m so glad that this was the one to start my journey off. The emotional rollercoaster throughout this book is unlike what I have read before, authorecameron knows how to storytell and I was captivated from the beginning all the way to the end, it was so beautifully written and I love how I knew everything about the MMC and you almost feel you are him with how well it is written. Also it is my first book with a different language in it and I loved that. Having the Italian (which was translated) in there was really refreshing.

authorecameron I can’t wait to see what you have installed💗

[Danielle Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first book by this author and also my first MM book too.. the story is complex and difficult to follow at times following Lucky through his struggles in life from the mundane everyday to making friends and hating his mum.. a vacation in Australia isn't all what it seems.. in walks Wade a troubled, naive young man who finds himself drawn to Lucky in ways that seem to be confusing for the both of them. But it's not meant to be for the time being with Lucky being forced into a more mundane life that he only follows through with due to a sense of duty.. and then enter the ending... a whole clusterf*ck of what the hell and ending on a cliffhanger that literally leaves your jaw on the floor...

[Kari Tidwell (karisbookstodevour) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Utterly intriguing, Lucky easily grabs your attention and keeps you raptly flipping pages as a summer spent with his mother leads him to things he never would have imagined he'd experience, one boy who feels both his enemy and his desire, and impacts his entire future, as fulfilling his obligated role in his family becomes a burden he despises. It's got twists and turns, a darkness that rears up infrequently but hits with a heavy blow, and a cliffhanger that has you highly anticipating the next book in the series.

[Lilith Ivy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucky was very controlling and Wade was young, his parents treated Lucky like a child and he gained a back bone throughout. The characters are beautifully written but would love to know more why Lucky is on or was on medication. Im not a slow burn person as I struggle but I did enjoy the element of the story as a whole, and was written well, would love to also know (next book) more about why Wade struggled and turned to drugs.
🌶🌶🌶

[Kata]

DNF at 15%

Unfortunately this book wasn’t for me. I had a hard time trying to connect with the MMC and couldn’t get into the story.


I received an ARC of this book. Receiving ARC didn’t affect my opinion of the book.

[bookgoddess96 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This books was a wild and emotional ride. I love Wade and Lucky!

[The_book_Keeper04 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great read and I really enjoyed Lucky and Wade’s relationship. I can’t wait for the rest of the series. Check TW before reading

[Bonitas Bookshelf · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF. This was the 2nd MM trope I’ve read and I’ve realised it’s just not for me. That’s the ONLY reason I DNF’d this book.

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lucky and Wade’s journey was so emotional and beautiful. As a newcomer to MM romance, it was a journey of discovery for me, however, I adored the story that Cameron created throughout the pages. I can’t wait to see what happens next in this universe!

[Only 1 more chapter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! Talk about complex characters. Let’s start with his name—Lucky was such an apt choice for him. His childhood traumas haunt him throughout the book, with new ones constantly finding their way into his life. His struggle with his sexuality is a recurring theme, which I believe stems from his upbringing and his inability to fully come to terms with it. The confusion surrounding his parents’ divorce, seen through his eyes, feels raw and relatable. To him, his father could do no wrong because he stayed, while his mother was villainized for leaving what he perceived as a ‘loving’ home.

Lucky’s trip to stay with his mother felt like the worst thing that could happen, and from there, his luck seemed to spiral from bad to worse. Meeting Wade was both a blessing and a curse, even if Lucky didn’t fully realize it. Wade, being so similar yet different, struck every nerve. Their attraction was undeniable throughout the book, and the moments when they lost control felt so relatable, reminiscent of that intense connection with a high school crush you were afraid to go all the way with.

I was saddened to see Wade fade into the background as the story progressed, especially when their love seemed destined to be impossible. The revelation of Lucky’s family secrets was a mind-blowing twist that made me question everything about his family and what was really true. And that cliffhanger? What a perfectly crafted last line—I’m eager to dive into the next part of the story!

[Natasha Chudakova · Rating 3 out of 5]

3⭐️ // 2🌶

The author does an incredible job of deep diving into each character, really bringing them to life. Lucky, the main character, is particularly well-developed, with layers that make him both relatable and complex.The story explores the tension between societal and familial expectations versus personal wants and desires. We watch as Lucky unravels from his predictable life and expected relationship with his girlfriend Evie into a much more passionate and intense relationship with Wade. This newfound passion not only changes the way he views his relationships but also drives him to evolve in his interactions with his family.

The detailed nature of Cameron's writing, while impressive, sometimes becomes overwhelming. The intensity of the story often gets lost in the minute details, making the plot feel scattered at times. Lucky's journey of self-discovery and rebellion against his obligations eventually leads him back to fulfill those duties, but the taste of freedom leaves him restless, resulting in some questionable choices.

In the end, this book offers an interesting exploration of personal versus societal expectations, unfortunately the overly detailed narrative made it challenging to stay fully engaged with the storyline.