Review of Touched by Death by Kelly Hashway

Description

Jodi Marshall isn’t sure how she went from normal teenager to walking disaster. One minute she’s in her junior year of high school, spending time with her amazing boyfriend and her best friend. The next she’s being stalked by some guy no one seems to know.

After the stranger, Alex, reveals himself, Jodi learns he’s not a normal teenager and neither is she. With a kiss that kills and a touch that brings the dead back to life, Jodi discovers she’s part of a branch of necromancers born under the 13th sign of the zodiac, Ophiuchus. A branch of necromancers that are descendents of Medusa. A branch of necromancers with poisoned blood writhing in their veins.

Jodi’s deadly to the living and even more deadly to the deceased. She has to leave her old, normal life behind before she hurts the people she loves. As if that isn’t difficult enough, Jodi discovers she’s the chosen one who has to save the rest of her kind from perishing at the hands of Hades. If she can’t figure out how to control her power, history will repeat itself, and her race will become extinct.

Review

I was thrilled to get this in the mail!  I thought it looked really good and was pretty excited to read it.  It turned out to be even better than I expected.  The story was unique and captivating.

The only thing I disliked, was a little lack of character development.  There was so much more in them that could have been explored, especially her best friend and her first real boyfriend.  That was the only thing I didn't like!  Everything else about this book was surprising and wonderful.

I liked Jodi and her strength to stick by those she loved.  It wasn't until she realized the danger she was truly putting her loved ones in that she let Alex into her world.

Alex..Gah.  I wish I had an Alex to look out for me and give me strength in my times of need.  He might just be my favorite character.

I loved this book so much that I am stoked to hear Stalked by Death is coming out in July next year!  I hope it lives up to this one.  This book deserves five stars for being such a stellar debut for Kelly Hashway:) 

Expected publication date is January 2013

Q and A with Kelly Hashway

Favorite Genre: 

paranormal

Favorite Book: 

Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse

Favorite Color: 

Green

About your book: 

Touch of Death is the story of Jodi Marshall, a girl who discovers she's a descendant of Medusa and part of a group of necromancers called the Ophi. She'll have to embrace her new powers because she's the Chosen One who has to save the entire Ophi race from perishing at the hands of Hades.

Release date: 

January 15, 2013

Fun facts about you: 

I'm a runner, a mother to a five-year-old little girl, and I can say the alphabet faster backwards than forwards.

What upcoming projects are you working on: 

Love All is the first book in the Game. Set. Match. Heartbreak novella series releasing through Swoon Romance. Into the Fire is the first book in the Birth of the Phoenix series releasing through Month9Books, and The Monster Within, about a girl who is brought back from the dead only to become the victim in a deadly game of revenge between a group of witches, releases through Spencer Hill Press.

Release date for them:

LOVE ALL (Game. Set. Match. Heartbreak series book 1), Swoon Romance, December 2012

TOUCH OF DEATH, Spencer Hill Press, January 15, 2013 

STALKED BY DEATH, Spencer Hill Press, July 23, 2013

THE MONSTER WITHIN, Spencer Hill Press, April 2014

THE DARKNESS WITHIN, Spencer Hill Press, TBA

INTO THE FIRE (Birth of the Phoenix series book 1), Month9Books, Spring 2014

CURSE OF THE GRANVILLE FORTUNE, Month9Books, 2016

Have you written anything else and if so what: 

I have a YA sci-fi/fantasy that is currently in the hands of my agent.

A few quotes from Touch of Death:

I wished I had something better to say. Something that would actually make a difference. But what did you say to the guy you kissed, killed, and turned into a zombie? Hallmark didn’t make a greeting card for that, and I was at a loss.  

My brain was wired with words straight out of the dictionary for the dead.    

“Crazy as in, ‘Gee, that Jodi has a really weird sense of humor,’ or crazy as in ‘Jodi needs to be locked up in a padded cell’?” 

Whoever said the living dead were mindless was dead wrong.