Project Athena | Reviews

The Touch (Emily)

Author: eclipswe__

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Reviewer: OutOfMyImagination

Hello, and thank you for requesting a review from me, I focused on descriptions and the overall impression of the story.

The Touch follows Stella, a young businesswoman who navigates life and gains a stalker. Stella is keen on seeing him, but she feels puzzled by his wits and how he knows her deepest desires. Slowly Stella becomes obsessed with her stalker in the same way he is obsessed with her.

The book cover looks sensual and meets story genres well, though the line under the title is not visible. I would suggest making it more white, and perhaps the title a bit more visible.

The story description is a bit problematic, it tells too much. It seems like an info dump, and the information the description reveals is not even in the book yet. For example, as readers we know about Stella's father just from the book description, which should be the opposite and we should know more about her father from the story itself. The situation is similar to Stella's achievements and business, we don't see her achieve anything, we know she did from the book description. We don't even know what business she is managing.

The story is descriptive enough, though character descriptions would be useful. The main issue with this story is that we only see Stella, the story has barely any dialogue. It was mentioned she went to meetings and talked to people but we don't see that, it was just mentioned which is not the same. The main scenes are in Stella's house and with a story like this you could branch out more.

The chapters are very short, I read from the prologue until the ninth chapter and there is not much development in the story, as I said main setting is Stella's house, and her brief encounters with her stalker or something the stalker did. I would suggest uncovering what business Stella owns, and adding a few scenes from her meeting so we could see her character more, how she interacts with other people, even with her driver or guards. In the book description, it was mentioned Stella is powerful, try to show that with interactions.

For example, how she talks with her guards since in a way they fail to secure her place, so she should at least scold them. Try to show her life outside of the house and the stalker. Tell the story of her father's cardiac arrest in the story and not in the book description.

The technical side is not too bad, with some commas missing here and there, and additional editing would be useful. Your spelling is good, just remember to capitalize "I" if you decide to edit the book at some point.

I would rate this book two out of five stars, the story feels rushed and underdeveloped though I see how it could work out, it just needs a bit more planning and depth.

I recommend this story to readers who enjoy darker topics, and books with stalker-turned-lover trope.