Perfect for:
- Anyone looking for a sapphic, spooky Halloween read
- Anyone who misses Edward Cullen (we know you do)
- Anyone who loves putting pieces together to guess plot twists
Eight years of watching The Vampire Diaries should have prepared me for the plot twists in The Coldest Touch. Alas, they did not, so at least I was in for a fun ride!
Told in dual POV, The Coldest Touch follows Elise and Claire. Elise, who’s grieving the death of her brother, is faced with a horrifying problem—she can see how people die if they touch her. Depraved of any touch, she’s fascinated when Claire touches her and she doesn’t crumble under the visions of someone’s death for the first time in months. Claire, meanwhile, is a vampire who is assigned to recruit Elise, the next Death Oracle, to work for the world’s ruling paranormal group “the Veil”. Though initially reluctant to join forces with a vampire, Elise eventually gives in. Together, the two of them work on unravelling the truth about weird happenings and mysterious murders all while teaching Elise to control her powers so she doesn’t have to see deaths she does not want to know about.
Honestly, this simultaneously made me feel young and old. The only vampire I can think of who’s stuck at seventeen forever is Edward Cullen but Claire definitely gave him a run for his money! It’s just fun to see a new iteration of what being stuck at seventeen looks like, especially in the 2020s. Thus, The Coldest Touch definitely has potential to become a fan favourite for anyone who loves paranormal stories. Beyond the existence of vampires in this story, I really liked the concept of a death oracle and how that’s not only a unique power but how others—read: the patriarchy—would try to take advantage of such a power.
Sterling further poses some captivating questions in this story—faced with immortality, what does each day mean to you? I loved how we got this juxtaposition of Claire who’s been stuck as a vampire and just wants to be done with it all with Elise who is just really unprepared for all of this and doesn’t know who or what to trust. It doesn’t get any easier when it comes to light that a killer is stalking the streets and neither Claire nor Elise can figure out what the killer truly wants. The stakes (hah, excuse the pun) are definitely high and it makes for an entirely atmospheric and creepy read.
This was my first book by Sterling but I was immediately enamoured with the way the author ties everything back together. If you’re looking for loose plot threads or plot holes, you’re not going to find them in The Coldest Touch. Everything that might seem fishy to you or that doesn’t quite make sense in the beginning all ties in to something bigger toward the end and offers quite the entrancing plot twists in the process. There is a lot to discuss in less than four hundred pages—not only is Elise still grieving for her brother and dealing with her parents’ different approach to grief, not to mention an ex-boyfriend and broken friendships, she now also has to deal with the responsibility of being a Death Oracle. Meanwhile Claire is not only overwhelmed with her new assignment, angry at her own existence and kinda sorta feeling some type of way for Elise, but she’s also dealing with the baggage from her past and her increasingly weird feelings toward her place of employment. It’s…a lot. Yet the story never feels “overloaded” and instead, the struggles of Claire and Elise complement each other and work well in balance with the overall murder mystery that is heading readers’ way. It’s a remarkable feat to make all of this work so well in such a short amount of time.
With a sapphic romance, a thrilling murder mystery and a refreshing take on vampires and other myths, The Coldest Touch is the queer, spooky, and well-paced story you need on your shelves this December!
The Coldest Touch is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of December 7th 2021.
Will you be picking up The Coldest Touch? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Elise Beaumont is cursed. With every touch, she experiences exactly how her loved ones will die. And after her brother’s death—a death she predicted but was unable to prevent—Elise is desperate to get rid of her terrible gift, no matter the cost.
Claire Montgomery also has a unique relationship with death, mostly because she’s already dead. Technically, anyway. Claire is a vampire, and she’s been assigned by the Veil to help Elise master her rare Death Oracle powers.
At first, Elise is reluctant to work with a vampire, but when she predicts a teacher’s imminent murder, she’s determined to stop the violent death, even if it means sacrificing her own future to secure Claire’s help.
The trouble is, Claire and Elise aren’t the only paranormals in town—a killer is stalking the streets, and Claire can’t seem to shake the pull she feels toward Elise, a romance that could upend the Veil’s mission. But as Elise and Claire grow closer, Elise begins to wonder—can she really trust someone tasked with securing her loyalty? Someone who could so easily kill her? Someone who might hold the key to unraveling her brother’s mysterious death?
