Early review: Close enough to touch - Colleen Oakley

Love has no boundaries...

Jubilee Jenkins has a rare condition: she’s allergic to human touch. After a nearly fatal accident, she became reclusive, living in the confines of her home for nine years. But after her mother dies, Jubilee is forced to face the world—and the people in it—that she’s been hiding from.

Jubilee finds safe haven at her local library where she gets a job. It’s there she meets Eric Keegan, a divorced man who recently moved to town with his brilliant, troubled, adopted son. Eric is struggling to figure out how to be the dad—and man—he wants so desperately to be. Jubilee is unlike anyone he has ever met, yet he can't understand why she keeps him at arm's length. So Eric sets out to convince Jubilee to open herself and her heart to everything life can offer, setting into motion the most unlikely love story of the year.

My thoughts:

She is allergic to humans...I know! That sucks beyond words. I felt sorry for her for the things she could not experience and for the experience that made her hide.

Jubilee kissed a boy and almost died. So the next decade she spent hiding in her house. Her mum had married and moved and she was all alone. And she never sees other people, she never goes outside. At least she has the internet so it's not like she does not have contact with others. 

Then we have Eric. He adopted his friend's child after they passed away and he is dealing with the aftermath of that. And his divorce. He is a good guy, albeit a little lost.

They will of course meet. They both and the kid has issues to work through.

Jubilee will of course leave her house and live for once.

But she is still allergic to humans. It just takes one touch and she could die...

It was not that long, but it packed quite the story of loneliness in many forms. Of grief. And about wanting something you can not have.

Conclusion:
I enjoyed it. She is a good writer.

Cover
works

Paperback, 320 pages
Expected publication: July 6th 2017 by Allen & Unwin
Fiction
for review