Touch Me Not by Apryl Baker Review!

 

A past tragedy has left Lily Holmes burdened with a devastating secret…

Since the death of her twin sister, Lily can’t bear to be touched. Not accidentally, not casually…and certainly not intimately. This makes it impossible for her to confess to her best friend Adam Roberts that she’s in love with him. She can’t give him the sort of relationship he needs, so she watches in silence while he plans his wedding with someone else.

Enter Nikoli Kinkaid, the campus manwhore…

Nikoli is a self-proclaimed connoisseur of women, and he wants to add Lily to his list of conquests, but she wants nothing to do with him—until he makes her an offer she can’t refuse. He’ll teach her to enjoy human contact again, giving her a chance to win over Adam, while Nikoli uses all his considerable charm to seduce her.

But Lily raises the stakes…

Lily loves cars. Her late father was a racer, and she grew up under the hood of a car and on the racetrack. Nikoli has a limited edition 1970 Plymouth Barracuda she covets, so she informs him the terms of their deal also require he not sleep with anyone for six months. If he does, she’ll win the car. If she surrenders and ends up in his bed, his beloved ’Cuda is his to keep.

In an intricate dance of control and surrender, a reluctant friendship becomes something more. Lily begins to crave things she never believed she could, and Nikoli realizes there is more at stake than his reputation.

If Lily overcomes her phobia, will she crave Adam’s touch as she’s starting to crave Nikoli’s? Or will she only find pleasure from the touch of a semi-reformed manwhore? 

                Right off the bat we were introduced to Nikoli Kincaid and you immediately knew he was a manwhore. He was the player of all players, and I could already tell that he was going to make this read a lot more interesting. Also, I instantly fell half in love with him once it was stated that he had a Russian accent. My god, I melted just thinking about this sexy as sin guy with a Russian accent. However, the way he acted and treated women in the beginning made me want to punch him. Of course, Lily was a big help in changing that. I LOVE the fact that almost immediately Nikoli got protective of Lily. I squealed when he got mad when he thought someone hurt her. As the book progressed, he got even more protective and his feelings for her started to show through. He helped Lily through her phobia little by little and I loved him for that. Once he started spending time with her, he started opening up and I got to see a side of him that made me fall in love with him. He was so sweet and caring towards Lily that I couldn't help it.

                I also immediately empathized and connected with Lily. Lily was a spitfire, and she was hilarious. She was also quiet and shy just like me, and she was in love with a man she couldn't have. I immediately wanted to give her a hug and be her best friend. She was so similar to me that it made putting myself in her shoes so much easier. Her phobia of being touched also made the story unique and interesting. I've never read a book featuring a girl with such a phobia, and the fact that she has to deal with a manwhore who craves touch makes for an exciting plot guaranteed to take you on a fun ride. The way she handled Nikoli on multiple occasions had me rolling. Then we have the many football players and men around campus who Lily tutored prepared to beat Nikoli if he hurt her. Some of you may know this, but I go crazy (in a good way) over guys getting protective of a girl. The fact that so many tough guys were protective of Lily really melted my heart and had me excited to see what interesting plot could come of it. I could go on for hours talking about Lily and how awesome she is, but you will have to find that out for yourselves.

                Not only did the characters grab my heart and attention, but the plot did too. The things Lily had to deal with and the shit she had to go through really made my heart hurt. I was so happy Nikoli was there for her. There was never a lack of interest in the plot for me. If I wasn't laughing at Nikoli and Lily's antics then I was getting mad on Lily's behalf or marveling at how electric Nikoli and Lily’s chemistry was. I was never bored for a second. Little fascinating tidbits about both of them were sprinkled throughout the novel and I loved it. It made me look forward to turning each page even more. The things that were revealed about Nikoli was enough to make me blush and have to fan myself. Damn, that boy was interesting. I have so many things I love about this book, but I have to be vague or I'm going to spoil it all! Ugh, the struggles of fangirling and writing a review at the same time.

                Anyway, the atmosphere between Nikoli and Lily was so explosive and hot that they burned up the pages. Every scene in the book make my heart flutter because they were so perfect and explosive together. Then we have the scenes that tore at my heart and made a lump in my throat form. I can't even begin to tell you how much these characters affected me. I got so attached and when they got hurt, I felt like it was my own heart hurting. I wanted to cry and scream and rage a lot during this book, and that's how I knew that it would become an all-time favorite of mine. I love how Baker can take these characters, make them so relatable and loving that you cannot help but get attached. AND THAT TWIST AT THE END. MY GOD, BAKER, ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME? I'm telling you that twist at the end had me shaking, literally. I felt my heart drop and everything went numb. I can't tell you how scared I was for Lily. However, the ending had my heart overflowing with joy, and I almost dissolved into tears and laughter. Touch Me Not was a wild ride and I loved every scorching, painful, and exhilarating second of it. I wish I could tell you every little thing I loved about this book, but that would spoil so much and this book deserves to catch all of its unsuspecting readers by surprise.

                If I haven't convinced you that you need this book in your life then I don't know what I could possibly say to convince you now. However, just know that once I started this book I couldn't stop, but I had to stop around 2:30 AM because I had to get up for class the next day. But honestly, I could have pulled an all-nighter reading this gem and not regretted a thing. If you love a sexy guy bringing a girl out of her shell then you need to read this book. If you love NA books then you need to read this book. If you love complicated characters and a novel full of protective men over one girl then you need to read this book. Basically, you just need to read this book. I give Touch Me Not five out of five stars!