A Touch Morbid (The Siders, #2)

by Leah Clifford

[jeannamichel]

Leah Clifford awed readers with her fresh and original idea in her debut, A Touch Mortal. Her awesome storyline is back for another ride in A Touch Morbid. Gabe is now Fallen, and everyone needs his good-guy personality back. Az is about to Fall without his best friend there to save him from it. Eden is terribly sick, but unsure why since she cannot die (or can she?). Kristin makes a new alliance that turns into an unexpected romance that she is not ready for. Gabe needs to come back from the dark side and save the day, but is he too far gone?

Clifford knows how to get the point across. As much as I should have read A Touch Mortal right before reading this (the last time I read the first one was last year), I understood exactly what happened without needing to. I was caught up to speed in a matter of pages and even without a lot of recap on Clifford’s part. She knows how to keep the plot flowing. She is also awesome, which is shown through her writing, as well as the interview I had done with her last year that you can read HERE.

The cover: they changed her hair. If you remember the first one (pictured), it has Eden on the front cover with purple hair, but in this novel, (SPOILER) she changes it to green. I loved how the cover changed with her hair. I wonder if she is going to change it yet again to match the color of the third novel.

A Touch Morbid was not as good as the first one. But most sequels aren’t. It’s a rarity that the second novel will be better than the first, let alone be as good as it. Still, the plot was fantastic! I will let you take a moment and read the first sentence (written below). Did you read it? Having the first scene of the novel with Gabe and a kitten, knowing that Gabe has Fallen (that knowledge was known at the end of the last book) was pure genius. I was getting squeamish just thinking about that poor kitten. Leah Clifford sets up these images, morbid images, in your head that you can’t free yourself from. It works and I love it!

A Touch Morbid is filled with a few new characters and readers get to know some of the older characters better. Sullivan is the new girl in town. I couldn’t help but see her as a replacement of Libby and how a new character needed to fill the void of Jarrod’s girlfriend. I didn’t really like her that much either, where Libby was filled with energy in A Touch Mortal, Sullivan was only bubbly when she was high. I loved, however, seeing Luke in a new light. In the first book, he was just the bad guy, but getting to know him better was exactly what readers needed.

The ending just ended. I was caught up in the story and I turn the page and there is nothing left. It couldn’t be but it is true. The story just stops. I look forward to the third one, hoping (since it is a trilogy) that it ends much better than this one. A Touch Morbid is a breathtaking sequel that will captivate you with its original and heart stopping plotline.