Okay, more than a glance.......okay, we scarfed up the whole thing in a matter of days, seduced by the book's movie-ready high concept hook.....a girl deathly allergic to the touch of human skin.
If you ached for John Travolta's poignant plight in 'The Boy In The Plastic Bubble', you'll swoon for this book's heroine, Jubilee Jenkins, a young woman who breaks into ugly rashes and seizes up in anaphylactic shock if she comes in contact with anyone else's skin.....or even accidentally wears someone else's unwashed sweatshirt.
Which, of course, would make any romantic entanglement.....uh.... how can we put it...problematic. Not to mention, lethal.
Forced to live the secluded life of an isolated outcast, she grows up untouched by her mother as her malady grows more severe.......while in high school,a popular boy's kiss almost kills her, a kiss not given out of affection, but nothing more than a cruel prank committed on a dare......
Feeling the tugs on the old ticker yet? Wait.....this book's just getting started. After nine reclusive years, Jubilee's finances run out and she ends up working in the library of her small town in New Jersey. Once there, she crosses paths with Eric, a divorced dad with an adopted little boy, a deeply troubled tyke whose hidden grief over the loss of his real parents has led him into bizarre, near suicidal behavior.
The boy, sensing a fellow outcast, quickly bonds with Jubilee.....his father, confounded by this beautifully eccentric woman who never takes off her gloves and flinches at any contact, falls faster for her than if he'd bungee'd off the Grand Canyon.....
And now prepare yourselves, for this is where author Oakley proceeds to mercilessly play your heartstrings like a virtuoso violinist....by the time you reach the final pages, the book will have wrung you out like a dishrag that's been squeezed by the Incredible Hulk in full 'smash' mode. Corny, blatantly obvious, maudlin, manipulative......all that, and we wallowed in every moment of it. If they ever get around to making a movie of this, the theaters would have to replace the tubs of butter popcorn with piled high boxes of Kleenex.....
We've done our due diligence here and given you fair warning. If you pick up "Close Enough To Touch", the BQ takes no responsibility if you fall its under spell. And we first thought we'd be allergic to this book's mixture of seemingly star-crossed romance, pathos and surprising amounts of witty humor......foolish us. 5 stars, an official FIND OF FINDS (*****)
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