Review: Touched by You by Elle Wright
Touched by You by Elle Wright Published by Kensington on May 29th 2018
Genres: African American, Contemporary, Contemporary Women, Fiction, Romance
Pages: 320
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Unimaginable luxury. Longstanding wealth. A powerful family empire that controls the town of Wellspring, Michigan. But three heirs are done—with all of it. Now one by one, these very different siblings are seizing control of their lives . . . and daring to find real hometown love. Brooklyn Wells has fought her dominating father, CEO Parker Wells, every step of the way. Instead of taking her appointed place in the boardroom, she's a social worker. Instead of living for diamonds and designer gowns, she helps her community's poor and lost. And now she's falling hard for the troubled newcomer who saved her life—and holds dangerous secrets . . . For Carter Marshall, Wellspring offers a chance to put tragedy behind him and start again. Caring too much is not in the plan—until the irrepressible Brooklyn teases him to live once more . . . and recklessly lose himself in passion. But Parker Wells has a major deal riding on his daughter's arranged marriage. And he won't stop at using Brooklyn and Carter's pasts to drive them apart. As they fight scandal, betrayal, and their own vulnerabilities, will the fire between them burn even hotter—or flame out for good?
We visit the fictional town of Wellspring, Michigan, in Elle Wright’s Touched by You. Brooklyn Wells is the daughter of business tycoon Paker Wells, Sr. Their family empire and their father controls most of the small town with a ruthless hand that has increasingly caused him more enemies than friends. His controlling behavior is a longstanding problem in their family and they’re at the height of their contention when Brooklyn meets Carter Marshall.
Carter is in town to work on a project for the Wells’ family business. A rough two years and an unimaginable loss have caused Carter to shut down and the last thing he’s looking for is a companion yet alone a relationship. The attraction to Brooklyn cannot be denied though and try as he might, being with Brooklyn and living in Wellspring, albeit temporarily, might be exactly what he needs.
Brooklyn is a social worker, choosing not to work in the family business much to her father’s disappointment. Though she seemingly carved out a little piece of authority when it came to her career, Brooklyn lived a very sheltered life and is very dependent on her family’s wealth to live the life that she has accustomed to. Though she is not a fan of her father, and they have had many arguments, she has always tried to make as much as peace as she could. However, he takes it a step too far when he tries to arrange a marriage for her. When she tries to fight back, she realizes just how unsavory and cunning her father really is.
Whew! Parker Sr. was a complete mess. He was deceitful, cold, and thought that his word was bond. No one, not even his children, should dare question him or his authority. He reminded me a bit of Stefano DiMera from Days of Our lives, back when I was prime in my soap opera fandom. While I liked the romance between Brooklyn and Carter, admittedly, I was far more invested in the unscrupulous Parker Sr. and the storyline that rehashes quite a bit of old wounds and unveils some secrets about the small town of Wellspring and its residents.
In Touched by You, the love story was complete in this novel but there were a few cliffhangers regarding the subplots. I’m interested to see how this will all play out once Parker Jr. falls in love and gets his book, Enticed by You. I’ll be keeping an eye out for that release.
Natalya is the author of All The Things I Never Said, a soul-stirring collection of short stories, prose and love letters for the soulful wanderers, the brokenhearted and the hopeless romantics.
You can follow her rantings and occasional sparks of brilliance on Twitter @NatalyaMuncuff.
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