No one should smile before the sun rises. On the happiness scale, content is about as good as you can get to in these dark hours. I wake early most every morning because content works for me. Since becoming the father of two, this tiny portion of the day is all the me-time I have left. If people were honest, which they mostly aren’t, I think they would admit to wanting more time alone. It’s 5:47 AM and I’m sitting quietly in the kitchen, where there are no responsibilities, no guilt, and no unmet expectations. Simply silence. –Touched Up, Leo DuFresne
This is a hard story to review, because a large part of it hinges on blackmail and I don’t want to give away the mystery by summarizing. So here are some impressions, to stay away from spoilers.
Our protagonist, Mitch, doesn’t start out all that likeable, but stick with the bro ego a little bit, and he’ll grow on you. Through the plot’s twists and turns, some of the bluntness stopped seeming self-centered and he started to just narrative in a completely frank, if occasionally angry, voice.
I loved the angry sarcasm from the teenage daughter, partly because her character added to the plot and to Mitch’s development, and partly because teenagers in fiction aren’t always well done.
Touched Up refers to small changes made to improve something, whether it’s a photo that Mitch takes, or more of a metaphor about improving his relationships and his driven life.
I received a copy of this book from Whirlwind Virtual Book Tours for review.
