I love the theme in this book and the philosophical questions asked. It’s what kept me reading. I do feel like the writing was a distraction though. It was overwritten and felt very contrived.

Touch is a novel that makes you think with or without technology. I am old school so I definitely see the future with the technology in use but really don't think we will ever lose touch--a newborn baby, a girlfriend or boyfriend, a spouse, or parent. Sorry, the book was insightful, but not worrisome.

Touch has such an interesting perspective on how we interact with technology and each other. Thought provoking topic and a great read.

There seems to be a pattern in my reading list of books about technology and where it is taking our lives. In Touch, Sloane is a trend forecaster and she is hired to help market to a future where people do not have children. Her long-time partner takes this concept to the extreme and envisions a world where even sex has moved into the virtual world. He goes so far as to spend a majority of the book running around in a Zentai suit. (This is a full body lycra-type body suit. No eye, ear, mouth, or nose holes.) I am not sure if Ms. Maum intends this to be comical, but it was to me. At a certain point, it completely muted any point he might have realistically presented. Perhaps it is the return to her home, but Sloane starts to realize that people are going to crave human touch and seek out opportunities to give and receive this, whether in a paid experience or accidentally (such as on the train). Obviously this clashes with her new employer and partner. This is what the book follows. I thought the story was an interested take on demon technology and how human emotion ends up being what might turn people away from it, despite the speed and ease.

Those of you who scorn our increasing reliance on digital electronics, this is the book for you. Courtney Maum skewers those who constantly "look down" and the sense of disassociation they suffer, and she does it in ways that will make you think and occasionally laugh.

Sloane Jacobsen has made a living by relying on intuition, something that can't be reduced to an app. She is a "trend forecaster," which is not the same as a "trend analyst" or a "trend pioneer." Sloane doesn't start trends or perpetuate them, but she does predict them. Her best-known forecast? Swiping those handheld devices.

For the past decade, Sloane has lived in Paris, a place she ran to for a job shortly after the unexpected death of her father. Her mother and sister, left behind to deal with their grief without her, remain at a distance, both by choice and by necessity. One of the funnier lines in the book comes from Sloane's young niece, who asks if Sloane is an alien because Sloane's sister says she lives on another planet.

Sloane's boyfriend, Roman, is more of a trendsetter. He's lately into Zentai suits (Google them because I cannot do justice to these things), and he believes that society is moving toward a Zentai existence, one in which we need no touching or interpersonal interactions. Roman, you see, believes that we are trending toward a cybersex, not the actual penetrative variety.

Maum spends much of this book debating the ideas over which Sloane ruminates. Is our increasing reliance on digital devices causing a necessary loneliness? If so, how do we combat that? Sloane has returned to New York to work for a company that wants to reduce procreation. Is this where we are headed? Are babies becoming the new analog? Occasionally these discussions feel tedious and repetitive, but Maum will surprise you: some of the more interesting and perceptive analyses occur between Sloane and Anastasia, the voice of her driverless car. Using body temperature and other calculable responses, Anastasia can tell when Sloane is suffering. She's even able to offer a cup of coffee or hot tea. But what she can't provide is meaningful contact: yes, you can touch her sets and dashboard, but you can't make eye contact. You can't roll your eyes at her or wink. And the touching is not a mutual exchange, which is what Sloane needs. She bemoans Roman's inability to touch her when he's in his Zentai suit, but she doesn't get anything beyond that with Anastasia. When someone does touch her, her body reacts instantly, letting her know just how dearly she needs this.

I became a fan of Courtney Maum's when I read I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You, the story of a husband, a wife, and infidelity. Touch also discusses infidelity, but not in a sense of marital cheating. Rather, it's the loss that occurs when the person you love loves someTHING else. How do you react when your lover would rather touch a handheld electronic device than you?

Sloane Jacobsen is the most famous and sought after trends forecaster in the world. Companies across the globe seek Sloane's knowledge about the "next big thing." Sloane may be confident in her work life, but her personal life is a mess. She's not happy with her boyfriend, Roman, and she's basically estranged from her family--all since she fled to Paris shortly after her father's death. But now Sloane is working for six months in New York: she's back near her family, and Roman is accompanying her on the trip.

This book immediately got off on the wrong foot with me as the main character ranted against how society has changed--using peanut allergies and the horror of having to avoid her favorite peanut-filled treats on a plane as proof. As someone with a kid with a peanut allergy (who has met these lovely people on planes in real life), I was already turned off by Sloane. It never really got any better.

Sloane is supposedly a trend forecaster. Her entire life she's been able to "see" things and predict where society is going with certain trends. She is credited with foreseeing the famous "swipe" action. The problem Sloane faces now is that she thinks society is going to turn against the technology it has come to hold so dear: something that doesn't sit well with the technology-focused firm, Mammoth, who has hired her. After all, Mammoth uses a driverless car to transport Sloane while she works for them. They want her to present at a convention that aims to showcase technology for the childless set.

On the surface, this doesn't sound so bad. Consider parts of it satire and a critique on our tech-obsessed society, and it has real promise. Unfortunately, for me, the premise fell flat. My favorite character wound up being Anastasia, the driverless car. Sloane's boyfriend, Roman, wears a Zentai suit (imagine a full-length wet-suit that covers his entire body) and preaches an anti-touch, pro-cybersex agenda. He's strange. That whole part of the plot is weird, albeit one that offers the occasional comic moment. Maybe my sense of humor is not finely developed enough?

The book nails a lot of the corporate world (you can certainly picture Dax, the head of Mammoth, and many of his worker bees). Other parts of the plot are harder to swallow. Sloane waffles. Roman irritates. The dialogue is oddly written at times. Large pieces of the plot didn't really seem necessary. Other pieces were interesting, but felt like reading a research paper (and I found myself skimming).

So while there were certainly funny moments (and it picked up a bit as it neared the end), overall I just found myself cringing. I didn't like the plot, I never warmed up to Sloane, and I wanted to hit Roman and Dax. Maybe I missed a higher meaning to this novel, as it seems to be getting a lot of better reviews, so take mine with a grain of salt. For me, I just didn't enjoy reading it, and that's why (and I debated this a while), I'm going with 2.5 stars.

I received a digital ARC of Touch by Courtney Maum in exchange for an honest review.

To be very honest, if it weren’t for the obligation I felt to write a review, I don’t think I would have finished the book. I would have stopped reading and set the book aside before I reached page 80 (of 306). Since I did feel obligated to finish the book and provide a review, I thought a lot as I finished the book about why I wasn’t into it.

It wasn’t an awful book. The writing is fairly solid (though scattered with a bit too much French to make it a comfortable read). There was nothing offensive, nothing that happened in the first part of the story that directly turned me off.

I finally decided that my problem was with the characters. Sloane (the MC) has an interesting job (this was the bit of premise that made me ask for the ARC in the first place). She is a trend forecaster. It is her job to observe the people and world around her and determine what the world is about to need. What people are about to need.

Sloane starts the story in a long-term relationship with a man named Roman. Their relationship is odd. They have been together long enough that they have grown out of the lovey phase and passed into a phase were they seem to do nothing more than share living arrangements.

The story opens with Sloane moving from France (where she has lived for a decade-ish) to New York. Roman is moving with her. This was the start of my trouble. Their relationship seems to have no love in it. I could not find anything about Roman that I liked. It didn’t seem like Sloane could either. Given that the relationship was effectively already over, I didn’t understand them moving to New York together. That move would be a logical ending point for a relationship that had really been over for some time.

Since I didn’t like Roman, and couldn’t see that Sloane did, either, this impacted my view of Sloane. There was no explanation for why they were still together. They do not have children (in fact, both pledge to never want them), they do not share pets, they don’t seem to share any fondness for each other. It seemed to me that Sloane was choosing to be unhappy. It made me really not like her.

So I was stuck reading about a character that I didn’t like, who was in a bad relationship with another character that I really didn’t like. And nothing was happening.

For more than half of the story, I had no idea what Sloane wanted. Yes, people sometimes don’t know what they want, and the story, the drama, is in them figuring it out. Sloane didn’t seem to be moving toward figuring it out. Despite her job as a trend forecaster (which relied on her having premonitions, which was another issue for me), Sloane spent the first half of the book thinking about her past.

The bigger problem was that I (as the reader) didn’t know what I should want for Sloane. It wasn’t until page 80-ish that I was given a glimmer of what Sloane should be striving for. After that point, the story got a bit better. Things were finally happening, although I thought most of the plot was predictable.

Overall, I just didn’t enjoy this book that much. I did not connect with the characters, the plot had no surprises for me, and I just was not drawn into the world of the story.

Where do I start? While Maum's debut was weakened by her struggles with a male narrator, Touch knocks it out of the park! So creative, beyond smart, perfect satire. Never wanted it to end and can't wait for others to read the magic. This book is going to be huge.

The theme of this book was very interesting. In a world where technology has become everyone's focus, Sloane (a predictor of trends) finds herself longing for real connections with other people. And when she dares to predict this trend to her employer, who runs a tech company and only wants to sell more tech gadgets, she is put in a indefensible situation where she has to decide if she can make a stand. The characterization of Sloane was believable, but I found Roman, her longstanding boyfriend, to be less believable. I would recommend this book for the discussion it could engender. Book clubs could have fun with this one.

I really enjoyed this book! It's so timely because myself & many people I know are starting to get technology fatigue. This novel takes an almost satirical look by having a character that wears a Zentai suit everywhere & foresees a future of nonpenetrative sex. Yikes! But, I really loved Sloane, the main character. She evolves from hip, anti-breeding, trend forecaster to someone who realizes the "in-personism" is what's really important. I highly recommend this book for the super contemporary plot & the fun characters.

I just could not get into the world of this book--the premise is interesting enough, but the voice was cold and off-putting.

What a fantastic read!! If you are looking for your next book club selection, look no further than Touch!!

Throughout this novel we follow Sloane Jacobsen, a successful trend forecaster who upon taking a new job as a consultant, realizes that the next trend could very well be people wanting more human interaction and less technology!! As shocking as those revelations seem to Sloane, her personal discoveries, such as her true feeling for her boyfriend and the need to reconnect with her family seem to mesh perfectly with her forecasted trend!

This compelling novel was entertaining, but at the same time thought provoking!! In a world where we depend so heavily on technology, the thought of unplugging is terrifying, but at the same time something I think of DAILY!!!! Getting back to good ol' human emotions and human touch-- less sharing via social media and more sharing face to face is something everyone can relate to. I found Sloane's journey captivating and most importantly, inspiring! In saying that, I truly wouldn't mind having an M-car like Anastasia ;) Courtney Maum has created a fresh and original storyline that is both brilliant and witty! Touch is a 5 star read that I highly recommend everyone put at the top of their TBR list!!