I really enjoyed this book! I loved the plot and the characters, and especially the relationship between Elise and Claire. The world building was very impressive (love the death oracle powers), but there's so much more I wish would have been touched upon. I hope to see more in this world!

Isabel Sterling does not disappoint! So spooky and atmospheric. And the cover?! That drew me in initially!

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

This was a nice low fantasy sapphic book that I wish we had more of. I do wish there was a bit more depth to the characters but other than that I enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Young Readers Group for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

Have you ever desired a sapphic high school vampire enemies-to-lovers romance? Then good news, I found one for you. At the same time as it leans into the vampire tropes we all know and love, The Coldest Touch creates its own world and story.

One of my favorite things about The Coldest Touch is that Elise, although human, has powers of her own. Not only does it make the story that much more interesting, but it also gets rid of the power imbalance in the human/vampire romance that always gives me the ick. Elise sees death. Every person she touches, she can see and feel how they will die. Understandably, that sucks. Enter: Claire, a vampire sent by the Veil (a sort of paranormal government type thing) to train Elise in her newfound powers. The one rule? Don’t fall in love with her. I’m sure you can guess how that is going to go.

Claire wants nothing more than to get revenge on the vampire who turned her, and completing this mission might just be her way to do it. Elise wants nothing more than to be able to touch her family and friends again and if working with a vampire is the way to do it, well then she’s just going to have to swallow her disgust and do it. Of course, the more time they spend together, the more Elise and Claire start to care for each other.

One detail I enjoyed that you don’t usually see in vampire books is Claire’s age. She was turned at the age of 17 and so her brain is still stuck at 17. Despite being about 100, she still thinks and feels like a 17 year old, making her romance with Elise much much less creepy. Isabel Sterling managed to keep everything compelling about vampire romance and smoothed over everything icky.

The way Elise and Claire slowly go from completely annoyed that they have to spend time together to reluctantly caring to sort of friends to fake making out as a diversion to falling in love gave me so much life. Guys, I love a fake make out. Favorite trope. Nothing can beat it. Both characters have a different journey to admitting their feelings. Elise is having your classic “wait I think I’m queer” moment while Claire is experiencing more of a “this is the second time I’ve fallen in love with an assignment and the first time went really bad and omg my boss is going to kill me” sort of thing. In the end, the moment they finally kiss for real is so beautiful.

I can’t tell you guys this because spoilers but guys. What Claire does at the end will have you sobbing. I cried. Just a little but still. I love Claire Montgomery.

There are two reasons that I knocked a star off my rating. Firstly, Elise can be slightly annoying and often pretty stupid. She’s adorable, don’t get me wrong, but there were some eye rolls on my part. The second reason I can’t go into detail on, but there was a very lazy filling of a plot hole that I hated. Especially because it would have been so easy to fix it in a way that makes sense. It was, quite frankly, lazy writing but it was the only instance of such that I saw.

Overall, this is a compelling, quick, and easy read. The romance is adorable, the plot is complex but easy to follow, the pacing is a little slow but mostly good. I’ve also read Isabel Sterling’s other books, a duology (the first book is These Witches Don’t Burn) which I also enjoyed. I liked The Coldest Touch better, but Isabel Sterling is definitely going to become a regular author for me.

This book was just sadly not for me! I was hoping for something different but it turned out to be something I was not expecting, which is okay and I'm sure someone else would love it!

It’s been a long time since I picked up a paranormal romance. This caught my attention because of the queer MCs and vampires of course.

I’m not gonna lie. This feels like a Twilight fanfic. So many things made me think of it but I’m not mad. I actually loved those books so this made me feel like I was a teen again.

I read this pretty quick, I was dying to know what would happen next. The premise of a death oracle and a vampire teaming up was pretty unique. I don’t think I’ve read many books with death predictions, it’s something I need more of.

Overall I liked the book. I didn’t love it but it was entertaining enough for me. I could see this being a tv show. I recommend it if you’re looking for a quick sapphic vampire novel.

Queer vampire romance??? Yes, please. While not my favorite, The Coldest Touch was so much fun to read. I love the vampire resurgence and had a great time with this supernatural sapphic book.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an arc!

2.5 stars. Unfortunately, this book wasn't for me.

To be honest, I was bored. I was excited because this is a paranormal sapphic romance. I waited a long time to review the book hoping it would grow on me. It seemed like the perfect spooky season read. However, I didn't really care about the characters enough to want to keep reading. I've also learned that I don't enjoy the paranormal age-gap trope.

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for giving me free access to the advanced copy of this book to read.

I loved the story, the world building and meeting the different characters. I felt completely immersed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.

Finally got around to reading this and I feel like it fell flat to me. I needed more emotion more oomph was still a good read though

The Coldest Touch was a unique novel about love, friendship, and relying on those close to you during hardships. Overall, I enjoyed the book and the relationship that Elise developed with her friends and Claire. Usually, I don't like books with age gaps between teenagers and immortal beings; however, Isabel Sterling, including the storyline about Claire's emotional maturity stunted, made the relationship more appropriate.

I did not realize this book was going to be a series and find the continuation of the story unnecessary. If the book was another 20-30 pages, Claire and Elise's storyline would have been complete in one novel.

Overall, I would give the book 3.5 stars.

The Coldest Touch is essentially twilight, but queer. And I am not mad at that at all. I am eagerly awaiting Sterling’s next release.

I really liked the pairing of a death oracle, Elise, with an undead vampire, Claire, and forcing them to work together. I am a sucker for murder mysteries and solving a murder before it's even happened is my cup of tea. Bringing in a paranormal society that is trying to recruit Elise was also an interesting touch to this story. There are a lot of factors at play that I really liked and it was a fun read. I could predict the killer, but still really enjoyed the mystery aspect and the journey to find out who is the killer. And as well as a murder mystery, we have a sapphic romance, which I also really liked! Now, I will admit, the writing isn't the greatest and I had a few issues with it, but I still really enjoyed reading it and would definitely pick it up again for a re-read.

When I tried to read this I just couldn't get into this particular book, unfortunately. It could be that I have grown and my reading tastes have changed because I could see younger readers loving the spooky and mysterious book, but I, unfortunately, couldn't get into it enough to finish.

This was a fairly enjoyable queer romance! I'm here for a vampire romance resurgence, and even more to see it happen with queer leads. It could have been stronger at times, but overall really enjoyable.

I ended up dnfing this one. I was expecting something like her other books but this was very different, some may still like this.

I absolutely loved this book! I felt that the romance was really well balanced with the suspense of what was going on with vampires in the town. WHich I loved the way the vampire lore was done. The side characters were amazing and really, I just loved this book.

I really loved this! It gave me all the vampire teen angst set in an interesting paranormal world. It had Buffy the Vampire meets Twilight vibes with the high school setting, strategizing and training, and hunting of a murderer. This is a dual POV that switches between our two main characters, Elise & Claire.

World-Building
The setting is super interesting. The author lays the groundwork for the work quickly without info dumping. We learn about the Veil, shepherding, vampiric rules, and the importance of the Death Oracle within the first few chapters. That said, we also didn’t get enough details about the paranormal world. Information about Veil, other otherworldly creatures, or even about how the Death Oracle becomes the Death Oracle wasn’t fleshed out as much as I wanted.

Characters
Claire is fascinating. As a 200-yr-old vampire she does sound older. I love that she’s old and has experience but recognizes that her emotions are stuck at 17. She feels keenly and is entirely too emotional, but I like that this aspect of her provides a nice contrast to the vampire stereotype. One thing I didn’t like though was how we kept being told how fierce and powerful she is compared to humans but it didn’t really feel like it. I didn’t get the sense that she could be scary or was a threat to Elyse or her friends. I guess she was a little too noble for me as a vampire.

Elyse is a great character. She’s stubborn at first but only because she’s traumatized by what is happening to her. She pushes people away but still carries deep love for them in her heart. Once she opens up to her friends and starts working with Claire we see more of her personality. I loved seeing her growth throughout the story.

Romance
The romance doesn’t come into play until the later half. At first it seemed like it was going to be play the insta-love card but it’s actually more of an unrequited love trope that slowly builds into a romantic relationship. I loved seeing the progression and it ending was sweet.

Plot
Book was well-paced with some moments where it meandered a bit, usually when either character was moping. They are both melodramatic (not in a bad way) so they get stuck in their head and emotions.

The reveal of the killer or villain was written so well. I was surprised by the twist, and it really amped up the thrill and urgency as the teens work on saving the people they love and their own life. However, the book ends with a lot of unresolved plot lines. I don’t know if the author or pub plans on doing a sequel in the future because the story feels unfinished - it feels more like an episode of a television show.

Overall, I really enjoyed the story and characters. I especially loved that the tone of the story wasn’t cheesy or campy like the way some paranormal stories can be.