REVIEW: Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley

In Close Enough to Touch by Colleen Oakley, Jubilee Jenkins has known since she was a young girl that she wasn’t like others, given that she was diagnosed as being allergic to people. Yes, skin-to-skin contact could literally kill her. So feeling as the odd person out has been a lifelong curse for Jubilee, who has spent the last decade holed up in her house. But recent changes, namely the death of her estranged mother who was financially supporting her, is forcing her to enter into society to find a job. What Jubilee learns along the way is that putting herself out onto a limb and opening up her narrow world may bring some heartaches, but it just might bring her some much needed joy as well.

‘I like the way he looks at me. Not like I’m an oddity, but like I’m just a normal girl, a woman. And I can’t remember the last time I felt normal.’

A move to New Jersey is the last thing Eric Keegan and his adopted son Aja need so soon after his divorce and the breakdown of his relationship with his daughter Ellie, but that’s what he must do for his financial career. Ever so slowly, Eric tries to get his grieving son to open up. And it isn’t until they meet Jubilee at the local library that Aja shows any sign of communicating. But the bond Aja forms with the sweet and quirky woman gives Eric hope. Not only for his son but for himself as well. Because he feels the magnetic pull to Jubilee every time they’re in the same room. Even finding out about her medical condition doesn’t deter him. Although his family responsibilities and job commitments could make their already complicated relationship that much tougher.

‘I wonder if she knows what I want to do but can’t. If she knows that just being near her steals my breath, that I dream of my hands in her hair, that touching her skin with my bare hand–even just the crease of her elbow–would be the definition of joy.’

A poignant tale that will tear your heart to pieces and then put it back together, Close Enough to Touch proved yet again how masterful a storyteller Colleen Oakley truly is.

‘A boy kissed me.
My lips started tingling.
My tongue swelled to fill my mouth.
My throat closed; I couldn’t breathe.
Everything went black.’

This is one story that will definitely give readers all the feels. I found myself commiserating with our heroine Jubilee in her struggles as well as being amused by her wonderful sense of humor regarding her condition. Oakley was able to find a perfect balance between showcasing the emotions her characters were experiencing and keeping readers entertained with a quick moving plot. And that can be a difficult thing to do in women’s literature, but she handled it well.

Oakley somehow managed to create a unique heroine who was relatable, down to earth, and yet complex at the same time. Needless to say, I liked Jubilee right from the start. In my humble opinion there really wasn’t anything to dislike about her. I found her situation to be understandable and loved watching Jubilee finally find her way back into the world, little by little. And I thought the way Oakley pieced out Jubilee’s childhood memories and the details about her condition really held my interest . There was a nice flow to how things were formatted and laid out that worked perfectly.

Eric was the other main character whose POV we got to follow throughout the story. And I ended up falling for him completely not too far into the book. I think some readers might find him a bit brash in some ways and might not “get” him at first. To me, Eric was just a straight forward, open guy who didn’t use a filter when explaining himself. (Read: blunt) But one thing that was undeniable was his love for his two children: Ellie and Aja. Yes, he made mistakes, but what parent doesn’t? I thought he did the best he could and it seemed like getting Jubilee’s perspective really helped him see things he might never have noticed before. I loved their connection and–even though the ending was quite abrupt and left me wanting a bit more closure–I think Eric and Jubilee’s final scene will be one in which most readers will need to have tissues handy.

It’s difficult to explain just how many emotions I went through reading Close Enough to Touch and how wrapped up in Jubilee and Eric’s lives I became. I can only hope that readers will make that same connection and enjoy this book every bit as much as I did.

Book Info:

Publication: March 7th 2017 | Gallery Books |

From the author of Before I Go comes an unconventional but beautiful love story perfect for fans of the emotional novels of Jodi Picoult and Jojo Moyes.

One time a boy kissed me and I almost died…

And so begins the story of Jubilee Jenkins, a young woman with a rare and debilitating medical condition: she’s allergic to other humans. After a humiliating near-death experience in high school, Jubilee has become a recluse, living the past nine years in the confines of the small town New Jersey house her unaffectionate mother left to her when she ran off with a Long Island businessman. But now, her mother is dead, and without her financial support, Jubilee is forced to leave home and face the world—and the people in it—that she’s been hiding from.

One of those people is Eric Keegan, a man who just moved into town for work. With a daughter from his failed marriage who is no longer speaking to him, and a brilliant, if psychologically troubled, adopted son, Eric’s struggling to figure out how his life got so off-course, and how to be the dad—and man—he wants so desperately to be. Then, one day, he meets a mysterious woman named Jubilee, with a unique condition…

An evocative, poignant, and heartrending exploration of the power and possibilities of the human heart, Close Enough to Touch is perfect for fans of the emotional novels of Jodi Picoult and Jojo Moyes.