A Healing Touch by: Melissa A. Hanson

A Healing Touch (Riverview Series #3)
Author: Melissa A. Hanson
Published: March 2024
Publisher: Melissa A. Hanson
Pages: 290
Format: ARC Paperback
Rating: 4/5
Summary:

A hazy night rips away nineteen year old Natasha Wakefield’s innocence. Weeks from the end of what had been a great freshman year in college Natasha no longer feels safe and finds herself withdrawing from her friends and family. Instead of returning home to Riverview for the summer Natasha lands a dream internship at a local architecture firm. She focuses on work and tries to ignore the pain and bury it, but there’s someone watching her unwilling to let her forget.

Twenty-three year old Troy DeLuca is following in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps and has been trained since childhood to take over the family architecture practice. The day Natasha is hired as an intern his well-planned life is beginning to flip upside down. There’s something oddly familiar about the quiet, subdued girl. Painful past memories that he thought he’d buried years before are now flooding his present.

Will Troy’s touch be enough to heal the angry and raw wounds that Natasha carries? Will she continue to shut herself off and run? Or will she find the strength to take her life back?

A story about stolen innocence and the struggles to forget, forgive, and move forward.

Review:

First, I'd like to thanks Melissa A. Hanson for sending me a copy in exchange for a review! This was definitely a story more heavy on the character, their story, and their development than there is romance or spice, but honestly it was such a great read! There are some trigger warnings, so check it out in the author's blurb on the book before going forward.

Right from the beginning, you're diving into Natasha's story and all the weight she's feeling from the past. There's things that happened to her, and it takes her some time to really move past, but let me tell you when Troy comes into the picture, you can see her growth. Natasha goes through a lot, but with his help it was heartwarming. She goes from a woman in her own shell, afraid to be outside of her dorm, where she feels the most secure, to a woman who's not only getting back the life she deserves but also falling in love...

There were some twists that came about in the story and I'll admit it caught me off guard, but I really enjoyed it! I could feel some of the things Natasha was going through wasn't easy, and at times my heart was pounding, my throat swollen and my feels were all over the place. I can't relate to her in the literal aspect, but I have to say it was sad at times to read how she felt, acted, and stuck inside her own shell because of something that shouldn't have happened in the first place.

One thing for me I would have loved to read more of was the interning and work, and of course maybe some more steam, but the story was more than that, so it held strong! I will say there were moments where Troy has his own gut feelings towards Natasha, the way he can sense something going on about her. He keeps some distance but also the protector in him is right there when she needs it. His sister is also wild but she so helped the story move along too. I can't say much without spoiling, but you'll definitely want to check it out!

Overall, I really enjoyed Natasha and Troy together. Their relationship slowly blossoms while she's dealing with things she shouldn't have gone through. She has a support system that comes through while she learns to move past and forward to be the woman she was before things happened to her. It was a page turner, and I found myself drawn, wondering what was going to happen next! Emotional, heavy, heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once! A must read for sure!

That's all for my review, I hope you enjoyed it! Be sure to check it out and double check those trigger warnings beforehand.

So until the next time, keep reading!

Your Graduated Bookworm!! :)