Book Review- Touching the Surface

Early this morning, I finished reading Touching the Surface by Kimberly Sabatini for an Around the World ARC Tour.

From Goodreads:

Experience the afterlife in this lyrical, paranormal debut novel that will send your heart soaring.When Elliot finds herself dead for the third time, she knows she must have messed up, big-time. She doesn’t remember how she landed in the afterlife again, but she knows this is her last chance to get things right.

Elliot just wants to move on, but first she will be forced to face her past and delve into the painful memories she’d rather keep buried. Memories of people she’s hurt, people she’s betrayed…and people she’s killed.

As she pieces together the secrets and mistakes of her past, Elliot must find a way to earn the forgiveness of the person she’s hurt most, and reveal the truth about herself to the two boys she loves…even if it means losing them both forever.

I had been in a little bit of a reading slump so this was a nice change.   I easily fell into reading the story--the words just flowed so well for me and I found myself halfway through the book quicker than I imagined.

I do have to admit that I found myself rolling my eyes a couple of times, especially at the way the word "love" was thrown around. But that didn't diminish from my enjoyment.

  I enjoyed reading this version of the afterlife.  The idea of souls going into humans several times so they can "grow" with a central meeting place between lives was a new one.  I liked reading about the past lives through Delves and thought the triangle between Elliot, Oliver, and Trevor interesting as well as the friendship between Elliot and Julia.

Unfortunately, I think this book is a standalone.  I would love to read about what happens to Elliot next!

I gave this book a rating of 3.5/5.

Touching the Surface will be released on October 30, 2012.

This book fulfills items in the following challenges:
2012 Reading Challenge 150+: 62
2012 ARC Reading Challenge: 50
2012 Debut Author Challenge: 15
2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge: 53
2012 Standalone Reading Challenge: 15

*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.