Ok. I liked A Touch Mortal A LOT, but A Touch Morbid - I'm in freaking love. Love. love. love. The first book was quite a bit of world building, so in A Touch Morbid the world was pretty established so the characters were really the focus here. It's not just Eden that we get to know here - but Az, Jarrod, Kristen and even Luke a little bit more. The point of view shifts often but Leah Clifford balanced all these different angles of the story so perfectly. Every part of this story, every character, every chapter, every word word flowed together so wonderfully to really bring the Sider world to life (ha. I would say that I didn't intend that pun, but I think I kind of did).
All these characters were interesting to me before, but now I adore every single one of them. Kristen and Luke especially. Kristen is one of my favorite characters ever and I loved her storyline. I wish there was more of it (she could probably have her own book). She's so insane and I shouldn't love her insanity, but I do. My favorite parts were between her and Luke. And Luke, dang you Leah, I'm smitten. I love that he's evil and he has strawberry lemonade in his fridge and he eats Lucky Charms. It also doesn't hurt that he's a rock star.
For most of the book I felt upside down. I like to think that heaven = good guys and hell = bad guys. But that's not the case here. EVERYTHING is a shade of grey - not a single character is completely good nor completely evil. It messes with my head...in the best way possible. Even Eden would probably be considered a villain to some, yet she's our heroine and it's impossible not to root for her. It's all about perspective and where you're standing when looking at a situation. And with so many characters getting page time, there are a lot of different ways to look at what goes down.
I also think I mentioned in my review for A Touch Mortal that there isn't a clear over-arching plot. That's true of this book too - it doesn't fall into any stereotype and I love that. It really feels like following these characters around through their lives and trials. In the end I was shocked (even though I probably should have figured it out, I didn't) but it just totally snuck (is snuck a word?) up on me. I was so wrapped up each person that by the end I was definitely falling for things I shouldn't have been falling for.
Anyway, I've posted one of the trailers for A Touch Morbid because it shows one of the sweetest scenes in the book. I just definitely recommend this series. Leah Clifford is an amazing author (with great taste in music!) and her characters are some of my favorites. Plus, I'm pretty sure that ATM fans are some of the coolest people I've ever come across.
