By Her Touch (Blank Canvas)

This is another of my blogger shame books that fell through the cracks last year, but I was happy to find it in audio for my latest road trip. I really liked the first book, and I was glad to see that the Blank Canvas series is staying in small town Virginia with our philanthropic dermatologist and her tattooed and traumatized patients.

In By Her Touch, our heroine is the doctor herself – Georgette “George” Hadley. George has her own sad tale as a young widow yearning for a child and acting as part-time caretaker for her former in-laws. But she doesn’t let that stop her from being a caring and productive member of her small town. She has a particular soft spot for people who want tattoos removed due to a troubled history or some form of abuse, and she often takes those cases on pro bono. I liked George. Her character is kinda sad and she seems to be going through a crisis period, and I got drawn in to her plight and story quite easily. She was definitely a sympathetic heroine.

Clay Navarro has arrived in Virginia in hiding and needing the doctor’s help. After going undercover with a violent motorcycle gang, Clay barely survived and was left scarred, both physically and mentally. Clay is constantly looking over his shoulder and wondering who he can trust, but he also feels an undeniable pull toward our good doctor. Unfortunately, Clay’s multitude of issues includes low self worth. He doesn’t feel worthy of the doctor or happiness, and he struggles with that throughout the book. I felt really bad for Clay’s character and the wounds he suffered during his undercover assignment. You could tell that he was a good guy, but it took some work to make him believe that again.

This was not an instalove relationship. Clay and George started out with a doctor/patient relationship and, though the attraction was there, neither was quick to act on it. Then when things were getting a little more friendly between the two, their issues put a wall up between them. But I liked the slow building romance as our couple were on friendly terms before things progressed to a more intimate nature.

Of course, the entire time our relationship is building, danger is coming closer. Clay still has went to trial for the work he did as an undercover agent, and he is in hiding from the outlaw gang. While they are actively hunting him, Clay has to worry that he will bring danger into the small town and those he has come to care about. This darker element gave the story an edge that you didn’t escape while reading and it almost felt like the reader was looking over their shoulder right along with our hero.

I recommend this series to anyone who likes characters who are a little broken or have issues that need to be addressed before a relationship can blossom.