ROGUE TOUCH

Discovering she can’t touch anyone without potentially killing them, a young woman goes on the run and meets a mysterious man who harbors a few life-changing secrets of his own.

Anna Marie has left the only home she’s ever known, settling into a lonely existence with minimal human interaction since leaving her high school boyfriend in a coma after kissing him. One night, on her way to her job as a night baker, she notices a man watching her, and she is both frightened and intrigued by his odd, otherworldly manner. When circumstances occur that force her to flee the city, the enigmatic stranger rescues her with a car and the means to get her out of town. The two travel across the country, discovering each other’s secrets and a soul-deep connection that takes them both by surprise. Dodging the law, as well as some seemingly interplanetary pursuers that he evades explaining, the couple finds refuge in a series of locations that allow them to grow stronger in their individual powers, newfound convictions and commitment to each other. Settling into new identities and new names—Rogue for her, Touch for him—the two race toward a future that can hold them both and allow them to truly hold on to one another, literally and figuratively. Woodward uses popular Marvel superhero Rogue as a launching point for a complex and conflicted romance set against a class war in a technologically advanced yet socially unstable society and Rogue’s well-documented gift and affliction that bars her from human contact.  

The author delivers a romantic, action-packed plot that is imaginative and emotionally textured.