My Thoughts On: Toxic by Jus Accardo {No Spoilers}

Posted November 23, 2012 by Asheley in Uncategorized / 2 Comments


Toxic by Jus Accardo
Series: Denazen #2
Published by Entangled Teen
Publish Date: October 16, 2012
400 Pages
Source: Publisher

When a Six saved Kale’s life the night of Sumrun, she warned there would be consequences. A trade-off. Something taken for the life they gained. But Dez never imagined she’d lose the one thing she’d give anything to keep… And as if it’s not enough Dez finds her immunity to Kale fading, the Six brought in to help Kale learn to control his killer touch starts drooling on him the moment they meet. Worse than that? Jade can touch Kale. But bimbo Barbie is the least of Dez’s problems.

After Dez and Kale got away at Sumrun, her father lost not only his most powerful weapon but an important piece of the Supremacy project. Forced by Denazen to remedy the situation, he poisons Dez and offers her a choice–surrender to Denazen for the cure…or die. Determined to find a solution that doesn’t involve being bagged and tagged–or losing someone she loves–Dez keeps the poison a secret. But when a rash of Denazen attacks hit a little too close to home, Dez is convinced there’s a traitor among them. Jade. 

Sacrifices, broken promises, and secrets. Dez will have to lay it all on the line if there’s any hope of proving Jade’s guilt before they all end up Residents of Denazen. Or worse, dead…
 
–(summary from Goodreads) 

Toxic by Jus Accardo


My Thoughts
:  I feel like I waited forever for this sequel to Touch, which I loved a ton.

A recap, in case you aren’t familiar with Touch: The Denazen Corporation has been collecting special young people for ages. Called Sixes, these people have abilities that allow them to do things like manipulate objects, mask their identities, control elements, and even kill people. Kale has perhaps the deadliest and most sought-after ability of all – he can kill people with just the barest touch of his skin. After escaping, he is found by Dez and the two are on the run for the most of the first book. Interestingly enough, Dez is the only person that can actually touch Kale’s skin without being killed. The two have a romance filled with great chemistry, and the end is action-packed and super exciting.

In Toxic, Dez and Kale are back. Kale still has his scarily accurate ability – his touch turns people into ash within seconds, disintegrating them. Dez is coming to terms with her new-found ability and it is becoming stronger – kind of. The two are now living with a group of other Sixes in a place that is supposed to be safe from the bad guys. They’re finding more Sixes all the time and bringing them to the safe place to keep them from being recruited/captured by Denazen.

A few interesting things happen to make this story progress:

1. Dez loses her ability to touch Kale, making her just like everyone else and making Kale a danger to her.


2. Jade arrives. Jade’s special ability sort-of cancels out Kale’s ability. Now she is the only one that can touch him without any dangerous affects or death.


CUE THE DRAMA. 


While all of this is happening, Denazen is still out there trying to capture Kale because he is still absolutely vital to their operation. They are still a dangerous criminal organization and they need Kale to do their dirty work. So once again, they’ll stop at nothing to re-capture Kale and imprison him put him back to work for them.

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I loved Touch. I liked Toxic. Why? I am absolutely invested in Kale staying away from Denazen. They’re an awful group of people, headed by an awful boss, and I just don’t want him going back there. I also really like the romance between Dez and Kale because the two have tons of chemistry on the pages. (It was so well-written in Touch that I really wanted it to keep going that way in Toxic.) I like Kale and Dez being on the run and fighting the Denazen bad guys. I like the stolen moments between the two, although they are not as plentiful in Toxic as I want. 


There are some extra story lines that run parallel to these that I mention above that I feel are a little bit less interesting to me. Several new characters arrive in Toxic – all for different reasons. Some bring drama, some bring deadly motive, some bring betrayal. All of these things are fun to read in books, but in this particular instance, I feel like there is a lot going on a any given time. 


I love Kale as a character. I love his deadly touch and his chemistry with Dez. He is a charming character and he has an interesting past. I think I could actually stand to read more about him because I find him that fun to read. In fact, I wouldn’t mind more on Kale’s past – perhaps more on the time he spent at Denazen before he escaped and was found by Dez. As it stands now, Kale doesn’t like to talk about his past.


I like Dez as a character – less now than I did in the first book, which breaks my heart a little bit. I miss the butt-kicking, smart-mouthed snark that Dez had in Touch. I am pretty sure that Jade was meant to be a character that isn’t well-liked by the reading masses, but I disliked her so very much. The two girls were just like any two jealous girls you would know in school: catty, mean, name-calling, spying, etc. I have high hopes for a big bounce-back for Dez and her self-control, self-esteem, and controlling her mouth in the next book. 


I recommend Touch and Toxic for fans of YA supernatural/paranormal romance. Despite my feelings about Jade’s character, I would recommending giving these books a try because they are quite fun to read.  



****************************************************************
Toxic will appeal to fans of:

YA Supernatural/Paranormal Romance
Romance: Carried over from previous book, No Triangle
(despite the appearance of one)

Toxic by Jus Accardo
is currently available for purchase.

**I received a review copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest opinion and review. I received no compensation for my thoughts. Thank you Entangled Teen!

****************************************************************

Untouched by Jus Accardo
Series: Denazen #1.5
Published by Entangled Teen
Publish Date: March 27, 2012
ebook, approximately 82 pages
Source: Bought

Right after I finished Toxic, I immediately bought Untouched and read it. I should have read this before I read Toxic. Oh, well. 

Untouched is a very short story that accomplishes two things. First, it is from Kale’s point of view, which is nice. In this series we don’t get very much from his point of view and since he is such a colorful character with an interesting past, it is nice to be inside of his head for a change. I enjoyed this part of the relatively short story. The second accomplishment of this story is that we are introduced to Kiernan. Kiernan is one of the characters from Toxic – while not a major character, she does have a pretty big role in the story.

Untouched
is the story of how Kale and Dez meet Kiernan, and how she comes to trust them and live with the Sixes. 



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Have you read TOUCH, UNTOUCHED, or TOXIC?

What did you think?


Asheley

About Asheley

Asheley is a Southern girl. She loves Carolina blue skies, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and NC craft beer. She loves all things history but prefers books over everything.

You can find her somewhere in North Carolina, daydreaming about the ocean.

Find Asheley on Litsy @intothehallofbooks!

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2 responses to “My Thoughts On: Toxic by Jus Accardo {No Spoilers}

  1. Grrr. I am at a spotty internet connection and I keep loosing my comments!! Thank you for this review, dear. I know which part is for me and it has made me very happy. Though I'm still going to wait on this one, as it sounds like a very middle book. Do you know if this will be more than a trilogy? Or when book 3 releases? I'd also like to learn more about Kale!

    • I just tweeted you a blog link I saw on Goodreads abou this. Sort of a Second Book Syndrome, almost, but not really since the series will be longer than a trilogy. I'm really interested in Kale's part of the story, and also Dez – but I want the Dez from book one back. I'm hoping her insecurity is just a phase because of Jade and some of the other things that were going on with her that I didn't even mention.

      Also I didn't mention Alex – remember him from book one? He is in this book quite a bit and I find that I like him a lot. Anxious to see more from him in the coming books. Definitely make sure you eventually read it, but I don't blame you if you plan to wait on it. Goodreads has the next book, TREMBLE, coming out May 2013. 🙂

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