Other than the fact this brought back some bad memories of my Shakespeare course, this was a great book. I'm joking this really didn't have any impact on the book I'm just trying to be funny anyway So I like theatre, and I like reading about mental illness (as a person with anxiety but not OCD), and Caddie is quite relatable because of this. The author has experience with OCD, so I assume it's accurate. I have to say - I really liked how the author connected Caddie's life to Ophelia's, and the rest of the play. I think the comparison is one of my favorite parts of the book. I loved seeing the play be put together. Good framing device. The romance was nice. It was slow burn romance and at times I was like get it over with and kiss!. It wasn't exactly boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy heals girl, so that was nice (though it did feel like that sometimes). I do wish she took it a bit slower, though - overcoming her fears felt too quick to be entirely realistic, especially at the end. During the meat of the book it felt fine. Oh, and Caddie's friends! They were all so supportive which really gave me warm fuzzies.

Caddie has promise to herself that if she won’t touch anyone everything will go back to normal. However, she has to find a way to keep this promise in her new school, meeting new people, making new friends and keeping a normal life. Would she be able to keep with it and get the leading role in her new school play? “Don’t touch” was a really interesting contemporary book. I really liked how the book dealt with a problem like OCD and anxiety. In my opinion, it was really well written and noticeable that the author did dealt with some of the issues herself. The plot was not really original, because it was just another teenage love story. However, the fact that she is unable to touch anyone makes the typical contemporary really different. I also like how the main character felt embarrassed because she is keeping a secret, nonetheless at the same time she cannot keep herself from not touching people. “Don’t touch” was a fantastic contemporary book. A book that gives a voice to those kids suffering from a mental condition. I would definitely recommend this novel to anyone wiling to read books with someone different on them.

Even someone who doesn't struggle with anxiety will probably find this story refreshing and relatable. Caddie has issues. That much is pretty clear. And believe it or not, I wasn't at any moment, screaming in my head for her to get over it and kiss the boy. No, because I understood her fear. And not only because I've experienced the anxiety myself, but because the author made me understand it. It's all there and raw enough to spark interest. In more than one occasion the writing speaks about Caddie's Don't Touch and how she knows it's stupid but 'what if?' What if it's true that if she touches someone her dad won't come home ever. She feels she's insane, and self-conscious when she's with her friends and everybody's so normal, and she may look like it but that's just because she works very hard for it to stay that way. A recommended read for anyone who likes contemporary YA where the romance isn't idealized to death, but instead it's sweet, and plausible. Find this review also at A Writer's Tales