Maya Banks’ Just One Touch Strikes Sexy, Excellent Balance

A relationship that strikes a balance of tenderness and intensity is at the center of Just One Touch, the latest book in Maya Banks’ Slow Burn series. The series centers around women who have been deeply traumatized by various forms of violence, survived, and found love with men who are exceptionally overprotective of them. Oh, and these ladies might possess some otherworldly abilities.
The fifth book in the series tells the story of Isaac Washington, a member of the Devereaux Security agency, and Jenna, a young woman who has just escaped the cult she’s lived in for the past 20 years or so. (She was placed there as a small child and barely has any memory of her life prior.)
Jenna and Isaac first meet when he catches her trying to steal his car in a desperate effort to escape her pursuers. He’s more interested than anything else, not to mention mega-attracted to her, and immediately decides he needs to help this very vulnerable-looking woman. Then he gets shot by one of her enemies. Jenna, to Isaac’s shock, magically heals the wounds that otherwise would have killed him. That is their meet-cute.
What follows is a relationship that is deceptively dependent. Jenna certainly needs protection, but she is not one for all take and no give. We first get a glimpse of a woman who can’t seem to do anything for herself in this new world she’s escaped to, and fair enough. She’s been abused and brainwashed for many years. Indeed, she’s so fragile and young-looking that it’s almost funny when Isaac asks her to confirm her age before kissing her for the first time. (He’s certainly obsessed with this rare creature, but he’s not about to engage in illegal behavior.) It’s a good thing he was the one to find her, because he’s willing to do whatever it takes to make her feel safe and happy. Considering the life Jenna has lived, it’s wonderful to see someone take such a vested interest in her welfare.
As for Isaac, he pretty much takes one look at Jenna and decides that he wants to be all she needs. Their relationship may seem a bit disproportionate—she’s got that super-helpless thing going on while he is extremely aware and hardened and overprotective—but it turns out that she is not the only one with a dark past. Isaac, we learn, has his own demons to deal with, and he has come a long way to get to where he is today. You get the sense that he’s terrified of screwing up in some way, not just for Jenna’s sake but for his own. Jenna gives him hope for a better life. True, he has close friends from his work who are really more like family, so he’s not completely devoid of emotional connections, but romantically his life is empty. Jenna may need Isaac for her day-to-day survival, but he needs her for his soul. A major test in their relationship is when Jenna tries to abandon Isaac and his crew out of fear that they’ll get caught in her line of fire.
As Jenna and Isaac move around and switch safe houses to keep her protected, Jenna gets introduced not just to the ways of love but to the world at large. Her more vulnerable moments in the book are balanced out by her curiosity about the outside world, and some light humor (mainly around food and television preferences) prevent this story from entering any real Debbie Downer territory.
Readers will also get glimpses of other characters and couples in the Slow Burn universe, and will want to read more about them if they haven’t already. The comradeship Isaac has with the others, especially with his male colleagues, who are just as protective of their own women, is especially strong. His guy friends make it clear to him several times throughout the story that he is not in it alone to keep Jenna safe. When one of them is happy with his woman, all of them are happy, and Isaac’s friends are 100 percent willing to help him keep Jenna safe.
Just One Touch is a sweet and sexy read that strikes an excellent balance. There is a very fine line between tenderness and obsession and intensity here in this Slow Burn installment, and Banks’ story walks it oh so very well.
Just One Touch is on B&N bookshelves now.