At Certain Points We Touch - Lauren John Joseph

Genre: Literary Fiction | Contemporary Fiction | LGBTQ+

Release Date: Expected 3rd March 2022

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

It's 4am in New Mexico and Bibby, a trans writer is walking home from the club when they realise the date.

February 29th. Leap day.

And the birthday of the man who you could call their first love.

Now, almost a decade after they met, the memory of him still haunts Bibby, in their memory, in their heart, in their writing. Their relationship was fiery - passionate, hot, and painful to touch. It burned and sparkled and illuminated their lives. It crossed borders, years, and lines - only really ending when tragedy parted them forever.

They were doomed from the start.

You could say At Certain Points We Touch is a ghost story - but not about things that go bump in the night. About the ghosts of love past, about our former selves and the other things that can haunt us alone in the night.

Told from now and then, this story follows our couple that were destined be together and destined to fail at the same time - their relationship was obsessive, compulsive and almost dangerously toxic at times and even if the reader can't quite understand why they're so desperately in love, the electricity and intoxicating chemistry oozes from the pages.

Our narrator doesn't tell a story as such but weaves their thoughts together until they begin to make sense. They piece together things that have happened in the past, ponder and reflect on their journey to the present day - almost like a poetic fever dream.

A touching and poignant story about the magnitude of first love, the innocence of young dreams and the experience of growing up as a queer person - At Certain Points We Touch is a masterfully crafted introspection into the significant moments in our lives.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I was gifted an advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.

CW: graphic sexual scenes, toxic relationships, death.

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