Book Review: Rogue Touch by Christine Woodward

This, like The She Hulk Diaries is a Marvel/Hyperion Press superheroine novel with a good dash of chick-lit. Rogue Touch focuses on Rogue of the X-Men before her days with the team, looking at the days shortly after she gained her power. I enjoyed it, though not quite as much as the The She-Hulk Diaries. Possibly because it focuses on Rogue's early days, it read more like young adult to me, though I don't think it is particularly shelved in that section.

Rogue Touch does not, by the way, fit into the established X-Men continuity--or continuities. I don't think the continuity laps is much of a problem, since alternate forms of publication often do vary details, and, in any case, the X-Men sprout new timelines regularly, but it may be off-putting for someone expecting it to be the comic book in a novel.

In this version of her story, young Anna Marie is on the run after putting her boyfriend in a coma when she kissed him. Now, she also has all his memories and skills. While struggling to make a living while not touching anyone, she meets a mysterious stranger, Touch, who is also on the run. They team up and fall in love, but there are things about his past that Touch isn't telling her--and that, of course, means trouble.

Overall, it was a fun, fluffy read that appealed to the side of me that likes to indulge in Georgette Heyer. The romance was not quite to my tastes; there were times when it was a little treacly for my tastes, though looking back, the part that bothers me most is the power differential: Touch is the older, more experienced of the two, and she forgives him some of the secrets he kept awfully quickly.

Still, it makes a nice, brainless read for the beach or wherever, and I do find myself looking forward to future installments in the Marvel/Hyperion line. At least, I'm assuming that The She Hulk Diaries and Rogue Touch represent the start of a line.