"The Healing Touch" was just an overall okay read for me. I didn't enjoy it that much as it just wasn't my cup of tea.

This was a beautiful story filled with emotion. It was rich, fascinating and romantic.
Many thanks to BooksGoSocial and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Healing Touch by Angelina Kalahari

3/5 Stars

"How do you live in a world without your voice, without passion, and without James..."

Isabelle an opera singer loses her voice with the onset of the menopause. Just when she thinks all is lost she finds an unexpected miracle in a passionate love with James.

I could notwait to find out what the next page would reveal and couldn't help but fall for these characters. They showed true courage when most people would give up on ever finding hope or love again. Beautifully told story.


Thank you #NetGalley and #booksgosocial #movementpublishing for this book in exchange for my honest review.

An interesting book with references to reincarnation that made me think about those possibilities. This is a story about an opera singer and her close friend that caught my interest, I wasn’t sure exactly where the story was going at times but I stuck with it and was glad to finish it . Not everything was resolved due to the fact that there is another book coming so that kind of disappointed me but I should have realized that. This book took me forever to finish for some reason and I liked it but probably not enough to seek out the next book in the series .

This book was different for me because I was reading it with the possibility that there is more than one life. It kept me reading. When Angelo met Isabelle, he felt such a connection to her, like they knew each and had met before. But he knew he hadn't. Their connection was so strong and something that was said at the beginning of the book gave me a glimmer that maybe they had met in a past life.
The author lost one of her friends and she needed to let her feelings out so she wrote this book. Even before reading this in the end, it was like someone's pain was shedding light on maybe there is more than one life and maybe we meet in another life.
The ending leaves it up to the reader to think about is there more than one life. Maybe it is a possibility. I received an ARC from NetGalley and the book wasn't what I thought it would be but as I was reading it, I was also doing some thinking and for that, I enjoyed the book. If you are looking for a book that will make you think about other possibilities, then this is a book for you to read. Maybe that is the healing touch.

I don't know what has gotten to me nowadays. I am picking up books that are difficult to read. After reading the blurb, I thought I am looking ahead to a wonderful read. But I didn't enjoy this book at all. The writing was wonderful but I can't connect with the characters and their reason for doing things. But I read that this book was a therapeutic attempt of the author and I guess that it showed in the book. I don't have any good as well as bad to say about this book.

The Healing Touch was just an ok read for me. Not my favorite book on the shelf and I had a very hard time getting into the story. I wish I had liked it more.

Unfortunately I was disappointed to find that I had previously read this book several years ago and it wasn’t a newly released one! Isabelle a menopausal opera singer loses her voice feeling that she is too old to continue her singing career, on meeting James a flamboyant singer she feels reinvigorated fir a while until James untimely death! Fortunately she has Angelo her no strings attached lover to help her through the dark days as her husband Simon is useless!
A slow plot that didn’t really grip me or engage me to be honest!

This is the story of Isabelle, an opera singer who loses her voice when she hits menopause. She stays in a 20+ year marriage with her husband (who is emotionally unavailable) while spending most of her time with her "soulmate" James, a flamboyant gay man who fills her life with fun and companionship. But she yearns for a physical relationship, so with her friend's urging, she begins an affair with Angelo, a gorgeous mechanic with whom she feels a kindred spirit, as if they knew each other previously.

Then something tragic happens to James, and Isabelle must reassess her life and try to survive without her "soulmate." How does she handle it?

Truthfully, I'm not sure about this book. It really was confusing to me at times. Isabelle seems to feel one thing, but do something else. She doesn't seem true to herself or her feelings, or perhaps she's not able to fully come to terms with her life and her own needs as a person and a woman. She loves/adores James, and feels he is her soulmate, but yet his sexual preference means he can't fulfill some of her needs. She stays with a cold, uncaring husband and doesn't feel guilty (too much) when she has an affair, since he can't fulfill her needs either. She loves Angelo and feels like he makes her feel whole, yet she won't really commit to that relationship either.

I think the book has potential, but it needs to be "flushed out" a bit more. There's no resolution at the end -- it ends abruptly with Isabelle laying in bed with Angelo. She picks up her phone to answer a call from her husband before the ringing "woke Angelo." Inquiring minds want to know--what does that mean? Is she going to make a life with Angelo, or is she going back to her husband? Or is she just going to continue living this way and not resolving some of her own needs and issues?

Who is giving her the "healing touch" alluded to by the title?

At the end of the book, the author explains that the book is based on a true story. After she lost one of her friends, Kalahari tried to put her feelings of despair down on paper as therapy, and the result was this book. So perhaps when reading it, one should approach it that way -- almost like it is an autobiography and the story isn't completely written yet? Perhaps that will help the reader not be so frustrated by the end, which doesn't really tell us what Isabelle decides to do with her relationships.

I struggled with this story and decided to stop reading at 20%, the writing was lovely however I just didn't engage with the main characters and I am of a view that reading should be pleasurable, This is only my personal opinion.

Thank you for NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a honest review.

Not one of my favorites. I struggled to get through this one. I liked the main character but I didn't find the story altogether believable. I thought there was too much emphasis put on the aftermath of James death. The fact that she stayed in a completely unsatisfactory marriage for 22 years even after finding someone she was truly in love with was not realistic either.

Great read. The author wrote a story that was interesting and moved at a pace that kept me engaged. The characters were easy to invest in.

The book was well written. It's a beautiful story about how even though marriages last twenty-plus years, there's always a chance of losing their passion, sparks and sometimes love too. It makes you wonder and think on a deeper level about relationships and how to make things work. Overall a perfect balance of romance and mystery. I wish the book had not ended so soon.