Only by Your Touch

April 1, 2003
The characters and plot twists in Only by Your Touch, Catherine Anderson's newest contemporary romance (after Always in My Heart), may feel familiar to the author's fans, but this by-the-numbers tale still possesses poignancy and charm. Determined to keep her sickly son safe, Chloe Evans divorces her abusive husband and moves to Jack Pine, Ore., where she meets the enigmatic Ben Longtree, a part-Indian veterinarian once arrested for murder. Chloe is struck by the man's kindness to animals and is deeply attracted to him, but at the same time, she must fend off a police deputy who tries to assert his claim over her in an ever more ominous fashion. The once-abused heroine, too-good-to-be-true hero and too-evil-to-be-believed villain are character types that Anderson's fans know well, but that won't stop readers (both old and new) from savoring the book's tender moments.