To Touch You

By: Cardeno C.

Narrated by: Charlie David

Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's Summary

“His name is Salvatore Rossi. He’s a vampire. And he’s my true mate.”

By not relying on anyone except himself, Salvatore Rossi escaped a dead-end existence and reached the height of corporate success. But just when he has everything he always wanted, fate throws Salvatore a challenge he can’t solve alone, and a young wolf-shifter comes to his rescue.

Since childhood, Yoram Smith’s family was certain he would grow to become alpha and save their beloved pack from its slow demise. When the time comes for a new leader, Yoram is forced to juggle his duty to care for a splintering pack with his duty to care for an absent mate, and his own strength suffers. Being turned into a vampire didn’t alter Salvatore’s life philosophy: If you don’t rely on anyone, nobody can let you down. But when the boy who saved his life becomes a man who needs his help, the icy vampire must find his humanity.

©2017 Cardeno C. (P)2017 Cardeno C.

i love this series

this is one of my favorites series i wish it would never end it is that good you will not be disappointed

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

I'll gladly give up forever to touch you.

Salvatore Rossi is on the fast track with his career. He has no time for friends, family or relationships. Then a chance meeting with a 7 year old boy in an alley in Miancarem sets his life on an entirely different course. His only salvation is choosing the long life of a vampire over the decidedly shorter life of a cancer riddled human.

Yoram Smith is a strong wolf, and he's know since he was seven years old that he has a true mate out there. He's even met the man, but as the years go on and Yoram grows into an alpha wolf he begins to wonder if his mate will ever come to him. 27 now, he hasn't seen his mate in a decade with no signs of the man. He feels like he's about to come apart at the seams now that he's the Alpha and he's being pulled in a million directions with no relief in sight.

Salvatore has made it a point to stay away. He doesn't do any kind of relationship and he doesn't understand the "true mate" thing everyone keeps telling him about. What he does know is that the pull to be near Yoram is getting harder to deny. When he can't take it anymore he makes the trip from Vegas to Miancarem. He doesn't expect to find his mate about to unravel at the seams. The stress of juggling pack needs with his own needs are wearing him down.

Sal and Yoram will need to work together to get the pack to embrace change and their relationship while learning to trust each other with their own needs.

This story is amazing. When Sal and Yoram were apart my heart was breaking for Yorry. You could feel his despair and hopelessness as if it were a tangible thing. It made me want to throttle Sal for being so damn stubborn. Once they got it together, hot dog the chemistry was off the charts. If this is where the Mates series ends, it was a great story to end with.

"I'll gladly give up forever to touch you."

How does your heart not melt?!?

I'm a big fan of Charlie David, I will listen to anything he narrates. He brought this story to life in such a great way. I was up until 3 am listening to this one, I just couldn't bear to hit pause.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Love this series!

Cardeno C’s Mates series is probably my favorite “shifter” series of all time. I have read and listened to it over and over and over – probably one of them each month.

In this world, shifters find their true mates, but they are often bewildered because the “rules” usually don’t account for whom fate has chosen for them. In this case, Yoram – whom we’ve met in the earlier three books, is only 7 we he meets his “friend” Salvatore.

I don’t want to give away the story – but I was immensely surprised by what ends up happening in this story! I could not have predicted it – at all! It’s definitely not traditional in any sense of the word and I was frankly so psyched to see how it all played out.

Because I’m such a fan girl – I loved seeing Miguel and Ethan so much throughout this story. They are sooooo adorable together and I cannot wait for the audio version so I can hear the sultry Miguel speak to us again!

We also get to see a little of Korban and Samuel as well as Zev and Jonah – so that was a nice little reunion bonus!

To me, this was reminiscent of book one in the series – our MCs met young and have to “grow up” before they can be together and that wait – many, many, many long years of wait is hard. It’s probably hardest on Yoram and that hurt my heart a bit.


If I have any complaints it’s that I never quite warmed up to Salvatore as much as I wanted to. He’s definitely a self-centered jerk at the beginning and for most of the story. Though he absolutely does redeem himself at the end and he and Yoram do finally get their lovely HEA together – I wish they’d had more time in each other’s proximity so we could see them as a couple longer.

(spoiler: When Yoram is delivering his blood for nine years I really wanted to puch Sal in the gut!)

This was a fantastic addition to the series – and can be read as a standalone- but I don’t recommend it. Reading this series in order will let you appreciate all the secondary characters and what it means when they act as they do.

If you’re new to the series, I’d start with book one or two before this – just to get the background.

Highly recommended and beloved!

4.5 of 5 stars

Audio

Charlie David has done all the others in this series, so when we have recurring characters like Miguel (swoon!) it’s all done in the way we expect! I love listening to Charlie’s narrations because he’s so good with emotions, his voice quality is so smooth and he’s great with the accents in this series too.
Highly Recommended!

5 of 5 stars

Overall 5 of 5 stars

We're headed back to Yafenack

When staunch oldworld traditions come head to head with the reality of ever evolving reality, there's bound to be those that refuse to conform and challenge change.

Yoram Smith met his true mate at the tender age of 8 years old. Of course he had no idea that was what he was feeling. All he knew was the man smelled amazing, he felt a pull to him and he would do anything to keep that man alive. As the boy becomes a man, his true mate, the one who's life he saved, continues to rebuff him. But Yoram refuses to give up on the man destined to be his love.

Salvatori Rossi didn't have the best upbringing. As soon as he was old enough, he got as far away from his family as possible and starting a lucrative business that still strives to this day. The problem is, he's yet to find anyone he wants to share his success with. When a boy begs his uncle to save Sal's life, everything he thinks he knows, he starts to question. And when that boy becomes a man and desperately needs Sal's help, surprisingly, Sal gives it.

This is one of the most well written and diversely characterized Shifter series you can read, in my humble opinion. With each new installment, more of the Shifter world reveals itself. The people, the laws and the stubborn, unyielding beliefs some of them refuse to let go of. I love the way CC weaves the different stories together. This book and the storyline ties directly into the other three books and perhaps gives details and information you were wanting from those books. But mostly, it's a love story about two men, both stubborn as hell, but also loyal to a fault.

Narrated by Charlie David, need I say more. I absolutely love this mans voice. The different tones and nuances he possess and how he brings the story to life for the reader/listener. Definitely a must read series and I would stress starting with book 1 if you haven't already had the pleasure.

I'd give up forever

Charlie David does a fantastic job narrating.
He's got a nice deep voice but yet he can change the tone and depth to give each character their own "personalities".

The story itself is actually kind of sad.
Yoram finds his True Mate at a very young age, 7 to be exact. Only problem is, his mate was 30 at the time. Even then Yoram knew and tried to protect his mate, even from his own family.

Fast forward 7 more years and Yori goes to visit Sal oy to be shot down, again.
Sill, Yori doesn't give up "taking care of his mate" .

Sal may not know about true mates an bonds, as he has been turned into a vampire but Yori's uncle, Miguel. So he isn't quite sure why human blood just isn't enough for him. Even after getting blood bags donated by an anonymous gifter, he still resists. He knows who it's from, but all he can remember is that child that showed up in his office, and he cannot reconcile between the two.

So when his donations stop coming for a few months, he gets a little nervous and finally decides to bite the bullet and make a trip to the Pack lands.

I think this is why I liked this story so much...
it wasn't really instantaneous love/lust...it was spread over two decades. I like how Yori pits it though, with all the turmoil of the old pack Alpha, Sal would have never been accepted and Yori would have been thrown from pack, therefore never becoming alpha.

CC never let's us down though, we ALWAYS get our HEA. This one was a great one too. I loved that Sal was helping to update the pack in technology and education, to keep them moving forward and being a self sufficient pack.

4.5 Stars

Charlie David returns to narrate the fourth, and final, book in Cardeno’s wonderful Mates series. Many of the characters from the series also return for this installment making it a reunion for the reader. I love that there’s continuity throughout the series by using the same narrator so you have consistent character voices, which makes this even better to listen to on a binge with all four books.

I really appreciated the dual POV, especially with the audio, because by telling the story from both Yorry and Sal’s points of view the reader gets a better understanding of where each character’s coming from throughout the story. I loved the story, the characters, the cameos, and how everything eventually plays out.

I feel like To Touch You is a really wonderful ending to a truly entertaining series (even though I still hope this isn’t really the end).

“I’ll gladly give up forever to touch you.”

If you’re looking for paranormal stories with passion, humor, multi-dimensional characters, and terrific HEAs, I’d absolutely recommend this series.

a fitting end!

I purchased both the ebook, AND audio copy of this book (November 2017)

This is book 4 in The Mates Series, and the last one. You don't need to have read the other three, but there is some overlap with books one, Wake Me Up Inside and book 3, In Your Eyes, so there may be spoilers, sorta, kinda.

Yoram Smith is 7 years old when he first meets Salvatore Rossi, and he knows nothing but the pull of his scent. Sal is, in Yoram's eyes, his friend. It takes a turning of Sal to vampire and over 20 years before Sal finally admits that Yoram is his mate.

I LOVED this final installment in the Mates series! I really did. But I can't split the narration from the book, so the lines might be a bit blurred on this one.

I read this book, in December 2017, and I was going through a rough patch, so didn't actually write a review for it, then the audio came through the blog for review, and I had credits available, so I grabbed it. SO glad I did!

I loved Charlie David's narration, his voices especially. Yoram is 7 when we first meet him, and I was curious how David would change his voice as he grew. Nailed that one, I tell ya! At7, at 14 and as a full groan Yoram, his voice is the same but different, if that makes any sense? I could tell it was Yoram at every step of the way.

And trust me, it's a very long way these two took to finally get together! Sal doesn't fully understand the workings of being a vampire, he finds no joy in feeding and certainly not socialising with them, but he HAS to feed. Until the blood turns up on his doorstep, and THAT blood is different. Takes him a while to figure out where it's coming from!

I loved that Zev and Jonah ( book 1) and Samuel and Korban (book 3) play a part here, but I especially loved that Ethan and Miguel are a HUGE part of this book. When I read this, I could hear the voices of these guys but they weren't right, not at all. So it was great to be able to catch up with them here.

I loved that, once Sal finally dug his head out the sand and returned to Yoram, he was all in, totally and utterly.

Like I said, I can't really split the narration from the book, so

5 stars all round!

**same worded review will appear elsewhere**