Title: A Single Touch: Queen of the Hill
Author: Maryjane Spillane
Publisher: Maryjane Spillane Production
ISBN: 979-8995704805
Pages: 164
Genre: Romance / Erotic Drama / Plays
Reviewer: Anthony Avina
Hollywood Book Reviews
The path of self-discovery is different for everyone. For some, self-discovery involves finding a particular career path or a calling of sorts that will drive them forward in life. For others, it is defined by establishing a family and becoming a parent, starting a new generation of family life that they themselves grew up in. For many, self-discovery is a process of empowerment which stems from realizing a truth lay hidden for much of their lives.
In author Maryjane Spillane’s A Single Touch: Queen of the Hill, the author explores self-discovery through Maria, a 19-year-old steel mill worker. After a sexual awakening with a Vietnam veteran named Nick, Maria finds herself discovering the liberating feeling of sexual encounters and, in the process, discovers a self-confidence and strength that transforms her into a powerful woman pursuing her own desires.
A truly adult and erotically charged novel, the author balances the heat and passion of Maria’s encounters and experiences with strong, character-driven narratives that propel the story forward at a fast pace. The journey Maria went on throughout this book brought to light a lot of history over the years, establishing the free love movement of the ‘60s right from the outset. The descriptive nature of each scene left the reader fully immersed and engaged with Maria as a character and her journey, creating a fast-paced yet lived-in world that felt connected to.
For readers who enjoy romance and erotic narratives, especially those written like coming-of-age erotica with strong themes, this was a creative narrative. The novel’s strong themes stood out as the story progressed, from the freedom and agency that can be gleaned from Maria’s sexual awakening to the sense of identity which comes from lived experience and time. The singular, strong voice that Maria claims as the story progresses, and the sense of connection she seeks, are traits many will be able to relate to, creating a grounded tone which underlies the more erotic elements of the story and keeps readers invested in her character arc.