Final Touch (The Rayne Tour, Book 3) [Paperback]

Brandilyn Collins (Author), Amberly Collins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 18, 2010

The day Shaley O'Conner has dreamed of all her life is shattered by a nightmare. On a lavish estate in California guarded from the media, Shaley's mom, rock star Rayne O'Connor, is marrying her teen sweetheart and Shaley's father, Gary Donovon. It's a dream come true for Shaley, who has always longed for the father she never knew. But minutes before the wedding, Shaley is kidnapped. Who is this man who has taken her---and why? As Rayne and Gary race against time to find their daughter, Shaley's abductor eludes the FBI at every turn. Fearing for her life, Shaley wills herself to stay strong. But as the days pass, she realizes that no one can save her but herself.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Gr 8-10–The series concludes in this novel with the promise of a fairy-tale ending: Shaley's mom, a famous rock star, is preparing to marry her high school sweetheart, Gary Donovan, who is the teen's father. After many years apart, the couple was reunited. The wedding day dawns, and things run smoothly until Shaley is abducted by a stalker recently released from prison. The majority of the novel follows her attempts to escape. The narration switches between Shaley's account of the ordeal and a third-person account of the family's response. This format maintains suspense and creates quick pacing likely to entice reluctant readers. The writing is clunky at times, and the novel's religious themes sometimes feel heavy-handed. Students who appreciate a good thriller will likely forgive these flaws, though, and breeze through this page-turner.–Lindsay Cesari, Baldwinsville School District, NY. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Booklist

A Freudian would have a field day with the basic setup of the latest in the popular Rayne Tour series. On the very day of the sumptuous wedding celebration of Rayne O’Connor, rock star and mother of teen Shaley, Shaley steals the show by getting kidnapped by a man determined to make her his bride. Despite—or maybe because of—this sexual strangeness, this is a riveting read featuring a tense, protracted hostage situation that forces Shaley to outwit her captor. Fans of this book will be drawn back to the first two in the series. Grades 8-12. --Connie Fletcher

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 13 and up
  
• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Zondervan (May 18, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031071933X
• ISBN-13: 978-0310719335
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #340,405 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brandilyn Collins is an award-winning and best-selling novelist, writing her trademarked Seatbelt Suspense®--fast-paced, character-driven suspense with myriad twists and an interwoven thread of faith. She also has written the distinctive book on fiction-writing techniques, Getting Into Character: Seven Secrets a Novelist Can Learn From Actors (John Wiley & Sons).

You can read excerpts from all her books at her Web site: www.brandilyncollins.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining middle grade book, May 31, 2010

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S. Power (Detroit, Michigan, United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Final Touch (The Rayne Tour, Book 3) (Paperback)

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Final Touch, the third in The Rayne Tour series, follows Shayley, the daughter of a rock star, when she gets kidnapped by a former stalker. The kidnapping at first seems to be similar to Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping (the man who kidnapped claims he's a prophet and wants to take her to be his wife in the new religious compound he's going to start) but takes it's own turn as Shayley works to get free of his clutches. The book moves back and forth between Shayley's view and what is going on back at the house where her mother and friends are in a non-confusing manner. The action is very mild and the Christian aspect is visible but not in your face. There are a series of questions at the end of the book for discussion that relate to the christian aspects of the book.

The voice of the character seemed very young and the content is PG making the book appropriate for even the younger middle grade female readers. Because the character seems so young I would not recommend this book for a high school aged audience, and because the entire focus of the book is following a female character I wouldn't recommend it as a read for boys.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Too Bad, But..., June 9, 2010

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Tamela Mccann "taminator40" (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Final Touch (The Rayne Tour, Book 3) (Paperback)

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The final book in the Rayne Tour trilogy, Final Touch begins with Shaley on her parents' wedding day, anticipating the three of them finally becoming a family. It's been about a year since the last book took place, and it's mentioned that during this time, both Shaley and her parents have accepted God and become Christians. But that's not the focus in this book; instead, the momentous day turns scary as Shaley finds herself kidnapped, beaten, and whisked away to parts unknown but her former stalker. Though he calls himself Joshua now and claims to be a prophet of God, Shaley's fear multiplies when she realizes that his intention is to isolate her and make her his "wife".

Final Touch moves around among viewpoints, including those of Shaley (whose voice is very clear and believable), her mother Rayne, her friend Brittany, and one of the SWAT team members sent in to rescue Shaley. As the kidnapping lengthens into days, it is easy to see Shaley's fear, but her determination not to become a victim is satisfying. There are some coincidences, but life is often like that. More disturbing is the work Shaley puts into making her situation known that is left hanging because nothing comes of it. Maybe life is also like that, but on hindsight, it seems like quite a bit of filler. And ultimately, that's what the entire book seemed to me...filler.

It's not that there isn't a lot of excitement and there were sections when I was eagerly turning the page to find out what would happen next. It's just that the addition of the extra viewpoints didn't really move the story along well, and I felt at times that the author was looking for ways to extend an already short story. There really wasn't a need for this book at all since Shaley's parents' story had already come to a close, though I will say it was generally well written. I just came away with the feeling that this was an addition that was a last minute decision. I'm certainly not saying this is a bad book, but probably an unnecessary one.Perhaps I would have received the book better if the timeline of Shaley's life had moved forward a bit more and it seemed less like this was just an effort to extend the series beyond the first two books. I did appreciate, however, that the author chose not to hit the reader over the head with overt examples of Christianity and instead took a highly believable, soft approach that fit with the storyline. I liked it, just didn't love it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kayla Says 'Hopes Final Touch Isn't The Final One', June 2, 2010

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Rick L. Parrish - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Final Touch (The Rayne Tour, Book 3) (Paperback)

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Kayla (14 yr old granddaughter) Says:

Final Touch was just as I hoped it would be. On the day of Rayne and Gary's wedding everything goes terribly wrong and Shaley gets kidnapped. As Rayne and Gary race to find her, Shaley is learning things and slowly figuring out that if the ever wants to see her Mother and Father again she must risk her life and try her hardest to send clues to them. I have been wanting this book since I finished the second one and I can tell you 'Final Touch' was well worth the wait. It left me guessing right up til the end. If you haven't read 'Always Watching', 'Last Breath' or 'Final Touch' you're missing out on a great series!!! I hope that Brandilyn Collins and Amberly Collins will continue this series so I can see what other mess Shaley can get into!