Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Lips Touch: Three Times
    Lips Touch: Three Times
    Lips Touch: Three Times
    Audiobook7 hours

    Lips Touch: Three Times

    Written by Laini Taylor

    Narrated by Cassandra Campbell

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    A girl who’s always been in the shadows finds herself pursued by the unbelievably attractive new boy at school, who may or may not be the death of her. Another girl grows up mute because of a curse placed on her by a vindictive spirit, and later must decide whether to utter her first words to the boy she loves and risk killing everyone who hears her if the curse is real. And a third girl discovers that the real reason for her transient life with her mother has to do with belonging — literally belonging — to another world entirely, full of dreaded creatures who can transform into animals, and whose queen keeps little girls as personal pets until they grow to childbearing age.

    From a writer of unparalleled imagination and emotional insight, three stories about the deliciousness of wanting and waiting for that moment when lips touch.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateDec 20, 2010
    ISBN9781441857811
    Lips Touch: Three Times
    Author

    Laini Taylor

    Laini Taylor is the author of the Dreamdark books: Blackbringer, which Kirkus said "belongs at the top of everyone's fantasy must-read list", and its sequel, Silksinger. She is also the creator of the Laini's Ladies line of gifts and stationery.

    Related to Lips Touch

    Related audiobooks

    Young Adult For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      'Dread Nation' Is A Rollicking 'Gone With The Wind + Zombies' Adventure

      Apr 20, 2018

      But don't underestimate the latest YA novel by activist Justina Ireland – it's also a biting commentary on contemporary race relations in America.

      3 min read

    • Article

      For The Wolf

      Jun 16, 2021

      ⏵ RELEASED 17 JUNE 480 pages | Paperback/ebook/audiobook ⏵ Author Hannah Whitten ⏵ Publisher Orbit Books Wolves run through fairy tales, flashing a tooth here, a tail there. But if you pick this up expecting to see familiar motifs popping up, you’ll

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Bone Shard Daughter

      Sep 9, 2020

      RELEASED 10 SEPTEMBER 448 pages | Hardback/ebook/audiobook Author Andrea Stewart Publisher Orbit Books Epic fantasy has long had a thing for One True Kings. You know the drill: a dreadful tyrant is murdering people for fun and generally imperilling t

      1 min read

    • Article

      'The Hazel Wood' Has Few Uses For Enchantment

      Jan 30, 2018

      In Melissa Albert's dark take on fairy tales, 17-year-old Alice has spent her entire life on the run from her family legacy: a terrifying mythical world created by her grandmother, a famous author.

      3 min read

    • Article

      5 New Fantasy Novels Invigorate Old Tropes

      May 18, 2023

      Spell books, dragons, mermaids, fairies and a magic circus all take on new life in the pages of these five enchanting tales hitting shelves in May and June.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Dark Blade

      Jul 17, 2019

      Dark Blade
      1 min read

    • Article

      Styx: Master Of Shadows

      Feb 3, 2022

      Styx: Master Of Shadows
      1 min read

    • Article

      The Witch Finders

      Jul 16, 2020

      Beth pulled her cloak tightly around her. It was the very last day of October and the air was damp and chill. Dead autumn leaves lay in deep piles in the woods and smoke curled into the night air from her cottage. Not far to go now. She bent her head

      4 min read

    • Article

      Manhattan, 2035

      Mar 26, 2021

      There were problems with being the daughter of a former it girl. First of all, the designation, which, as her mother grew older, warped slightly across the society pages, affecting her mood. Most people remembered her mother’s modelling stints, brush

      4 min read

    • Article

      Pickled

      Jul 27, 2021

      Pickled
      15 min read

    • Article

      Second Language

      Aug 14, 2017

      Second Language
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Only Rule

      Jul 13, 2020

      There is only one rule in polite English society, but it is iron clad. Of course, polite English society is a fiction. For one thing, its members are rarely polite. Politeness is for the middle classes rather than those who live off ancestral acres o

      5 min read

    • Article

      Six Sonnets

      Jan 1, 2021

      Goldenrod, I could say, you know, everybody wants somethingfrom me, but, well, everybody wants something and nobody wantsnothing from me, goldenrod, towhead, beast. Goldenrod, you packthe meadows like gold-plated sardines. I have heart palpitationsbu

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Postmenopausal Fairy Tale

      Feb 4, 2019

      The Postmenopausal Fairy Tale
      9 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Lips Touch

    4/5

    365 ratings56 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Lips Touch Three Times is a series of three sophisticated young adult fairy tales. The first, Goblin Fruit, tells the story of what happens when a lonely high-school girl receives her first kiss. The second called Spicy Little Curses tells the story of a girl, cursed at her baptism, who can't speak for fear she'll kill all who hear her words. When she grows to adulthood this girl must make the ultimate decision whether or not to utter her first cursed words. The third tale centers around another girl who when almost grown, finally discovers why her life has always seemed so different from other people’s.This book is like someone’s imagination gone wild. I think the author pegs the character’s personalities down tightly. They are innocent and wise, scary and kind. I don't think any one of the characters is completely good or completely evil - they are more complicated than that and they blend well with the story lines. The plots are well developed and the stories come to the point quickly leading the reader along a well-written path.I enjoyed all three stories. While they all had a young girl as the protagonist I found the plots to be quite different. The third tale was the longest and I thought, the scariest. I can’t imagine that any young adult wouldn’t enjoy these narratives. They encompass themes that most can relate to: first love, friendship, coming of age and feelings of alienation. They have a sort of associated ‘coolness’ in that they are not afraid to tackle themes that most young women dream about.Each short story is prefaced by a graphic short story mirroring the one about to be told. I couldn’t quite gleam all the details from the graphic stories – there were no words at all – but they did add beautifully to the quality of this book. The cover illustration gives an idea of the drawings inside.This book is for anyone who loves fantasy and graphic novels.
    • 3/5
      Three short stories, with nice fairy-tale illustrations showing the prequels to each.

      In the first, a young girl is seduced by a goblin and even though she knows what he is and what his kiss will do to her, is so overwhelmed with desire and curiosity that she kisses him. To be honest, making the Goblin Market poem even more explicitly about sex doesn't work for me here, because sex doesn't kill ya, so her death just seems like old fashioned slut shaming. That said, I love that this story not only acknowledges, but full on embraces, the idea that teen girls experience sexual desire. And I loved the imagery and sensory details.

      In the second, an old woman saves twenty-two children from death in exchange for a single curse--that baby Anamique will have a beautiful voice, but every person who hears her will die. The woman, as though serving as both the good and bad fairy from Sleeping Beauty, also gifts Anamique with the knowledge of her curse and wisdom to remain silent. And so Anamique remains silent until at last she falls in love with a British officer who does not believe in curses...I quite liked this, and the way the curse turns from good to bad to good again throughout the story.

      In the third, and longest tale, a young mother is horrified when her teenaged daughter wakes up with one blue eye. This is the most disturbing, twisted, and imaginative story in the lot; I only wish it was longer, because I'd love to see more of the Druj, or of Mab and Esme's lives, and because I think the final twist would have even more power then.
    • 5/5
      This is a collection of 3 fantasy stories about transformative kisses. In the first, a girl from a backwards family is pursued by a good looking new student at her school. Even though she knows it may destroy her, she wants her first kiss. In the second story, a girl has grown up never speaking since her voice is cursed and the sound of it fatal. Then she falls in love. In the last story, a girl lives with her mother, knowing very little of her mysterious past. Then the girl’s eyes change color suddenly, and she learns of a different world populated by beings who shift shape, ruled by a queen who kept a little girl in a cages as a pet.
    • 4/5
      Firsts of all sorts are important to people; these tend to be the most memorable moments, stories that people recount. This may be particularly so for the story of a person’s first kiss, a milestone with a sweet touch of romance. Lips Touch collects three novelettes, each in a different part of the world in a different time, each focusing on a different sort of mythology and different characters, but all concerned with the first kiss of the main character, all girls.Goblin Fruit, the first story, is concerned with a girl of gypsy roots, Kizzy, a high school student, and a none-too-popular one, who, along with her friends, longs to be connected with one of the more popular boys in school, to have a handsome boyfriend. She can hardly believe her luck when the hot new boy in the school, Jack Husk, seems interested in her, and spending time with her, from his first day. But is he more than he seems? What can she learn from her family lore and the spirits of the past that might guard her? The setup here was all right, but I found this story the weakest of the three; I don’t much care for the supernaturally beautiful (Taylor appears to, though, considering Daughter of Smoke and Bone), and Kizzy’s described future was more interesting than her present. I liked her well enough, I suppose, but this didn’t gel for me, and the writing here didn’t seem quite as even to me as the other two.Spicy Little Curses Such as These was probably my favorite of the three stories. Here is a story sent in an India still under British rule, just after World War I, and draws more on the local mythology. Here, our lead character, Anamique, is cursed with having the most beautiful voice in the world, a curse that Estelle, a hard-edged old British lady who happens to be the local ambassador to Hell, procures for her in exchange for the lives of a couple of children. Why is having a beautiful voice a curse? Well, if you hear it, then it kills you. But when Anamique starts to fall in love with a war-weary soldier who’s relocated to the Raj, can she hold her tongue? The structure of this was very good, and the story’s turns and characters were fresh and surprising; I didn’t expect it to end where it did, but I was happy with it, for certain.The final story, and the longest, is Hatchling, set in the world of the Druj, a mythology invented by Taylor, with a world of shape-shifters that live on their own, apart from the worlds of men, in mountain holdfasts. They can switch from human to animal shape, and take over the bodies of people; how Druj society works, their powers, and how they interact with humans, definitely is well-described, for the amount of space that it’s in. You get a real sense of their dark power. Our lead characters here are Esme and her mother Mab, who escaped from the Druj years before, just before Esme’s birth, and have been under threat ever since, but with the protection, perhaps, of Mihai, a Druj that doesn’t seem to work under the same rules at the others, exactly. The story is concerned really with Mab’s escape from Druj, and how the Druj came to have their power, to behave the way they do; it’s rather dark, and well-told. That said, I feel like the story in some is a run-up to Daughter of Smoke and Bone, with a lot of the same themes and tropes showing up; having read the other one first maybe lessened my appreciation of this one.Overall, I quite enjoyed these stories: they definitely have their romance to them, but it’s the worlds that the characters inhabit that interests me more, perhaps, and how they find their place and their power within them. The kisses can be sweet, or dangerous, but they’re interesting, and well-placed. I’m definitely a fan of Taylor’s writing overall, now; it’s quite lush and almost lyrical at points without getting overwrought. She reminds me somewhat of Catherynne M. Valente in style, although I prefer the latter. The illustrations that flesh out the background of the story and the world that precede each story are gorgeous and lush, as well, but don’t expect to really understand what you see there until you read the story, for the most part.All told, this is a pretty solid selection of stories, and worth reading, even if the cover is awfully, awfully bad. I was embarrassed to read it. Why they didn’t use one of the much better interior illustrations, I will never know. It’s not a bad introduction to Taylor’s work, but I might start with one of the novels.
    • 5/5
      Laini Taylor sure can write. I wondered if it was a fluke, with Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but it really isn't. Everything she writes sucks me right in. Her writing is sensual and lush -- it almost reminds me of Catherynne Valente's, without the same excesses of language. Gorgeous but real, of this earth.

      The three stories in this volume are all full of fairytale tropes and ideas, but are richer than a basic retelling. The first ends differently, unexpectedly; the second uses a fairytale-like plot with Hindu myth (and maybe a touch of Greek -- does Hinduism have a similar story to the one of Orpheus? I suspected not, since only Orpheus was directly referenced); the third is a longer, more overtly fantastical story, perhaps closer to myths and legends than fairytales as such. I think my favourite was the second story, but I loved all three.

      The illustrations are also just gorgeous.
    • 4/5
      Well-written, intriguing short stories from a variety of storytelling places. I like the intersection with the illustrations before each story. I like that they are not necessarily resolved as happily as one might like. I like that they aren't necessarily happy. It does feel a little unpolished, like early work.
    • 2/5
      teen fiction/supernatural romance. Dreadfully beautiful short stories; it's a shame the cover art is so ugly.
    • 5/5
      This is a collection of three novellas with a few common themes: female protagonists, fairy tale creatures and a twist that turns on a kiss.

      I read Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke & Bone all the way back in 2012, and I’d forgotten how evocative her writing is. Everything feels lush and dangerous and full of import, even if the stakes seem to be nothing more than a teenage crush.

      It is long past time for me to finish the DoS&B trilogy, but this collection was an excellent appetizer.
    • 5/5
      These three stories, wonderfully illustrated, are like the Brothers Grimm's fairy tales with the addition of more mystical language and an infusion of magic. Each tale does include a transforming kiss, but not of the romance literature-type, but rather one producing amazing changes in the participants' entire world. I very much enjoyed this volume.
    • 3/5
      i loved the way it was written, but i didn't like the story.
    • 5/5
      I have read several reviews about this book from I don't know how many different places and I just can't believe that no one mentioned the illustrations. This is a book of three short stories that each include at least one important kiss. Before each story is a series of illustrations which serve as almost a prologue to the story. Each series of illustrations tells it's own story that is further explained in the short story that follows it. The illustrations are all in shades of gray and pink and they are breathtaking and the people in the illustrations are just incredibly expressive.

      The stories are beautiful and heartbreaking in their own right as well. Each tale revolves around a mortal girl's experiences with love and the pain it brings, and all of the tales involve paranormal creatures, however they are each very different. In Goblin Fruit Kizzy risks everything for love and the feeling of being wanted. The women in Spicy Little Curses Such as these go to Hell and back to keep their loves. Hatchling, the longest tale features both new, young love and a love almost older then time.
    • 5/5
      So, this was my first book by Laini Taylor,( though i've picked up Blackbringer before.. just never read it) and i must say i was very impressed.
      I got this out from the library because i was intrigued by the cover (what can i say, i'm an artistic person. Sometimes i judge by the covers...) and when i flipped through it noticed it had artwork.
      O.O
      That was my initial reaction. because the drawings were amazing. (again, as aforementioned, i'm pretty artistic...)
      Isn't it funny that we all grow up on books with pictures in them, but when we got older, when we come across a book with illustrations our reaction is frequently 'OMGZ PICTURES!!!!!"
      (well.... that's my reaction...)
      Anyway... after that soul revealing revelation about my reaction to pictures... (yes, i reacted the same way when i got Leviathan Scott Westerfeld. OMGZ. PICTURES!!)
      It only took me a few hours to devour this. Because that's essentially what i did. My mom told me to go do homework and i picked this up... and... well... got no homework done....
      ...
      The book has three stories, in each the main theme, or pivotal moment is basically a kiss. One takes place in modern times (Goblin Market, anyone?), one takes place in India during WWI (Hell in a new way), and the third is... much harder to explain (also my favourite. I stared at the pictures for this one for hours)
      Goblin Fruit, the first story, is about Kizzy, a girl who lives with a rather... strange family. Kizzy is the kind of girl that would do anything to be noticed, by a boy in particular, of course. But, unfortunately for Kizzy, girls like her are exactly what goblins like to prey on most.
      Spicy Little Curses Such As These was the second story. It was really really good. It was about Estelle, the woman doomed to negotiate for the souls of children in hell because she failed to negotiate for the soul of her beloved when he died, and Anamique, a girl who is cursed because of one of Estelle's bargains. Her curse? Anyone who hears her voice will drop dead. Yeah. Good stuff.
      I have to say though, the third story, Hatchling, was by far my favourite. It as also so totally amazing that i might not be able to describe it. But it had Druj - fey like immortals who are incapable of love and can shift themselves into animal forms, and two red haired women caught in their struggles.
      Yes, it IS totally awesome.
      All three stories are amazingly detailed with spectacular characters that you grow to love, even though the stories are only a few chapters.
      I loved all three. Now i'm going to have to get my hands on Blackbringer.
    • 4/5
      MUCH better than its title or cover! Taylor is quite the talented story-teller!
    • 2/5
      A trio of short stories that are tales of the darker nature.

      My favorite was definitely the first one, primarily because of the ending. It might have tried a little too hard on the descriptions, but it was just spot on with the longing and emotions for a first kiss.

      The second and third were just misses for me. The second had no spark. I felt like I was randomly reading a tale that never got to a climax. I think it's because I didn't like the initial premise with the devil and the devil's advocate. I wish more words were spent on the girl who had to be silent no matter what.

      The third one was just weird because I did not appreciate the main characters. I was totally into it for the first fourth, and then things started going crazy - and not a good kind of crazy, but a what-in-the-blazes-is-going-on?!?! type of crazy. The story thread lost a bit of cohesion and it turned out strange. I like the story of a girl and shapeshifters and wolves. But when we start getting into reincarnation without any hints... eh. You need to sell it a little harder and weave it in a little smoother.

      Two and a half rounded down. Better than just okay, but not good enough for me to fall in love.
    • 4/5
      This is a collection of three short stories that is nominated for the National Book Award (in the YA category). The first two stories were AWESOME, but the third one drags a bit.
    • 4/5
      For anyone who loves the creative, beautiful storytelling of Laini Taylor, this is a must read. Three separate novella length tales are found in this quick to read collection. One a tale of longing, that has a mystery twist, one full of curses and demons, and one the tale of a stolen child that quickly becomes a most unexpected love story, each is proceeded by a lovely set of illustrations that seem to tell the backstory of each piece. Goblin Fruit, while the shortest, was also perhaps my favorite. Each is creative and different in it's own way, but all are filled with lush imagery and amazing characters. I highly recommend it to those who enjoy a dark fairytale.
    • 5/5
      Laini Taylor is a master of words, and it shows best on short stories like these. Her ability to portray raw emotions of yearning, desperation, love and greed are on an entirely different level then anything Ive had read in quite a while.

      This is one of those rare book that you enjoy simply because of the beauty and the skillfulness of words.
    • 4/5
      Wow. Just wow.
    • 4/5
      This book contains three delightful - and slightly creepy - fairy tales/fables. But in true Laini Taylor style, they are not what you expect. Instead they are somewhat edged with sinister (like all good fairy tales) and populated with intriguing beings. Between stories are stunning illustrations that tell a story of their own, by her husband Jim Di Bartolo.

      An easy read, and entrancing - I just wish they were longer!
    • 4/5
      Three short stories. All written very well, lots of colourful descriptions and all engaging to an extent. I loved daughter of smoke and bone so ordered everything else Laini had ever written. Did I love this book, no not really. I just wanted to finish it quickly. All the stories were fairly similar, all held an undercurrent of underlying impending doom. To be honest, I wish it had been one long story about Kizzy and Jack Husk. It was the shortest story but by far, the most easiest to get into and enjoy.
    • 5/5
      Incredible stories so beautifully told. This completely amazed me.
    • 5/5
      First off: Illustrations. Beautiful. Marvelous. Incredible. They're two-tone, and they are just lovely. There's about 5 or 6 pages of illustrations prefacing each of the three short stories, and the illustrations all tell a sort of short story in themselves.

      For instance, the first short story is based on the poem "The Goblin Market," by Christina Rossetti. While Taylor references this background in the story proper and even outlines it a little, she just outlines it as needed for the backstory. What's beautiful is that the prefacing illustrations tell the story of the poem in and of themselves, without words but with all the emotion. It's beautiful.

      Each story is similarly two-layered, a feast both visually and literally. It's a great book and I fully recommend it to anyone.
    • 5/5
      *blinks curiously, wondering how she could possibly be back in this quotidian setting after the intensity of the world she was just in*

      Yeah, it's one of those books. I read more than half of it at Powell's yesterday, having become oblivious to any other book after picking it up. Then I read half the night, and slept tangled in dreams that left shivery footprints which evaporated when I opened my eyes to see where the blood was. I finished it this morning while my coffee cooled on the nightstand, unheeded. And I'm not all the way back yet because I'm sure that somewhere behind me, somewhere very near there's something not quite safe. And I like it.

      Lovely prose, bewitching fairy-tales, beautiful illustrations. One for the permanent collection.

    • 4/5
      Similar to Kelly Link's short stories, sassy and disturbing. I enjoyed the mix of seduction and danger. The illustrations were excellent as well.
    • 4/5
      I read this one back at the beginning of the year, after finishing Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and I really loved it. I'm not sure why I didn't post a review then.

      Laini Taylor has such a way with words. I just love the worlds she creates - they couldn't be written by anyone else.

    • 4/5
      NBA nominee 2009-2010

      I really liked this book. I thought it was going to be very weird, but it's actually three really interesting stories revolving around kisses with fantastical elements thrown in.
    • 5/5
      Do yourself a favor: if you like imaginative, creepy, and dark fantasy/supernatural tales written in jawdroppingly gorgeous prose, buy this book. If that bundle of win sounds up your alley, Lips Touch: Three Times is the perfect novel for you. Do yourself an even bigger favor and do NOT buy an ebook of this - the illustrations are insane, as the only the print editions can truly show. This quirky husband and wife team hit it out of the park with the pitch-perfect, foreboding art used, as well as the fact that each successive story kept impressing me more and more. Each story is fully unique, described in the lush way that only Laini Taylor can, and fully captivating - from curses than can kill with a word to soul searching, Lips Touch is a rare pleasure. This is a sadly rather short novel at 266 pages, but one my advice is to read it slowly, to just luxuriate in the glow of a damn good book and stretch out the exotic and experience as long as possible. This is an all-time favorite of mine after one just one read, but Lips Touch: Three Times is an obvious, seductive winner, done in both Taylor's and Di Bartolo's inimitable styles. This is a book stuffed so full with gorgeous words and gorgeous illustrations, it demands to be reread, and I will certainly indulge that in the future.#1. Goblin Fruit - 5/5The shortest and least intense of the three offered, Goblin Fruit is the indicator for the tone and style of this book of short stories. I've read other full-length novel interpretations of Christina Rossetti's classic poem, but Laini Taylor has taken the well-known story and added flair all her own in the form of knife-wielding grandmothers, girls with impossible dreams and imagery ahoy ("Sometimes Kizzy imagined her grandmother knife-fighting her way down the long tunnel of death...") The use, temptation and desire of souls advance much of the plot of all three novellas and Daughter of Smoke and Bone, though in quite distinctly disparate ways, and Kizzy's tale of drastic choices is no different.In less than 55 pages, Laini Taylor can craft a character more defined and individual than many YA authors can offer up after several books and hundreds of pages. While she (and her characterization) are sadly somewhat hampered by the extremely short length, they operate admirably under the pressure. It's easy to see Kizzy as a real person because what she wants so much, so urgently it and her immediately resonate with the audience. Kizzy's flawed and "deeply susceptible to mortification" and like every other protagonist from Lips Touch, I'd greedily grab for a chance at a full-length novel with her featured.Favorite quotes: "The goblins want girls who dream so hard about being pretty their yearning leaves a palpable trail, a scent goblins can follow like sharks on a soft bloom of blood. The girls with hungry eyes who pray each night to wake up as someone else. Urgent, unkissed, wistful girls. Like Kizzy." “She could smell the boy spice beneath the thrift-store aroma of his jacket, and the rubbing and the smell began to work to soften her -- like butter before you add sugar, in the first steps of making something sweet. It was her first experience of how bodies could meld together, how breath could slip naturally into rhythm. It was hypnotic. Heady. And she wanted more.” 2. Spicy Little Curses Such As These - 5/5While I (at the moment) think the third and final story is my favorite, Spicy Little Curses Such As These is a close second place. It's imaginative, rich, dramatic, and romantic. It's ominious and Gothic from the start: “This is the story of the curse and the kiss, the demon and the girl. It's a love story with dancing and death in it, and singing and souls and shadows reeled out on kite strings.” and “Some would assert that Providence was at work shaking out its pockets in Humanity's lap. Other would argue for that mindless choreographer, Chance. Either way it was a simple thing: a lost diary fell into the hands of a soul-sick war hero on a train from Bombay to Jaipur just when he'd grown tired of the scenery and needed something to keep his thoughts from the minefield of his wretched memories. In such mild ways is the groundwork laid for first kisses and ruined lives.” Like both other stories and probably everything this author produces, Spicy Little Curses is eminently quotable in a truly unique vein. But how beautiful and tactile is that first quote - "souls and shadows reeled out on kite strings"? The image described is compelling, unique and quite dire indeed for those attached to the souls in question.I like that Taylor switches it up with her mythology and settings - Hatchling is set somewhere in the Kazakhstan/central Asia area, and this particular story here is set in the Indian region, with all the added benefits of a rich and storied culture to pick and choose from. Infusing her fantasy plots and stories with flavors from so many varied cultures keeps each fresh and easy to distinguish between, without sacrificing any essential ingredient from the mix.Favorite quotes: "At the British parties in Jaipur, gossip swirled wild on eddies of whiskeyed breath. The old bitch was a popular topic of it. It was generally agreed she had been in India too long. It had "gotten to her." She spoke the native tongue, and not just Hindustani but also Rajasthani and a touch of Gujarati, and she had even been known to haggle once in Persian! It suggested to the British a grubby intimacy with the place, as if she took India into her very mouth and tasted it, like a lover's fingers." 3. Hatchling - 5/5The longest and by far the creepiest and most compelling out of Lips Touch, final short story Hatchling is a dark tale with several unpredictable twists and turns. It might be old by now (and obvious that Laini is my favorite YA author), but just when I think the creativity well is tapped out, this is an author that can constantly create new ideas, incorporate old ones and make the subsequent novel read freshly and vividly. Hatchling is beautiful in its poetic prose, in its alien terribleness of the Druj and in the message of hope and love at its core.Even moreso than the first two, Hatchling left an impression - wistful, surprsingly, and utterly original. Favorite quotes: “Staring at her face, she began to fancy her outer layer had begun to melt away while she wasn't paying attention, and something -- some new skeleton -- was emerging from beneath the softness of her accustomed self. With a deep, visceral ache, she wished her true form might prove to be a sleek and shining one, like a stiletto blade slicing free of an ungainly sheath. Like a bird of prey losing its hatchling fluff to hunt in cold, magnificent skies. That she might become something glittering, something startling, something dangerous.”
    • 4/5
      Wonderfully rich and unusual stories. Lovely and vivid language and imagery. Haunting and ethereal.
    • 4/5
      The blurb on this is a bit misleading: “three tales of supernatural love that all hinge on a life-changing kiss.” Oh, each story does have a fateful kiss. But these are haunting, dark tales more in line with the original Grimm fairytales (wherein the witch EATS Hansel & Gretel) rather than Disney with a sugar-coated happily ever after. Taylor’s writing is excellent: lyrical and fluid, with rich and vivid description that brings her worlds to life. The illustrations (in the hardcover edition) truly add to the experience rather than just being window dressing. Each story is preceded by several pages depicting events in the story – but you do not immediately understand the importance of the scenes until you reach them in the text. I often flipped back to look at the illustrations. These tales are dark, but delicious.GOBLIN FRUIT – Kizzy isn’t the popular girl at school. Her family is weird and believes in the supernatural; her two friends are outcasts like her. Despite the potential inside her, Kizzy wants to be normal. She wants it so bad it is a tangible thing that is enticing goblins to try and steal her soul. When a beautiful new boy shows up at school, with eyes only for her, she should have suspected. But want is a powerful force. This was my least favorite tale because it simply ends, rather than giving the fallout from the kiss. Never-the-less, it was an intriguing tale about the dangers of wanting what we can’t or shouldn’t have – even a kiss. 3 StarsSPICY LITTLE CURSES LIKE THESE –Estella descends into Hell (not your typical Christian one) each day to bargain with a demon to give dying children a chance for more years in life. The demon offers to save all 22 children dead in an earthquake in exchange for Estella delivering one special curse to a newborn. Amanique is cursed with a voice so beautiful, anyone who hears it will die. She holds in her voice for 18 long years, until she falls in love. But, the demon will discover this spicy curse has consequences he never intended. I loved this tale! It was creative, suspenseful and intense, with an oh so satisfying ending. 5 StarsHATCHLING – Esme wakes one morning to discover one of her eyes has turned blue. Her young mother Mab takes them on the run, but one of the Druj finds them. He takes Esme back to the cold, heartless realm of the Druj Queen. A queen who kept her mother Mab as a pet, until she was no longer a child, and then forced her to “breed” a new pet. Only that pet, Esme, would be the undoing of the Queen. This tale is very dark, and even disturbing. The story of Mab’s captivity is heartbreaking, and the Druj truly inhuman. I thought it was brilliant. A creepy fairytale should leave a reader edgy, and this certainly does, but the ending also has a strong note of hope. For Esme, and perhaps the Queen as well. 5 starsOverall, I thought this collection was an unexpected delight. I was anticipating somewhat sappy fairytales with the standard HEA. There was an ever after, but the happiness was mingled with sadness. Taylor’s novel, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, is what tempted me to read all her other books. I’m so glad I did. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Firsts of all sorts are important to people; these tend to be the most memorable moments, stories that people recount. This may be particularly so for the story of a person’s first kiss, a milestone with a sweet touch of romance. Lips Touch collects three novelettes, each in a different part of the world in a different time, each focusing on a different sort of mythology and different characters, but all concerned with the first kiss of the main character, all girls.Goblin Fruit, the first story, is concerned with a girl of gypsy roots, Kizzy, a high school student, and a none-too-popular one, who, along with her friends, longs to be connected with one of the more popular boys in school, to have a handsome boyfriend. She can hardly believe her luck when the hot new boy in the school, Jack Husk, seems interested in her, and spending time with her, from his first day. But is he more than he seems? What can she learn from her family lore and the spirits of the past that might guard her? The setup here was all right, but I found this story the weakest of the three; I don’t much care for the supernaturally beautiful (Taylor appears to, though, considering Daughter of Smoke and Bone), and Kizzy’s described future was more interesting than her present. I liked her well enough, I suppose, but this didn’t gel for me, and the writing here didn’t seem quite as even to me as the other two.Spicy Little Curses Such as These was probably my favorite of the three stories. Here is a story sent in an India still under British rule, just after World War I, and draws more on the local mythology. Here, our lead character, Anamique, is cursed with having the most beautiful voice in the world, a curse that Estelle, a hard-edged old British lady who happens to be the local ambassador to Hell, procures for her in exchange for the lives of a couple of children. Why is having a beautiful voice a curse? Well, if you hear it, then it kills you. But when Anamique starts to fall in love with a war-weary soldier who’s relocated to the Raj, can she hold her tongue? The structure of this was very good, and the story’s turns and characters were fresh and surprising; I didn’t expect it to end where it did, but I was happy with it, for certain.The final story, and the longest, is Hatchling, set in the world of the Druj, a mythology invented by Taylor, with a world of shape-shifters that live on their own, apart from the worlds of men, in mountain holdfasts. They can switch from human to animal shape, and take over the bodies of people; how Druj society works, their powers, and how they interact with humans, definitely is well-described, for the amount of space that it’s in. You get a real sense of their dark power. Our lead characters here are Esme and her mother Mab, who escaped from the Druj years before, just before Esme’s birth, and have been under threat ever since, but with the protection, perhaps, of Mihai, a Druj that doesn’t seem to work under the same rules at the others, exactly. The story is concerned really with Mab’s escape from Druj, and how the Druj came to have their power, to behave the way they do; it’s rather dark, and well-told. That said, I feel like the story in some is a run-up to Daughter of Smoke and Bone, with a lot of the same themes and tropes showing up; having read the other one first maybe lessened my appreciation of this one.Overall, I quite enjoyed these stories: they definitely have their romance to them, but it’s the worlds that the characters inhabit that interests me more, perhaps, and how they find their place and their power within them. The kisses can be sweet, or dangerous, but they’re interesting, and well-placed. I’m definitely a fan of Taylor’s writing overall, now; it’s quite lush and almost lyrical at points without getting overwrought. She reminds me somewhat of Catherynne M. Valente in style, although I prefer the latter. The illustrations that flesh out the background of the story and the world that precede each story are gorgeous and lush, as well, but don’t expect to really understand what you see there until you read the story, for the most part.All told, this is a pretty solid selection of stories, and worth reading, even if the cover is awfully, awfully bad. I was embarrassed to read it. Why they didn’t use one of the much better interior illustrations, I will never know. It’s not a bad introduction to Taylor’s work, but I might start with one of the novels.