Taylor, Laini: Lips Touch: Three Times

October 1, 2009
272 pages, Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic Inc.)

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.

I never realized before what an important role is given to the reviewer. Reading a review can completely color your eyes towards a book and its author, even before you've felt it in your hands for yourself, or seen the familiar binding gracing the shelf of a library.


That being said, I will try my best in this review to show you exactly how amazing, electrifying, and simply marvelous this little flame-colored volume is, and why you should read it.

I know, it's a big responsibility, but someone's gotta do it.

Ready?


Okay. I've heard a lot about this book, even before Laini Taylor wrote the tantalizing (and much coveted on my part - curse you, all those lucky BEA attendees that have ARCs!) Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Three stories about kissing with a paranormal bent, yada yada yada.

My first reaction? A picture of this guy.

...No, not Rob Patz (though he's pretty traumatic in himself). The guy he plays. The sparkly vampire.


Yes. There's been so much paranormal floating about that I'm ashamed to admit I've become a bit jaded about new releases, and the possible appearance of another pale-skinned, golden-eyed, anguished immortal hunk (get yours today!) that I kind of put this title aside in my mind and forgot about it.


However, thanks to a few glowing reviews on GoodReads (particularly those of Nanalla and Tatiana - thanks girls!) made me pick this up at the library last week.


To make a potentially long review short, let me just say: if you're looking for one fantasy/paranormal/romantic/fairy tale book to make your favorite read of the year, this pretty much fits the ticket.


Positively. Gorgeous.

And I don't just mean the illustrations.


To quote the book itself:


"Kizzy wanted to be a woman who would dive off the prow of a sailboat into the sea, who would fall back in a tangle of sheets, laughing, and who could dance a tango, lazily stroke a leopard with her bare foot, freeze an enemy's blood with her eyes, make promises she couldn't possibly keep, and then shift the world to keep them...She wanted to be inscrutable, have a drink named after her, a love song written for her, and a handsome adventurer's small airplane, champagne-christened Kizzy, which would vanish one day in a windstorm in Arabia so that she would have to mount a rescue operation involving camels, and wear an indigo veil against the stinging sand, just like the nomads.


Kizzy wanted."

and...


"The others all remembered that stare in the garden, and they could see now in the look that passed between the two that something was already under way. A bridge begun at both ends, reaching toward the place in the middle where they could rest against each other and find completion."


I could post more, but I really don't want to spoil the book for you. Like that breathless moment before a dive into the deep end of a pool, or the sensation of first love, this is something you really have to read - and adore - for yourself.


Warnings: A bit of sexual innuendo. The last story, at least to me, was also a bit more disturbing (a demon queen that keeps human children as pets, and then breed new ones when they come of age), so just keep that in mind.


If you like/recommended for: Fairy tale lovers. It doesn't matter how old you are. Fairy tales are meant to be universal. Why do you think there are around a hundred versions of Cinderella?

Definitely a book you don't want to miss. And please, do yourself a favor and read it instead of listening to the audiobook. Your eyes will thank you.