Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor

“Kizzy was so busy wishing she was Sarah Ferris of Jenny Glass that she could scarcely see herself at all, and she was certainly blind to her own weird beauty: her heavy spell-casting eyes, too-wide mouth, wild hair, and hips that could be wild too, if they learned how. No one else in town looked anything like her, and if she lived to womanhood, she was the one artists would want to draw, not the Sarahs and Jennys. She was the one who would some day know a dozen ways to wear a silk scarf, how to read the sky for rain, and coax feral animals near, how to purr throaty love songs in Portuguese and Basque, how to lay a vampire to rest, how to light a cigar, how to light a man’s imagination on fire.

If she lived to womanhood.”

Laini Taylor’s intensely beautiful short stories about, superficially speaking, the dangers of kissing are exquisitely written. Dark, terrifying, and mysterious, Taylor’s three modern fairy-tales will make you shiver in delight and despair.

The first, “Goblin Fruit”, is about Kizzy, the girl whose wanting is so strong, the Goblins scent her longing and come slavering for a taste of her soul.

“Spicy Little Curses Such as These”, the second in the book, tells the parallel stories of Estella and Anamique, two cursed women. Estella is the unfortunate woman charged with playing Ambassador to Hell. Amanique is the girl cursed by Estella to have the most beautiful voice in the world. But any sound she makes will be deadly.

Taylor ends the collection with her longest story, “Hatchling”. Complex and layered despite its brief length, “Hatchling” tells the tale of Esmé, Mab and the Druj, a sinister race of blue-eyed creatures. Without souls, the immortal Druj are fascinated by the life-cycle of humans, their ability to grow and to die, to love and to have children. This fascination leads the Queen Druj to keep a pet of her own in her lair: a human girl she calls Izha. One day, the Izha runs away and that's where the true story begins.

Taylor’s short stories are paired with Di Bartolo’s remarkable illustrations that not only enhance the beauty of the stories but also provides nuance. In fact, the stories would lose some of their power if the illustrations had not been included, not because the stories are lacking, but because Di Bartolo’s work is such an integral part of my understanding of the stories.

I highly recommend the book to all readers, young and old. The book is a collection of true gems, and I will not be surprised if it becomes a future award-winner. I think it will appeal to a broad audience, but for those who especially enjoy reading modern fairy-tales or light fantasy, Lips Touch: Three Times should definitely not be missed.

Taylor, Laini. Lips Touch. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2009.

Laini Taylor's Website