Lips Touch: Three Times

Lips Touch: Three Times

by
3.8 of 5 stars 3.80  ·  rating details  ·  4,680 ratings  ·  1,050 reviews
Three tales of supernatural love, each pivoting on a kiss that is no mere kiss, but an action with profound consequences for the kissers' souls:

Goblin Fruit
In Victorian times, goblin men had only to offer young girls sumptuous fruits to tempt them to sell their souls. But what does it take to tempt today's savvy girls?

Spicy Little Curses
A demon and the ambassador to Hell...more
Hardcover, 266 pages
Published October 1st 2009 by Arthur A. Levine Books

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Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)
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Tatiana
Jul 09, 2011 Tatiana rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those who love fairy tales and gorgeous writing
Recommended to Tatiana by: ALA's 10 Best for 2010
As seen on The Readventurer

I am familiar with YA literature enough to know how horribly, horribly wrong a collection of short stories about kissing can go (see, for example, The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire and Kisses from Hell). Let me tell you, "Lips Touch" is not that kind of book. This book is simply magical.

Laini Taylor grabs your attention with the first lines:

There is a certain kind of girl the goblins crave. You could walk across a high school campus and point them...more
karen
i was not expecting to five-star this. i must confess - i hate the title and i hate the cover art (although i love the internal illustrations)



aren't those much better?? something about the color palette on the cover is upsetting, the covergirl looks vapid and whorish, and the title makes it seem like some teen heartthrob novel, which is it not. what it is is a sequence of three fairy tale-ish stories.

the first one is my favorite, and this one is a first-love story, so what? a frustrated girl fr...more
Kat Kennedy
Oct 15, 2010 Kat Kennedy rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone with the capacity for beauty and romance, pain and loss.
To those of you who haven't read this book, what are you doing right now? If your answer is anything other than "Purchasing this book and getting ready to read it" then I'm afraid that you and I might just have to come to some kind of disagreement.

There is something enchantingly, alluringly fantastic about this book. From it's beautifully written stories to the amazing drawings and the characters within. This book is like a beautiful, wild romani woman with her ankle bracelets, bare feet and twi...more
Sparrow
Jul 31, 2011 Sparrow rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Linda
Recommended to Sparrow by: Thomas Tomato
When you want to take a story that someone else has told and make it your own, do it like this. If you want to write a story, recognize your own magic, your own style, and add it to the story you want to steal. If you want to write a story, do what Laini Taylor did, and absorb the story, wait until it has seeped into the interstitial places of your writing, and give it back to your reader. Make it beautiful and true. And the only way you can do that is by figuring out what to you is beauty and t...more
Lora
Three stories. Three girls. One thing in common: each lady has not been kissed. And their first taste of that special time when lips touch won't come without a price . . .

The wife and husband team of Laini Taylor and Jim Di Bartolo sure do make for a sumptuous collection of stories. I'd be hard-pressed to choose which is more beautiful: Taylor's writing or Di Bartolo's illustrations.

Let me give you samples of each:

"With a deep, visceral ache, she wished her true form might prove to be a sleek an...more
Ceridwen
Do this:

1. Order this book from your library or go down to the bookstore or do whatever you need to do to get it into your hands.

2. Get out a brown paper bag, or some vellum, or tape together laser-printer paper from your printer tray, or something, and fold and cut it so it will cover the book, like you used to do with text books.

3. Print out this image.

PRB image of two girls in an embrace

or this one:

Rankin illustration of a girl gripped by goblins

Or, just do a google image search for "Goblin Market" and just pick whichever one you love more, because there is an image-hoard...more
Lamia
This can also be seen at The Book Eater

I truly feel like anything I say couldn't do this book justice.
So, in my endeavor to describe my *cough* "feelings", I made a pie chart (I love pie charts).



This book was was amazing. Well-written. Gorgeous, gorgeous writing. Touching characters. I just... I loved it. Every story was better than the last. Enchanting, horrifying, beautiful and captivating. The way Taylor writes... Again, I don't know what to say. She pulls you into the universe she created l...more
Emily May
Mar 30, 2012 Emily May rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Those who miss the days when authors wanted to be artists, not millionaires
Recommended to Emily May by: Tatiana


Beautiful words, beautiful stories, beautiful characters... you know, this is just one damn beautiful book. I am in awe of it. Can you fall in love with a book? If so, I'm guilty. I don't mean to sound condescending to young adult readers (I am one) but this book simply does not deserve the readership that thought Twilight was the best book ever written.

Everything about the marketing and presentation of this book does not convey how truly wonderful it is. Firstly, though the cover illustration...more
Jillian -always aspiring-
Rarely do I finish reading a book with a smile upon my face -- but, alas, Lips Touch: Three Times wheedled a satisfied yet slightly wistful smile from my face. I loved the format and premise behind this book, but the wistfulness came about from the desire that it had been longer. Laini Taylor's style is so lush that she captures her readers like a flame drawing moths. (If I could compare her to fantasy writers I have read in the past -- I would say that she is almost like a mixture of Tanith Lee...more
Mariel
Sep 14, 2011 Mariel rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: I don't want to live like this
Recommended to Mariel by: Jareth in his tights said it would be fun
I read the horoscope. It said that you would meet a tall and handsome stranger. Avoid all yellow fruits and scarves are for nooses to hang in an ever after. Lips should be colored artificially. Don't get red lips from kissing lots of the wrong boys and blue lips from the cold. It's l-o-v-e red. Maybelline makes it. She's born with it, of course. Don't look in the mirror. You might not be drop dead gorgeous and have to go on living. No invitations to the ballet in the mail this week... I'm a libr...more
Lisa O.
I've been eager to read Laini Taylor for a while now, after reading more than gushing reviews about her books here on GoodReads.
Now that I'm done I have to confess that while on the one hand she did not disappoint, on the other I didn't fall in love with this book.

I knew next to nothing about this book before starting it, only that it was a collection of three short stories and that the leit motif is kissing.
What I didn't know is that the author, in this collection, has taken various elements o...more
Erica (daydreamer)
Lips Touch: Three Times tells three short tales of three girls who find a certain magic through a kiss. These stories possess a fairytale esque feeling, with stories that are original, strange, a little dark, but with hope and beauty strung in between. Laini Taylor has quite an ability to grab the reader and pull them into her writing. I wasn’t riveted the whole time, I sometimes felt the flow or enchantment lacking a little, but I still enjoyed the stories.

The writing was done well, and was at...more
Lisa
Actual Rating: 4.5 Stars

Lips Touch: Three Times, Laini Taylor's debut into the young adult market, is simply magical. I picked up this collection of short stories with some trepidation. I do not usually enjoy short stories, even from authors I love, but my curiosity was piqued after seeing that the book was rated highly by most of my friends. Despite my fear of ending up the one dissenter in the sea of positive reviews, I decided to take a chance. And boy am I glad I did.

The strongest aspect of...more
Steph Sinclair

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

I've been hearing lots of awesome things about Lips Touch: Three Times. And while it did not overly blow me away, it did not disappoint me either. There is something magical about the way Laini Taylor weaves her words into these three short stories. No doubt about that. Lips Touch: Three Times can best be described as a 3 course meal. Goblin Fruit can be likened to an appetizer: small and simple. It's not enough to calm your hunger, but enough to pique your interest for t...more
Jean
I only read the first of the 3 supernatural tales in this book--"Goblin Fruit." (And I apologize to those who enjoyed it!)

The mood is heavy with superstition, slaughter and blood and flesh and titillation. In case grandma's trusty knife isn't enough, the element of danger is further highlighted by several appearances of the word rape, unsubtly used, for example, when peacocks in the farmyard don't screech or caw--they scream "rape."

The story is driven by the theme of lust despite (or heightene...more
Kay
Everything, from the illustrations that preceded the stories to the physical texture of the paper, worked so well in this magical bundle of a book. The stories and the writing are lyrical and haunting. Ms. Laini Taylor practices the coveted art of "showing, not telling" with unassuming grace.

The book is comprised of three stories, all very different in style and content but still work together.

Goblin Fruit
This story was the most "YA" of the bunch, and the weakest. As one reviewer mentioned, th...more
Ashleigh Paige
Also appears on The Screaming Nitpicker.

Lips Touch: Three Times is made up of three short stories. In the first, Kizzy comes from an odd family that believes in all sorts of strange things and she desperately wants to be more than just the plain girl from the strange family. Her want is so strong that it attracts evil to her and it just might be the death of her. In the second, Anamique was cursed with a beautiful voice at birth, but anyone that hears it will die. After finding love with a soldi...more
Heather
A special Thank you goes out to my matey T for recommending this book to me, great choice mon amie. :) No review I’m capable of writing will do this book justice, so I’ll keep it short and sweet. Lips Touch is stunning and reminiscent of my childhood favorite, Robin McKinley, and it is because of books like Lips Touch, that I fell in love with the YA fantasy genre so many years ago. Filled with inventive lore, gorgeously flowing language, and unique illustrations, Lips Touch is nothing short of...more
fяσzєη
I give this a 4.5. Only because the third story, I couldn't really get into.

Let me first start off by saying: holy crap, Laini Taylor! Your writing is fantastic! <3

I loved this book. The writing, the artwork, the characters... Gah!

The first and second story were my most favorites, but for the third one, I just...couldn't really get into it. I liked the first half of it, but then there were just way too many things that I didn't understand. I ended up skimming through the last parts.

I dare say...more
Amanda
Disregard how I feel about each short story and the book as a whole, this much is clear: Laini Taylor is indeed a gifted writer. She has a way with words that makes the pages jump out at you, grab you by the collar and suck you into its world of goblins and demons and Druj. She's crafted a tasteful balance of showing and telling, and colours her tales with a mixture of characters, each with a considerable voice of its own, seeing the relative difficulty of having to flesh them out in approximate...more
Stephanie
January 18, 2010

Alas, no Printz. That went to something else. BUT Lips Touch was a National Book Award finalist and will be a Best Book for Young Adults. At least someone appreciates it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Three amazingly well-written and intriguing stories.

And I would just like to add--if this book does not get the Printz, and it goes to some tragically traumatic realistic fiction novel instead, it will be a great injustice to the fantasy genre in...more
Carolynne
I didn't buy this book for the Curriculum Library when I first heard of it--I thought it was probably more of the same for the Twilight and House of Night fans--and besides, we have enough YA books for our pre-service English teachers. I decided to purchase it when it was an entrant in the Battle of the Kids' Books over at SLJ this March. Even then I was put off by the creepy cover. But I am so glad I finally gave it a chance. The first of the three novellas is based on the haunting poem "Goblin...more
Thebookbutterfly
There's this shelf of books in a room of my house, all of them made of that tough hardcover material--none of that sleek, slippery hardcover that they have today--and the titles are fading gold, etched into the front and the binding so they look mysterious and handsome displayed from the side (obviously the point of the awesome engraving). The font is old, authentic typewriter font that marches across the yellowing, creased pages in fancy lines. There's little (sometimes horrifying) illustration...more
Lavanya (Anya) Nara
May 27, 2011 Lavanya (Anya) Nara rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: EVERYONE
Recommended to Lavanya (Anya) by: Lamia
Shelves: favorites, personal
This book was amazing. it's actually three stories, two short ones and then a mid length third. The two shorter stories were my favorites; I couldn't believe the language-- her prose is beautiful. I especially like the second story with its entwining of Indian mythos, which I knew quite well. While I didn't understand why she set the story in India but didn't make the characters Indian, it was really well told and quite enthralling..

And the first story--there was literally a moment where I had t...more
Rachel
(edited review)

These stories were strange, interesting, and almost hypnotic. At times I wished I could put it down, but I felt drawn in somehow. Although it's not fully illustrated like a graphic novel, each of the three stories begins with several pages of illustrations, and ends with one "closing" illustration--a perfect touch. The stories were intriguing in and of themselves, but the illustrations added something much more--as if it made the stories magical (that sounds cheesy, I know). They...more
Wendy
Dec 03, 2009 Wendy rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Melody, Lizz, Kathleen
Recommended to Wendy by: Laurie
A lovely, lovely book, evocative of Robin McKinley and probably a dozen others if I put my mind to it, but not in a derivative kind of way. The writing, imagery, characters--all are splendid.

And considering how it's stayed with me over the last few days, I'm upping my stars.
Jacqueline
I'm not big on short story collections (that aren't anthologies by authors that I'm familiar with). That said, I may have to revise my opinion. Taylor's writing is beautiful and captivating. Nothing I can say would do this justice, so go pick it up.
Lyn (The Heartless)
Today's current art media: Book covers. I will be the first to admit that I am a sucker for a lovely dust jacket. Today, the bookstores display rows and rows of lovely and passionate art at the front of a well-defined novel. I, sad to admit, dodged The Hunger Games because of the front cover. I always remind myself to never judge a book by its cover.

However, with this beauty, you get your outstanding artwork and a wonderful collection of short stories by a promising new author. I will not lie an...more
rameau
Jun 21, 2011 rameau rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone
I've been agonising over the rating for a day now and I still can't decide. I loved this book, I really did, and still I can't bring myself to give it the fifth star.

It threw me a bit to realise this book was combined of three kissing stories of variable lengths, but the writing more than made up the fact. The first story was so short and poignant that to me, it became more about the pretty words and clever descriptions than the story itself. The second was more about the story and character gro...more
Brodie
There was no doubt in my mind that I would enjoy reading this after the highly intimate love affair I shared with Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Laini Taylor has been blessed with an otherworldly mind. It's her breathtaking ability to make writing an art - she's not just telling a story, she's creating a masterpiece. She can turn the most mundane of words into something rare and precious. It's not just her prose that I have come to adore, but also her imagination. I don't think I've quite read anyt...more
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Shut Up &amp; Read: Lips Touch, Three Times by Laini Taylor 52 34 Jun 13, 2013 08:41am  
Shut Up &amp; Read: Lips touch: three times by Lani Taylor 24 68 Jun 03, 2013 11:09am  
Kindle vs. Real Book 3 30 Apr 21, 2012 05:19pm  
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Hi there! I'm a writer of fantasy books for young people, but my books can be enjoyed by adults as well. My 'Dreamdark' books, Blackbringer (2007) and Silksinger (2009) are about faeries -- not dainty little flowery things, but warrior-faeries who battle devils. My first young adult book, Lips Touch, is a finalist for the 2009 National Book Award! It's creepy, sensual supernatural romance. . . abo...more
More about Laini Taylor...
Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #1) Days of Blood & Starlight (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #2) Blackbringer (Dreamdark, #1) Silksinger (Dreamdark, #2) Dreams of Gods & Monsters (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #3)

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“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 write memoirs and autograph them at a tiny bookshop in Rome, with a line of admirers snaking down a pink-lit alley. She wanted to make love on a balcony, ruin someone, trade in esoteric knowledge, watch strangers as coolly as a cat. 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.”
87 people liked it
“There are other ways of showing someone you love them, such as fetching them out of Hell.” 68 people liked it
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