Lips Touch Three Times by Laini Taylor

Lips Touch Three Times by Laini Taylor

Illustrations by Jim Di Bartolo

Published by Arthur A. Levine Books
Genre: YA

$17.99 (hardcover)

FTC: I bought this book and did not receive it from a publisher

What it's about according to the book sleeve:

A girl who's always been in the shadows finds erself 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 cihldbearing 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.

My thoughts:

Everyone had been ranting and raving about how amazing this book was so I started reading it with high expectations. It did not fully meet those expectations. The first of the three stories caught my attention pretty fast but it just...ended. It was going along smoothly and BAM! It was over. Major cliffhanger that caught me off guard. The whole maybe, maybe not answer at the end bugged me.

The second story I very much enjoyed and have nothing bad to say about it. I was really caught up in that story and even found myself holding my breath in anticipation. Will she, won't she talk? I didn't know. Great little story there.

The third story bothered me more than it should have. I found myself skimming parts of it and completely avoiding the parts about feeding kittens to the beasts. The story kinda reminded me of a darker version of The Host by Stephenie Meyer but not as entertaining. If it would have stayed about Esme and Mab I would have enjoyed it more.

What was wonderful about the book is the illustrations before each story. Jim Di Bartolo did a fantastic job creating an outline of the stories using pictures. They were wonderful. I honestly think I enjoyed those more than the stories themselves.

Overall, I think I will give the story a 7/10