Review: Lips Touch: Three Times

Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Three dark, earthy, fantastical, amazing short stories. I made the mistake of being so totally enthralled with the first story that I turned the pages and leapt right into the second. That was a mistake as one should pause to savour the first before jumping right into the second. So I made sure to let a few days go before starting Hatchling. That is an error I often make with short stories and the reason I don't often read them, I get so involved and they end too quickly for my liking.

Anyway, these three stories were just fabulously engrossing, funny, dark and vividly told, and particularly Goblin Fruit, so very real. Teenage girl talk..."mouth babies" ... you have to read it, I totally Lol'd. I think Goblin Fruit and Hatchling could easily be made into full length novels, and I would be first on the list to read them! Four stars from me, and I would add another half star for the vivid illustrations by Jim Di Bartolo. They were wonderfully titillating, they gave some hint of the story to come, and you found yourself drawn back to them throughout the stories as secrets and details were revealed.



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Review: Thirteenth Child

Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Great concept, an alternative reality frontier America, with magic part of the ordinary every day. It follows the childhood of a supposedly unlucky thirteenth child, whose twin is the seventh son of a seventh son. Both children in their own way fated to be extraordinary and both live a life heavy with expectations forced on them from extended family and citizens. Their father, a professor of magic, moves the family from the city to a frontier town in order to give them a more a more ordinary upbringing.

Unfortunately the book reads very dry, like a list of occurrences while waiting to grow up. A fair bit of stuff happens, but apparently it is of no great import. Perhaps lacking in passion? Maybe because it is seen through the eyes of a child? This happened, then this happened. I will probably persevere with the series though because the story itself is quite unique and the world building of some fascination to me. I mean, who in their right mind wouldn't want to know more about Steam dragons and Columbian sphinxes, woolly rhinoceroses and spectral bears, dire wolves, saber cats, terror birds, and swarming weasels?



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Review: Garden Spells

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Completely and utterly delightful. A magical little read.



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Review: Wondrous Strange

Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


Disappointingly twee. Very predictable. Fae not even nearly nasty enough, although descriptions and characters were quite nicely fleshed out. Altogether too clean and happy for my taste. Probably quite appropriate for the younger YA audience however.



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