Fantastic Finds

Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor, illustrated by Jim DiBartolo

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 tussle over the soul of a beautiful English girl in India. Matters become complicated when she falls in love and decides to test her curse.

-Hatchling: Six days before Esme's fourteenth birthday, her left eye turns from brown to blue. She little suspects what the change heralds, but her small safe life begins to unravel at once. What does the beautiful, fanged man want with her, and how is her fate connected to a mysterious race of demons? -Plot summary borrowed from Goodreads

*Swoon!!!!!* This book is gorgeous and lovely and thrilling and, in every sense of the word, FANTASTIC. A friend recommended this to me after I read (and fell completely, madly in love with) Daughter of Smoke and Bone. It sat on my "to read" list for almost a year-mostly because I thought the cover was really underwhelming and I was afraid this wouldn't live up to my internal Taylor hype. I was very wrong.

Each story is unique, but each is full of lush details, inviting/exciting settings, and fascinating characters. I would love to see a whole novel in the setting from "Goblin Fruit"- think Appalachian gypsies. And the world-building of the novella-length Hatchling blew me away. When it comes down to it, some of the aspects of that story were familiar (children snatched by fey creatures, an icy queen, wolf men), but everything still felt new and magical. 

This would be an excellent collection with "just" Taylor's prose, but as an added bonus, you get her husband's illustrations as well!






If you are also counting down the days until Days of Blood and Starlight is released, this will be a great way to keep busy in the meantime.

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff

Mackie Doyle is not one of us. Though he lives in the small town of Gentry, he comes from a world of tunnels and black murky water, a world of living dead girls ruled by a little tattooed princess. He is a Replacement, left in the crib of a human baby sixteen years ago. Now, because of fatal allergies to iron, blood, and consecrated ground, Mackie is fighting to survive in the human world.

Mackie would give anything to live among us, to practice on his bass or spend time with his crush, Tate. But when Tate's baby sister goes missing, Mackie is drawn irrevocably into the underworld of Gentry, known as Mayhem. He must face the dark creatures of the Slag Heaps and find his rightful place, in our world, or theirs. -Plot summary borrowed from Good Reads

This was a great atmospheric, creepy read. The author does a fantastic job of establishing the rust-belt, something's-not-quite-right feel of Gentry, and puts some great new twists on fairy lore. I also love when a book seems tied to a certain time of year, and this book just felt so Octobery to me. It makes you want to pull up your collar and rush home, looking over your shoulder at shadows. Mackie is an especially likable protagonist who never lets his angst get too Emo, and his quest to find his crush's baby sister is gripping. I'd definitely recommend this one.


(For other dark fae fiction, you might also want to check out Tithe by Holly Black, or The Good Neighbors graphic novel trilogy by the same author. )