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Little Willow: Welcome to the roundtable discussion of Lips Touch by Laini Taylor, which was our featured book for October. Many thanks to all of the roundtable participants. Today, I'm joined by readergirlz divas Lorie Ann Grover and Melissa Walker as well as Enna Isilee from the blog Squeaky Books.

Lorie Ann Grover: Oh, it's a delight to host Laini and discuss Lips Touch! Almost as fun as her funky Laini's Ladies. Have you seen them? Mine hangs in my kitchen! But okay, let's get to her collection of stories!

Little Willow: Lips Touch is a collection of three stories: Goblin Fruit, Spicy Little Curses, and Hatchling. What was your favorite scene or character from Goblin Fruit?

Melissa Walker: I loved the description of Kizzy when she was introduced, and the reasons why the goblins wanted her and knew she was easy prey. I was instantly mesmerized.

Lorie Ann Grover: I loved her grandmother, trying to warn her! Listen, Kizzy!

Little Willow: I wanted to warn Kizzy as well. I thought this story was a great way to kick off this collection, and I liked the fact that each story took place in a different time and location. Goblin Fruit took place in current times. If this story had been set in Victorian times instead, how would it have been different? What might have stayed the same?

Melissa Walker: I thought the story was pretty timeless. I loved that it was set now, because it has an ancient feel to it but seemed perfectly modern, too. It was a nice combination.

Lorie Ann Grover: I think the modern setting made it so accessible. It acted as the bridge to this intriguing, mysterious fairy tale. Maybe it would have been a tad longer bridge if it had been set in the 1800s.

Little Willow: Are you impulsive? Do you often - or ever - give into temptation?

Enna Isilee: I used to be. Before I had a job I would fritter away every meager penny that I earned. Now that I have a steady income I'm actually more careful with my money (I have to be). I've never been impulsive with love. I'm very square. I don't think I've ever had a lustful thought. Always the good girl.

Little Willow: There's not an impulsive bone in my body. I'm extremely cautious, and I tend to overthink things. No matter what, whether it's a decision that has to be made in an instant or something I have more time to consider, I trust my gut. If my gut tells me not to do something, I don't do it. Period.

Melissa Walker: I was very, very good in high school, but I broke out of that mold in college and acted impulsively on too many occasions. I learned a lot from giving in to temptation, and I'm glad I learned it young.

Lorie Ann Grover: Are we talking chocolate here? Because I cave for chocolate. :~)

Little Willow: Lorie Ann, here's a healthy granola-and-chocolate bar for you. What's the difference between being tempted by something and wanting something? Where or how do they overlap?

Lorie Ann Grover: I think a desire can be honest, good, and right. While the word "temptation" lets you know that the desire is likely unhealthy, not to your ultimate benefit or another's.

Little Willow: Are any of you superstitious?

Lorie Ann Grover: Not a lick.

Enna Isilee: I'm EXTREMELY superstitious. Mostly when it comes to numbers. I hate the number 3, love the numbers 7 and 2. I always stop the microwave at 4 seconds, so that it never gets to 3. As for curses... I certainly believe in mental curses. If someone tells me I'm going to have a bad day, I probably will because I believe it. Then again... maybe that's how magic works. ;)

Little Willow: Maybe so, Enna!

This month's theme of Love naturally led us to 12 Reasons Why I Love Her by Joëlle Jones and Jamie S. Rich. This graphic novel was named a recommended read in the October 2010 issue, and I recommend it to people whether or not they are comic fans, because the story transcends the format and will snag the hearts of romantics as well as graphic novel enthusiasts. Jamie was kind enough to tell me about the origins of the book:

It all seems so simple now, I can barely believe it. It was a Saturday night, I think in 2003, and I was bored and trying to think of a side project to write during breaks from my second novel, The Everlasting. I am a big fan of good romantic movies, particularly Hollywood classics with Cary Grant or the Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy pairings, and I started to think about the modern equivalent. If it were possible to write a movie like The Apartment or Two for the Road now, how would I do it? I don’t know if I was conscious of the Two for the Road connection at that very moment, but Stanley Donen’s 1966 masterpiece would end up being a real inspiration for what I was about to cook up. In it, Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney play a married couple who are heading for the rocks, and by criss-crossing several narrative timelines at once, Donen lets us compare and contrast and see how they got from very young love to very old love by drawing ingenious parallels between the jumbled stages of their life together.

I began with my two main characters, Gwen and Evan. I don’t generally talk about this much, but the germ for them both was the casting for this imaginary film. At that time, I couldn’t think of a better pair for a movie than Gwyneth Paltrow and Ewan McGregor. I envisioned the opening scene, a tricky intro that at first glance would look like the first time these two had met. Borrowing the title 12 Reasons Why I Love Her from a song by the British band My Life Story, I quickly began to map out twelve more chapters, setting a gameplan for how I would lay this story out. Chronological order would be jettisoned. I’d start with the first date, but I’d end with the real first meeting. There would be big events, but we would maybe see the fall-out from those events before we actually get there. And there would be abstract sections. I’d have one where Gwen would tell jokes, and maybe one about things she liked, and there would have to be a childhood flashback. Given the title, it would all be Evan’s point of view, and each chapter had to have some rationalization for how he knew what he knew if he wasn’t actually a part of it. The idea was that by timing the flow of information, I could simulate the scattered and disjointed experience of a real relationship, chronicle the good and the bad, and chart the uneven ground that an honest love must traverse to stay alive. The outline came quickly, like tuning in a radio signal and twisting the knobs until I had identified all the frequencies.

The movie idea went away pretty fast, as did the casting. The characters, as they are wont to do, took on a life of their own, and I only had a couple of toes in before I knew I wanted this to be a comic book instead. I fired up my scriptwriting program and banged out the prologue. That first draft is exactly what you see in the first pages of the book. It never changed. Only my first novel, Cut My Hair, arrived as so clear a vision, where I knew right from the start what I wanted to happen. With that book, I wrote the first chapter, and then I wrote the last page, and proceeded from there to fill in the rest. 12 Reasons Why I Love Her was pretty much the same.

12 Reasons, then, was always a book that seem buoyed by fate. Everything happened for a reason, ever

The characters in this month's chosen read, Lips Touch, are all about non-traditional beauty -- that inner gorgeous.

If you enjoyed this month's book pick, Lips Touch Three Times by Laini Taylor, we'd love for you to participate in an online roundtable discussion.

It's really easy to do. Just leave a comment below with your email address. In the coming days, I will send you an invite through Google Docs. We'll post some basic discussion questions to get things started, and you may feel free add questions of your own and additional commentary about the book (and its gorgeous illustrations by Jim Di Bartolo!) Then check the document every couple of days throughout the month to respond to questions and comments from other readers. Since the roundtable will be available online at Google Docs 24/7, you may keep adding to the discussion any time you'd like until we wrap things up in late October. I'll post the complete roundtable at both the Bildungsroman and readergirlz blogs at the end of the month.

Check out previous roundtables to see how they work.

Click into the October issue of readergirlz to learn more about Laini Taylor and Lips Touch.

On the nightstand: Anna & the French Kiss (ARC) by Stephanie Perkins; Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman; two travel guidebooks to Tahiti, because *dream dream*

Favorite drink while you write: A "depth charge" -- large coffee plus espresso.