Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Genre: YA Paranormal, Fantasy

Publisher: Little Brown and Company

Hardcover,  432 pages

Around the world, black handprints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.

In a dark and dusty shop, a devil's supply of human teeth grown dangerously low.

And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherwordly war.

Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real; she's prone to disappearing on mysterious "errands"; she speaks many languages—not all of them human; and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she's about to find out.

When one of the strangers—beautiful, haunted Akiva—fixes his fire-colored eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?

 Karou has always known that her life was different than others, but she was fine with that. Growing up with what others would considers monsters as family members was normal to her and even though it has been an adventurous life, she still feels as if something is missing. Her sketches bring her comfort when she needs is as does her best friend, Zuzana. Her life begins to change when she goes on an errand for Brimstone and it lands her in the path of the mesmerizing Akiva. She knows that things are different with him, but is she truly ready to find the answers that have been haunting her? Is she ready to have her eyes opened to whom or what she really is? Only time will tell. 

I devoured this book. I am not sure what took me so long to pick it up. My only guess is that it was just waiting on the perfect time to land in my lap... and boy did it! The creativity of Laini Taylor simply astounds me. Creative writing is a passion of mine (personally and within my teaching career) and this has to be one of the greatest examples of just that... letting the creative juices flow. One of the things I really don't like about adult fiction is that it seems like the same plot is recycled. As a constant reader, I have started to see this happen with YA and it has started to stress me just a tad. This novel, however, is just what I needed to show that there are some uber creative authors out there continuing to break the mold! There were times when I was convinced I had it all figured out, and then I would turn the page and it was almost as if I could hear Laini laughing saying, "Haha... you just THOUGHT you knew what I was going to do, huh?" But that is what I loved most. The edge of my couch is worn out because I was sitting on it while reading this and my finger nails are chewed down. 

Now I am trying to figure out how I can get to her or the publisher before November when the second book comes out. I simply cannot wait that long! 

Happy reading everyone :)