Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

(Thanks to Charlotte for introducing me to Laini Taylor. I think I'll read "Lips Touch: Three Times" next.)
Category: Young adult

Length: 448 pages

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Published: June 5, 2012

Back Cover: 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?

My review: Set in modern-day Prague, this lush urban fantasy will hook you and not let go. I couldn't put this book down! I am not, repeat-not into angel stories. In fact, if I had realized this had an angel/demon premise, I would have put it back. Boy, am I glad I didn't.

Taylor crafts a lush, imaginative world and populates it with complex, unusual characters. Karou, the main character, is a mysterious girl with peacock blue hair, a sketchbook full of odd creatures, and a knife in her boot. Akiva, the love interest, is an angel with firey wings and a closet full of secrets. Did I forget to mention that he's also trying to kill Karou?

Raised by a demon chimaera named Brimstone, Karou spent her childhood in a strange little shop between two worlds. Her monstrous caregiver collects teeth. Why? You will want to find out, believe me.

I am crossing my fingers that a part two comes out soon.

Rating: 5 Stars