Things I Love Thursdays: Daughter of Smoke and Bone

I finally got around to reading Laini Taylor's phenomenal book, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, this week, and I'm so glad I did! It was the best thing I've read in a while. I think it took me three sittings to finish it - it would have been less if I didn't have silly responsibilities like a child and a husband to think about. I'd forgotten how inspiring it can be to read something really well written; it makes me want to work that much harder on my own writing. Taylor has created a world that is completely unique and yet fully realized at the same time, which I can really appreciate now, having tried to do something similar in my last book. The only bummer? It made me want to live in Prague (my number one choice for our A-100 list) so bad! I'll have to settle for visiting. At least it's a direct flight from Yekaterinburg...

Here is the description from Amazon:

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?

And here is the cover, in case you missed it the last time I posted it:

I can't recommend this book enough! And I can't wait for the sequel!