Daughter of smoke and bone by Laini Taylor

Once upon a time,
an angel and a devil fell in love.
It did not end well.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone tells the age-old tale of forbidden love with a beautifully constructed mythological twist. I held off reading this series as I had heard so many positive review I was worried that it would not live up to the hype . That was a mistake I wish I had taken the time to read this sooner.

Through the leading characters Karou and Akiva, Laini Taylor has managed to create and capture a story of  love, loneliness and desperation.

Karou is a art student living in Prague. She gossips with girlfriends, works on her art and has to deal with a nightmare of an ex-boyfriend who won't take the hint. Throught her life she has kept a series of sketch books that tells the story of another world in incredibly, that her friends and class mates cant wait to see what happens next. But Karou has a secret. This isn't a world she dreamed up it is real.
In this secret world, wishes are the currency and monsters will do anything for their ultimate wishes to be fulfilled. Living between worlds, Karou senses that she doesn't quite belong in either. That there is always a part of her missing. But when she runs into Akiva, her life will change forever .

Laini Taylor, unlike numerous young adult authors, never patronises her readers. With a well developed story and characters.

The thing that really struck me most was the way Laini Taylor uses the traditional Ideas of  forbidden love, the divine battle of angels and devils, fallen angels... and manages to turn them into something entirely new and extraordinary.

There's also a wicked sensuality amidst the darkness that's just irresistable. A truly fantastic read!
If you have held of reading this series don't wait any longer!!!

Synopsis
Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #1) by Laini Taylor (Goodreads Author)

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 beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery 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?

original title Daughter of Smoke and Bone
ISBN 0316134023 (ISBN13: 9780316134026)
url http://www.daughterofsmokeandbone.com/
Series Daughter of Smoke & Bone #1