Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Book Title: Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Author: Laini Taylor
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
My Rating: ♥ ♥ ♥
Source: Library

Goodreads, Amazon UK

Goodreads Summary: Errand requiring immediate attention. Come. The note was on vellum, pierced by the talons of the almost-crow that delivered it. Karou read the message. 'He never says please', she sighed, but she gathered up her things.
When Brimstone called, she always came.
In general, Karou has managed to keep her two lives in balance. On the one hand, she's a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague; on the other, errand-girl to a monstrous creature who is the closest thing she has to family. Raised half in our world, half in 'Elsewhere', she has never understood Brimstone's dark work - buying teeth from hunters and murderers - nor how she came into his keeping. She is a secret even to herself, plagued by the sensation that she isn't whole.
Now the doors to Elsewhere are closing, and Karou must choose between the safety of her human life and the dangers of a war-ravaged world that may hold the answers she has always sought.

What did I think? In theory I should have loved this and I was quite mesmerised in the beginning mostly because Laini Taylor simply writes so very beautifully and I am a sucker for fantasy. I thought I was heading for five stars...

This book is filled with amazing things: chimera, angels, art classes in Prague, strong friendships, and the protagonist Karou has blue hair and is a talented art student. I loved the world building and the mythology and I can't recommend Taylor's writing style enough. It's unique and poetic and she has a knack for choosing the right word to render a sentence more magical.

Then it kind of, sort of, fell apart.

Mostly because of something I often encounter in YA that I really can't stand: insta-love.

A super special protagonist who is beautiful and talented and chosen falling in love with an incredibly hot man who happens to be an angel but also her enemy?

Doesn't it just sound a tiny bit like something we've already read a million times?

I do think if I would have read this when I was a teenager I would have been much more forgiving and would have fallen head over heels in love with this book. Highly recommended to people who love YA fantasy and don't mind the romance aspect.