Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

I put off reading this book for a long time, although it was on my list of audiobooks our library has and I'd heard several very high reviews of it. But... I guess the cover put me off and it just seemed like something I wouldn't like. I love me some fantasy books but not all of them, and I didn't know about this one. But I was pleasantly surprised and once I listened to just a few minutes of this one, I was hooked. I loved how Taylor introduced the reader to the magic of the story slowly--it starts off seeming like it's the story of a normal teenage girl living in Prague going to her artsy high school, but then she starts being able to wish for things, and then she goes on some errands to collect teeth, and then she goes to this secret magical underground room filled with half-animal, half-human chimera friends, and then an angel comes and tries to kill her. And things just start getting more and more crazy after that. I couldn't tell where the storyline was going for 3/4 of the book, and I really enjoyed that. I felt like the main character of Karou was very relatable, a strong female character without being an angry typical YA heroine, and I loved her chimera friend characters and her human friend Susana. The only part that kind of bugged me was the unexplainable romance where she can't explain it but she's drawn to this person and they both can't stop "drawn" to each other blah blah blah. I am someone who needs much more rational explanation for things than just being obsessed with someone without knowing why, especially when that person is trying to kill you for no reason, and I kind of hate when books get into these stupid romances. Okay, I get that you're both gorgeous, amazing human specimens, so naturally you're both unable to keep your hands away from each other. Whatever. 

However, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book and how much I got into it. I was getting mad by the end because it was clear that all of the things in it were not going to be resolved and I didn't realize this was one of a trilogy. So I guess I have two more audiobooks to listen to now, but that's not a problem. I want to find out what happens next and how Karou manages to find out what happened and save her people.