Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

"Love is a luxury."
"No. Love is an element." An element. Like air to breathe, earth to stand on.

Before I begin my review, I need to admit something... I....am an e-book hoarder. It's becoming a problem. I have a couple HUNDRED (no exaggeration) books on my Kindle that causes me a quite a bit of anxiety. I agonize over trying to decide what I want to read next! That being said, I've had this book on my Kindle since last summer and I finally decided to give it a shot. Overall, I'm pretty happy that I read this book.

On the outside, Karou is a blue-haired, art student living in Prague. Her classmates know her as a mysterious girl who fills her sketchbooks with monsters with elaborate stories. Little to they know that the monsters and stories that Karou tells are glimpses into her real life. She was raised by these creatures and have come to know them as the only family that she has. Balancing her human life and her secret life can be challenging. One night while running errands for her family, she encounters a shockingly gorgeous, yet deadly man who changes everything that she thought she knew about either worlds.

Good 

• The storyline for this was awesome! You can definitely tell that the author spent a lot of time putting thought into how she wants to shape this fictional world. It was so complex and unique. 
• The story picked up with action right away. I like that it pulled you into Karou's world immediately. No fluff. 
• Kinda-sorta-not really insta-love? It's complicated. I generally hate insta-love stories. This one kind of has this, but in a much more complex way. It didn't leave me rolling my eyes so I'm putting this on the good list. :) 

Bad

• The author's writing style was hard to read in the beginning. So. Many. Commas. Definitely one of my pet peeves. I feel like it breaks up the flow. 
• I feel like I knew the characters but didn't really know them.. if that makes any sense. It was written in third person so of course you don't get to know what the characters are really thinking but it was really hard for me to connect with any of them. 

Overall, it was a pretty good book. I give it 3.5 stars because I loved the story, but it's so hard for me to give a book a high rating when I don't feel like I've connected with the characters. However, don't let that deter you from reading it! I definitely suggest giving it a shot.