Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event, originally started by Jill at Breaking the Spine , that highlights upcoming book releases everyone is waiting on...hence the title. This week's pick is Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. Here is the description from Goodreads:

"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 this is from Laini herself....

There are weird tattoos and giant marionettes; art school, mustaches, and vintage ballet costumes; scary knives, naked ex-boyfriends, and vengeance; heartbreak, a masquerade, a light dusting of sugar, a wishbone on a cord, a cafe full of statues wearing gas masks, plentiful creatures, necklaces made of teeth, and . . . . . there's a boy. A man. He is beautiful and terrifying, with eyes the color of fire and a shadow that does not match his shape . .

OK, WOAH! I love the rich descriptions in the synopsis ALONE and I've always wanted to go to Marrakesh. I'll just bet that Laini describes it so well that I won't actually NEED to go to Marrakesh by the time I'm done reading, as I'll have already been there in my mind! What I love most about this synopsis is the mystery. I have so many questions - Who? What? Why? How does it end? How does it begin?

And did you see the cover? Daughter of Smoke and Bone is being published in both the US and UK IN HARDBACK (deep joy!!!!!!). This is the UK cover and I actually prefer it to the US one below.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is published on 29th September, 2011 in the UK and 3rd October, 2011 in the US. YAY for something that the Brits actually get before America ;)

To find out more about Laini, click here and to visit her new blog, click here. I'll bet you didn't know that Laini is also a talented artist and makes the "Laini's Ladies" gift and stationery collection, did you? Take a look at those beauties here. Finally, if you are an aspiring writer then you could do worse than to look at Not for Robots.