A really good book is like rich dark chocolate.  It's smooth and velvety and so easy to sink one's teeth into and reach for more.  You can just forget about the real world with all its tedious necessities - that mountain of English marking, or those dishes that need doing.  For a few hours you can just let yourself slip into a new world; it's as close to dreaming you can get while still awake.  A bargain holiday.  Of course, even better than a really good book is a really good series, especially a good fantasy series.  The Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, by Laini Taylor, is a really good series.  I devoured the first book, Daughter of Smoke and Bone in early December, and have just inhaled the second book, Daughter of Blood and Starlight.  The characters are odd and compelling, and the plot is exciting and suspenseful.  What makes these stories even tastier is that their premise is so very different than other supernatural fantasies I have read.  I have been enticed and intrigued throughout.  But, the drawback of reading a really good new series is that you have to wait for the next book.   Just like the aftermath of a sugar high, bitter reality hits when you finish your book and realize that a year or possibly two will have to pass before you find out what is going to happen to your beloved characters. And that realization brings the sudden and cold return to reality. But let's be truthful, all this sitting around reading, like eating chocolate (or perhaps, while eating chocolate), is a little hard on the waistline, so sometimes it's necessary to return to reality, finish chores, brush teeth, and get some exercise.