A Thousand Steps Into The Night by Traci Chee

This book was short listed for the National Book Award in the YA category. The story centers on 17-year-old Otori Miuko, who thinks that she’s nothing special and completely unremarkable. She feels a bit too clumsy, a bit too plain, and far too loud for the world in which she lives. Miuko's father runs the only remaining guesthouse in the village of Nihaoi and Miuko is seen as a loving and dutiful daughter. In other words, in Awara Miuko is just another ordinary girl, in an ordinary life—until she is kissed by a demon, cursed, and transformed into a demon herself. Aided by a thieving magpie spirit named Geiki, Miuko sets out on the thousand step way to find a way to break the curse and save the world from the very engaging demon called Tujiyazai. But along the way, she can’t help but wonder if being a demon is as bad as she thinks. The pacing at the front end of the book is a bit slow, but it picks up speed nicely and the world it creates is lush and beautiful.