Rosemary and Rue by: Seanan McGuire

Synopsis:

October "Toby" Daye, a changeling who is half human and half fae, has been an outsider from birth. After getting burned by both sides of her heritage, Toby has denied the Faerie world, retreating to a "normal" life. Unfortunately for her, the Faerie world has other ideas...

The murder of Countess Evening Winterrose pulls Toby back into the fae world. Unable to resist Evening's dying curse, which binds her to investigate, Toby must resume her former position as knight errant and renew old alliances. As she steps back into fae society, dealing with a cast of characters not entirely good or evil, she realizes that more than her own life will be forfeited if she cannot find Evening's killer.

[from barnesandnoble.com]

I first heard of this book from a blogger I enjoy, BookLoveAffair, who reviewed it a while ago. I quickly added the book to my list, and I'm not disappointed.

Rosemary and Rue is a strong debut novel, and I hope the rest of the series lives up to it. October "Toby" Daye is a strong character, because she's not a strong character. She's vulnerable, weak, and can't always take care of herself. But she's also got a lot of mental strength locked within herself.

The supporting characters are well written. I love Sylvester, Luna, Dare, Manuel, and Tybalt. They're all amazing characters, in my opinion. And the atmosphere that this world is built around is also well written. She combines the San Fran streets with the Faerie world really well, so it was very believable.

I loved the little sayings they had, such as "oak and ash", I thought it was a great touch.

One thing I didn't really understand, persay, is why her family turned her away after she turned up fourteen years later. I'd think they'd be glad she was alive, so I was a bit confused on that part. I hope we learn more about the decision on Cliff's and Gilly's part to turn October away.

To be honest, I wasn't sure how the plot was going to wrap up at first, because there are many major fights in this novel. Toby's always getting her ass kicked, and I wasn't sure how it was all going to work in the end because the novel wasn't really moving. She'd get in a fight, get hurt, be healed, get in another fight, get hurt again, heal, repeat. However, in the end, I understood why McGuire wrote it that way.

I'm definitely looking forward to reading the sequels, I'm sad the next novel doesn't come out until March! I'd definitely recommend this novel for all fans of UF.

My rating: 8/10