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ellenmorgan's review against another edition
4.0
Torn between a 3.5 and a 4. This was my first foray into urban fantasy, and I really enjoyed it.
breezy610's review against another edition
4.0
This was really good. Toby is a kick-ass character trying to put back together her life after being gone for 14 years. her finace doesn't want her anymore and her daughter wants nothing to do with her, but somehow she is manage to keep going, hoping that one day, both will forgive her.
styxx's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death, and Physical abuse
tregina's review against another edition
3.0
I've been meaning to read this series for a while, despite the fact that her Mira Grant books didn't do it for me, because they really seemed like they would be my kind of thing. And I wasn't wrong about that, I really enjoyed the characters and the worldbuilding, but it also suffers from the same flaw that her other books do: overexplaining in the narrative. [Pop psychology aside: I probably am as sensitive to that as I am because I am always hardest on the things that I do myself.] It's clearly the set-up for a series, because there are several things left hanging (Toby's family in particular), but I minded that less since I do intend to go on. Nothing groundbreaking, but just what I was looking for when I picked it up.
boogiewoogiesheep's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.75
kathydavie's review against another edition
5.0
First in the October Daye urban fantasy series revolving around a half-fae, half-human private detective in San Francisco.
My Take
When this series was recommended to me, it came with the proviso that this first story was kinda slow and to just persevere. That it set up the background for the entire series. Well. All I can say is if this is slow….oh, mama, watch out!
McGuire has done a lovely job of both setting up a deep backstory which sets its hooks into you and causing a deep empathy with Toby. The sort of story that makes you feel as though you've known Toby and her world forever. McGuire also acquaints us with a world full of characters that I just know will be appearing in future episodes as we follow Toby through her investigation into the why and how of Evening's torturous end. McGuire also seems to know her way around San Francisco.
I am so looking forward to the next in the series, A Local Habitation.
The Story
Turned into a fish fourteen years ago, Toby emerges into a world where her daughter and husband want nothing to do with her. Well, damn it, since the fae world is what screwed up her personal life, Toby decides to shun all of 'em until the Countess Evening Winterrose puts a binding spell on Toby to find out who is trying to get the Hope Chest.
Now. Damn, now Toby must face the fae. She must return Home to Devin and beg his aid. She must face Sylvester and endure his disgust for her failure, his knight's failure, in helping him to rescue his wife and daughter. For it's the only way she can get the help she needs to solve the case of Evening.
The Characters
October "Toby" Daye is a changeling with small magics that she uses in her work as a private detective. Cagney and Lacey are her current Siamese cats who are not too happy with the new addition to the family while Cliff Marks and Gillian Daye are her formerly grieving and now simply estranged human husband and daughter.
Evening Winterrose, the Countess of Goldengreen, a.k.a., Evelyn Winters in the human world, is a pureblood fae. The entrance to her knowe is at the San Francisco Art Museum.
Sylvester Torquill, Duke of Shadowed Hills, is both Toby's liege and her friend. The entrance to his knowe is in Mt. Diablo State Park. His wife is Duchess Luna, a "sweet, egalitarian woman" with a talent for roses. His daughter, Rayseline "Raysel" Acantha Torquill, is the "heir presumptive to one of the largest Duchies in the Kingdom of the Mists". A sweet tomboy of a girl rather than the spoiled princess she could have been, at least, until she was taken. Connor O'Dell is Raysel's husband. An arranged marriage to cement the alliance between his people, the Selkies, and the fae. Quentin is a page at Sylvester's court, a blind fosterling, whom Toby is befriending in hopes of a small wave of change in how the changelings are perceived and treated.
Simon Torquill is Sylvester's twin brother while Oleander de Merelands is an assassin who enjoys socializing almost as much as she enjoys hurting people, a result of her half Tuatha de Dannan, half Peri heritage.
The Queen of the Mists reigns over another of the fairy hills with its entrance along the rocky coast in San Francisco. There is a strong suspicion that she's, well, mad.
Devin is a changeling like Toby. The refuge to whom she fled when she ran away from Faerie. A refuge, Home, with its own set of teeth waiting to snap at the unwary. For Devin is a user even as he seems to rescue.
Tybalt, a Cait Sidhe, is King of the Cats and lives to torment Toby. Toby thinks he hates her; I suspect he's in love. Then there's the Luidaeg who heals and talks to the dead. A daughter of Maeve, she owes Toby one more answer. Lily, an Undine whose kingdom is the Tea Gardens; a refuge for Toby when she's hurt.
The Cover and Title
The cover looks like a rough pastel with Toby in a black jacket hunched in front off a wrought fence on a very San Francisco night with the moon murky behind her.
The title, Rosemary and Rue, are bouquets left on the grave of someone Toby feels she let down.
My Take
When this series was recommended to me, it came with the proviso that this first story was kinda slow and to just persevere. That it set up the background for the entire series. Well. All I can say is if this is slow….oh, mama, watch out!
McGuire has done a lovely job of both setting up a deep backstory which sets its hooks into you and causing a deep empathy with Toby. The sort of story that makes you feel as though you've known Toby and her world forever. McGuire also acquaints us with a world full of characters that I just know will be appearing in future episodes as we follow Toby through her investigation into the why and how of Evening's torturous end. McGuire also seems to know her way around San Francisco.
I am so looking forward to the next in the series, A Local Habitation.
The Story
Turned into a fish fourteen years ago, Toby emerges into a world where her daughter and husband want nothing to do with her. Well, damn it, since the fae world is what screwed up her personal life, Toby decides to shun all of 'em until the Countess Evening Winterrose puts a binding spell on Toby to find out who is trying to get the Hope Chest.
Now. Damn, now Toby must face the fae. She must return Home to Devin and beg his aid. She must face Sylvester and endure his disgust for her failure, his knight's failure, in helping him to rescue his wife and daughter. For it's the only way she can get the help she needs to solve the case of Evening.
The Characters
October "Toby" Daye is a changeling with small magics that she uses in her work as a private detective. Cagney and Lacey are her current Siamese cats who are not too happy with the new addition to the family while Cliff Marks and Gillian Daye are her formerly grieving and now simply estranged human husband and daughter.
Evening Winterrose, the Countess of Goldengreen, a.k.a., Evelyn Winters in the human world, is a pureblood fae. The entrance to her knowe is at the San Francisco Art Museum.
Sylvester Torquill, Duke of Shadowed Hills, is both Toby's liege and her friend. The entrance to his knowe is in Mt. Diablo State Park. His wife is Duchess Luna, a "sweet, egalitarian woman" with a talent for roses. His daughter, Rayseline "Raysel" Acantha Torquill, is the "heir presumptive to one of the largest Duchies in the Kingdom of the Mists". A sweet tomboy of a girl rather than the spoiled princess she could have been, at least, until she was taken. Connor O'Dell is Raysel's husband. An arranged marriage to cement the alliance between his people, the Selkies, and the fae. Quentin is a page at Sylvester's court, a blind fosterling, whom Toby is befriending in hopes of a small wave of change in how the changelings are perceived and treated.
Simon Torquill is Sylvester's twin brother while Oleander de Merelands is an assassin who enjoys socializing almost as much as she enjoys hurting people, a result of her half Tuatha de Dannan, half Peri heritage.
The Queen of the Mists reigns over another of the fairy hills with its entrance along the rocky coast in San Francisco. There is a strong suspicion that she's, well, mad.
Devin is a changeling like Toby. The refuge to whom she fled when she ran away from Faerie. A refuge, Home, with its own set of teeth waiting to snap at the unwary. For Devin is a user even as he seems to rescue.
Tybalt, a Cait Sidhe, is King of the Cats and lives to torment Toby. Toby thinks he hates her; I suspect he's in love. Then there's the Luidaeg who heals and talks to the dead. A daughter of Maeve, she owes Toby one more answer. Lily, an Undine whose kingdom is the Tea Gardens; a refuge for Toby when she's hurt.
The Cover and Title
The cover looks like a rough pastel with Toby in a black jacket hunched in front off a wrought fence on a very San Francisco night with the moon murky behind her.
The title, Rosemary and Rue, are bouquets left on the grave of someone Toby feels she let down.
crowsandprose's review against another edition
3.0
This is no "Dresden Files", but this shows potential - there's intrigue, a little romance without it being overbearing as female-lead Urban Fantasy sometimes gets to be - and an interesting world. I'll probably pick up the next few books and follow along.
Honestly, I think this could have stood further fleshing out, but I'm at a loss to say specifically. Maybe elaborations on relationships, court set ups, and so forth. An idea of the world that Toby walks alongside as she tries to balance out mortal and faerie. But perhaps in the next few books we'll get more to feed that appetite. I'll be picking up the next two this weekend in all likelihood; engaging enough for me to want more, but -- I was 'wanting more' from this book, too, so it doesn't quite rank four stars.
Honestly, I think this could have stood further fleshing out, but I'm at a loss to say specifically. Maybe elaborations on relationships, court set ups, and so forth. An idea of the world that Toby walks alongside as she tries to balance out mortal and faerie. But perhaps in the next few books we'll get more to feed that appetite. I'll be picking up the next two this weekend in all likelihood; engaging enough for me to want more, but -- I was 'wanting more' from this book, too, so it doesn't quite rank four stars.
yathol's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0