Seanan McGuire

Rosemary and Rue

Vicky  Nuñez 

I have a love/hate relationship with urban fantasy novels.
I've read a lot of them but sometimes I feel like the plot gets lost in the romance. 
The only series I've found that has great balance between romance and the plot is Ilona Andrew's Magic Bites. Or Jim Butcher's Storm Front.

And now this book. 

Great worldbuilding, awesome badass main character who from page one you can relate to her. 

Really looking forward to see what's next.

Sarah Escorsa

► BR with my MacHalo Freaks starting Oct 5, 2015.

Welcome to the most uninspired review in the history of uninspired reviews!



Why am I out of ideas, you ask? Because this book =



It's a Bleh, Meh, Yawn and Blah Blah Blah Super Fest. And surprisingly enough, it seems that quite a few of my weird dear buddy reading accomplices agree with me here. Wow. It turns out they might not have such crappy book taste after all. Who would have thought?!

► Okay, since I don't have much to say about this thrilling piece of literature, let's get it over with once and for all, shall we? Here goes:

① Boredom Inc.
The problem with this book is not that nothing happens. It's just that the things that do happen aren't particularly exciting. Or interesting. Or entertaining. Or intriguing. And none of it is terribly original either. Just your typical UF mystery/investigation. Sigh. There is no suspense at all. Sigh. The culprit is pretty obvious from the start. Sigh. The only positive thing about this story is that for once there are no werewolves or vampires involved. Which should have been pretty refreshing, right? Wrong. 




② Silly fairies incoming.
Oh please calm down, you Toby fans! I don't mean to insult the fae in this particular book, I'm talking about the silly fae in general here *eyeroll* Because yes, the time has come for me to confess the awful truth: my name is Sarah and I don't like the fae. My name is Sarah and I'm exhausted just thinking of all the different names these silly little creatures can be called. I mean, fay, faery, faerie, fairy…YAWN. And then we have all the silly sub varieties/species/breeds/classes/whatever that inevitably appear in any story involving the fae. There are usually so many of them that authors invariably feel the need to include some sort of glossary to explain it all. And let's not forget the pronunciation guide! Oh no, let's not! I swear, by the time I'm done reading these I'm usually so bored I'm ready to put the book down for good. 



Anyway, long story short: the silly little fairies just do nothing for me. Okay, that's not entirely true. There is one notable exception here. You know who I'm talking about, don't you? No? Seriously? Sigh. Okay, I'll help you: his name starts with V' and it ends with Lane. Get it? V'+Lane? YES! V'Lane, people! As in bra on/bra off games! Death by sex and all that! YUM. What? You don't know who V'Lane is? I can't believe this. You know what? Just go back to sleep. Wait, no. Go read Fever instead. (view spoiler)[
  

  

  
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► Sorry, it looks like my two little grey cells just short-circuited right there. That's V'Lane for you. Alright, let's try and get back on track here. So, where were we? Oh yes, the silly fae. You know, those positively ancient, always stunningly beautiful, "oooh we're so vicious" creatures with pointy ears. YAWN ← yes, I do know I've already said that. What can I say? The fae never fail to bore me to death and I just can't take them seriously.



③ My name is Toby Daye. I'm useless and I'm bland.
So we have a pretty boring, lackluster story about the silly fae. What else? Oh, look here! We also have one of the flattest, most apathetic, uninteresting female leads ever. Meet October Daye: she keeps getting her ass kicked, she's always on the verge of dying, she's clueless most of the time (the fishy episode must have affected her poor little grey cells)…And she's as emotional as a brick, too! But hey, to be honest, she's not the only one. There are enough brick-like characters in this story to build a replica of the Great Wall of China. 



Okay, so Tybalt might be the exception here and I have to admit he seemed pretty cool. The problem is that there is too little of him to be had since he's hardly ever around. Sigh. You missed the chance to redeem yourself a teensy little bit here, Seanan McGuire. That's just so sad.
 
►► Well that's it people, most uninspired review of most uninspired book over. Wait, what's that? You have a question for me? Sure, go ahead. Will I be reading the next book in this series, you ask? Hahahahaha! You're so funny, you crack me up!!!

 



▧ Pre-review nonsense:

► BR with my MacHalo Freaks starting Oct 5, 2015.

✔ Bleh.

✔ Meh.

✔ Yawn.

This has to be one of the most boring, lackluster books I have read this year. I'm not even sure how I am going to review it because, frankly, it was such a dull experience I don't think I have anything to say about it. Yay.



Ever since I finished reading the book I've been trying to put my finger on why it didn't work for me. The writing isn't particularly bad. The story isn't either. Granted, it's not particularly gripping and I think it would have been pretty awesome had it been better executed. But I don't even think it's the main problem here. 

►► Full review to come.

Monae Reads

Vera Sokolyanskaya

I was so looking forward to reading this book and I was sooo disappointed in the end.

I expected a funny urban fantasy mystery novel, something easy to follow since all the books in the series are supposedly independent.

I don't know how people who start with non-first book in the series feel, I felt overwhelmed by the world building and I couldn't connect with any of the characters.

danielle bush

I love this series! This was a reread for me, and it didn't disappoint at all. Toby is a changeling who at the beginning is working as a PI for her sort of mentor, Lord Sebastian Torquill. His wife and daughter have been stolen away by his brother. While out investigation Toby is turned into a KOI fish and left in a pond in a park. (all of this happens in the first chapter).. 
The spell on Toby eventually breaks, and she tries to resume what is left of her life. staying away from the world of faerie. 
Circumstances however won't let her, when the Countess of Goldengreen leaves her a cryptic message telling her to solve her murder everything changes..

October goes on a dangerous mission to solve a murder, and reconnect with everything she has left behind.

Nickie Mohler

October Daye is a changeling. Half human, half faerie, she is considered weak by the full-blooded. She will prove them otherwise. She is a P. I. that took a case that will change her life forever. This has been on my TBR list for a long time. I finally got around to reading it and was amazing!! I loved this book and am hungry for more!!

Just finished re-read. Even better the second time!!

Enfys J. Book

Urban fantasy with surprising twists

As I started reading this book, it seemed reminiscent of many urban fantasy stories I'd read before. But by the end of the first chapter, I had to revise that assessment, and I was hooked. McGuire is an adept and highly sensory writer - sounds, smells, and tastes flood through the page with crystal clarity. The story is thick with suspense and plot twists, and the world-building is rich yet paced appropriately, so the plot never stalls. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.

Ben Nathan

Really fun and a I like the world and characters. Toby is well thought out and has enough flaws to be interesting enough to be central in a series. I'm looking forward to reading more of these. I think people said they get better as you go, so that's exciting.

Vanessa Bintou

The reason I read this book was the different approach of the Sidhe/fae and how the writer treats this aspect of the story. I don't really care for the urban fantasy or the murder mystery, since there are too many books with this theme out there. The writing was average, but the world building and the fantasy were really interesting. I liked how she uses fae like creatures from all over the world and different folklores and there were two characters that stole the show, Luidaeg and Tybalt.

Rosemary and Rue

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