Rosemary And Rue - Seanan McGuire

Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire/Sept 1, 2009

Rosemary and Rue is the quintessential Dark Fantasy novel and a must read for anyone looking to add to their new favorite authors. If you are a fan of Laurell K Hamilton’s “Merry Gentry” series and Jim Butcher’s “Harry Dresden” series, you will find this the perfect book to read while waiting for the next Merry or Harry novel. This book is completely character and action driven, and written in the first person point of view. This is a gem of a book and I’m already encouraging my readers and members to put this on their “to be purchased” lists.This new series by debut author Seanan McGuire seems to blend the best of the worlds of the Laurell’s fey (Fairies) with the bumbling antics of Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden character. This book will have you so immersed from page one that you’ll be forgetting to eat while you’re reading it. And I swear you will also be worrying about every little creak and noise you hear in your house, and you’ll be wondering just exactly what is under that little hill in your neighborhood park. We get to meet October Daye (a Changeling or half Fey) during a stake out; her liege lord has asked that she try to find his wife and daughter. As she is following her lead she is caught and sent out of her present life and into another one. (Sorry for the ambiguity but I don’t want to spoil anything for you.) Now move ahead 14 years and we find that Toby (October) has regained her life and for reasons that come clear in the novel, has moved ahead without the people from her old life. She is now a cashier for a supermarket chain and has left her private eye work in the past. That is until a fateful series of messages show up on her answering machine one day and forces her into investigating the murder of one of the full fey. Now she has to find a murderer or her own life will be forfeit. Rosemary and Rue is the perfect “set up” novel. One that introduces us to the world where the fey have found ways to live amongst us and blend in, yet still manage to remain apart from us. We are learning about October Daye’s history amongst the full blooded, her past and what it’s like to be a changeling. We also learn that the heroine is not always a kick butt “MaryJane” type who can do it all (and thank God for that!). The fact that October spends more time bloody and unconscious or as a Koi will certainly attest to the fact that she is not omnipotent and has a lot to learn in the coming books. (The Koi part is revealed in the prologue which is fabulous).I am by no means a “professional reviewer” and as you can see by my previous reviews my tastes for books run anywhere from historical romances to chick lit, comedic romance to mystery/suspense. But for some reason, lately the Dark Urban Fantasy has given me some of the most pleasurable reading I’ve ever had. It takes me from my mundane world and sends me into realms that I never dreamed possible. I have been lucky enough to be chosen as a Vine Voice and to be allowed to read books that haven’t hit the market yet. Okay, with that said let me tell you in the last few months I have immersed myself in my Dark Urban Fantasy world and have been happy enough with the pickings coming down the pike. Until I got this book…this book is just what the doctor ordered and so far from the norm in this genre that I can’t stop raving about it.I for one am very jealous of anyone who has already had the pleasure of reading the next two novels in this series which will be published in 2010.