A Dash of Rosemary and Rue

Seanan McGuire begins her October "Toby"Daye series with a bang! Rosemary and Rue is a tense, involved urban fantasy suspense story filled with all sorts of creatures, human and fae. October Daye is a half-human changeling and former private investigator. The premise of the story is that the Faerie world did not disappear but went into hiding and continues to exist parallel to our Earth world. When the Fae and Earth worlds collided, changelings were born. Half-humand and half-fae, these creatures are outsiders from birth and fend their lives fighting for the respect of their immortal pureblood relatives. Toby has spent her whole life trying to fit into either the human or faerie world and has failed in relating to either one. She wakes up from a fourteen year old curse spent as a fish, and retreats into the "normal" human world, giving up all her friends, relatives and her private investigator business. The murder of Countess Evening Winterrose, one of the secret regents of the San Francisco Bay area pulls Toby back into the fae world. Right before her death, Evening binds Toby with a curse and she is forced to investigate and find Evening's killer or risk death herself. This is a great book, full of mystery and a great story. Most of the story is spent setting up the history of the series, but it is worth it to read the story. Toby is a tough heroine with a stubborn streak and armor she wears to hide her self from everyone else. This book is the first in the October Daye series and I know that I am looking forward to reading more about this character.