Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire

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Rosemary and reviews, the bookday birthday edition.

(I promise to post about the fact that holy cow, it's my bookday birthday, in a little bit. Right now, I'm just trying to get through the review roundup without my fingers falling off! Holy cow!)

spectralbovine is a good friend of mine, but he's also incredibly media-savvy, and very picky about the things that he likes. So I admit, I was a little nervous when he said he was going to review Rosemary and Rue. At the same time, I knew he'd be fair. Well, his review of the book is up, and he was definitely fair. Quoth Sunil, "Oh yes, I'm going there: this book is like Veronica Mars, Faerie Detective."

I love my friends.

Over at the League of Reluctant Adults, the winner of the "win an ARC and write a review" contest has posted this awesome and erudite review of Rosemary and Rue. Quoth JD, "Rosemary and Rue is a good, solid novel and a fantastic debut. I look forward to reading more about Toby and her world. It really did almost make me believe again in Faeries."

Works for me!

mneme has also posted his review of Rosemary and Rue, calling it "a fun, beautifully written, rewarding urban fantasy that I intend to reread and recommend," while judifilksign's review of the book says "McGuire does a fantastic job of creating an alternate reality that is consistent, believable and not a copy of other writers in the genre." Yay!

Our first Dreamwidth review! It comes from Four-and-Twenty (watch those blackbirds), whose review is posted here. Since I sort of want to quote the whole review, I'll just tell you to go and read it. Don't worry. I can wait.

If you've been around here for more than a few days, you probably already know that vixyish is one of my favorite people in the whole world, part of my Seattle family, and a member of the mighty machete squad, without which there would be a hell of a lot more typographical and logical errors in my books. Well, she is now also one of the reviewers to tackle Rosemary and Rue, which she did with sufficient disclaimers to keep people from looking at her funny. Vixy says "I genuinely and highly recommend Rosemary and Rue to fans of urban fantasy, or murder mysteries, or P.I. novels, or worldbuilding, or complex characters, or folklore, or fairy tales, or Shakespeare, or British folk ballads, or just plain exciting and engrossing stories that are likely to keep you up half the night reading just one more page." I say, again, that I love my friends.

We've had a lot of reviews in the past few weeks, so you might think there's nothing left that can really get me excited. Well, you'd be wrong, because waking up to discover that I'd been reviewed in the MIAMI HERALD OH MY GOD YOU GUYS got me really, really excited. Given how sick I still am, I sounded like a bat being fed into a wood-chipper. Pity poor Amy's eardrums. The MIAMI HERALD OH MY GOD YOU GUYS says "skipping Rosemary and Rue would be a sad mistake" and "first-time novelist McGuire reminds us that even in an overused setting, a well-told story with memorable characters casts magic all on its own." Also, it's the MIAMI HERALD OH MY GOD YOU GUYS.

Wowzers.

In case you're tired of straight reviews, I was lucky enough to get interviewed by Alex for the Book Banter podcast. Here's your chance to hear me, live and (mostly) unedited. (I accidentally swore at one point, and Alex kindly snipped that out, because we appreciate not getting yelled at for profanity.) The interview was recorded in the dining room of Au Couqulet, so you can also hear silverware and dishes, if you listen real close. It was a fun time, and I really recommend giving it a go.

If you enjoy interviews, I also have a fun interview up over at Lurv ala Mode, where Kendra has been just awesome during the whole book release process. Check it out!

If you don't have your copy yet, there's a random giveaway going on over at Fantasy/Sci Fi Lovin'—enter to win, or direct your friends to head on over.

Because a picture is worth a thousand words (and I want breakfast), I leave you with Amy very studiously engaging in literature on a train, and Toby Daye VS. THE VELOCIRAPTORS! Pictures and crazy courtesy of Brooke. Because we didn't have enough crazy on our own.

It's a book!
Tags: geekiness, giving stuff away, good things, in the wild, interviews, reviews, rosemary and rue, so the marilyn, toby daye
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  • 59 comments
Mazel tov, you!

If you have not already gone to breakfast, there are some HTML tags that need some love here.

ladymondegreen

7 years ago

Happy Book Day!

Very proud of you and Toby and Jane. Equally. 'Cause I'm smart enough to not go around pissing off other people's main characters or muses.

You are a super-smart and super-wonderful Bob.

apocalypticbob

7 years ago

Just wanted to let you know - I finished it early this morning - snuck the last pages in (because I just couldn't wait) while I was on hold with Tech support in the wee hours.

Great Job! And I am really glad that the next one comes out so soon.
Enthusiastic happy for you.

I have also exhorted my cybernauts to go get their copies right effing now.

YAY!
Whoo hoo! Happy Bookday!
Thank you!
You know, that library thang has merit. I may not make it until my copy gets here, and yanno...the stores are full of them now. ^^

I know a bunch of libraries that need a little love. Screaming, crying need.

Forgive the total lack of surprise on the awesome being shown you on reviews - you are that good, you are just that much of a craftsman, and I seriously doubt I will be anything less than Properly Pleased and Very Happy for you in the months and years to come. (Fifth book nearly done already, huh? What, you're writing a story with all the Good of a novel, and the number of stories of a comic book series? Don't answer that.)

Anyone that can get me hooked on them by writing about Nair is going to go places. I haven't forgotten. Congrats again - you've earned them.
Unfortunately, there's only so much love I can give, and I've hit my limit, in terms of available copies. Love your library if you get the chance.

Thank you!

spectralbovine

7 years ago

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

Happy Bookday! Yay! Seanan rocks!
Awwwww. <3
Happy Bookday! The beginning of a long beautiful life with many, many more bookdays.
Thank you!
Glee. :)
Congratulations on the "birth" of your baby. Great reviews too!
Thank you!
Just so you know . . .

I seem to recall you saying that you're avoiding Amazon reviews. I've been indulging my curiosity and keeping an eye on your Amazon page. Right now, you're at 27 reviews - one 3-star, six 4-star, and twenty 5-star. (That's an average of 4.7 - see, math is fun!)

But there's more.

I've been specifically monitoring your Amazon sales ranking. A couple of weeks ago, it was below 50,000. (This is for all of their hundreds of thousands of books lumped together, including non-fiction.) Last week, it had moved up into the 25K to 20K range. This morning, you cracked the top 10K for the first time. As of this moment, you are #7,341. I don't know what the real sales numbers are behind that, of course, but it sure looks like you're doing OK.
4 PM update - you're at #3731. Wow.

spectralbovine

7 years ago

markbernstein

7 years ago

spectralbovine

7 years ago

markbernstein

7 years ago

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

Happy Bookday! I got mine in the mail about 30 minutes ago and I'm about to curl up and read. :)
Yay!
Happy Book Day!
I've got mine at lunch and now plan to read in between working...
Awesome.
Possibly unrelated and in the unlikely event you weren't aware ... I usually don't go to Starbucks but noticed they had pumpkin spice back.

Anyway, congrats and Happy Bookday Birthday!
I'd be -really- surprised if Seanan were unaware. :)

Seanan, happy Bookday Birthday, and thanks for mentioning my review!

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

seanan_mcguire

7 years ago

he's also incredibly media-savvy, and very picky about the things that he likes.
Ha, you really think I'm picky? I suppose I'm picky about the things I try, mostly because I intend to like everything. But I thought the general perception of me was that I like everything.

So I admit, I was a little nervous when he said he was going to review Rosemary and Rue.
Aw! I was the nervous one! What if I didn't like it? What if I didn't like it enough? Thankfully, it turned out okay.

I love all your reviews! They are all better than mine! They say a lot of good things. And ooh, I like Kendra's interview! You keep making me more excited for more Toby books.

Also, it's the MIAMI HERALD OH MY GOD YOU GUYS.
OMG A REAL NEWSPAPER. MADE OUT OF PAPER.

It's a book!
It's a real book! You're a real person!
EXISTENCE IS MINE!
Happy Book Day! Congrats on the review from the Miami Herald! Can't wait to get my copy.
Thanks!

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Awesome!
Congratulations, Seanan! I can't wait to read it. :)
I really hope you enjoy it. :)
The day, it is here!!!!!
Yaaaaaay!
Happy Bookday!

Thank you!
I bring good tidings of bookday news!

(I RT'ed this to you on Twitter but figured I'd repost here--admittedly I'm squee-ing as much over her actually replying as the content...)

bookwenchery @feliciaday Have you heard about @seananmcguire 's Rosemary and Rue? Faerie-meets-San-Fran brilliant urban fantasy. You should read it!

bookwenchery And it's available on the Kindle! ;)

feliciaday @bookwenchery I have it, just haven't gotten to it yet! Totally still on my corset-romance binge :(

Whee! I bet she'll love it too. Happy dance time!

Squee!

Deleted comment

Yay, thank you!
Thanks for the mention. Decided to take out the expletive to keep the episode listed as "clean." If anyone wants to hear Seanan swearing shoot me an email and I can send you the clip :-)

We have a bunch of copies at the store too, so it's on front of store display and I'll be handselling them like crazy!

Also totally forgot to promote you in the Sacramento Book Review, but will work on it for next month!

Enjoy the wild ride of being a published author!
Trust me, no issues here with you taking out my accidentally swearing. If I'd been doing Jay's chant from Clerks II, maybe I'd be grumpy.

Thanks for interviewing me! It's craaaazy days around here.
Congrats on your book! I'm only halfway through (curse you, piles of work! cutting into my reading time) but I love it so much. I plan to recommend this (and you) to pretty much everyone I know, and I'm looking forward to the next books - and anything else you will write.
Yay! Thank you thank you thank you!