I really liked Rosemary & Rue, so I had high hopes for this book. Unfortunately, it simply isn't as strong. The complex world-building remains in place and Tory is a likable heroine, so it earns its three stars. However, I had some major issues with this book and hope that it's just a sophomore slump, because I'd hate for such a promising series to go bad.

My biggest issues are with the plotting. I guessed most of the major plot twists, including the villain, early on, and kept reading just to confirm I was right. Since I didn't have any more information than the protagonist, it didn't make sense that she seemed so clueless. Perhaps she's just a very bad detective. That would explain why she doesn't seem to realize that Tybalt is meant to be her love interest, when most readers figured that out by page 20 of the first book. Unfortunately, this is one of my pet peeves. When the writer telegraphs so much to the reader, then we are simply waiting for the protagonist to catch up, and are not surprised and excited by various twists and turns -- because there aren't any.

The pacing was also much weaker than book 1. I get what McGuire was trying to accomplish -- it's basically the fae version of an Agatha Christie murder weekend at an English estate. However, the end result was a bunch of people trapped inside an office building, running around and behaving in a mostly idiotic manner. We could have lost 100 pages and kept all the atmosphere as well as all the main plot points.

I feel like I'm being harsh, because it certainly wasn't a bad book. I so love the world-building that I'm willing to forgive a lot. However, I do hope the third book moves the series forward, because world-building can only cover for so much.