Tithe by Holly Black

I've read Tithe before. I know this, but during my reread I never remembered what happened which isn't normal for me. The Modern Faerie Tale series was intensely popular for a few years when I first started teaching so I picked up the first of the three books. I remember liking it, but that's about it.

In this story Kaye is a teenager who follows her mom from city to city as she tries to succeed in the rock world. Mom is not terribly successful and so Kaye mostly takes care for her as well as herself. She has dropped out of school and going nowhere fast.

Kaye is an odd kid. For one thing, she's seen fairies and sometimes when she's day dreaming things happen.

The premise of the world is that all the fey folk in the stories still exist and live in the more wild places. The reason we don't see more of them is that we surround ourselves with iron which makes them ill. Kaye is more wrapped up in it all than even she knows when her fairy friends deliver a revelation about Kaye's origins and she meets a tortured fairy knight, Roiben.

Basically this is a teen level paranormal romance: all the weird romantic situations without any of the ...ah... "heated moments." Think fantasy adventure mixed with high school drama.

The characters are fun and the world richly imagined if somewhat gritty. This isn't high literature or anything, but it is a lot of fun.