As I read "Wake up...", I found my cynicism undone over and over again. "Oh," my inner cynic said, "look, here's Celtic-tinged music. Here's the love triangle, with genders switched up and mixed. Here's the smart-ass protagonist getting in trouble because she's too willing to throw a verbal punch." But then Manley would whip those familiar elements into a moment rooted in idealism and hope, but with a healthy dose of life's tragedies, the entire, swirling, beautiful mess tumbling my inner cynic on her ass. -Bookslut

"City of Roses is an urban fantasy set in Portland, Oregon, and its mix of young, bohemian characters and mythic fantasy tropes reminded me strongly of Charles de Lint. Manley's prose style is a couple of cuts above the increasingly tedious first-person narrations of urban fantasy heroines like Sookie Stackhouse. While I only had time to tackle the first few episodes, City of Roses is an absorbing read that many fantasy fans will enjoy immensely." -The Guardian