"Fantastic time travel/fantasy romance!"
Finally, it's June and thirty-five year old Oklahoma
teacher, Shannon Parker, is planning on enjoying her
vacation this year. The first thing she wants to do is go
to the estate sale and see if she can find anything
interesting to add to her collection. Naturally, the place
is out in the middle of nowhere, but Shannon is enjoying
the drive in her Mustang. Eventually, she finds the place
and after she's registered, Shannon decides to look around.
She sees all kinds of things she would love to buy, but on
a teacher's salary, she knows it won't happen. While she's
looking at all the items up for sale, Shannon sees a
beautiful pot with a likeness of the Celtic Goddess Epona
on it. While she's admiring the vase, a man comes up to
her, one with really white skin and the worst breath
Shannon has ever had the misfortune of being within
smelling distance of, and tells her the vase was meant for
her. As Shannon looks closer at the vase, she notices the
woman on it looks amazing like her, right down to the scar
on her hand. Surprisingly, Shannon manages to get the pot
and once it's packed up all nice and safe, she leaves the
estate to go back home. On the way, she runs into a
terrible storm, but unlike any she's seen before. As the
storm overtakes her, Shannon's whole world turns black. When she wakes up, her throat is killing her and she is
surrounded by beautiful little nymphs barely dressed. Turns
out, Shannon isn't in Oklahoma anymore, she's now in
Partholon and has somehow switched places with the Lady
Rhiannon, High Priestess of Goddess Epona. And not only
that, today is the day of Rhiannon's handfasting with High
Shaman ClanFintan. Rhiannon's hand maiden Alanna, who just
happens to look just like Shannon's friend Suzanna, finally
clues Shannon in on what's going on. Somehow, Rhiannon
managed to see into Shannon's world and decided to switch
places with her. Since she has no other option, Shannon
decides to play along with Suzanna, ah, Alanna. Of course,
Alanna never mentioned that ClanFintan is a centaur! Or the
fact Rhiannon was self-centered, selfish and didn't believe
in denying herself anything, including all the boy-toys
masquerading as guards. And not only that, but it turns out
an ancient evil is once again on the loose, some really
nasty vampire like creatures, and it's up to Shannon to
save the people of Partholon. Will Shannon ever get back to her old life as a teacher in
Oklahoma? Will she want to? And what of this handfasting?
Will Shannon really marry a centaur? Will anything physical
be possible between them? And what of the evil threatening
Partholon? DIVINE BY MISTAKE is a wonderful fantasy/time-travel
romance filled with all kinds of humor. P.C. Cast has done
a fantastic job of making this story highly believable,
right down to Shannon's being thankful for toilet paper and
red wine being consumed with all meals and how everyone
seems to notice how much Lady Rhiannon has changed. I
really love the way all the people Shannon comes across
as "Lady Rhiannon" mirror someone from her life in
Oklahoma. And throughout the whole story, we watch as
Shannon adapts to her life in Partholon and learns her true
strength. Of course, the humor throughout the story adds a
nice touch. This is one story I did not want to put down,
regardless of how tired I was. It kept me entertained from
the very first paragraph and kept me turning pages way past
my bedtime. DIVINE BY MISTAKE is a fantastic story not to
be missed. P.C. Cast is an autobuy author for me and this
story justifies why.
Reviewed by Chere Gruver
Posted November 7, 2006
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