"fine romantic fantasy"

Thirty something high school English teacher Shannon Parker stops at an auction sale where she notices a vase containing a portrait of her on it. She wins the bid with a ridiculously low price tag due to a mysteriously appearing crack inside the vase. On her way home, Shannon is transported from her vehicle to a luxurious temple where her friend Suzanna calls her Lady. She soon learns that the vase was a portal that her "twin" the High Priestess of Epona Rhiannon used for them to switch places; Suzanna is actually Rhiannon's slave Alanna.

Centaur ClanFintan arrives with his "horsies" to demand Rhiannon complete the hand-fastening ceremony that would have them married for a year. Shannon goes through the ceremony, but refuses to take any lip (or other body part) from a man built at least down there like a thoroughbred. Instead she treats him and others the same way she taught teenage hormonal maniacs in Oklahoma. As the transplanted Shannon and the shapeshifting centaur fall in love, she tells him who she is while they team up to battle malevolent demonic vampires and prevent the real Rhiannon from returning.

The first "Goddess" book contains the enjoyable ingredients that make these mythological romances fun to read because the species of mythos seem genuine and the strong heroine is ready to battle; in this case her new society, her beloved, her "twin", and the vampires using the techniques honed in teaching wars with teenagers. This tale is amusing mostly due to Shannon's observations and quips yet it has its' serious moments too (for instance the worshipped Goddess learns that teachers are treated with contempt as those who can't and paid accordingly). Though the heroine adjusts too easily, fantasy romance fans will cast about seeking the remaining delightful Goddess tales.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted January 25, 2006

Summary

2002 PRISM AWARD Winner:
1st place - FANTASY

A high-spirited fantasy romp, wickedly funny and filled with action. Shannon Parker, a 35-year-old English teacher, purchases a vase because it depicts a Celtic goddess who looks astonishingly like her. On the drive home, the vase releases a force that flings Shannon into Partholon, an alternate dimension in which everything Shannon knows as mythology -- is reality. She finds she has exchanged places with the High Priestess of Epona who, unfortunately, is an evil not to mention totally oversexed person. In addition to performing Epona's rituals and struggling with her Beauty-and-the-Beast attraction to a handsome centaur, Shannon finds she must combat the Fomorians, a vampiric race of demonic humanoids. As Partholon readies for war, Shannon must use all her resources to survive in this strange new world. Not even ten years of dealing with teenagers in the classroom has prepared her for becoming a goddess by mistake.