Divine by Mistake

This book is an old favourite - my copy is one of the first published version of this, under the original title Goddess By Mistake - and for that I probably have something of a soft spot for it. Shannon isn't my favourite protagonist but I do like her, and her opinionated, interested, slightly flaily, dedicated voice and self are entertaining and did make me like her. ClanFintan isn't my favourite love interest, either, but I enjoy their dynamic and he is far from the aggravating tropes I find so commonly - and commonly aggravating.

Parthalon is an interesting world and I enjoyed this book, though I've read little of the added-later series beyond it - only the second book, thus far.

I wasn't expecting to enjoy this novel at all because centaurs just seemed a *bit* too odd for me but I truly enjoy PC Cast's writing so I wanted to give it a chance ... and I positively loved it :-)

Shannon (Rhea) is an absolute doll and I love her to death! Her wit and knowledge and ability to adjust ... Love her! And ClanFintan ... I seriously had my doubts I was going to love him but I ended up adoring him! And the other thing I loved about this novel, which I didn't realize until I was more than half way through it, is the fact hat the main character/heroine is 35 years old :-) She's not a child ... she's a full grown adult like me :-D

Adrianne

My usual reading is YA lit, but I loved Cast's writing in the House of Night series, so I wanted to give this one a try. Plus, the premise intrigued me. Now I have to admit, I was a little nervous going in. With my normal MC being a high school student, I didn't know how I would relate to a high school teacher. I was afraid she might be stuffy. This was certainly not the case!

I loved Shannon! She was real and funny and never took herself too seriously. It was her sarcasm though that won me over. She is the type of person that makes the best of her situation and has an optimistic attitude, which made her easy to like. I enjoyed hearing about her friendships with her closet friends in her "first life". They were exactly like girlfriends show more are with each other.

The first forty pages moves a little slow. But when you get to page forty, Shannon is sucked into the world
of Partholon. Good luck putting it down at that point! I fell in love with this world Cast has created. The details are so real. I felt like I was in the gorgeous lands of Scotland, but in the time of greek gods. Some of the descriptions did get a little lengthy. The author was trying to set up this world for the rest of the series. I think what makes this fantasy world so real, is the author's passion for it. You can feel Cast's heart in the words when she is describing Partholon.

The romance was fantastic. Now I usually try to avoid spoilers, but this one I must tell you. Because when I first saw ClanFintan was a centaur, I was like, "What the hell? How can there be a romance if he is a centaur? I need romance in my fantasies!". But I was relieved to find out he is a shape-shifter. As high shaman, he can shape into many shapes. One of those shapes being a very sexy man. I loved ClanFintan. He was always there for Shannon when she needed him, but he treated her with respect and as an equal. He is now one of my new favorite men of fiction. Yes, ClinFintan and Shannon figure out their love for each other rather quickly. But it just fit in this story. They are two adults who know what they what, so it all felt real and not forced to me. It was so obvious that these two should be together that I was glad I didn't have to wait around to see it.

I loved the romance, but the action took center stage in the story. Shannon was thrown into the world where she is High-Priestess. On one hand it's great. She has servants to bring her whatever she needs, all the clothes a girl could want, someone to do her hair and and make up, and a never ending supply of wine. I do have to admit that my girly side was drooling. But as a high-priestess she has a lot of responsibility. The Fomorians are killing and raping her people, and it's all on Shannon's shoulders to stop them. Cast does a great job at pacing the story. I was often on the edge of my seat, dying to get to the next page.

While I usually enjoy pop culture references, and some of them in the story were so funny they had me laughing out loud, I felt that there were too many. I found myself getting a little annoyed at some of them. But the minor annoyance wasn't enough to keep me from enjoying the story.

The ending was great. It tied up the loose strings and left me with a smile on my face. But I still craved to be in Partholon. I was so glad to have the next book in the series on hand. Cast does what not many writers can do, and that is to completely throw you in a different world, where only what flies off the pages exists. Any adult reader that is a fan of fantasy will enjoy this book. And if you are an adult like me that usually stays in the YA genre, I think you will enjoy this one as well. show less

I am *so* not sure what to rate this book. While the world wasn't amazing, I absolutely loved the main character. I wanted to spend every waking minute with Shannon/Rhea. She is snarky. She is realistic. She is passionate. She is lovable. She has a heart of gold. Make no mistake: this is a chick book. Males should probably pass on by.

As the synopsis clearly states, Shannon finds herself transferred to another world where she is the "chosen" of the warrior goddess. She also finds that her counterpart was a bit of a . . . Shrew. So, Rhea spends a great deal of time making up for that.

There are a great many pop culture references. She either dreams about, or hopes to dream about, people like Tom Selleck, Pierce Brosnan and Sean Connery. A show more girl after my own heart. She was a high school English teacher, and uses these skills frequently as she continues to 'impersonate' Rhiannon. There are also frequent Star Trek and Star Wars references. These were so much fun because I felt like I was in on an inside joke. These were always clicheish, yet appropriate, and mostly hysterical.

She enters this world as, unbeknownst to the people, a race that is considered 'pure evil' is about to attack. She, and her band of fearless followers, must quickly build a defense to defeat the monsters. While this plot is not the strongest plot ever devised, it works as a vehicle to spend time with our intrepid heroine. Which is where the strength of the story lies. Most other characters are not nearly as well flesh out, but it *is* told in first person, so this is not really a weakness, just a fact. I knew Shannon was the perfect heroine when she re-wrote the end of The Phantom of the Opera to please her enthralled audience.

Rather than a romance, I think I would classify this story as a love affair. There is no love triangle. There is no romantic suspense. It is just there and wraps you in its arms. This is definitely, then, a love affair with a bit of fantasy thrown in. A little more lovey dovey than I typically enjoy, but Rhea is just so much darn fun it does not matter.

Oh, yes, did I mention centaurs? No vampires. (Even though the evil beings are characterized as being "vampire-like".) No werewolves. But CENTAURS! This, alone, makes this book worth reading. show less

Oklahoma English teacher Shannon Parker finds herself in another world ("a cross between Scotland and ancient Greece") when she purchases a vase at an estate sale. The Goddess Incarnate has cast a spell to trade places with Shannon, so she can visit the modern world and escape from the imminent attack of vampire-like creatures called Formorians (and her centaur betrothed) in her own world. After some initial confusion, Shannon fits right in to her new world, donning the mantle and tiara of Lady Rhiannon, marrying the centaur, and leading her people against the Formorians.
This take on the supernatural genre, although a real mish-mash of legends, magical characters, and spiritual traditions both ancient and modern, kinda works. The show more central conflict is suspenseful, and the sub-plots are used to successfully tie the narrative together and enhance the plot. My only complaint is the "teen-speak" with which Shannon/Rhea tends to talk. She's 35, and yeah, she hangs around teens a lot being a teacher, but it sort of rang unrealistic to me. It didn't sound really genuine. Shannon is a great character, though, and I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next in Divine by Choice. show less

I picked this book up thinking it would be a harmless read. I enjoy many of the cast away in time, another world, etc. type books and this one looked like it could be entertaining. Boy I was wrong. The characters were cardboard, the storyline was mediocre, but the worst was the action. It was terrible. If you are going to write a fantasy, sword and bow kind of adventure at least know what you are talking about.

Ms. Cast has her centaurs using crossbows a bizarre choice of weaponry for a half horse people (longbows would have been bad but I could have dealt with it that, compound horse bow would have made actual sense) and then had the centaurs shooting those crossbows so rapidly, I thought they must have had clips.

Maybe its because I show more wasn't expecting a romance novel (I didnt realize Luna was a romance print) but the action components were so bad it just drove me crazy. Further the romance itself was crappy. If I didn't force myself to finish everything I start, I would have never finished this book.

All in all a bad book that I could not recommend to anyone. show less

Having been a fan of P.C. and Kristen Cast’s House of Night series, I have to admit that I was a little apprehensive about trying out any of P.C. Cast’s other books. For the most part, I love the House of Night series – would I feel the same way about her other books? While I do try to read many of my books in an objective format that allows me to see the good parts in each individual piece, I was afraid that if I became disenchanted with Cast’s adult books, it might ruin her young adult ones for me as well.

I am pleased to announce that I should have just thrown my worry to the ground and squished it under my shoe. While definitely having a different feel to them than the House of Night books do, the Goddess of Partholon books show more are turning out to be pretty spectacular. The first in the series, DIVINE BY MISTAKE follows Shannon Parker, a school teacher loving the freedom of summer break, as she discovers an ancient vase that will turn her world upside down - literally. Where there were once cars, there are now horses. Jeans and a cashmere sweater? Nope, let’s try a lovely wrapped piece of silk and some strappy sandals.

What’s a girl to do with no mall, no teenagers to teach, and a world where the impossible walks before her very eyes? Barely awake for more than a few hours, Shannon – or Rhiannon, as she’s known in Partholon – finds herself a key player in a handfast ceremony. Before she can say “Whoa there,” Shannon is married to a horse (centaur) and thrown into a wild adventure.

I’ll admit that the beginning of the book was a little hard to get into. I almost put it down to take a break, but decided to keep on going. You’ll remember that I said the same thing about Stephenie Meyer’s The Host. The beginning was slow but the rest of the book was phenomenal. In this case, it seemed like the beginning of DIVINE BY MISTAKE almost went by a little too quickly. Some things didn’t seem fully explained and other didn’t make sense. I had to ignore my mind as it tried to figure out the spatial aspect of the story as it didn’t always seem like the shapes and sizes of things in the story were described the same as the way they were used. Once I was able to get past this, however, I realized what a great book this really is.

If there is anything new I have discovered about P.C. Cast’s writing it’s that this author is incredibly funny. The House of Night series can be humorous, but in general Zoey and her posse follow a fairly dark path. While there were certainly very dark and very graphic scenes in DIVINE BY MISTAKE, Ms. Cast was able to throw quite a bit of humor in their to lighten up the mood of the book. I can honestly say that Shannon is one of my favorite characters in the stories I have read thus far this year. The author has imbued her with a sense of humor, a modern personality that clashes beautifully with the old-fashioned world she has been transported to, and a set of quirks that just make her adorable.

While we’re discussing wonderful characters, let’s visit ClanFintan, shall we. I can honestly say that I had never read a story that included any form of romance between a centaur and a human. I didn’t know how it would work and it if would be weird, but the way Ms. Cast created her world and the way she developed her characters made this aspect of the story one of the best. ClanFintan is like any tall, dark, and handsome man we dream of. Only difference is that he has the hindquarters of a horse. What could be better for those of us that never grew out of our princess and horse-lover phase? The author’s descriptions of ClanFintan, his mannerisms, and the personality she gives him really helped to make this one heck of a book.

Fair warning: There are adult scenes and adult themes.

I would recommend this to any lovers of Fantasy, Romance, or any combination of the two. I would recommend this to adult readers as there are some scenes that may be disturbing to younger readers. show less