The Road Once Taken
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $5.99
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
Jacinda Harper just wants a vacation — a little time to spend with an old friend and her new baby. But a speeding car on a rain-slicked road crashes just ahead of her, and alters her life forever.
The last wish from the dying woman in the wrecked car sends Jaci to a lonely mansion, where she finds a mysterious grandfather clock, a cryptic diary, and a strange key... and magic...
Unwittingly transported into a fantastical world of ominous castles, wild forests, and rebel swordsmen — a world ruled by a ruthless sorcerer whose quest for world domination has long been thwarted by the loss of a magical key stolen from this world long ago — the key that Jaci has just brought back into his reach...
Jaci must find a way back to her own world before the sorcerer finds her.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
MacLaughlin's third novel (after Trouble by Any Other Name) suffers from a flimsy protagonist who's outshone by her supporting cast. On her way to visit a friend, Jacinda Harper witnesses an accident that gravely injures a woman, Deirdre. She instructs Jaci to find a key hidden at her estate. When Jaci agrees to the request, she is transported through a portal to the kingdom of Tarshane, still holding the key. Rescued from the elements by a band of rebels and their leader, Talan d'Lochlann, Jaci learns that Tarshane is under control of the sorcerer Galenock, a usurper of the rightful royal family. Jaci bears a striking resemblance to the missing Princess Deirdre, and the key opens a crypt with the ability to increase Galenock's power exponentially. Lauded as the heir to the throne and capable of extraordinary defensive magic, Jaci joins the rebels to overthrow Galenock's rule. MacLaughlin provides little context for Jaci's life prior to her arrival, and each detail gleaned along the way feels too convenient and in service of plot. However, Talan and the other characters have distinctive voices that give the story enough color and drive for readers to see it through to the end. (BookLife)
