Library Journal
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Ever wanted to completely escape your life? Nora is a graduate student whose dissertation is stalled and whose boyfriend is getting married-to someone else. On a weekend getaway, Nora wanders off and accidentally slips through a portal into another world. At first it is fairy tale-like, but soon the darker side becomes apparent. How will this modern woman survive in a strange, magical world and will she be able to find her way home? VERDICT This is an intelligent, well-plotted fantasy set in a rich and complex world-a perfect escapist fantasy for a hot summer day. (LJ 7/13) (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Dumped by her boyfriend and dissed by her academic advisor, disconsolate graduate student Nora Fischer wanders off a beaten mountain path smack-dab into a parallel universe seemingly populated by glamorous refugees from a Fellini film. Every night is party night for the suddenly and inexplicably gorgeous Nora, who is the unwitting victim of numerous spells cast by Ilissa, her mentor/captor and the undisputed leader of the glamorous gang. Married off to Ilissa's son, who harbors a brutally dark secret, she realizes too late that all is not as it seems beneath the shining veneer of her new world. Making her escape with the aid of an enigmatic wizard who tutors her in magic, she becomes increasingly drawn to him and faces a tough choice when an opportunity to slip back through the portal to her former life presents itself. This dark fairy tale has plenty of curb appeal for a wide range of fantasy, time-travel, and alternate-reality fans.--Flanagan, Margaret Copyright 2010 Booklist

Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Debut novelist Barker turns in a pleasant if largely predictable fantasy yarn. Nora Fischer is a brilliant literary scholar, "one of the best close readers of poetry I've ever worked with," as her dissertation director tells her before dropping the big old but on her: but she doesn't deal with big questions, with postmodernism or subalternity or dialogic hegemony or...well, Nora gets the picture. Neither is Nora a slouch when, quite by happenstance it would seem, she wanders through a mysterious portal into the otherworld. Though she has magically become more beautiful, she fails to attract the physical yearnings of Oscar Wilde, though she exchanges some good words with him all the same--and, he reminds her, "appearances are the only true reality." Hmmm. No sooner are the words out than she is swept away by a handsome--well, prince, maybe, certainly VIP in this behind-the-mirror world--man (man?) who is very much something other than what he seems to be. Now Nora's got other things to worry about, like how not to turn into stone ("cream colored stone. Marble, maybe"). Helping her along is a gruff and grumpy sorcerer type named Aruendiel--he wouldn't be a sorcerer without a Welsh name, after all--who, though "a man of strong passions," as another denizen of the back of beyond puts it, can't be moved to make it a friends-with-benefits relationship. Will petrification ruin Nora's looks? Will she ever find her true love in the magic kingdom? Will she get back to real life in time to pay her tuition? Barker's pages tell all--and leave plenty of room for a sequel or even a series. Think of this book as Hermione Granger: The Grad School Years. An entertaining tale capably told.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Nora Fischer has lost everything: dumped by her boyfriend, her dissertation going nowhere fast, her life an empty shell. She decides she needs an escape. In this ambitious, densely packed debut by journalist Barker, Nora finds that instead of getting a small break from normality, she has escaped into another world in which magic exists-and is not as cute and cuddly as she might have imagined. Though the story starts with a classic tale of unpleasant fairies working their will, it morphs into something deeper and more nuanced when Nora meets the magician Aruendiel. Barker weaves together classic fantasy and romantic elements (including shout-outs to Pride and Prejudice and hints of Wuthering Heights) to produce a well-rounded, smooth, and subtle tale. Agent: Emma Sweeney, Emma Sweeney Agency. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Doctoral student Nora Fischer goes to a wedding one weekend and wanders off-right into the arms of a fairy queen in a different world altogether. Nora's life is transformed by beautiful glamours, until she realizes one day that things are not always as they seem with her new friends. She is rescued by a magician, Aruendiel, and lives with him at his modest castle, eventually learning magic from him as well. There is an obvious lead-in to a sequel, which could help explain the slow start and middle to the long novel. Nora spends time defending her intelligence, but said intelligence does not seem to crop up until near the end. However, she is a character worth following, and her relationship with Aruendiel is enticingly complicated. Narrator Alyssa Bresnahan presents a decent range of voices, and only the slightly too long pauses between tracks disrupt the flow of the story. VERDICT This is a good bet for fans of Deborah Harkness's A Discovery of Witches and Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.-Samantha -Matush, Clara B. Mounce P.L., Bryant, TX (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Meet Nora Fischer, a doctoral student whose dissertation and love life have both hit the skids. Wandering from a boring wedding reception, Nora takes a hike that, after a few wrong turns, leads her to a fabulous mansion where she is transformed into a beautiful woman surrounded by the rich and eclectic. Thus begins Nora's fast-paced adventure, full of romance, magic, and intrigue in which things are never quite as they seem as our heroine soon discovers when her fairy tale turns dark and she must learn the craft of magic from the brooding Aruendiel in order to survive (this reviewer loved their electric interactions). While Nora's academic career and magical talents might seem reminiscent of those of Diana Bishop, the protagonist of Deborah Harkness's Shadow of Night, debut author Barker depends more on new world-building instead of adding a rich dimension of magic to real history as Harkness does. However like in Harkness's work, as the novel closes, Barker leaves Nora poised on the brink of a decision that could lead to another adventure. This reviewer can't wait. VERDICT Readers who love magical fantasy adventures with strong female protagonists will enjoy Barker's novel. And fans of Lev Grossman's The Magicians may also want to try this. [See Prepub Alert, 2/25/13; this title was highlighted at LJ's Day of Dialog Editors' Picks panel.-Ed.]-Crystal Renfro, Georgia Inst. of Technology Lib. & Information Ctr., Atlanta (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.