TOUCH OF KINDNESS

A Texas teenager is transported to the Otherworld, where she discovers that she’s engaged to its crown prince.

When Dori met Charlotte, a new student at her high school, she was shocked to hear that she was desperate to escape an arranged marriage, not to mention surprised that Charlotte had a magical gift—and insisted that Dori had one, too. After Charlotte runs away, 18-year-old Dori is kidnapped to become the prince’s betrothed in her stead. Although Dori knew nothing of the Four Worlds—of which the Otherworld and the Mortalworld, or Earth, are only two—she soon finds herself entrenched in the life of the royal palace: going to balls, having adventures, and accidentally falling in love with Prince Garret. Dori desperately wants to go home, but she discovers her own magical gift—a powerful one, at that—which might allow her to enact much-needed change in the Otherworld. Dori must choose whether to stay and accept her fate or return to the life she always thought was her destiny. The novel unfortunately gets bogged down in dull, complicated explanations detailing the politics of the Otherworld, and the narrative pacing isn’t helped by writing that focuses on describing clothing over advancing the plot. The main characters’ slow-burn love affair is both steamy and chaste and will appeal to romance fans. Dori is cued white; there is racial diversity in the supporting cast.

A passionate story with serious pacing problems.