FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF BITTEN--NOW A SYFY SERIES From one of today's most original writers comes the mesmerizing tale of an exceptional young woman caught up in an otherworldly realm where some will stop at nothing to get what they want.
Paige Winterbourne was always either too young or too rebellious to succeed her mother as leader of one of the world's most powerful elite organizations--the American Coven of Witches. Now that she is twenty-three and her mother is dead, the Elders can no longer deny her. But even Paige's wildest antics can't hold a candle to those of her new charge--an orphan who is all too willing to use her budding powers for evil...and evil is all too willing to claim her. For this girl is being pursued by a dark faction of the supernatural underworld. They are a vicious group who will do anything to woo the young, malleable, and extremely powerful neophyte, including commit murder--and frame Paige for the crime. It's an initiation into adulthood, womanhood, and the brutal side of magic that Paige will have to do everything within her power to make sure they both survive.
On the surface,
Dime Store Magic hinges on a common domestic situation. Typically rebellious teen Savannah is constantly butting heads with protective guardian mother Paige Winterbourne. But the standard teen traumas pale in comparison to Savannah's difficulties. To begin with, her mother Eve, a black witch, was murdered, and now evil telekinetic half-demon Leah O'Donnell is trying to gain custody of her, by means fair or foul. Standing in Leah's way is Paige, a rather typical twentysomething entrepreneur, trying to come to terms with this motherhood thing--that, and her status as leader of the American Coven. Welcome to East Falls, a sleepy small town outside Boston that turns out to be a hotbed of occult activity.
Dime Store Magic is a thoroughly entertaining supernatural thriller. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dime Store Magic features a contemporary setting and outwardly normal characters. This device provides scope for humour and social satire, and Kelley Armstrong proves adept at both. For instance, there's Savannah's observation that "all the best sorcerers are lawyers. Well, until they get older and become politicians." In fact, a young sorcerer lawyer, Luis Cortez, becomes Paige's and Savannah's best ally in the fight against the evil forces terrorising them. In Dime Store Magic, the third in Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series, following Bitten and Stolen, she displays a nice ear for dialogue, an imaginative way of describing the differing characteristics of witches, demons and sorcerers, and skill in piling on the suspense, which adds up to one fun read. --Kerry Doole, Amazon.ca
