Product Description

Paige Winterbourne is a witch. Not that you'd notice - no warts, no green skin, no cute little wiggle of the nose whenever she casts a spell. No, most of the time she's just a normal 23-year-old girl; works too hard, worries about her weight, wonders if she'll ever find a boyfriend. Okay, so she does have an adopted teenage daughter, Savannah, who wants to raise her black witch of a mother from the dead. And who is being stalked by a telekinetic half-demon and an all-powerful cabal of sorcerers. But other than that, Paige has a really ordinary life. That is, until the neighbours find out who she is, and all hell breaks loose. Literally...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6369 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-19
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
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

Review
'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 'As dry and punchy as a detective novel ... it's a great read' SFX

Dreamwatch
'A suspense-filled story offers both continuity for established readers and an excellent introduction for new readers'

Customer Reviews

Dime Store Magic
In this third novel from the Women of the Otherworld Series we hear the story of Paige Winterbourne who we first saw in Stolen.

This is a different side to Paige we see here as I did find her mildly irritating in Stolen! Paige is an orphan and finds herself as leader of the American Coven of Witches. Unfortunately for Paige she is nowhere near as experienced as her predecessor, her mother, or even as some of the other members of the coven.Some of them feel that Paige is not the right person to be their leader.

Nine months before this book began Paiges mother was murdered along with another witch who is the mother of Savannah Levine, who became left in Paige's care to look after her. Savannah is far experienced for her age for the powers she possesses therefore Paige has to try and make sure Savannah uses her powers responsibly! The story goes on in revealing Savannah's father as Kristof Nash who is heir to the Nash Cabal and he naturally wants custody of Savannah but, just for his own evil purposes.

This was the very 1st book of Kelley's books I bought without realising that there were 2 before it but, did read them in order. Again I have heard it said this one can be read as a stand-alone but, I do feel you would benefit from reading the previous books especially Stolen in relation to this one as you may not fully understand why or how Savannah & Paige's mothers died.

This is brilliant and much different from the werewolves of the previous books and Paige is so much more likeable in this one.

"It was a sad world when a witch had to rely on... "
"Dime store magic" is the third book in Kelley Armstrong's "Women of the Otherworld" series. These books have a lot of action, magic and yes, some romance. But more importantly, they are thoroughly engaging, so be prepared to be immersed in a world that differs quite a bit from our own.

The narrator of "Dime store magic" is Paige Winterbourne, a 23-year-old witch who suddenly finds herself as guardian of Savannah Levine, the irritable 13-year-old daughter of Eve, the black sheep of Paige's family. Unfortunately, Savannah isn't just an annoyed teenager angry with everything and everyone: she is also a witch with growing powers and a noticeable tendency towards dark magic, like her mother. On top of everything, Paige also becomes the leader of her Coven (due to the death of her mother, narrated in "Stolen"). It is worthwhile to point out that the position is mostly nominal, though, as Paige doesn't get a lot of respect from the other witches.

Life isn't obviously too easy for Paige, but neither is it overly problematic. That changes, though, when Savannah's previously unknown father, a powerful wizard, decides to fight for custody in order to gain control of his daughter's power. Paige won't give in without a fight, as wizards are traditional enemies of witches. The result is that she will have to put her life and reputation on the line, and will need to accept help from whomever can give it. That includes Lucas Cortez, a lawyer but also a wizard that has rebelled against his heritage and goes from quest to quest striving to make justice. In Paige's words, "It was a sad world when a witch had to rely on a work-starved sorcerer for help". The fact is, soon enough she will view Lucas in a different way...

All in all, I highly recommend this book. In my opinion, it is an excellent addition to the series, and will make you want to read the sequel immediately. For that, you will have to buy or borrow "Industrial magic"... But in the meanwhile, enjoy "Dime store magic" :)

Belen Alcat

Worthy if you like a bit of change
After reading Bitten and Stolen I was slightly dubious as to what this third book had to offer. It is certainly different from Kelley's first two books, mostly due to her shift from Elena to Paige and I'm not entirely sure the shift is a good one.
If you're looking for a punchy modern leading lady, like Elena, then Paige isn't going to satisfy you. I must admit that I wanted a bit of kick from the book, something to get my blood flowing, some passion and some depth, but I don't feel this book delivers any of those to any great depth. And that's what this book is lacking - depth. It's nice, it's a good read and it flows very easily (I read it within two evenings and couldn't put it down) BUT there isn't the depth of character that should leave you really caring what happens to Paige, Savannah and Cortez.
And a bit of advice, if you haven't read the first two then I'd suggest you read them first, as when there is a touch of depth in this book, it comes from the writer explaining previous events.
Don't get me wrong, like I said, it's a good read and you'll come away satisfied, I gave it four stars for this very reason, but there's just something... not quite right.
Bring back Elena.