"Dime Store Magic" by Kelley Armstrong

Rating: 3.5

Description: For years real witches have hidden their powers, afraid of being persecuted. They have integrated so well into the community, you could have a witch living right next door and never know about it. Take Paige, for instance, whom we first met in Kelley Armstrong's novel "Stolen". Just an ordinary twenty-something who runs her own website design company, worries about her weight and wonders if she'll ever find a boyfriend. Okay, so she's leader of the American Coven and guardian of Savannah, the teenage daughter of a black witch. Really, life is ordinary. But then a telekinetic half-demon, Leah O'Donnell, shows up to fight for custody of Savannah. And although Paige is ready for her, she's not quite so prepared for the team of supernaturals that Leah brings with her, including a powerful sorcerer who claims to be Savannah's father. When all hell breaks loose -- literally -- and Paige is accused of witchcraft, Satanism and murder, the Coven, fearing exposure, abandons her. Cut off from her friends, Paige is forced against her better judgment to accept the help of a young sorcerer lawyer. And she quickly comes to realize that keeping Savannah could mean losing everything else.

Note: This summary was stolen from bn.com because I am lazy

Review: After reading "Bitten" and "Stolen", which are told from a werewolf's point of view, I was a little leery about reading a book about sassy-but-innocent witch Paige, whom I hadn't particularly liked in "Stolen." However, once I got past the drastically different writing style (less doom-and-gloom, more chick lit), I became engrossed in the story and almost managed to forget that I didn't like Paige. Armstrong's supernatural world is surprisingly believable, especially the Coven, inbued with so much fear that they aren't even really witches anymore, and the plot is involved and has enough new elements added to keep the reader interested, without overwhelming with too much stuff going on. Savannah is, unfortunately, an all-too-believable teenager, and Paige's adventures in parenting are definitely realistic. I loved the addition of Lucas, the do-gooder sorceror, as Paige's love interest, and I like Paige a lot more post-Lucas than I did before his entrance into the story. This book should probably get a 4 rating, but I just couldn't shake my dislike of Paige - she is argumentative and stubborn up to and beyond the point of stupidity. She needs to loosen up. Armstrong's third book in the Women of the Otherworld series, "Dime Store Magic" manages to shake things up while still retaining the intriguing and believable horror element that was introduced in the first two books.