Dime Store Magic by Kelley Armstrong

On the Back of the Book

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 twenty-three-year-old girl: works too hard, worries about her weight, wonders if she'll ever have 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...

My Thoughts

It took me a long while to get into this book. I had so much trouble with Paige's narrative. I didn't like her in Stolen and didn't see how she deserved to get a whole book. The plot however, made up for any reservations I had about whether reading this was a good idea. Once the plot had got into its stride the book moved at a nice pace until the end, where I once again found my self getting confused. If I'm honest, I'm beginning to wonder if it's me or the author.

As good as the plot was I still wasn't any more a Paige fan at the end than I was at the beginning. However I did like Lucas and Savannah, the former is just a regular guy who just so happens to be a sorcerer. Another thing I liked about him was that he always had a plan. Savannah brought life to the book with her temper. I kind of remember being a bit like at her age, angry with the whole world.

Overall book 2, Stolen, was a better book. Elena was a better main character. Yet in this book she's barely mentioned, despite what it says on the back of the book.

My Rating

3 stars - I marked it down for two reasons: 1. Paige doesn't have the personality to have an entire book and 2. The end had me baffled and I hate that in a book.

A Final Note

As this is an adult book there is sex, violence and swearing. It's definitely not for younger teens.

• Book summary from the back of the book


• Image from Google