Dime Store Magic (Women of the Otherworld #3)
by Kelley Armstrong

Dime Store Magic sets itself apart from the first two Women of the Otherworld novels, by having Paige the young witch we met in Stolen narrate the story rather than the Werewolf Elena who had been our point of view thus far. At first I found the switch a bit distracting and had a hard time adjusting to Paige as the narrator – especially when Paige and Elena were talking on the phone! But as the story progressed I grew to love Paige, and stopped feeling the absence of the werewolves.

While I’m still looking forward to returning to Elena’s stories, once I got into Paige’s world, I really enjoyed getting to know her and Savannah. As with the first two novels in the series, Armstrong creates layered and likeable characters, who are both flawed and endearing at the same time. While Paige comes across a little spoiled when we meet her in Stolen, it’s clear that she’s maturing quickly since she’s been charged with taking care of Savannah. Savannah is now the spoiled one, but as an adolescent girl, she’s supposed to be a bit of nightmare, and I felt that the portrayal was realistic. One character that I very much dislike is Leah, but considering she is the villain of the story, I think that’s the way it’s intended to be. New arrival Lucas Cortez on the other hand, is charming pretty much from the minute we met him. Even when we’re not sure which side he’s really on, I found I couldn’t help but like Lucas, and was rooting for him to be one of the good guys.

The overall plot to steal Savannah made for a great story, but I also found some of the other developments in this book intriguing as they allow for interesting new stories in the future. One of the ones I found most intriguing was the fact that Paige is has been exiled from the Coven. The Coven often felt old and antiquated, and I’d like to see how a new generation will attempt revolutionize old ways. I look forward to finding out if Paige will start a new Coven or attempt to over-throw the old one.

While always enjoyable, I haven’t found Kelley Armstrong’s novels to be overly emotional so far, but the scene where Paige impersonated Savannah’s mother Eve was heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time.

Surprisingly, there seemed to be a few errors in this book, which isn’t something that has occurred in the previous Women of the Otherworld novels. The worst occurrence was during a steamy scene where Paige took her shirt off twice. It’s not something that affects the story in any way, but as it’s a scene that is intended to get the reader… involved, the error really rips you out of the story. Another situation had some actions repeated (candles lit twice) and a few others just didn’t make sense. Again it wasn’t anything that really changed the story, but it is a little distracting.

While not quite as gripping as the Werewolf stories, Dime Store Magic was still a good read, and I’m looking forward to the continuation of Paige and Savannah’s stories in Industrial Magic, the fourth volume of the Women of the Otherworld series.