Dime Store Magic is the third book in the Women of the Otherworld series. It’s the first book from a different point of view, instead of seeing through the eyes of Elena Michaels, we see through the eyes of Paige Winterbourne. Paige was first introduced in Stolen. Paige’s mother was captured by humans along with Elena and a 12 year old named Savanna Levine. It’s a year later, and Paige and Savanna have moved to East Falls, Massachusetts to be closer to the Coven. Since her mother’s death, Paige became the Coven leader. In between struggling to raise a thirteen year old girl, keeping up with her web design business, and fighting the Elders of the Coven, Paige’s life becomes torn apart.
The Elders keep complaining about Savanna’s behavior. The Coven is super uptight and really just a bunch of useless old windbags afraid of their own shadow. One day Paige receives a letter from a law office stating that Leah, the half-demon that killed Paige’s mother and blamed it on Savanna, is fighting her for custody. She has no ties to Savanna, but she is fighting her for custody. Paige just laughed, the meeting was the next morning. When she went to the meeting, she found out that they lied, Paige wasn’t fighting for custody, a sorcerer named Kristof Nast. He is next in line for the Cabal, which is the head of the family and a CEO, something like the Godfather. Kristof Nast was claiming to be Savanna’s father. Savanna didn’t know who her father was, and Paige wasn’t about to tell her that this sorcerer might be her father until she was sure that he was her father. There was no proof. So Paige decided to get a human lawyer, Sanford (Nast’s lawyer) and Leah were threatening to expose her as a witch if she didn’t hand over Savannah. The human lawyer laughed and said Nast had to submit to a DNA test to prove he was Savanna’s father. Since he was a sorcerer, he couldn’t do that.
Sanford and Leah realized going through the human legal system was not going to work. So they decided to destroy every aspect of Paige’s life. Paige’s human lawyer was a pig who told Paige she could reduce her bill if she had sex with him. She publicly humiliated him in a bake shop. Leah left a hand with the fingers lit up in front of Paige’s house, she ran outside to grab it. Later that night, she went out to bury it in the backyard and realized there was a staged Satanic alter in her backyard. There were three dead cats, skinned. She tried to clean it up, but the police showed up. Then a man came to her door claiming to be a lawyer who could help her, but he wouldn’t take off his glasses. After he finally did take off his glasses, Paige realized that Lucas Cortez was not just any lawyer, he was a sorcerer. Naturally she thought he was working for Nast, so she kicked him out. Lucas wasn’t that easy to get rid of.
Paige had taken Savanna to get something to eat, Savanna decided she didn’t want to go in the restaurant, so Paige left her in the car and locked it (regular locks and spells). Then she turned back around and saw the human lawyer in an SUV behind her car, he hit her car with Savanna inside. Paige called the police and then drove to his house to try and confront him. The police wouldn’t do anything because of who he was. Savanna had a bloody nose. He wouldn’t talk to her. The next day, Paige got a message on her machine from the same human lawyer asking if she would meet him the next day. She went there and he had no idea why she was there. Nobody else was in the office. That’s when she realized it was a trap. She tried to get Savanna out of the Mansion they called an office, but all the doors were magically shut. Paige went downstairs to try another door, Savanna followed. They were standing by a window when they saw Leah. A minute later, the human lawyer came flying out of his office window, chair and all. He was dead, very very dead. Both Paige and Savanna were stunned. Just as Paige said, “we should get out of here,” the cops showed up. They took her to the station for questioning, and left Savanna unguarded in the front of the police station. They were there all day, when the police switched from the bad cop routine to the good cop routine, Lucas Cortez walked in claiming to be Paige’s lawyer. He put a binding spell on her so she couldn’t dispute what he was saying. He asked to speak to his client in a private room.
Once they were in the private room, he asked her to give him a chance. He said he could get her off. She banged on the door and told them that Lucas Cortez was not her lawyer. Again, he doesn’t go away that easily. He negotiated her release, they had nothing to hold her on. The man flew out of the building, she didn’t touch him. He told her to let him work for her on a trial basis, and she could get rid of him at any time. He asked that she think about it. Paige had a Coven meeting, so she left for the meeting straight from the police station. The Elders were furious and said she shouldn’t have come, people might find out about them. They didn’t want to associate with her. Not only would they not help her, they threatened to kick her out of the Coven if she didn’t let Savanna go. Paige couldn’t believe what she was hearing, and ran outside to calm down. Who did she see, none other than Lucas Cortez, the sorcerer lawyer. She told him what was happening and he stormed in to speak with them. Paige couldn’t believe it, but he was inside before she could catch him. He said, here’s what I need you to do for Paige and he wrote it all down on a board. Meanwhile the women crowded together and almost peed themselves at the sight of a sorcerer. Paige was disgusted.
After all he’d done for her, Paige decided to keep Lucas Cortez as her lawyer. It’s a good thing, she needed him as things went from bad to worse. She lost customers, then was asked to collect her file from the dead lawyer from the back office of the funeral home. She went to do that and got locked in the funeral home with Savanna. Savanna got away from her when people surrounded Paige. Then all the sudden someone knocked from the inside of the coffin. There was a necromancer, and she made all the dead in the funeral home rise to the absolute horror of the lawyer’s family. The lights went out and chaos ensued. A woman walked out with a bullet hole in her head. Paige saw where she came from and took off down the hall. After encountering another zombie, she found an exit and went for it. A huge dog came after her and she screamed and turned to run. Cortez caught her, he said it was a hologram. He had put Savanna in her car and locked her in. She had to go to the station to be questioned for that too. They couldn’t hold her, her story was less crazy than the others who were telling about the walking dead. Lucas explained that his father was Cabal Cortez, the most powerful Cabal of them all. He was his heir, though he didn’t want the job.
Cortez came home with them and there were tons of people on their lawn. Bible thumpers telling her to burn in hell, news people, and general curiosity seekers. Cortez protected them and it took forever to get to the door, but they finally made it. Savanna kept using magic on people, the social services came to see them, the Elders stopped by. Savanna started her first period, which was when she would get her full powers but a ceremony had to be performed on the eighth day after it first started. Paige and Lucas Cortez hooked up, more than that. They collected the things they needed for Savanna’s ceremony, which caused another run in with the police. Paige was kicked out of the Coven and then their house was attacked. Leah and another of Nast’s employees burned their house down. Paige went to get her grimiores that could unlock unknown witch powers and the backpack with the stuff for Savanna’s ceremony. Lucas came up and grabbed the sacks from her and shooed her out of the house. She was then taken by Nast’s people. When she woke up she and Savanna were in a strange room.
Nast told Savanna he was her father, she had his eyes. Savanna actually agreed to stay with him only if Paige could stay with her. She didn’t realize that as soon as he didn’t need Paige to help with her, he would kill Paige. The witches that worked for the Nast’s were to teach Savanna, but instead they were going to do a protection spell. They tried to make her sacrifice a teenage boy. She refused and they did it for her, splattering blood all over her. She freaked out and almost everyone got hurt. They sedated her. Meanwhile, one of Nast’s people made a deal with Lucas Cortez’s brother. The deal was they would take her to a guy that would kill her and video tape it, they’d send the tape to Lucas saying it was his fault because he got involved with her. Yeah nice brother, so Paige was taken away. Another guy was the driver and he wanted to rape Paige first. The guy said just drive away, I don’t care what you do, just get her to the butcher guy or whatever. Paige managed to get the gag off her mouth and say a suffocation spell. It worked and he wrecked the van. He wasn’t dead though. She went back to the house and everything was crazy. Leah had shown Savanna Paige’s body somehow and said she was dead. Probably while she was unconscious. Savanna flipped out and started calling everything demons, spirits, whatever, she was looking for her mother. She ended up killing her father. Cortez showed up to help Paige, but Leah found them and tried to kill them. Paige killed her. Cortez was badly injured though. She took him outside, the house was shaking and coming apart. Paige ran back in to find Savanna, Lucas had made her look like her mother so she would listen to Paige. Savanna got out of the house right before it collapsed. Paige didn’t, but she found a cubby hole to hide in until the house fell down around her. They had to leave East Falls, so they left together. They stopped driving to do Savanna’s ritual, and she gained her full powers. Lucas and Paige stayed together and decided to go to Oregon or Washington. He said it was the only state without a Cabal, but he would have to answer for his involvement in Nast’s death. That was the end. It was another good book. Happy reading!
allthingshorror666 