Title: Dime Store Magic
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Women of the Otherworld #3
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Paranormal fantasy, Strong women
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Orbit
Year: 2004
5th sentence, 74th page: No, not a man, a boy, maybe seventeen, eighteen.

‘I was bought into this world for one reason… A daughter born and raised to lead the Coven.’

White witch Paige Winterbourne has spent her whole life hiding her true nature. But when she takes over the guardianship of Savannah Levine – orphaned daughter of a notorious black witch – Paige’s carefully constructed world comes crashing down.

Someone is plotting to take Savannah and corrupt her already unsettling wild power. But how can Paige fight them without exposing her own gift – the ultimate taboo? And how can she trust the one man offering to help her fight, when he stands for everything she hates?

Dime Store Magic was a total change of pace in the Women of the Otherworld series. Going form Elena’s hard-edged, tough approach to life and her slightly psychotic lover to Paige and the trials of new-motherhood was a very interesting step. I loved the stark difference between the tone and personalities of the two heroines in this series. The inclusion of Elena and Clay within the storyline (even if it was a small one) also helped the transition between characters. This still felt like part of the same series, not just two books set in the same fantasy world.

The re-emergence of Leah was, admittedly a little terrifying. Take the woman who was partially responsible for all of the tragedy in Stolen and remove Paige’s back-up muscle. I was a little worried about how that scenario would end. But, as with all of Armstrong’s books (or at least the ones I have read so far), Paige and Savannah are able to find their own sense of power and embrace it. I think that this is what endears Armstrong’s book so much to me – the characters don’t necessarily start out as strong and independent, they are able to find their own power and self through the encounters that befall them.

Dime Store Magic begins with Paige Winterbourne at a crossroads in her life – the happenings of Stolen not only bought Savannah into her life, but it also led her to question her own self-assurances. She is forced to question her own infallibility and leave behind the delusions of youth. While her foundations are shaken, it takes a custody case, the appearance of an old enemy and the entrance of a sorcerer offering help that truly brings her world crashing down around her ears.

After being exiled and having her world completely destroyed, Paige is still able to come out with hope for the future. Another reason why I loved this book, no matter what happens to the heroine, there is always a happy ending, love and hope for the future.

Image source: Goodreads

Title: Stolen
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Women of the Otherworld #2
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Paranormal fantasy, Strong women
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Orbit
Year: 2003
5th sentence, 74th page: That’s what we need in these meetings.

Elena Michaels is a wanted woman. Ten years ago she was transformed into a werewolf by her lover. Her transformation makes her powerful. But in the wrong hands, it also makes her deadly.

And now, just as she’s coming to terms with it all, a group of scientists learns of her existence. They’re hunting her down, and Elena is about to run straight into their trap. But they haven’t reckoned on Elena’s adoptive family, her Pack, who will stop at nothing to get her back.

They haven’t reckoned on Elena, either. And that’s a very big mistake…

It’s taken me a while to read the second book in the Women of the Otherworld series. Mostly because I didn’t own it when I finished Bitten, and also a little because I have a LOT of other books that I want to read. But, even after all this time, it didn’t disappoint! I’m so glad that I have the whole series sitting in my bookcase, because I just couldn’t wait to get my hands on the next book in the series.

Stolen reintroduced me to Elena and Clay, the most contemporary couple I have read about in a long time. I think that their very distinctiveness is what draws me so completely to this book. Elena is damaged. She admits that, the author admits that, we all get to understand that. And with no bones about her damaged, she has someone who is just as twisted as she is, albeit in other ways. Their ability to completely accept each other for this is so admirable. Plus, it’s nice to read about a truly damaged heroine – she’s not very nice at times, has an attitude and a tendency to completely disregard how her actions may affect others. Basically, everything that I can be at moments in my life, and the fact that she is blatantly aware of it just makes her storyline all the more impotent.

Stolen was a story where the greed of science meets the insecurities of powerful men. As someone who studies science I’ve long been aware that the moralities of my actions and the ability to expand on current knowledge can be mutually exclusive. I loved investigating the point at which this can go completely wrong – using other human beings to expand on our medical knowledge is morally abhorrent, but it has the potential to give us new knowledge.

This book was a beautiful, well written reminder that the pursuit of knowledge is not the noblest pursuit – caring for one another is.

Image source: Orbit Books

Title: Bitten
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Series: Women of the Otherworld #1
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Paranormal fantasy, Strong women
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Orbit
Year: 2001
5th sentence, 74th page: You know more about them than any of us.

‘I’ve been fighting it all night. I’m going to lose… Nature wins out. It always does.’

Elena Michaels didn’t know that her lover Clay was a werewolf until he bit her, changing her life for ever. Betrayed and furious, she cannot accept her transformation, and wants nothing to do with her Pack – a charismatic group of fellow werewolves who say they want to help.

But when a series of brutal murders threatens the Pack, Elena is forced to make an impossible choice. Abandon the only people who truly understand her new nature, or help them to save the lover who ruined her life, and who still wants her back at any cost.

I first heard of this through the TV series, Bitten and thought that I’d buy the book out of sheer curiosity. I’m honestly a little over all of the paranormal romances (Twilight ruined them for me). But I read this book in a day. It was well written, with a strong, feisty (if not a little damaged) heroine. Exactly the type of book I love. 🙂

I enjoyed discovering more about Elena’s story as the journey unfolded – at the beginning she is just a blonde with a past and a secret. Yet, as the story unfolds, you find out about the past and the conflicts between the characters.

Unlike many of the paranormal romances and stories I’ve recently read, this one was a little edgy, not only in the characterisation of the heroine, but also through challenges she faces.

I am truly in love with edgy and stubborn heroines and this in combination of being placed within an all-male world made me want to read this story again and again and again.

Image source: Amazon