From one of today’s most original writers comes the mesmerizing tale of an exceptional young woman caught up in an otherworldly realm where some will stop at nothing to get what they want.

Paige Winterbourne was always either too young or too rebellious to succeed her mother as leader of one of the world’s most powerful elite organizations—the American Coven of Witches. Now that she is twenty-three and her mother is dead, the Elders can no longer deny her. But even Paige’s wildest antics can’t hold a candle to those of her new charge—an orphan who is all too willing to use her budding powers for evil...and evil is all too willing to claim her. For this girl is being pursued by a dark faction of the supernatural underworld. They are a vicious group who will do anything to woo the young, malleable, and extremely powerful neophyte, including commit murder—and frame Paige for the crime. It’s an initiation into adulthood, womanhood, and the brutal side of magic that Paige will have to do everything within her power to make sure they both survive.

From Publishers Weekly

Unlike the Wizard of Oz, the witches in this sexy supernatural romance, including the murdered mother of 23-year-old heroine Paige Winterbourne, are not evil entities inhabiting a fairy tale land. They're an ages-old race of women so frightened by the possibility of exposure and endangerment that they've allowed their magical powers to atrophy. When Paige inherits her mom's mantle as Coven leader, however, she also inherits caretaking responsibility of Savannah Levine, an extremely gifted but rebellious 13-year-old who possesses her dead mother's penchant for dark magic-and for attracting the unwanted attention of darker magical beings (including Savannah's long-lost sorcerer father). The only person Paige can depend on is the one person she doesn't want to associate with: Lucas Cortez, an endearingly nerdy lawyer/sorcerer ("It was a sad world when a witch had to rely on a work-starved sorcerer for help"). As in Armstrong's debut novel Bitten, this story's special strength lies in its seamless incorporation of the supernatural into the real world. A convincing small-town setting, clever contemporary dialogue, compelling characterizations and a touch of cool humor make the tale's occasional vivid violence palatable and its fantasy elements both gripping and believable.
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Review

"A convincing small-town setting, clever contemporary dialogue, compelling characterizations and a touch of cool humor .... This story’s special strength lies in its seamless incorporation of the supernatural into the real world."—Publishers Weekly