Paige Cortez-Winterbourne can see their new client is going to be trouble, especially when the beautiful young vixen demands to speak only to Paige's husband Lucas about the case. They take the case anyway and investigate the death of the girl's brother, which took place after her participation in a supernatural fight club.
Infiltrating the fight club, with Savannah as the fighter, was the easy part. The hard part will be for Paige to see what the real game here is, and whether or not she will come out of it with Lucas.
Kelley Armstrong has created such a rich and wonderful fantasy world with her Otherworld series. The story in the novella COUNTERFEIT MAGIC takes place before the story in the novel Waking the Witch. Here we once again spend time with the witches and warlocks of her world (there are demons too), seeing the struggle Paige deals with being the wife of a Cabal member (Lucas) while trying to keep a balanced relationship with her ward Savannah and be more of a big sister than foster mom (her mother is still around, in a sense). Paige faces issues in her relationships with those around her that many see in the real world (just without the magic and mayhem).
Being a novella, this is short and sweet, but it can leave the reader a little empty toward the end. The story flows well but I got a sense that it was cut short at the end. It could simply be that I can never get enough of Armstrong's world and wanted more.
The first rule of a supernatural fight club? Don\'t kill your
opponent.
When the fighters come with lethal spells, werewolf strength
and half-demon powers, that can be a lot tougher than it
sounds. It\'s hard to attract talent if they know they might
not leave the ring alive. So when fighters at a California
club start dying -- it\'s bad for business.
Witch detectives Paige Winterbourne and Savannah Levine take
the case. Going undercover in the power-heavy arena of the
fight club is a welcome change of pace for Paige, relegated
to the role of The Wife as her husband struggles to find his
place in his family\'s Cabal--the corporate Mafia of the
supernatural world.
As Paige is drawn deeper into new and dangerous corners of
her world, she quickly discovers the greatest threat isn\'t
the killer in her sights. It\'s something much, much closer
to home. And this is one fight she can\'t afford to lose.
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