Review: Wickedly Wonderful - Deborah Blake

Known as the wicked witch of Russian fairy tales, Baba Yaga is not one woman, but rather a title carried by a chosen few. They keep the balance of nature and guard the borders of our world, but don’t make the mistake of crossing one of them . . .

Though she looks like a typical California surfer girl, Beka Yancy is in fact a powerful yet inexperienced witch who’s struggling with her duties as a Baba Yaga. Luckily she has her faithful dragon-turned-dog for moral support, especially when faced with her biggest job yet . . .

A mysterious toxin is driving the Selkie and Mer from their homes deep in the trenches of Monterey Bay. To investigate, Beka buys her way onto the boat of Marcus Dermott, a battle-scarred former U.S. Marine, and his ailing fisherman father.

While diving for clues, Beka drives Marcus crazy with her flaky New Age ideas and dazzling blue eyes. She thinks he’s rigid and cranky (and way too attractive). Meanwhile, a charming Selkie prince has plans that include Beka. Only by trusting her powers can Beka save the underwater races, pick the right man, and choose the path she’ll follow for the rest of her life . . .

Baba Yaga Series:
Wickedly Magical (Novella)
Wickedly Dangerous
Wickedly Wonderful
Wickedly Ever After (Novella)
Wickedly Powerful

Visit Deborah Blake's website for more information

Review:
Wickedly Wonderful is the story of Beka, the youngest of the three Baba Yaga witches currently residing in America. She has less experience than her fellow Babas and has much less confidence in her abilities thanks to the way she was treated by her predecessor but that doesn't stop her jumping in to help when the selkies and merpeople are forced to leave their homes due to a strange poison that is making them sick. The seafolk have been forced to leave everything behind in search of safe water and Beka is going to have her work cut out trying to figure out what is going on.

Marcus is an ex-Marine who has returned home and is helping his father run his fishing boat but the mysterious poison is affecting all sea life and all of the local fishermen are all struggling to make a living. Marcus is trying to convince his father to sell up so he can move away but the old man is stubborn and refuses to quit. Anyway, the last thing Marcus needs is a new age hippy like Beka hanging around but his father needs the money she is offering and agrees to take her out on the boat so she can carry out research.

In a lot of ways Beka and Marcus are complete opposites but they both have strong protective instincts and they're both prepared to do whatever it takes to protect the people they care about. Beka has to keep her true reason for being out on the boat a secret but it isn't long before Marcus gets suspicious and starts putting two and two together. Once he is onboard with the investigation things start to move a lot quicker but Beka has several people working against her trying to stop her getting to the bottom of things.

I had mixed feelings about the first book in this series, I love the way Deborah Blake has put her own spin on the Baba Yaga mythology and she's really brought the witches into the 21st century while still liking it through to the original stories but I felt a bit disappointed by the romance and think I'd have enjoyed the story more if there had been a bigger focus on the mystery. I'm happy to say I liked Wickedly Wonderful more, Beka was easier to relate to than her sister Barbara and I definitely felt more invested in the relationship between Beka and Marcus. They fit together really well and I liked how they started as enemies before becoming reluctant allies and eventually more. I also enjoyed the mystery side more in this book, it was a little too obvious who the bad guys were which is why this didn't quite hit 4 stars for me though. Either way this series is definitely improving and I'm looking forward to spending time with the third Baba, Bella, in the next book.

Source: Purchased

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Paperback / Kindle:

Review: Wickedly Dangerous - Deborah Blake

Known as the wicked witch of Russian fairy tales, Baba Yaga is not one woman, but rather a title carried by a chosen few. They keep the balance of nature and guard the borders of our world, but don’t make the mistake of crossing one of them . . .

Older than she looks and powerful beyond measure, Barbara Yager no longer has much in common with the mortal life she left behind long ago. Posing as an herbalist and researcher, she travels the country with her faithful (mostly) dragon-turned-dog in an enchanted Airstream, fulfilling her duties as a Baba Yaga and avoiding any possibility of human attachment.

But when she is summoned to find a missing child, Barbara suddenly finds herself caught up in a web of deceit and an unexpected attraction to the charming but frustrating Sheriff Liam McClellan.

Now, as Barbara fights both human enemies and Otherworld creatures to save the lives of three innocent children, she discovers that her most difficult battle may be with her own heart . . .

Baba Yaga Series:
Wickedly Magical (Novella)
Wickedly Dangerous
Wickedly Wonderful
Wickedly Ever After (Novella)
Wickedly Powerful

Visit Deborah Blake's website for more information

Review:
You may think you know the legend of Baba Yaga from Russian fairytales but all of the legends are true. In fact, Barbara Yager is one of three Baba Yaga witches in the United States, and along with her sisters, it is her job to keep nature in balance and to guard the portals between earth and the Otherworld. When Barbara's gift pulls her to a small town with several missing children it should be a fairly easy case but it quickly becomes clear that something sinister is going on. There is obviously a being from the Otherworld causing mischief and the magic they are using is having a major impact on both worlds. It is up to Barbara to figure out what is going on and find a way to fix it, hopefully before any more children are taken and before the entire town is turned against her by her powerful new enemies.

So the concept of this series is great and there were a lot of things I liked about Wickedly Dangerous and the prequel novella Wickedly Magical but unfortunately I didn't end up loving this quite as much as I'd hoped. I really like the way the Baba Yaga's are portrayed, Barbara's magical airstream was great and I loved her companion Chudo-Yudo, a dragon who disguises himself as a rather large dog when they have human company. I also really liked the addition of the three immortal riders that all of the Baba's are able to call upon for assistance. I had high hopes for the mystery in the beginning but we ended up discovering the villain of the piece far too early and they were always one step ahead of Barbara which made her look rather incompetent. We're constantly being told how powerful and wise Barbara is but she failed time and time again and nearly ended up getting lynched by a mob of angry townspeople for her efforts.

It's probably partly my fault for going into this series expecting urban fantasy and discovering it was actually paranormal romance. I actually love both genres so that wouldn't usually be an issue for me but I was expecting the mystery and magic to be the main focus and ended up being disappointed that a concept that was so brilliant was watered down for such a mediocre romance. Love interest Sherif Liam McClellan just wasn't anything special and I found the romance between him and Barbara completely unbelievable. I probably could have been sold on them as a couple if it had been drawn out more but they were making puppy eyes at each other pretty much from the moment they met and I never really felt there was anything between them apart from physical attraction.

The story was also fairly heavy handed in its environmental message, I don't mind books that have a bigger message but sometimes you can ram something down my throat so hard that it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth and that was definitely the case here. As much as there were things that bothered me about this book I do still really like the concept behind this series and since the next two books will have Barbara's sisters as the main characters I'm hoping that I'll end up enjoying their stories more. There is so much to like about this world and I really hope that the remaining books focus more on that alongside creating believable romances for the other Baba Yagas.

Source: Purchased

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Paperback / Kindle:

Review: Wickedly Magical - Deborah Blake

Known as the wicked witch of Russian fairy tales, Baba Yaga is not one woman, but rather a title carried by a chosen few. They keep the balance of nature and guard the borders of our world, but don’t make the mistake of crossing one . . .

Barbara Yager loves being one of the most powerful witches in the world, but sometimes she’d rather kick back in her enchanted Airstream with a beer in her hand than work out how to grant the requests of the worthy few who seek her out.

But when a man appears with the token of a family debt of honor, Barbara must drop everything to satisfy the promise owed by her predecessor—and she isn’t above being a little wicked to make sure the debt is paid in full . . .

Baba Yaga Series:
Wickedly Magical (Novella)
Wickedly Dangerous
Wickedly Wonderful
Wickedly Ever After (Novella)
Wickedly Powerful

Visit Deborah Blake's website for more information

Review:
Wickedly Magical is a prequel novella for Deborah Blake's Baba Yaga series, and it does a good job of introducing readers to the world and whetting our appetites for the rest of the series. The author has put her own spin on the tale of the wicked witch Baba Yaga that many people have heard of from Russian fairytales. In this series Baba Yaga is not just the name of one witch, instead it's a title held by a group of powerful witches spread across the world, these women keep the balance and protect the borders between our world and the paranormal realm. Baba Yaga's aren't evil, they're just incredibly powerful and not afraid to use their magic to defend themselves and those they feel bound to protect. You definitely don't want to make the mistake of crossing one, however, if you can convince them you're worthy then they'll be a great ally.

There are three Baba Yagas in the US: Barbara, Beka and Bella. This novella introduces all three but is mainly focused on Barbara who will be the main character in the first book Wickedly Dangerous. I don't want to say too much about the plot but when Barbara is approached by a man claiming Baba Yaga owes his family a debt and asking her to help him get back his lost treasures she doesn't have much choice but to honour a promise her mentor made many years before.

I'm actually surprised by how much the author managed to pack into a 73 page story, she did a great job of introducing the three Baba Yagas and their companions, gave a good idea about the kind of magic they are able to perform and was able to wrap up a satisfying paranormal mystery. Wickedly Magical definitely did it's job of hooking me in and making me want to continue reading and I'm looking forward to seeing where things go from here. I have very high hopes for the series!

Source: Purchased

Other Reviews:
If you have reviewed this book on your blog please leave a link to your review in the comments & I'll add the link here.

Kindle: