Also by this author: Wickedly Wonderful (Baba Yaga, #2), Wickedly Powerful (Baba Yaga, #3)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…
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So while I read these backwards, with the third one first. I will review them in order so you don’t get spoilers unintentionally. Deborah Blake’s series is addictive. Although of the three this is my least favorite. Barbara is wickedly dangerous, and boy is she.
The first, and oldest Baba Barbara travels around the United States in a silver airstream. A silver airstream that has a mind of its own, to the extreme at times. During the course of this book, the airstream has decided not to have doors, to throw stuff around. Most importantly has a fridge full of cherry pie. It is okay though because Barabara is not staying alone. First and always, her dragon-dog who protects the trailer when he is not chewing on a bone. When things get to rough, Barbara calls in the riders. Let me tell you about Knight, Day, and Sun. If I was semi-immortal like Barbara I would be jumping Knight and Sun. But for Barabara they are her immortal father-like figures, so she jumps Koshi, a dragon. Well, she was jumping her on and off again sex buddy until she met the local sheriff.
Barbara as all Baba Yagas are, have a pull that occurs when someone needs them. Whether it was a phone call or just a “tug”, when the call came, the Baba would go. Barbara found out fairly early what her duty entailed, but sometimes it wasn’t as clear or concise. For Barbara it wasn’t easy though, when people started to implicate her in hopes of dodging attention. Barbara keeps pushing until either she is going to go to jail or to find the missing children. There really wasn’t any gray area for her. When she starts pushing, there wasn’t push back initially. Most people liked her, well other than she wears leather and has a dog the size of a buick.
When she meets the aggravating yet attractive Sheriff Ian McClellan, she needs to decide if trusting him is right. She has to decide if she will trust him with who she thinks is taking the children. More or less, depending on your point of view, trusting him with her secret. After some deceit, some distrust, and some overall deception, Barbara does what Baba’s do.
I really enjoy this book and this series. I should have read this first, but did not. It was actually the third book. I liked this one the least of the three. I like this story, of the three I just couldn’t get into it as much as the others. There really isn’t a specific reason, I just couldn’t. All three of the stories have the same overall structure and flow. Baba moves in, Baba meets guy, Baba finds issue, etc etc. Again, there isn’t a certain element that I did not like, just the flow wasn’t the same. This is a good story that hits all that is good with the series. If this is the first book of the series to read, read the other two, they are worth it. She is wickedly dangerous. All the things you want in your Baba Yaga.
About Deborah Blake
Deborah is the author of nine non-fiction books on modern witchcraft from Llewellyn and the Baba Yaga series from Berkley Romance, including Wickedly Magical (novella), Wickedly Dangerous, and Wickedly Wonderful, Wickedly Ever After (novella), and Wickedly Powerful, plus an urban fantasy, Veiled Magic.
Deborah lives in a 120 year old farmhouse in upstate NY with four cats, and runs an artists' cooperative shop when she's not writing. She believes in magic, laughter, chocolate, and wine. The order may change depending on the day.
