Wickedly Dangerous is the first book in Deborah Blake’s urban fantasy romance trilogy drawing on the legend of Baba Yaga, with a unique contemporary twist.
Barbara Yager is only one of several Baba Yaga’s, whose role it is to keep the balance of nature and guard the borders of our world. Instead of a cabin on chicken legs,as in legend, Barbara travels her territory in an Airstream with a mind of its own, accompanied by a dragon-turned-dog, Chudo-Yudo. When she needs backup she calls on the Riders, a trio of men/dragons who serve her bidding.
In Wickedly Dangerous, Barbara is summoned when a child goes missing in a small community in Upstate New York. Using her guise as a researcher, herbalist and healer, Barbara investigates, tangling with handsome local Sheriff Liam McClellan, soon divining the disappearance has a mystical cause.
To be honest, the mystery plot is a little uneven, the cause of the disappearance is solved fairly quickly, but it takes some time for Barbara to resolve things. While this gives Blake time to introduce her world, the main plot suffers somewhat for it.
I liked the character growth, which mainly stemmed from Barbara’s relationship with Liam. No longer really human, Barbara has closed herself off to the possibilities of normal friendship and love, but the Sheriff finds a way through her defences. I liked the way in which the romance developed between the two.
I enjoyed Wickedly Dangerous enough, that I followed up with Wickedly Wonderful and Wickedly Powerful, both of which have similar themes, featuring two other North American Baba Yaga’s.
Light and fun, the Baba Yaga series was a pleasant read, combining romance with fantasy, for me over a rainy weekend.
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I like the sound of this series, I don’t think I’ve read any books about the Baba Yaga before. Too bad about the mystery plot being a bit uneven. The characters and romance sounds well done.
These sound interesting. But I don’t like it when plot suffers and the mystery gets solved quickly. Glad you enjoyed them enough to read the rest of the series. 🙂 Great review.
I found that book one did draw out a bit longer than necessary with all the world building but I did enjoy the series. Did you try the Riders series? I also think she has another Baba Yaga coming out. Should be interesting!
I did read the rider series as well, I enjoyed those too.