Review – Wickedly Dangerous (Baga Yaga, Book 1) by Deborah Blake (4/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Length: 352 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: September 2, 2014
ISBN-13: 978-0425272923
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Baba Yaga series
Source: Swapped through Paperbackswap.com
Rating: 4/5 stars

“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…”

This was a fun and well written urban fantasy novel. The book is actually a stand alone, the very end introduces another Baba Yaga who will be featured in book 2. This book was more UF than PNR, but the format reminds of a lot of PNR out there (each book featuring a different couple).

I enjoyed it and thought it was an easy read. It is pretty standard investigative urban fantasy. I enjoyed the characters and really loved the Four Riders that come to Baba Yaga’s aid.

Baba Yaga’s magic isn’t very well explained; she seems to have kind of limitless power but she doesn’t really use it that way. It would be awesome to have a Baby Yaga’s power source explained more in future books. I did enjoy Baba Yaga’s stents into the Otherworld and would love to see more of the Otherworld in future books as well.

Even though this book appears to stand alone I am hoping we get to see more of this Baba Yaga and her ward in future books.

Overall I would recommend if you are an urban fantasy fan and like books that concentrate on magic, fae, and investigative elements. This is a decent book that is well written and entertaining. I ended up enjoying it. I’ll probably read the next couple books in the series.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– Mount TBR Reading Challenge
– You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
– Flights of Fantasy Reading Challenge