Baba Yaga: Collected Novellas

Baba Yaga #0

by 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...

Wickedly Magical

In this prequel to the first novel, Wickedly Dangerous, meet Barbara Yager and discover who and what the Baba Yagas are and what they can do ...

Wickedly Ever After

Barbara must travel to the Otherworld to ask the Queen for a huge favor. Instead of granting it right off, the unpredictable royal demands that Barbara complete three impossible tasks first. Will she be able to complete them and earn her happily ever after?

Wickedly Spiritual

Jazz, the teenaged apprentice to Bella Young, is impatient to come into her full powers so she can help the Broken Riders. But her stubborn determination to skip ahead in her studies will come at a price no one could have foreseen, not even the powerful Baba Yagas.

Genres: Urban Fantasy

185 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 14, 2023

About the author

Deborah is the author of over a dozen non-fiction books on modern witchcraft and a tarot and oracle decks from Llewellyn. Her fiction includes the Baba Yaga series, The Broken Rider series, and the Veiled Magic series, and her cozy mysteries The Catskill Pet Rescue series (mostly from Berkley) as well as a few stand-alone novels.

Deborah lives in a 130 year old farmhouse in upstate NY with multiple cats. She believes in magic, laughter, chocolate, and wine. The order may change depending on the day.

Reviews

[Madison Warner Fairbanks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baba Yaga: Collected Novellas by Deborah Blake

Wickedly Magical by Deborah Blake
Baba Yaga series #0.5. Paranormal witch romance intro novella.
Baba Yaga stories are told as tales of warning to children and partly as fairy tales. Watch out for the witch with the long nose.
Barbara Yagar is one such Baba Yaga though one might be surprised by her youth, beauty and Aitstream home.
One day, a man appears at Barbara’s door, asking for the debt of honor his family is owed. Barbara will investigate though results may not be as the asker expects.

In this introduction to the series, Barbara does as the man requested to free his daughters but goes deeper into what, why, and how it happened and what to “fix”.
I loved the witty conversations and implied humor of Barbara and her sisters, even more so her dragon in a dog disguise. He’s kind of hilarious in always asking if he can eat the bad guy.

Wickedly Ever After by Deborah Blake
Baba Yaga series #2.5. Paranormal witch romance novella. Can be read as a stand-alone but better as part of the series.
Barbara Yager, one of the current Baba Yagas, has fallen in love with Sheriff Liam McClellan (Wickedly Dangerous). Given her actual age and benefits as a magical, Barbara brings Liam to the Otherworld to get the Queen’s permission to marry him. The Queen gives the couple three tasks to be completed that require a nimble mind and creativity to solve. They have a set time limit to return to the Queen or Liam may grow old well ahead of Barbara.

Creative tasks or trickery? Clearly the Queen expected Barbara and Liam to fail but the human world doesn’t stay still. Plus Barbara, after her 80 some years, has a wide range of friends and contacts she can pull from. Liam isn’t without his own surprises.
Reminded me a bit of a scavenger hunt where the seeker must get creative.
Entertaining.

Wickedly Spirited by Deborah Blake
Baba Yaga series #3.5. Paranormal witch romance novella. Can be read as a stand-alone but better as part of the series.
Jazz (Wickely Powerful) is so happy to have a family now. To be accepted as a gifted witch and formally trained as a Baba Yaga is a dream come true after her rough start in life. Jazz decides she can help the Broken Riders and get back their immortality. She secretly travels to the Otherworld with Koshka and modifies a spell she’s found that she’s certain will work. If she can just get the ingredients.

Full of wit and humor, this inspired teen takes on a task the other Babas believe impossible. With her own beliefs and twists, results are sure to be unique.
I’ve read the first Dangerously series book and look forward to the rest.

Baba Yaga (Wickedly Dangerous, Wonderful, Powerful, Unraveled plus novellas Magical, Ever After, Spirited, and Wishful) and Broken Riders series (Dangerously Charming, Devine, Fierce, and novella Driven)

🎧 Trio of novellas were narrated by Romy Nordlinger who performs all the Baba Yaga novels to-date by this author, as well as several hundred other ghost and mystery audiobooks. An experienced narrator that can bring a story to life.

[Sophia · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 2014, I came across a brand-new urban fantasy series based on a witch straight out of Russian mythology brought into modern times. Wickedly Dangerous introduced Deborah Blake's magical Baba Yaga world and I plunged in and devoured each and every release in the series and its follow up series, the Broken Riders. It was all so good and I was saddened when it was over.

With the introduction of the series on audio, I can revisit it once again and, an added bonus for me, catch the prequel novella, Wickedly Magical for the first time. Incidentally, other than the prequel, the other two stories should only be read or listened to in series order between the larger novels of the combined Baba Yaga- Broken Riders series.

The Baba Yaga Collected Novellas with my thoughts on them are as follows:

Wickedly Magical #.5
A prequel adventure for the oldest of the three Baba Yagas in the US (because yes, there are more than one). Barbara Yager is looking forward to some downtime when a petitioner finds her- as the magic makes sure they always do- and shows her a debt of honor token her old mentor gave to the man's Russian babushka. Oh, not another treasure seeker, she thought, but soon learns his quest is worthy. He needs her help against a very persuasive adversary who stole his children from him.
Barbara's irascible, confident temperament made me smile as did her magical airstream trailer that had once been the fabled magical house on chicken legs and her dog, Chudo Yudo, a disguised talking dragon partner. A wonderful intro to the Baba Yaga world.

Wickedly Spirited #3.5

Wickedly Spirited takes a minor character from the third Baba Yaga book, Wickedly Powerful, and gives her a coming-of-age lesson adventure. This novella assumes the reader has read Wickedly Powerful and the first Broken Riders spin-off story, Dangerously Charming.

Jazz, is sixteen, newly become a Baba Yaga witch apprentice to Bella- the third Baba Yaga to get her story-, touched with teen arrogance, and a little wary that her new found home and family with Bella and Sam will be whisked away. She is determined to be the one who restores the immortality to the Riders and she has a big, gutsy plan to do it.

Jazz is depicted well as a survivor of the foster care system and of a harrowing adventure against a crazed witch. I appreciated that the author wrote her as a typical sixteen-year-old in her thinking and impulsive actions. The twist at the end is meant to connect with the story following, Dangerously Divine.

Wickedly Ever After #2.5
Wickedly Ever After falls between books two and three in the series, but is directly connected to the romance pair in the first book.

Barbara and Liam are married and enjoying life rearing their gifted adopted child, Babs. Barbara is training Babs to be the next Baba Yaga in her place while Liam tempers this with time being a normal child with a family. Life is good, but now it is time for Barbara and Liam to stand before the fairy queen and request her blessing on their marriage along with permission for Liam to drink from the water of life to extend his life years to match Barbara's.

Nothing is ever simple when dealing with the whimsical fae queen. And so instead of the immediate acceptance they request, Barbara and Liam must perform three impossible tasks or not receive the Queen's blessing or the water of life for Liam.

This story is light and fun. It was a nice peek-in on how things are going with the characters from the first story and brief reunion with the romance pair from the second book. I enjoyed this and appreciated that the author went lighter than the tone of the novels and showed their relationship to be solid and happy while making the conflict something external like a quest. Little Babs is a hoot and Chudo-Yudo, the dragon disguised as a dog, gets to stretch his wings a little.

The audio narration work was rendered by new-to-me, Romy Nordlinger. I thought she did a famous job for this varying cast of characters that included women, men, children, and magical creatures. She voiced the stories with the right wry tone this series is written in and I fell into the stories quite easily.

All in all, reunited with the series through these novellas was abso-fabulous and I discovered as a result that after the series was re-branded from traditional pub to indie that in fact, there were further releases in the series including a short story and a novel-length for me to enjoy. If you like a well-developed urban fantasy featuring witch heroines and other magical beings and engaging romance, mysteries and action, add the Baba Yaga series to your stack.



I rec'd an audio digital from Tantor Audio to listen to in exchange for an honest review.

My full review will post at Books of My Heart on 1.21.26

[Blake · Rating 4 out of 5]

(FYI I tend to only review one book per series, unless I want to change my scoring by 0.50 or more of a star. -- I tend not to read reviews until after I read a book, so I go in with an open mind.)

3.5*





First time read the author's work?: No

Will you be reading more?: Yes

Would you recommend?: Yes


------------
How I rate Stars: 5* = I loved (must read all I can find by the author)
4* = I really enjoyed (got to read all the series and try other books by the author).
3* = I enjoyed (I will continue to read the series)
or
3* = Good book just not my thing (I realised I don't like the genre or picked up a kids book to review in error.)

All of the above scores means I would recommend them!
-
2* = it was okay (I might give the next book in the series a try, to see if that was better IMHO.)
1* = Disliked

Note: adding these basic 'reviews' after finding out that some people see the stars differently than I do - hoping this clarifies how I feel about the book. :-)

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three novellas, two featuring Barbara Yager and the last one telling how Jazz completely changed her life. All three were well-written but I did like the first one best. It is a prequel to all the Baba Yaga stories. All of us who love Blake's Baba Yaga and Riders tales will enjoy these little jewels. Alas, we readers are never satisfied and always want more--as long as they match the quality we've come to expect.

[Merrily Boone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great addition to Baba Yaga tales

Three enjoyable short stories with more challenges for magic to solve. Jazz with normal teen overconfidence provides drama and an unexpected result.