Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Baba Yaga Collected Novellas by Deborah Blake Narrator: Romy Nordlinger
Series: Baba Yaga #0
Published by Tantor Audio on October 7, 2025
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Length: 6 hours, 10 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: Publisher
Goodreads
Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm, Barnes & Noble, Apple
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.
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.
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.
Narration:
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.
Listen to a clip: HERE
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.
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As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing.Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators.Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance.Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.
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Oh course the Queen wants her to complete some tasks in order to get what she wants. Sounds like a fun series.
Haha, you know those tricky fae so well, Mary. 🙂
I love revisiting a favorite series by audio! I don’t recall hearing about this series. It’s easier for me to fit it in if it’s on audio so I’ll check it out.
I think they are releasing all the series on audio. Right now, I just grabbed the ones that were new to me and eventually, I’ll go back for series relisten. 🙂
These are fun old-style urban fantasy/paranormal romance. 🙂
The Baba Yaga story is always interesting, and this series sounds like such a great way to expand on it. Glad you enjoyed this prequel so much. Great review!
Yes, its a neat myth. I really liked the way Deborah Blake wrote it into an urban fantasy.
Russian mythology brought into modern times? How cool! Love that concept!
I thought so, too, when I first came across these, Carole.
I should go back and try this series again. I read the first one but wasn’t wow’d and never went back.
Yeah, sometimes moods change. Hard to say if you’ll like it now. I liked it the first time, but can sense the difference in writing style and tone compared to more recent ones.