Guest Blog and Giveaway: Dangerously Charming by Deborah Blake

Some of you might have read the first three books in my Baba Yaga series (I hope so!), paranormal romances based on an updated version of the Russian fairy tale witches. In Wickedly Dangerous, Wickedly Wonderful, and Wickedly Powerful, people were introduced to the three Baba Yagas, along with their companion dragons, who were disguised as either a huge white pit bull, a massive black Newfoundland, or (in the case of Bella’s Chudo-Yudo named Koshka) a very large Norwegian Forest cat. Readers also met their friends and helpers, The Riders.

The original fairy tales mentioned the Riders too (I don’t just make this stuff up, you know). In the tales, they were called the Black Rider, the Red Rider, and the White Rider, and they were mysterious figures who rode magical horses. Since this is a modern fairy tale, their horses are now motorcycles—but still magical, of course. And the Riders are still a bit of a mystery, even to the Baba Yagas who have known them for many years.

When my editor at Berkley told me she wanted me to come up with a spin-off series for the Riders, I wasn’t sure if anyone would be interested in reading about Mikhail Day, Alexei Sun, and Gregori Knight. But based on the response to this first book, I couldn’t have been more wrong. (WHEW) Apparently, their appearances in the three Baba Yaga books were just intriguing enough to leave my readers wanting more. Have I mentioned how much I love my readers?

But that meant I had to come up with a reason for the Riders to have their own stories. So at the end of Wickedly Powerful, I did something really horrid to them. (Bad author. Mean author.) I won’t go into the details, in case you haven’t read the first three books yet—and I do actually consider the Rider books to be a continuation of the Baba Yaga series, although you can read Dangerously Charming without having read the first three—but essentially, at the end of that book, the Riders all went through a tremendous change. That change left them without the identity that had molded their entire very long lives; the Rider series is about how they figure out who they are now, and also discover parts of themselves that have been hidden…and what the heck to do with them.

Of course, there are romances, because what would be the point of writing a paranormal romance without a love interest, right? And the Baba Yagas show up from time to time, because it is still their story too. Plus magic and mysteries and mayhem, just because I can.

Dangerously Charming is the story of Mikhail Day, the White Rider. In my head, I always envisioned him as looking like the guy who plays Thor in the movies, and I think my wonderful cover artist did a great job with him. (They even put his white Yamaha on the cover, too.) Mikhail is determined to hide away from the world, and most especially to never, ever come to the rescue of a damsel in distress again. Then Jenna Quinlan literally shows up on his doorstep, running from an ancient fairy curse that has destroyed her family, and things get a lot more complicated very fast.

I’ll confess, it wasn’t easy switching from writing about the Baba Yagas to writing about the Riders…and writing this book just about killed me. Thankfully, despite the unexpected struggle (or maybe because of it), I love the way the book ended up turning out. I hope you do too.

From the author of the Baba Yaga novels, a brand new series set in the same “addicting”* world, filled with wild magic, enchanting damsels, and the irresistibly daring men who serve the Baba Yagas...

The Riders are three immortal brothers who protect the mythical Baba Yagas. But their time serving the witches has ended—and their new destinies are just beginning...

Ever since a near-fatal mistake stripped Mikhail Day and his brothers of their calling to be Riders, Day has hidden from his shame and his new, mortal life in a remote cabin in the Adirondack mountains. But when a desperate young woman appears on his doorstep, he cannot resist helping her—and cannot deny how strongly he’s drawn to her...

For generations, women in Jenna Quinlan’s family have been cursed to give up their first born child to the vengeful fairy Zilya. When Jenna finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, she is determined to break her family’s curse and keep her baby, even if it means teaming up with a mysterious and charismatic man with demons of his own...


To unravel the curse, Jenna and Day will have to travel deep into the Otherworld. But the biggest challenge of the journey might not be solving an ancient puzzle but learning to heal their own broken hearts...

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Deborah Blake is the author of the Baba Yaga Series from Berkley (Wickedly Dangerous, Wickedly Wonderful, Wickedly Powerful) and has published nine books on modern witchcraft with Llewellyn Worldwide. When not writing, Deborah runs The Artisans’ Guild, a cooperative shop she founded with a friend in 1999, and also works as a jewelry maker, tarot reader, and energy healer. She lives in a 130-year-old farmhouse in rural upstate New York with three cats who supervise all her activities, both magical and mundane.

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https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/246753.Deborah_Blake

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Giveaway and Excerpt- Wickedly Wonderful by Deborah Blake

Fang-tastic Books has an exclusive excerpt of Deborah Blake's Wickedly Wonderful, Book Two in her fabulous Baba Yaga Series.

Romance, drama, magic, and a fresh spin on the urban fantasy genre- these books are amazing. I am currently reading Wickedly Wonderful. 

Book One of the Series, Wickedly Dangerous was so very good, check out my review here. It's a must read- and so is this one. Enjoy the excerpt below. :-)

Wickedly Wonderful 
A Baba Yaga Novel
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…

Though she looks like a typical California surfer girl, Beka Yancy is in fact a powerful yet inexperienced witch who’s struggling with her duties as a Baba Yaga. Luckily she has her faithful dragon-turned-dog for moral support, especially when faced with her biggest job yet…

A mysterious toxin is driving the Selkie and Mer from their homes deep in the trenches of Monterey Bay. To investigate, Beka buys her way onto the boat of Marcus Dermott, a battle-scarred former U.S. Marine, and his ailing fisherman father.

While diving for clues, Beka drives Marcus crazy with her flaky New Age ideas and dazzling blue eyes. She thinks he’s rigid and cranky (and way too attractive). Meanwhile, a charming Selkie prince has plans that include Beka. Only by trusting her powers can Beka save the underwater races, pick the right man, and choose the path she’ll follow for the rest of her life…

Excerpt

The red-gold glow of the rising sun turned the sea into a fire of molten lava that belied the cold Pacific waters of Monterey Bay. Beka Yancy didn’t mind, though; her wetsuit kept her mostly warm, and it was worth braving the morning chill to have the waves mostly to herself.

Soon enough there would be plenty of people around, but for now, she reveled in her solitary enjoyment of the frothy white lace overlaying blue-green depths, accompanied only by the sound of the wind and the hooting laughter of a nearby pod of dolphins. She gave a chortling greeting in dolphin-speak as she went by.

Beka paddled her surfboard out until the pull of the ocean overruled the calm of the shore, feeling herself settle into that peaceful space she only found when there was endless water below her and infinite sky above. On land, there were human beings and all their attendant noise and commotion; here, there was only the challenge that came from pitting herself against the crushing power of the rolling waves.

The fresh scent of the sea filled her nostrils and a light breeze tugged playfully on a strand of her long blonde hair as she steered in the direction of a promising incoming swell. But before she could angle herself towards it, her board jerked underneath her as if it had suddenly come to life, and she had to grab on tightly with both hands as it accelerated through the water at impossible speeds, cutting through the whitecaps as if they weren’t even there.

What the hell? Beka held on tighter, ducking her head against the biting teeth of the icy spray that washed over her. Through squinted eyes, she could barely make out what looked like a pale green hand grasping the end of her surfboard, gossamer webbing pressed against the bright red surface of the board. A powerful tail with iridescent feathery ends undulated just beneath the water, only occasionally breaking through the surface as it stroked forcefully through the ocean.

Mermaid! Beka thought to herself. But the identification of her mysterious hijacker raised more questions than it solved. She doubted the water creature meant her any harm; they normally stayed far away from human civilization, preferring to hide in their own territory concealed by ancient magic within a two-mile deep underwater trench. And Beka was friendly with most of the local non-human residents, on the rare occasions that she saw them.

Still, she was glad of the small knife she wore in a waterproof sheath strapped to her calf, carefully disguised from sight with a tiny glamour that kept the other surfers from noticing it. Not that she really expected to need it, as she had other defenses much more powerful than cold steel, but she’d discovered long ago that it paid to be prepared for the unexpected. It came with the territory, when you were a Baba Yaga.

Most people had never heard of Baba Yaga. Those who recognized the name were usually only familiar with the legendary witch from Russian fairy tales; a curved-chin, beaky-nosed crone with iron teeth who lived in a hut that ran around the forest on giant chicken legs, flew through the air in an enchanted mortar and pestle, and ate small children when they misbehaved.

Some of that had even been true, once upon a time. Certainly, the Baba Yagas were powerful witches, gifted with the ability to manipulate the elemental forces of nature. Even the tales about the huts and the odd form of transportation had been true, back when the Babas had  been found only in Russia and its Slavic neighbors. Things were done a little differently these days though

Beka might have been the youngest and most inexperienced of the three Babas who lived in the United States, but she was still more than a match for a single mermaid. So it was with more curiosity than trepidation that she sat up straight on her board when they finally reached their destination.

A swift glance around showed her that the mermaid had brought her  quite some distance from the shore, only barely visible as an ochre-colored smudge on the horizon behind her. Two or three miles out at least then, a guess  reinforced by the sight of a commercial fishing boat moving ponderously through the steely blue sea, dragging its gnarly mesh of nets behind it like a stout wooden bride with a too-long train. Red and blue buoys bobbed on the surface, giving the nets a festive look. Up on the bow of the boat, two men argued about something she was too far away to overhear; luckily, they were looking at each other, and not at her.

Beka jumped as the mermaid surfaced without a sound; her auburn hair turned almost black by the wetness that slicked it back from her face, green eyes bright with fear as she started speaking almost before her lips reached the open air. The now-risen sun glittered off shimmering scales and glinted on sharply pointed teeth.

“Baba Yaga, you have to help me!” The merwoman’s head swiveled anxiously between the boat and Beka. Beka was about to reply; something about it being good manners to ask first before dragging someone out into the middle of the ocean, when a large cerulean tear rolled down the woman’s sharp cheekbone and she added, “My baby—my baby is caught in the net!”

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