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…

The only thing more fiery than Bella Young’s red hair is her temper. She knows that a Baba Yaga’s power without strict control can leave the people she cares about burned, so to protect her heart—and everyone around her—the only company she keeps is her dragon-turned-Norwegian-Forest-cat, Koshka.

But when Bella is tasked with discovering who’s setting magical fires throughout Wyoming’s Black Hills, she finds herself working closely with former hotshots firefighter Sam Corbett—and falling hard for his quiet strength and charm.

Sam may bear the scars of his past, but Bella can see beyond them and would do anything to help him heal. Only before she can rescue her Prince Charming, she’ll have to overcome the mysterious foe setting the forest fires—a truly wicked witch who wields as much power and even more anger than Bella…

I have had the privilege and the pleasure of reading Wickedly Powerful by Deborah Blake.  I just gotta say that I can most assuredly declare that I love this book.  I will try not to include any spoilers without proper notification, but there are a few points of the book I would like to exclaim over.

First being, there is a reason that the pets of a work of fiction are a highly popular commodity.  If you still do not understand why, please read and pay particular attention to every scene involving Koshka.  I love all the Chudo Yudos and his snarky protectiveness is nothing that is not expected, but when it comes around it’s not a “oh yeah, well that what he is supposed to do, I knew that would happen”.  He makes it his own, I mean tuna, I love it!

I really enjoy the acceptable amount of depth Blake puts into her characters.  You do not get bored with overly extended details of how John Smith learned to tie his shoe at age 6 which was late because he was focused on trying to ride his bike so he could learn when and where to apply elemental physics because his parents were employed with NASA and they only allowed him to have a grain free diet that came in handy when he grew up to try out for the Coast Guard, which he failed because he wasn’t good at tying knots.  See, boring, right?  Sam’s history is well defined and it carries you through the forest of the story without him being boring and you rooting for Bella to throw him off his watch tower.  I feel for Sam’s past, my husband was a fire fighter and before he left this profession permanently our future plans were all tainted with what ifs and possibilities.  I teared up with Sam and I am happy for what he has worked for and through.

I will stop here with my ruminations because I will start to detail my favorite parts of the book (and there are a lot!) so I give it 5 stars and am eagerly awaiting the next step in the series; especially after the sneak preview that I was able to view!

BOOKESTIES-HEATHER