Deborah Blake

I really appreciated Deborah Blake's great approach of balancing mundane and practical advice on everything from looking for and adopting new cats through training and daily life with them to health and safety, and through to the inevitable letting go and grieving - with reflections on traditional/historical stories and superstitions, small spells, quoted poetry or similar, and occasional commentary 'from' one of her cats.

The commentary 'from' one of her cats was cute and amusing, and I show more liked the quoted poems, prayers, etc. at the end of each chapter (rather, I liked that they were; the works themselves, some I liked better than others, of course).

The spells and rituals look interesting and often simple; I like the author's focus on how (and that) you can and should personalise to what suits you, your cat, and what you have handy, as well as how to keep your cats safe both while you're working (even if you wish to invite them into your working or space) and with any charms or the like you're keeping around or placing afterwards.

After looking at several books centred on cats & magic or witchery (including two mentioned in the recommended reading section of this one; yikes) and being either not impressed or actively concerned, this one was even more of a delight to find! show less

This is one of the best and most creative re-workings of old tales that I've read.

Meet today's Baba Yaga. She's updated- at least the looks of things, though not their essences. No longer a hag (unless she wants to appear as such), she is tall, strong, attractive, and very skilled at pool (among other things).

It turns out that "Baba Yaga" is more a title than a name per se; there are various Babas around the world, including another 2 in the US. They travel from place to place, keeping the show more boundaries between our world and the Otherworld intact, working to protect the earth, and sometimes helping people desperate enough to take the risk of calling on them for aid- because while they are mostly good, they are not especially NICE.

The romance was handled very well, and was appropriately- especially given the characters of the protagonists- secondary to the main plot. While some mooning took place, no one spent pages doing it when they ought to have been busy with other things!

All the characters were solidly written, each with their own motivations from which their actions naturally arose. I look forward to seeing some of the secondary characters in future books in this series- because yes! It IS a series! It's my understanding that each book will deal with a different Baba Yaga, which has a lot of potential.

I thought the humor was perfectly balanced with a pretty serious plot, and was welcome and funny.

While the results of fracking in the book seemed to devolve mostly on the Otherworld, please note that some- like the sudden sinkholes- are results here in the real world as well.

In short, a great start to what promises to be an excellent series! I am eager for #2! show less

Furbidden Fatality by Deborah Blake is the debut of A Catskills Pet Rescue Mystery series. I enjoyed reading Furbidden Fatality. It is filled with spunky, smart women who have a soft spot for animals. There are also two men who care about fur babies and were friendly with Kari. The animals in the book were adorable especially Queenie. She is one smart kitten (handy with shoelaces). I thought Furbidden Fatality was well-written with steady pacing. There is humor scattered throughout that show more provided giggles, chuckles, and laugh-out-loud moments. Kari Stuart is twenty-nine years old with a useless college degree. She has been working as a waitress and living in a rundown apartment. Kari recently won five million dollars, but she is not sure what to do with the money. When Kari catches a black kitten that has been left outside her apartment, she takes it to the local shelter. She learns it is full along with all the other shelters in town. That is when Kari learns that Serenity Sanctuary had to close because of lack of funds and problems with the animal warden. Kari has found a purpose for her life and for her money. When the animal warden ends up dead outside the pet sanctuary, Kari along with two female volunteers and her best friend set out to find the killer. There are several good suspects along with misdirection. The mystery was filled with action that kept the book moving at a brisk pace. I like that the author describes the pet sanctuary, Kari’s new home, the town, and the people. She manages to strike a balance between not enough information and too much. There is mild foul language in the book. I am looking forwarding to reading the next A Catskills Pet Rescue Mystery. Furbidden Fatality is a doggone entertaining tale with a crafty feline, an aggressive animal warden, valued volunteers, a bothersome brother, and an abundance of animals in need of anodyne accommodation. show less

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: The Baba Yaga’s Riders have gone missing, and Bella is on the case in this riveting third installment of the Baba Yaga series.

Opening Sentence: The early morning fog blanketed the area surrounding the fire tower, stippling the windows with condensation and cloaking the ground below in mystery.

The Review:

The Riders have gone missing, and the Queen of the Otherworld wants to know what happened to them. So, she assigns Baba Yaga Bella to the show more case. Bella is already in the area investigating who is behind numerous fires that have been set. During the course of her investigations, she meets Sam, a former firefighter who now makes a living watching for potential fires in the area. There’s an immediate attraction, but Sam is still hurting from the death of his fiancee and doesn’t want to get involved in a new relationship. This is fine with Bella, as she has always been more of a loner. As their paths continue to cross though, their attraction becomes harder and harder to deny. Will they both be able to let go of their pasts in order to have a future together? Will they be able to figure out who’s setting these fires? And most importantly, will Bella be able to find the Riders before it’s too late?

After reading the first book in this series, I was a little on the fence regarding how I felt about it. I then read the second book and enjoyed it more than the first, but I wasn’t hooked yet. With this third entry in the Baba Yaga series, I’m officially hooked. Almost all of the issues I had with previous entries were fixed here, leaving me with a very enjoyable and entertaining read. For some reason I can’t quite articulate, everything seemed more believable in this installment. Bella and Sam are a likeable couple, and I really enjoyed getting to know them in the course of the story. As a cat person, I also really enjoyed the addition of Bella’s Chudo-Yudo (dragon disguised as a cat).

One of my biggest issues with the previous books is that the villains were a little over the top, which made the scenes from their perspective hard to read. The villain in this installment, however, is completely believable (and 100 percent crazy), so the scenes featuring her were very entertaining.

The one weaker aspect in this series continues to be the romance aspect. This feels more like a paranormal romance series, with a different couple featured in each story, but the romance doesn’t seem like the focus when you read the book. This makes the romance scenes feel like they’re actually detracting from the story, which isn’t good. It ultimately didn’t affect my enjoyment of the story, but I felt it needed to be mentioned.

Overall, this is shaping up to be a very enjoyable series.This installment was fast paced and filled with great characters. I’m very much looking forward to reading the next book!

Notable Scene:

A faint glow from behind him made him turn around. The glass slid unnoticed out of his grasp and hit the floor, bounced on the braided blue rag rug in front of the sink, and rolled under the table.

She stood in the middle of the room – Heather, looking much as she had the last time he’d seen her alive, her fire gear draped over one shoulder, helmet tucked under the other arm.

Sam reached out one hand, and then pulled it back, clenched into a fist. It wasn’t her. He knew that. It wasn’t as though he didn’t believe in ghosts; of course he did, with the grandmother he’d had and all of her tales. In fact, he’d waited after the disaster, waited night after night for Heather’s ghost to appear. First in the hospital, then, figuring its antiseptic stink and hissing machines had kept her away, back at home. Waited, but she never came.

So why would Heather be here now? She wouldn’t, would she?

FTC Advisory: Penguin/Berkley provided me with a copy of Wickedly Powerful. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. show less