Dangerously Charming
Broken Riders, Book #1
By Deborah Blake
ISBN: 9781101987162
Author’s Website: https://deborahblakeauthor.com/
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Omar
Synopsis: 
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…
Review:
Dangerously Charming starts with Jenna Quinlan running in the woods while injured and raining; to make things harder, she is pregnant. Jenna explains that her pregnancy is not normal, and it’s because of a faery curse that her family has had for many generations. She hasn’t had a normal or easy life thanks to her family curse, and now the curse that causes her to give up her firstborn has caught up with her. With nothing more to lose than the most precious thing in her life, she flees. In her darkest hour, she finds herself outside the cottage of Mikhail Day, a man who has sworn to never help a damsel in distress ever again, but he finds one outside his door wet to the bone and injured. Jenna doesn’t want to be saved, she just wants a warm place to stay, lick her wounds, and keep running. Mikhail or Mick has been hiding in his cottage in the middle of the woods for the past year because the last time he helped a woman, she caused him to lose his and his brothers immortality, and part of his sanity. Before he lost everything, he was a Rider, a helper of the Baba Yaga’s, but was betrayed by an evil Baba Yaga that tortured him and his brothers, for a magic potion.
A curse that has destroyed so many lives over the course of the centuries, has known brought together two people that have lost so many things, but if they manage to solve the riddle on time they might win the life they always wanted.
I liked Dangerously Charming, old folklore and fairy tales that are modernize, and given a new spin are the type of stories that I liked. In this case, author Deborah Blake has created stories for the silent and mysterious horsemen found in the old tale of Baba Yaga. These men that were only mention in appearance and their specific day time, have come to life in this upcoming series of Broken Riders where they try healing themselves and finding inner peace from suffering so much.
An idea that I liked, was that the curse had a way to get out of it, and it was by solving the riddle that was given to the original person it was casted upon. While the riddle was the bane of all Jenna’s family, it was still a good riddle:
Unless you find the pathway through
And solve the riddle with this clue
A rose’s cry at rock enchanted
The sun’s bright ray where none is slanted
A magic key to a gift divine
True love must merge when stars align”
Previously before reading Dangerously Charming, I had knowledge of the myth of Baba Yaga, but it was my first time hearing about her riders. I liked the turn that Blake took, and how all the riders (horsemen) have different parentage even though their father is the same god. I liked that it made me do research about the riders and the gods and creatures that they are based on. I only wish we had seen their father.
While I liked the story and the characters, I had trouble with the story-line. There are books that catch your attention and don’t let you put it down, but with Dangerously Charming there were times that the story lost my interest, and I had to put it down for a moment. Another thing was that I felt that it had scenes that didn’t help the main story at all, and the story-line never mentioned it again. Lastly, it was confusing how the narratives point of view changed drastically between all characters, and left the reader wondering what character was thinking what.
If you liked the Baba Yaga series by Deborah Blake, then I recommend you continue the series, Dangerously Charming. In this story, a curse cast centuries ago brings together a man and a woman who heal each other, as the woman brightens a gloomy day.
