Lish McBride - A Little Too Familiar

Louise Matthews has got it good. Wonderful job? Check. Loving family? The best. Roommates? Pretty fantastic, thank you. All of this helps her stay focused on what she wants: to finish out her apprenticeship and become a fully licensed Switch - an animal mage who bonds familiars to their witches.
Only a problem has just moved in - a hot, occasionally wolf-shaped problem.
Declan Mackenzie doesn't want to be a lone wolf, but he doesn't have a choice. Girlfriend? Gone. Sister? Starting a new life. Parents? In prison where they belong, thankfully. All he wants is a fresh start - a new home, new job, new life. What he gets is a house full of witches, a fledgling phoenixe named Dammit, and rogue ferrets who won't stay out of his business. And he could handle all of that if it wasn't for Louise. It's not great to crush on your roommate, it's even worse when you realize she wields the kind of magic that sends you running for the door.
Still, Declan is no pup, and he's not going to let this set him back.
Until the past comes back to haunt him - the parents he put in jail have busted out. They want revenge.
And the only thing standing between them and Declan is Louise and the very magic he vowed never to go near again.

Comment: I saw some positive comments on this book and thought it would be something I'd want to try myself, and here we are.

Lou is an animal mage and one of her favorite tasks to do at her job at a vet clinic, is to pair up a person with their familiar animal. She also has a great family and friends and her life is going quite well, even though she is still working for to get her professional licence. In the meantime, her roommates and her decide to welcome one more person into the apartment they all share, since Trick's friend Declan is in need of a place to stay but things go very wrong when Declan, a werewolf who has a traumatic past, arrives and is immediately shocked to find out Lou is an animal mage. They still try to be friends and things seem to go well for a while, but then Declan's past comes back to haunt him and the result is something shocking. Will Declan and Lou be able to deal with the mess they're now in while also being attracted to one another?

I was quite taken by the idea of this romance novel. two people who should not get along, both having to deal with issues from their past, close proximity, magic and a werewolf character, possible mating on the horizon... all things that, well combined, would surely present a great result. However, I ended up thinking this story was a little more boring than what I imagined.

I should say this is the first story I try by this author, and I had no idea about what the writing style would be like. This doesn't have to (always) be a deal breaker, but in this case, while the writing was consistent and easy to follow, it also was focused on the quirkiness of the characters. It was too much for me, I'd say, and instead of allowing me to savor the cute elements, it saturated my patience.

All the things I've mentioned above worked out as individual elements but the overall result wasn't one I will remember very fondly. I was quite curious about Lou's ability as an animal mage and this lead her to establish a connection with werewolf Declan but the emphasis was way more on the magical repercussions than on their bond as a couple who would fall in love. Plus, Declan being a werewolf didn't manifest in the most traditional ways we see in PNR books. This wasn't so bad, but paired up with the other things I liked less made the story feel even more boring.

Declan and Lou both have personal issues to deal with, but Declan's past and trauma are way more severe. I was, again, curious to see this developing, but there were too many secondary issues to distract my attention and after a while I stopped caring. I wanted more scenes with him bonding with others - for me, there weren't enough references of pack dynamics - and even with Lou, but his focus was on too many things as well. Which is understandable once we learn what he went through but... the conjunction of all the elements didn't really mesh for me.

The romance wasn't too bad but in this perhaps the writing could have helped. The author could have stressed certain things differently, namely how the attraction is seen by them. I think the way this was told, it was all about the magic and the people they interacted with, but everyone seemed to be over the top. There were too many people all the time and all had quirks and little things unique to them and all these things had to be mentioned and shown and it all got boring and slightly repetitive. The romance simply lost traction for me and not even the sexy times between them made it better.

I did like the world building and the idea there could be a society in which people had powers, had special abilities and being unique didn't have to be negative. I liked the imagination taken to think about how things might work in such a world and I liked learning something new as the plot advanced. I liked the paranormal aspects and I liked some hints at other possible stories. Sadly, I don't feel that interested now in reading more because I'm assuming the style will be similar. I think a repetition of this story's style will simply disappoint, so... this was interesting but that is it.

Grade: 6/10