A Little Familiar

4.5 stars for a sweet, lovely story.

I found this short novel a little bit hard to get into, at first. It started off slowly; I misunderstood the nature of their relationship, and I wasn't sure I liked where it seemed to be headed. As the leads spent more time together, though, the author brought in more and more information about their connection, and the problem between them became very clear and easy to sympathize with.

The world-building was subtle and clever. I could read a lot more stories set in this world, with Piotr's gentle sort of magic existing alongside everyday things. I loved both Piotr and Bartleby, and it was easy to see why they were perfect for each other. I was also glad to find a (somewhat?) genderfluid character in an m/m romance.

This read like an excellent soul-bonding story, although no terms of that kind were ever used in the text. The ending was ridiculously romantic, particularly Piotr's vows to Bartleby about their future together.

This was only my second time reading something by R. Cooper, and I'm very excited to read more of her work.