‘Familiar Feeling’ by Daniel A. Kaine #LGBT #Review

Marc reviews ‘Familiar Feeling’ (A Coven of Four 1) by Daniel A. Kaine. This book was published by Wilde City Press on May 6th, 2015 and is about 100 pages long.

RGR received a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Why I read this book: When I was younger, Iwas a big fan of the TV-Series ‘Charmed’ and ever since loved anything about magic, witches, books of shadow, etc. I could not resist reading this story as it had all that and promised to be a nice M/M Romance story.

Drew never believed in magic. Then three years after his wife’s unexplained death he unearths a book of spells in his attic. Reading the first ‘stupid poem’ seems harmless, until he acquires his very own familiar, Felix.

Drew and Felix soon realise an attraction that goes beyond their magical bond. However, there’s a coven of demon-worshipping witches out to steal Drew’s newfound power. If they want to survive long enough to see where their mutual desires take them, Felix must teach Drew the art of witchcraft. But will he be ready in time?

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*****

Cover:

The cover model is not really my type, so in my head the main character looks a bit different. However, I do love the background color and the tiger and think the overall cover design is very appealing!

Title:

The title is a play on words, as Drew’s love interest is a witches familiar. It is short, easy to remember and references the book, so it works well for me.

Story:

I was surprised how light-hearted this story was. There’s death, demons, action, magic, but the novel didn’t feel dark or angsty at any point. That makes ‘Familiar Feeling’ into a wonderful short, light read for the summer and in-between books. I’m used to darker stories from this author and while I loved those, I really enjoyed the light-hearted tone of this book as well.

I think part of it is Drew’s personality. He has lost his wife three years ago, but is ready to move on. He loves his wife and has grieved for her, but we meet him at a point where he has gotten over the loss and keeps her in his heart, without letting the loss cripple him.

Everything that happens to him he accepts with an open mind and deals with it calmly. He is a very nice guy and is very easy to like. A great MC to carry this story. I think I would have connected with him even more, if we had seen more of his grief and more emotions like that, but it is a very short story and the focus on light-heartedness and action work well.

I really enjoyed that both Drew and Felix are bisexual and their chemistry worked well for me. Felix is like another connection to Drew’s wife and can show him a different side of her. He respected her and was her friend and I think that is a very important connection they have from the very beginning. With the mutual attraction, they made sense to me.

Felix used to be Linda (Drew’s ex-wife) familiar – her magical guide and through some magic and fate is now Drew’s guide, as he is learning the ropes about the magical world. I liked Drew’S friends and it will be interesting how they deal with this new world and the dangers lurking ahead as well as how their romantic journeys with their respective familiar will turn out. I love that the familiars are exotic shifters and I hope to see more action of the friends together in the future.

The action was fast-paced and interesting. Like I said, I love magic and I’m really interested in how this series continues. Book one did a great job to set-up the rest of the series with an overarching storyline, while still finishing ‘Familiar Feeling’ in a way that feels complete.

I really enjoyed this story and liked both MCs. It’s a nice, quick read and I’m looking forward to the rest of the books.

Rating:

8/10 Pots of Gold (80% Recommended). Compares to 4/5 stars.

*****

Daniel Alexander Kaine, born and raised in England, makes his living working as a customer service advisor.

Daniel started writing in 2009 to alleviate boredom while searching for employment. He started out writing a cheesy fanfic for his favourite anime, Naruto, in which he paired our hero with the gorgeous Sasuke in an Anita Blake-esque world of vampire hunting. To this day he still cringes at the memory of all that cheese… *shudders*

In 2010, Daniel finally worked up the courage to start writing an original story. Thus, the idea of the ‘Daeva’ series was born, and with the help of the NaNoWriMo boards the story became a reality.

Now Daniel has three novels and two short story out. He has many more stories in the works, and is working hard to avoid the pitchfork-brandishing horde who want the third Daeva book yesterday!

Being an out-and-proud gay man, Daniel’s main characters often fall somewhere under the LGBT spectrum, though he does not limit himself solely to stories about gay romances.

When not writing, Daniel enjoys curling up with a good book, and a glass of Jack Daniels and coke. His favourite genres include fantasy of all kinds – particularly paranormal and urban fantasy – crime and M/M romance. He also has a fatal love for video games and can often be seen pretending to be a giant cow with super healing powers on World of Warcraft, saving the world from Russian ultranationalists on Call of Duty, or slaying dragons on Skyrim. He also collects and paints Warhammer 40k models. Outside of the house, he can be found bowling, canoeing and running.