Review - A Little Familiar by R. Cooper
A Little Familiar
by R. Cooper
My rating: 
Heat level: 
Volume 1 of Familiar Spirits
Posted in Book Reviews on 29 April, 2026
Piotr is a powerful witch. Perhaps the most powerful one in the region, but he stays apart from his coven. He prepares food for all the major events like Samhain but doesn’t attend them. Instead, he stays home alone with no company aside from his dead grandmother’s crow familiar and the ghost of his great-grandmother. Bartleby is a very rare human familiar. He doesn’t have much power on his own, but the witch he bonds to will become much more powerful. Bartleby’s problem is that he doesn’t just want to be friends with whatever witch he becomes attached to, he wants a lover as well. He wants Piotr, but the big bear of a witch won’t allow himself to believe he can have the ethereally beautiful Bartleby for himself.
“A Little Familiar” is another entry in the “Men don’t talk about their feelings” trope. The two main characters have been in love with each other for years, but have never thought the feelings were returned. The knowledge that time is running out for Bartleby to get Piotr to accept him spurs the young familiar to action. It’s a somewhat tense story line as the two continue to dance around each other.
The story is told entirely from Piotr’s point of view. He is an extremely introverted man who nonetheless puts the needs of others in his community ahead of his own. His lack of self-confidence, especially where Bartleby is concerned, feels believable. Piotr is a very sympathetic character in spite of his stubborn denial of his own feelings.
Bartleby feels like the very opposite of Piotr. While Piotr is described as a big bear of a man, Bartleby is small and delicate, and while he identifies as a male, he’s otherwise gender non-conforming. He’s another sympathetic character that you want to have a happily ever after.
“A Little Familiar” is available from Smashwords or see Bookshop.org to purchase from an independent bookseller.