My Pigeon Familiar

The Magical Misfits, Book 1

De: Bridget E. Baker

Narrado por: Jennifer Jill Araya, Curt Bonnem, Cary Hite, Andrew Tell, Sura Siu, Jeremy Carlisle Parker

Six supernatural besties fighting their fates in NYC: A witch whose spells misfire, a wizard who keeps falling for the wrong species, a vampire who longs to be adored, a dragon shifter who can’t shift, a werewolf without a pack, and a demon-spawn bent on being good…

Minerva Lucent has always wanted to be just like her late father: a guardian, defender of NYC from the demonic threat. She’s spent her whole life trying to secure a spot, but so far, she’s still stuck as a magical beat cop. It’s not that she hates cleaning up after the boozy vampires and miscreant werewolves.

It’s just not inspiring.

But when the guardian she’s crushed on for years spills about a rare opening on their force, she resolves to do anything she can to snag it for herself. If that means she has to rally her friends and do something a little crazy, well.

She’s prepared to do anything.

Including blowing all her savings on an exotic fire lizard egg she hopes to bond. As usual, her plans misfire in a big way, and she winds up bonding a flying rat—the last creature anyone in NYC would ever want as a familiar. What’s worse, Giggles the pigeon won’t stay in her cage. When Minerva’s bestie from high school shows up in dire straits, a choice must be made. Will she secure her promotion or save her friend from an unwanted marriage?

Publisher's Weekly said My Pigeon Familiar is, "a delightful, character-driven fantasy novel about a group of supernatural friends helping to prevent an unwanted wedding, and it will no doubt bewitch listeners with its entrancing plot and relatable cast."

**This title was initially published as Mates: Minerva! Other than the title and cover, it is exactly the same. Do not re-purchase accidentally!

©2022 Bridget E. Baker (P)2022 Bridget E. Baker

Not a complete story

Cliffhanger doesnt even begin to cover it. This is a partial story in all respects. Nothing is resolved for any of the characters and the book ends just before the climax of the story. For this I paid a full credit, and since there are multiple books in the series and I don’t know if they employ the same strategy I’m stopping here. The characters were likeable, but this is a cheap trick to play on readers.

Grab this and have a blast with these magical misfits.

These characters are so much fun!! Full of true friendship and loyalty. This is a paranormal fantasy sure to make you laugh.

I enjoyed it but expected funny

Parts of the story are absurd, sad, humorous, and showed supportive friendships. I feel like this has too much cliff hanger but I really like the author so I will read the rest of the series.

Surprisingly delightful

This wasn’t a book I thought I’d like, but the characters were charming, the story was enjoyable and the narration was good. I’m especially excited to learn more about the demon spawns in upcoming books.

Billed as comedic slice-of-life, really a soap opera.

If you like fantasies and soap operas, this will be your thing. But don’t pick it up if you’re looking for comedy.

A cop, a professor, a bodyguard, an actor, a shopkeeper, and a princess all live in New York. A witch, a mage, a werewolf, a vampire, a half-demon, and a humanoid dragon also all live in New York. They happen to be the same people. They live on a version of Earth that “angels” invaded, dragging along refugees from other worlds, and because the “angels” broke the rules and procreated with humans, the “angels” are now able to ward off the pursuing “demons,” who can only come to Earth when specifically summoned, and only show up for as long as it takes to do a little procreation of their own.

There is no hint of Nephilim in this book.

The cop-witch wants to be an elite cop, has tried out and been turned down multiple times, and decides that she needs to bond an ultra-powerful familiar to impress the interviewers, but instead accidentally bonds a pigeon, which she proceeds to mistreat because somehow it’s wrong to be prejudiced against half-demons for what they are, but perfectly acceptable to be prejudiced against “rats of the sky.” The professor-mage wants to teach at a university, rather than research at a spell laboratory, and has the full support of his boss and various friends to do so, but events keep getting in the way. The werewolf-bodyguard is desperately trying to get accepted into the local pack because his parents got their family kicked out of his birth pack when he was an infant, and he spends the whole book fighting the temptation to do the wrong things that would get him accepted. The vampire-actor refuses to play villain parts, so he is perpetually cash-strapped and susceptible to lust. The half-demon-shopkeeper is desperately trying to be perfectly good, to avoid “descending,” and is both constantly being pushed into a corner and somehow unaware that even thoughts and intents should have gotten her her first mark long before it happened. The humanoid dragon-princess is on the verge of being politically married off, but manages to be her own rescuer, yet… never escapes much farther that the other side of the moat, only takes the most minimal steps toward her own independence, and finally acts with profound stupidity on a plan that didn’t work the first time she tried it. Oh, and all living parental figures in the book are self-absorbed and emotionally abusive.

On the positive side, there is a lot going on, so the book never gets boring. On the negative side, it never firms into a cohesive story mass. On the positive side, seeing some of the characters at work was really interesting and helped to build the world out a bit— if the author increased that element in the second book, it might be a good deal better!

The audiobook voice-acting is fairly high-quality, and it helps to differentiate some of the characters who otherwise risk blurring together a little. If you like fantasy and soaps, give this book a try. Just don’t go in expecting to laugh.