Three Meant to Be

Branches of Past and Future, Book 1

De: MN Bennet

Narrado por: Kirt Graves

Telepathic high school teacher Dorian prepares teen witches for professional casting—because going in unprepared is what killed one of his partners. But new state mandates on magical proficiency make it nearly impossible, and Dorian worries he can’t give his students the education they really need.

Seeking a distraction from work, Dorian kisses his still-living on-again off-again clairvoyant boyfriend, Milo. Instead of a distraction, Dorian glimpses Milo’s vague vision involving the murder of Caleb—one of Dorian’s new students. Already devastated by the loss of his partner, Dorian refuses to stand aside and let Caleb die. He searches for clues by delving into Caleb’s mind.

Rooting through Caleb’s memories alongside teaching classes leads Dorian to two more students: Caleb’s ex-best friend turned rival and the prodigy with connections to dangerous warlocks. However, each step further into his students’ minds forces Dorian to confront his deteriorating relationship with Milo.

After discovering a link involving illegal casting, Dorian resolves to work with Milo to prevent the impending vision. To succeed, Dorian will have to explore the potential of a future with Milo and find closure on their third partner, whose loss looms between them. But meddling with fate to save Caleb inadvertently draws the warlocks near, putting all his students in danger.

Dorian will have to risk his life and gamble his second chance with Milo to keep his students alive.

©2023 MN Bennet (P)2025 MN Bennet

Just wow’

Ok I’ll guess I’ll start with Kirt Graves! This book is full of characters, like there are a lot of different personalities, voices, and emotions to convey and Kirt did them all so well! All of the students voices🤌. The aperitif tone of Dorian, perfection! I seriously loved his performance, such a great listen. Now let’s get to the story, this was such a SURPRISE. I love Mn Bennett books, but this one blew me away. Dorian poor sweet, grouchy, cig loving Dorian. My heart broke for him and I cried many times. The past with Finn and Milo mixing with his present, the memories, Finn coming back to help Dorian, the end 😭! It was so dang good, perfect easy to follow magic system, the cast of queer high schoolers, low spice, all the banter. The DANG ROOSTER! I wish book 2&3 were in audio already.

So good!

Magic, second chance, old pain, a mystery, a big bad, and two generations of characters all woven into a finely crafted and most enjoyable story. I’m ready for more!

Mind blown! 🤯

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️- all the stars. This is one of the most interesting magical/ witch and warlocks story’s I have encountered.

First off - Kirt graves is absolutely stunning and I will always devour anything he narrates.

Second- I’m at a loss as to adequately describe how much I LOVED this book!

Dorian is the most prickly, soft hearted, emo out there. Aka Mr.Frosty 😉

Milo is funny but has the weight of the futures on his shoulders. All while battening grief at the loss of Finn and the Distance Dorian forces between them.

I love all the students and the different magics. And
The diversity!! Nothing turns out quite like it seems it will. All around just a fantastic listen. I can’t wait to read more of MN Bennet.

My Hero Academia Fan Fic - Loved it 5/5

If you loved the anime My Hero Academia,
You’ll love this book too.
- imagine if Shōta Aizawa was the main character of MHA. And he was gay. And he fell in love with a hero in that universe.
- dope seeing the high school students learn their abilities.
- lgbt 🏳️‍🌈 Rep.

Great world building

It’s clear the author put a lot of time and thought into this book. There’s a large cast of characters, but they’re all fully developed and distinct, they all have growth and development as the story progresses.

I was hesitant with so many of the characters being kids, it seems like children in books are often overly bratty or just totally unrealistic. I’m happy to say that isn’t the case in this story, they’re all well written and serve a narrative purpose.

The world building and magic system are explained in a way that feels natural, you don’t have to sit through pages and pages of technical explanation. The love interest’s history is shown in memories and flashbacks, but it never feels forced or excessive. Overall, the author does an excellent job catching the reader up on everything, without ever feeling like “oh, this is the boring exposition”

I want to protect them all.

I had already read and fallen in love with this book when I was given a chance to get a free copy of the audiobook to review.
I love the entire vibrant cast. Each character has their own strengths and aspirations. The main character, Dorian, is a soft spoken introvert, but still passionate about helping his students grow.

Kirt Graves does a great job bringing the entire cast to life. Each has their own voice. I found myself the least in love with Dorian's, but I'm not going to fault the narrator for not reproducing the voice I'd already assigned him in my head. Dorian's voice feels a little flat, compared to the rest of the cast, but I realize that might actually be a decent way to contrast him with the more energetic, extroverted people around him.

A fresh take on the magical school genre!

This book was a fun and fresh take on the magical school genre, from the POV of a teacher for a change. It was intriguing, punch me in the feels, and funny. My heart ached for Dorian, whose grief kept getting in the way of his happiness with the man who was always there for him. It wasn’t a romance per se, more of an action/adventure urban fantasy, but love and his relationships were always an undercurrent presence.
This book also featured a diverse cast of characters; a variety of queer identities (gay, bi, ace, trans, polyamorous) and many of the students were POC.
Would highly recommend!

Amazing balance of story, romance, and spice

Okay, first of all… RUDE! Haha I’m a HS teacher and the PURE ACCURACY of the bumbling admin, administrative tasks, and teaching minutiae was absolutely on point. It was like a sucker punch having to listen to Dorian go through his first days as I’m still trying to enjoy my summer break. (I may have also sent offensive screenshots to my coworkers 😆)

BUT the rest of the book… Amazing! I absolutely adored black cat Dorian and golden retriever Milo, and especially the way we got to learn so much about the students. The deep dive into the characters was so immersive and even though there had to be a lot of world-building for the series, I never felt like I was just being told/lectured.

There’s an amazing balance of plot story, romance story, and spice that is not the standard for many books. I’m completely invested in Dorian/Milo and all of Dorian’s homeroom kids, jumping right into the next book!

Oh and I ADORE Kirt Graves, but his “auxiliary gym” pronunciation wasn’t working for me. But chefs kiss otherwise!

Past Present Future everything points to yes

I absolutely love the start of this series and cannot wait for more!

The set up for a killer series has been laid.

MMM

This was a great story. I’m a huge fan of Louisa Masters and Lily Mayne who also write great fantasy books like this. It is a slow burn but I have enjoyed getting to know the characters. I have two other books on my book shelf by this author and I excited about starting those books too.