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A review by geekygraceelyse
Bright Familiar by Jeffe Kennedy
5.0
“He made you cry, then and just now. You’re a fierce, proud woman, Lady Veronica Phel. Anyone who hurts you enough to draw tears deserves to die.”
Bright Familiar is the spellbinding second addition to Jeffe Kennedy’s captivating Bonds of Magic Series.
Lady Veronica Elal has been freed from her tower – and entered a life of servitude. It doesn’t matter that her wizard Master wishes to circumvent Convocation tradition and make their relationship equal, Nic prides herself on her practicality and that means not pretending her marriage is full of hearts and flowers.
Lord Gabriel Phel has come far again impossible odds and has managed to begin the process of reinstating his fallen house. He rescued Nic in a distant land, successfully bringing her home to House Phel, and despite her cynical stance on their chance of success, he’s certain they can defy their enemies and flourish together.
But the more Gabriel learns about the bonds between wizard and familiar and the finer points of wizardry, the more illicit fantasies plague him.
Although Nic has accepted her future as Gabriels wife and familiar, adjusting to her new life isn’t easy, particularly when Gabriel is determined to subvert the foundation of her world- starting with her father.
“Isn’t that how these things begin, though? You abandon a bit of integrity to survive the moment, exchange what’s right for another day, another hour of security, telling yourself you’ll make it up later, but by then you’re midway down a slippery slope, gaining momentum for the chasm below.”
Picking up where Dark Wizard left off, Bright Familiar was a delightfully entertaining novel and I loved getting to revisit the rich world that Kennedy has created and spend more time with these vivid and loveable characters.
Bright Familiar is a largely character driven story and focusses on Gabriel and Nic adjusting to each other and finding their feet within their relationship as both husband and wife, and wizard and familiar while they work to rebuild the once great House Phel.
Since this is the second book in the series, I was expecting there to be a bit more of a focus on the overarching series plot and to see them start actively going up against the Convocation. That did seem to happen gradually throughout the book and most definitely started to get underway within the last couple of chapters but I was surprised there wasn’t more of a focus on it. Not that I’m complaining, I loved the time I was able to spend with Gabriel and Nic and found that the pacing of the story was extremely well done.
I’m honestly so fascinated by the development of Gabriel and Nic’s relationship during this book as they both try to find a middle ground with each other as well as balancing the expectations that come with their roles as wizard and familiar.
Nic has been raised within the Convocation and struggles to overturn a lifetime of those teachings and I’ve found her arc through the series so far, and this book in particular, to be so intriguing and well written. Throughout the book we get glimpses of Nic’s uncertainty and see that she finds Gabriel’s wish for them to be equal, despite what the Convocation believe, to be quite unsettling. Gabriel makes Nic question the very foundation of the world she lives in, and Jeffe Kennedy captures Nic’s unease and the emotional rollercoaster she experiences when faced with questioning everything she’s known so perfectly.
“You don’t mean that.”
She lifted her chin defiantly, eyes glittering with unshed tears. “I do mean it.”
“You’d rather be cruelly used than treated with respect and kindness,” he ground out.
Opening her mouth, she closed it again, but not before her lips wobbled. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “Maybe it’s that I’d know how to do that. I think that… if I were only a pet to you, then maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much when you despise me.”
She lifted her chin defiantly, eyes glittering with unshed tears. “I do mean it.”
“You’d rather be cruelly used than treated with respect and kindness,” he ground out.
Opening her mouth, she closed it again, but not before her lips wobbled. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “Maybe it’s that I’d know how to do that. I think that… if I were only a pet to you, then maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much when you despise me.”
I did find that the frequent arguments between Nic and Gabriel did get a bit frustrating. It seemed like a lot of the book was them having the same argument about Gabriel not wanting to use Nic’s magic or cross her boundaries & her explaining why he should or had to. Those things are of course a big part of the book & it’s necessary for Gabriel and Nic to work through and address those issues, but it did feel rather redundant and repetitive when they’d have the argument repeatedly throughout the book, but never really came to a resolution or seemed to make any headway most of the time.
I absolutely adore everything about Gabriel. How he’s not afraid to ask for help when he needs it and how completely dedicated he is to Nic and wants to ensure her happiness and safety.
“I am not fond of the Convocation’s way of reducing people to their useful roles. Our child will be important to me as more than an heir, and my concerns are for Nic, a person who already exists. How is she, how is my ignorance endangering her, and what is it that I need to know?”
Gabriel and Nic had fantastic chemistry in Dark Wizard, but this seems to be taken to the next level in Bright Familiar.
I loved getting to meet new characters and see Nic and Gabriel slowly start to gain some support and allies and I’m so excited get to know the new characters more and to find out what will happen next.
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual assault