A Tiny Vial for...
- Vanessa Bettencourt
- May 25
- 2 min read
Genre: Adult Romance
Publishing date: May 19, 2026
Rep: disability, mental illness, LGBTQ+, AAPI
Synopsis:
All’s fair in love and magic.
Gwendolynne Chan just needs to get through her final year. At Seamere College of Magical Veterinary Sciences, she spends her days using her powers to heal companion animals while her nights are spent studying for exams. As the top student in the magical familiars stream, she is on track to be awarded Dux of the entire school – as long as the pretentious twat Harrisford Briggs doesn’t beat her to it.
Harrisford Briggs was born into privilege. His father, the Chief Financial Officer of Magecorp, a major global distributor of magic, expects him to come top of the year. Harrisford, though, can’t help but notice that his father has been acting odd. Really odd. And there are strange whisperings, too. Rumours of uncontrollable surges of excess magic, which Magecorp has been trying to cover up, as well as rampant corruption within the Magical Ministry itself.
When these magical surges begin to rock their way through London, causing chaos and explosions and familiars going feral, Gwen and Harrisford find themselves without a reliable source of magic, putting both of their academic careers at risk. To fix this, they must put aside their duelling feelings of lust and loathing, and – along with Gwen’s snarky cat familiar – team up to diagnose the problem. If they fail, not only is their education at stake, but also the fate of the magical world.
Content Warning: classism, cursing/swearing, medical/veterinary content, racism (mostly microaggressions), self-harm, sexual content (open door), animal cruelty/neglect, animal death (occurs off page), human death (human death, occurs off page), blood, emotional abuse (parental), depictions of surgery, toxic relationship (parental), fire/fire injury, light gore, grief, animal pregnancy, animal birth, sexism, alcohol (consumption), bullying, chronic illness, drug abuse (illicit use of prescription medications), drug use (as above), dysphoria (mentioned), gaslighting, gun violence, kidnapping, confinement, mental illness, misogyny, murder (mentioned), transphobia (mentioned), violence
My review:
AhAh! This book. Loved it.
👉 Romance, yes, but so much more
👉 Magical Academy, but... Familiar, veterinary Magical Speaking Familiars
👉 Porsche? Lamborghini? No. I'll ride my dragon today
👉 He thinks....while he prepares her favorite drink without her asking: she's an enemy, I must win against her, she's wearing that horrible acrylic cardigan
👉 She..... is working with him against her will to solve a Magical event that is making Familiars feral, surges of magic, attacks that result in explosions, and Familiars hurt, why do you know my favorite drink? You named your Familiars lizard pudding?
👉 Percy: the Familiar Black Cat one yellow eye lefy, who survived a lot of injuries but doesn't belong to her until he decides he does and she becomes his. Did I mention Talking Familiars? He would be a perfect blind date for Princess Donut.
👉 Double POVs
😄😄😄😄 yeah I liked this one a lot
This is my favorite book from this author.
The author is Keshe Chow a specialist in feline veterinary medicine from Australia. #keshechow
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