2017/92: Slouch Witch -- Helen Harper

If I could make him believe that I wasn’t quite as lazy as he thought, I reckoned I’d be able to get away with more  – by which I actually meant less – in future. [p. 118]

Ivy Wilde is a witch -- or, perhaps, was a witch. Expelled from the Order for cheating, she makes a living driving taxis in Oxford, and her primary ambition is to spend more time doing less -- watching TV, eating, and talking to Brutus, her feline familiar. (The feline familiar might disappoint some: "he can talk but he only has a vocabulary of about twenty words and most of them aren’t very nice." [p. 32]) Unfortunately, a bureaucratic cockup causes Ivy to become magically bound to Adeptus Exemptus Raphael Winter, a high-ranking workaholic with a magical mission and a pronounced lack of patience for Ivy's slacker lifestyle.

You can probably see where this is going, and you're not wrong. It's an enjoyable journey though: Ivy snarks and is competent, Winter is not quite as stiff-upper-lip as he initially appears, and the magical mission throws all kinds of ingenious nasties at the pair.

First in a series (The Lazy Girl's Guide to Magic), and I will probably read the next one at some point when I want cheerful, entertaining urban fantasy. Plus, I'd like more of Brutus, as I find this particular talking animal horribly credible.:

From somewhere above me, there was an irritated hiss. "Food."
"Hi, Brutus."
"Food, bitch."
I sighed. "I've told you time and time again, if you call me that I'm not going to feed you."
"Food."
"Give me a minute."
"Food."
"I'd like the chance to get a cup of tea first."
"Food."
"Piss off."
"Food."