From the publisher:
The fur is about to fly between a cheerful cat sitter and a grumpy hockey nerd in this hilarious and charming rom-com by the New York Times bestselling author of Meet Cute.
Kitty Hart has become internet famous as the Kitty Whisperer for her expertise on all things feline, and as a result, her cat-sitting business is booming. But lately, she has a terrible feeling that maybe her life isn’t quite going where it’s supposed to—especially after falling face-first into her newest client. Not exactly the best first impression.
Fortunately, Miles Thorn is just as bad at first impressions. Strike one: he doesn’t like cats, especially Prince Francis, the haughty and mischievous Sphynx his mom left in his care. Strike two: tackling Kitty to the floor in a misguided attempt to save the pet he continually calls “the gremlin.”
As awkwardness slides into attraction and things start to turn purr-sonal, will these two complete opposites ever be able to find their furry-tail ending?
“Hunting tugs at the heartstrings with this thoroughly charming and unexpectedly deep contemporary romance. …This fresh, fun, and at times heartbreaking tale will stay with readers long after the last page is turned.”―Publishers Weekly
“A delightful tale that will appeal to animal and romance lovers alike.”―Library Journal
https://amzn.to/3JzbBTf
I’ve read several of Hunting’s novels, and she is a good storyteller, but this one really pushes the boundary of cuteness. If you read the publisher’s synopsis, you will get an idea of what you are in for, more cutesy puns on cats than I even knew existed. And I am a cat person! However, cutesiness aside, the romance at the heart of this book is a good one. Plus there are some serious issues, so a break from that is welcome.
Miles Thorn is stuck taking care of his mother’s Sphynx cat, and apparently, there is no love lost between them. The cat attacks him on the regular, so when he learns about the “Kitty Whisperer,” he is thrilled to find a catsitter to help out. Their first meeting is a disaster, but it’s the meet-cute that gets the story going.
As Kitty and Miles become closer, a romance starts to brew and these two really complement one another. Miles is dealing with the fact that his mother has pretty bad dementia, and the way she confuses him with his younger brother, who died in a terrible accident as a teen, isn’t making things any easier. The only light in his life is Kitty.
This was a fast read, and despite the seriousness of the storyline, there are still a lot of laughs here, along with a bit of heat. There was a lot of interesting cat information in this book as well, which I really enjoyed. I’ve heard of cats being toilet trained to literally use a toilet and flush it, which is mentioned here, but I didn’t know about cats being trained to ask for things (treats, pets) by stepping on corresponding buttons on something like a toy. I’ve heard about dogs being trained this way, but not cats, so that was interesting.
I did have a personal problem with a minor plot point. Miles drives a Tesla, which is great, except Kitty has to drive it in a few instances, so he gives her the keys. The first time she has to drive his car, he tells her you don’t need keys, which is correct. But two times after that, he gives her the key so she can drive it. This immediately pulled me out of the story. Teslas don’t have keys; they run off of an app on your phone, or a credit card looking thing for valets, or you can purchase a key fob from the company. As I read an early galley, I asked the publisher if this was corrected in the final copy. She asked for page numbers, which the egalley did not provide, so I sent her locations and screenshots of the text in question. This was her response:
“My sister actually works for Tesla so good questions – they don’t need an actual key to drive but they do need something to access the car. Although a lot of people just use their phones to access the car. (I can see why that wouldn’t work here.)”
She admitted it was a legitimate question, but just sort of intimated that it probably wasn’t changed because it wouldn’t have worked in the story. Which is just some lazy ass bullshit, so I’m calling her on it. Ms. Hunting, your publisher should have been on top of this.
If you don’t drive a Tesla, or don’t care about these kinds of details, please feel free to ignore it. Obviously, it bothered me, probably because I drive a Tesla! Other than that, it is a really good read.
6/2023 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
A LOVE CATASTROPHE by Helena Hunting. Forever (June 13, 2023). ISBN: 978-1538720066. 384p.
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