Book Review: Christmas at the Cat Cafe by Jessica Redland

I’m very pleased to be welcoming Jessica Redland back to Novel Kicks. She’s here with the blog tour to her latest novel, Christmas at the Cat Café. 

It’s the most wonderful time of the year on Castle Street, and there’s a paw-some new business opening….

It had always been Tabby’s dream to work with cats and an inheritance from her beloved nanna has finally made that a reality. Idyllic Castle Street in Whitsborough Bay couldn’t be a better place for pastry chef Tabby to open a cat café with her boyfriend, Leon.

But when Leon leaves her in the lurch, the pressure mounts for Tabby. With Christmas fast approaching, she has to open the café on her own – a daunting prospect, especially when she’s been hiding her health issues from the ones she loves.

Faced with local resistance to the café – and somebody seemingly determined that she won’t succeed – Tabby will need her friends, family and cats more than ever to recover her broken Christmas spirit and pull together for a Christmas miracle.

Will the cat café bring the festive joy to Castle Street as Tabby had hoped or will it be a cat-astrophe? And can the magic of Christmas on Castle Street mend Tabby’s broken heart as well as her business?

*****

Tabby’s dream has always been to work with cats and, with the opening of her very own cat café looming, the only thing that would make it perfect would be for boyfriend, Leon to return so they can run it together liked they planned. However, not everything runs smoothly.

My third Christmas themed novel in so many days and I’m totally ok with it. I am a big fan of Jessica Redland and her Starfish Café series so I was excited to be invited onto the blog tour for her new standalone novel, Christmas at the Cat Café. Christmas and cats! No brainer.

It isn’t hard to like Tabby. She’s a cat lover, she’s going after her dream and even when life throws relationship issues at her, she keeps going but also learns to accept her limits.

This book also brings Fibromyalgia to the forefront. I have a friend with this condition and it’s great to see a novel promoting awareness, not just from a physical point of view but also how it affects mental and emotional energy.

I‘m also not a stranger to the ‘spoon theory’ having used it to describe personal issues and it was wonderful to see it incorporated. I’ve always found it such an eloquent way of explaining chronic and mental illness.

I liked the fact that Tabby’s cats were very intuitive and were there to comfort her. There is such a misconception that cats are standoffish and don’t care and this book goes a long way to discredit that myth. In my experience and as shown in this book, cats can bring comfort and are loyal companions.

The supporting cast, bar a couple of bad ones, were all lovely. I wanted to give Tom a big hug and from the beginning, I could see a bond between he and Tabby but that’s not unusual seeing as they’ve known each other since childhood. However, what happens between them is something I hope you’ll discover yourselves by adding this to your Christmas novel list.

Like Tabby, I am a big cat lady, having three of my own. The cats in this novel are adorable. The plot moves well and I couldn’t fully predict how it would end.

Jessica Redland has a great talent for pulling you into her stories to the point where you don’t want to stop reading and become so invested, you look up to suddenly realise it’s 5am and you’ve read the book in one sitting.

There were some lovely moments and some heartbreaking scenes that had me going and giving my cats hugs.

This novel has Christmas, cats, warmth, love, friendship, and charm. If you’re wanting to get into the festive spirit early this novel is perfect, and let’s face it, with all the horrible things going on right now would that be a bad thing? I loved it and would recommend.

Another wonderful novel from Jessica Redland. I have such a book hangover and I REALLY hope it’s not the last we see of Tabby and her family of cats.

Thank you to Boldwood Books and Rachel’s Random Resources for the review copy in exchange for an honest review. 

About Jessica Redland –

Jessica Redland writes emotional but uplifting stories of love, friendship, family and community. Her Whitsborough Bay books transport readers to the stunning North Yorkshire Coast where she lives with her husband, daughter and sprockerspaniel.

Her Hedgehog Hollow series, set in a hedgehog rescue centre, takes readers into the beautiful rolling countryside of the Yorkshire Wolds.

Say hello to Jessica via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Christmas at the Cat Cafe was released by BoldWood Books on 15th September 2023. Click here to buy.

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Laura

I’m Laura. I started Novel Kicks in 2009. I wanted a place to post my writing as well as give other writers like me the opportunity to do the same. There is also a monthly book club, a writing room which features writing prompts, book reviews, competitions, author interviews and guest posts.

I grew up by the sea (my favourite place in the world) and I currently live in Hampshire. I am married to Chris, have a cat named Buddy and I would love to be a writer. I’m trying to write the novel I’ve talked so much about writing if only I could stop pressing delete. I’ve loved writing since creative writing classes in primary school. I have always wanted to see my teacher Miss Sayers again and thank her for the encouragement. When not trying to write the novel or writing snippets of stories on anything I can get my hands on, I love reading, dancing like a loon and singing to myself very badly. My current obsession is Once Upon a Time and I would be happy to live with magic in the enchanted forest surrounded by all those wonderful stories provided that world also included Harry Potter. I love reading chick lit. contemporary fiction and novels with mystery.