Book Review: The Lost Cats and Lonely Hearts Club

Title: The Lost Cats and Lonely Hearts Club

Author: Nic Tatano

Publisher: HarperImpulse

Date: August 26th, 2016

Pages: 250

Format: eARC

Source: from Publisher for a review

 

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Swapping Prada for purrs…

While covering a story, feisty network reporter Madison Shaw gets more than she bargained for when she rescues a box of orphaned kittens. Suddenly the glamazon of the Manhattan news room is doing two am feedings to keep these furbabies alive!

This is certainly a change of pace for the high maintenance workaholic she’s become and taking care of the kittens makes Madison realise how far off track she’s come—after all, she was a stray once too…

When a video of her caring for the kittens goes viral, she knows her image as a hardnosed reporter is shot to hell. What Madison doesn’t expect is the media circus that propels her and the kittens to stardom. And the domino effect that has on her, her career and her love life—especially when she meets sexy Officer Nick Marino…!

Review:

Imagine finding four little orphan kittens, too small to take care of themselves and without a mother to feed and bath them. What would you do?

If you’re a person with a good heart, you would take them under your roof and do your best to give them what they need to survive.
And that is exactly what Madison did.

Disclaimer:

I will have to start this review with a disclaimer and say that I will be totally subjective when it comes to expressing my thoughts. This story is very special to me and I observed it from a different angle then usual because I experienced (almost) the same thing as the main character of this story, but was also in a situation that in parts reminds of the one  character Nick was in.

I really don’t want to make this review about me, but I think it would be fair to tell you that, because my personal experience is what led me to percieve the story in the way I did.
So I will just briefly mention that I have two cats that were only 13 days old when they lost their mother and I bottle fed them and took care of them. They are healthy now and are best cats in the world.
Also, five years ago I had a car accident and I was unable to move for weeks. Those days all I could do was lie in bed and sit with someone’s help, so I know how the recovery process looks like.

Now, on to the real review…

Lost Cats and Lonely Hearts Club tells the story about a reporter called Madison. She is a real career woman. One day when reporting from construction aera, she and her cameraman find four kittens and a dead cat. In order to save kittens’ life, she takes them home and starts taking care of them.

Although she did not plan to, she keeps them and becomes their second mother because she got atteched to them, especially  to the tortoiseshell one.
For Madison, cats are not just company. They (or should I say tortiseshell one) help her see what kind of person people around her are so she ends up breaking up with her cold hearted boyfriend the same night cats move in.
As the story progress, we follow Madison and her three friends living a life in New York, dating and helping the world make a better place.

This book warmed my heart. When I say it, I really mean it.
There were so many memories that came back to me thanks to this novel.
And although it wasn’t the best read ever, I certenly enjoyed reading it.

The writing style was really good, easy to read and you can read this novel pretty quickly.
It is written in first person, from Madison’s point of view.
What surprised me is the fact that the writer is male.
I don’t usually pay attention whether I read male or female authors, but it really blew my mind how Nic Tatano perfectly described women’s way of thinking.

Character development plays a big part in this story.
Madison really changes through the story and even if that change is mentioned more then few times by side characters, readers can also see it in Madison’s behaviour.
However, I have to mention that I wasn’t on best terms with some of her actions.

The story itself was naive in parts in a way that everything went so easy for Madison, but I will assume that the purpose of this book is to bright reader’s mood.

It also had some flaws and unexplained things that I just feel like they have to be metioned.
I will write them down in the spoiler section  so I wouldn’t ruin anyone’s reading experience without their permission.

Overall, this book was pretty good and it really left me in a good mood.
I think that cat lovers would enjoy it so if you are one of them, I suggest you to give it a try.

Spoiler Alert!!!

1. We never got an explanation why mother cat died. I know some things we’ll never know, but somehow I wish we got to know what happened to her.
2. Tortoishell cats are basically always female. Male tortoishell do exist, but they are so rare, finding one is like finding a niddle in haystackes, and male can’t produce due to their chromosomes. I wish vet said that to Madison bc I have a feeling many readers will just assume that the writer didn’t do his homework because „all tortoishells are female“.
3. Nick had an accident where he lost the ability to walk and had to use wheelchairs. I feel like his situation was described unbelievably too easy. Madison could have just leave him alone for hours and it was like there was no fact that he is human and therefore has to use toilet, has to take a bath. Madison once told him he can just roll into the shower but guess what? He has to take off his clothes, wash himself and use a towel. Without help, that is impossible.
   I feel like the whole thing could have easily be fixed if there was a nurse to help Nick.
4. Although it maybe is not a big deal, I wish getting rid of parasites was also mentioned.
5. I wish tabby, rushian blue and tuxedo cat were more present in the story. They were in the tortoishell’s shadow.