I love cats, and so I loved this Christmas book which was set in a Cat Cafe. The story is about a woman called Tabby who, after getting an inheritance, opens up a Cat Cafe in Whitsborough Bay, UK. Her partner Leon shocks her by leaving her alone to open and run the cafe. This is a difficult task, since she has fibromyalgia, and she is scared to tell her friends and family about it; she does not like to ask for help. Will she be able to get the help she needs to get everything up and running on time for Christmas?

I really enjoyed this book a lot - the cats were all super cute, and Tabby was very nice too. I also loved the Christmas theme. The only thing I would change about the book is that I felt that fibromyalgia was mentioned much too often. But I do empathise with anyone who has it, as it must be a very painful condition.

Overall, this is a fantastic book, which I highly recommend!

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

what’s not to love… cats, christmas and a cozy cafe. A fun read to curl up and lose yourself in.
will look out for more by this author

This is such a lovely read. I really liked Tabby and loved her ambitions. I felt for her when things didn't go well and I wanted her to succeed. I enjoyed the romance aspect of this book and liked that it didn't dominate the storyline but added to the themes of love and friendship. The parts about friendship really made me tear up and I loved the community feel from their neighbourhood.

3.75 ⭐️

This was a very cute, closed door romance book filled with lots of cats!

If you’re a cat lover, you’ll probably enjoy this!

This wasn’t suuuper Christmasy as the story starts in November but I loved Castle Street with all the shops, cafes and bakeries and I want that to be a real place 🤩

Most of the story was somewhat predictable- and that’s okay! - but there were a few moments that shocked me! The story follows Tabby as she is opening up a Cat Cafe and all the difficulties that go into starting a business that could be controversial to some.

This has a huge chronic illness rep as the FMC has Fibromyalgia. It was pretty eye opening as I knew very little about this illness prior to reading this book!

Overall a cute story! Even though I did have to google a few British terms 😂😂😂

Thank you to NetGalley for an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

3.75 Overall I thought this was a cute fun low stakes read but there were a few more heavy topics than I expected and was a little on the long side. This book follows Tabby a woman who recently built a cat cafe and planned on opening it with her boyfriend. Things seemed great till Tabby gets a call from Leon saying he decided he wants to pursue a career as a cruise ship chef. Now facing opening the cat cafe with her new diagnosis of Fibromyalgia Tabby has to lean into to family and friends for support. This includes Tom her brothers best friend and her Nannas foster son. Tom and Tabby have known each other but feelings start growing and cute chemistry ensues.

Overall I really liked this book I thought it was relaxing to read and I was really invested in the characters and what happened to them. Tabby and Tom were really cute together and I really enjoyed some of the other recurring characters. I could tell the author was definitely a cat lover with the amount of cat descriptions throughout this book, in fact it felt like a bit much at times. There was even a graph at the beginning of the book with all the cats and descriptions. I love animals but it did kind of throw the pacing off at times when it would start giving to many details. I would also not consider it a Christmas novel it does take place in the holiday time more towards Thanksgiving and through Christmas but the name felt a little weird to me. I hope to read more from this author in the future. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

I was really looking forward to reading this and I was left feeling a bit flat unfortunately.

The main character has fibromyalgia which is great for spreading awareness, and I did learn a lot. I just felt it was over mentioned. Like every other page. I really would have liked to have read more about the cats and the cafe themselves rather than this be a medical book.

I did love the relationship between the main characters and it was heart warming. It was also lovely how the community came together to help pick up the pieces from some quite horrific incidents!

I loved the idea of this book but I just wasn’t 100% invested. I think it needed more cats!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my ARC.

2.5 ⭐️

I wanted to love this. I mean, if you know me, you know I love cats and I love Christmas 😅, so I figured this would be perfect (purr-fect?) for me. Unfortunately, although the premise was cute (a childhood friends-turned-lovers romance, a mid-30’s woman running a cat cafe on her own after her shitty boyfriend dumps her), there was just such a detached element to it all that really ruined it for me. The dialogue felt painfully stilted, Tabby (yes, the main character / cat cafe owner is named TABBY 🙄) seemed a bit all over the place, and even a cat lover like myself was rolling my eyes at allll the cliches!

Although this was a light, fun holiday read, I just couldn’t connect with it. 😕

I really had high hopes for this book. My favourite animal is cats and I love christmas. Unfortunately I struggled reading Christmas at the cat cafe. As a sufferer of an invisble illness, in my case M.E.
I was surprised to see the main character Tabby suffering with fibro. Yes it's a great thing to teach people how debilitating these illnesses are. But as a sufferer myself I just found the author was bashing you over the head with the fact that Tabby suffers with FIBRO. Yes im putting it in capitals because it was mentioned that much. I can only speak for myself but when I read a book, I want to escape into a different world. I don't need reminding how much pain I'm in daily or the exhaustion I feel. While its a good thing that it showed Tabby's issues with accepting her illness, not many people probably realise we have to mourn the loss of our old lives.

My two stars are for the cute cats and the cat cafe. Highly recommend a visit to a cat cafe. The romance between Tabby and Tom seemed to come out of no where. As for the book being a christmas book. The vast majority of the story happened in november. Christmas was only towards the end. I also found it very difficult to warm to Tabby.

Excellent story! I’d expect nothing less from Jessica Redland. This is truly festive and perfectly told.
I really enjoyed the main character and how her story was told. The ending was just perfect, sympathetic but empowering.

Wow! As a crazy cat lady I just loved this book! A heartwarming tale! I’d definitely recommend to any cat lovers, or just people who enjoy that warm fuzzy feeling!!

oh this was the most heartwarming book 🥹 i didn’t think i’d love it at first but i soon found myself diving headfirst into the book, the characters and watching Tabs explore her new business and learning to understand herself and her fibromyalgia.

It was so wonderfully different to read a book with such a strong health rep. This book taught me things and made me feel so strongly about the characters.

I mean there’s not much to complain about is there? A book all about cats, family, love and christmas.

I found myself wanting to weep at moments but reading about animals will do that to me. It was so sweet watching the romance blossom in this book too 🥰

Wish it was more christmassy like the name leads you to believe but all in all. it was a wonderful cozy book about a strong fmc struggling to accept herself with a lifelong health condition & finding herself, and her love along the way

Redland has done it again, this time a touching story featuring a lot of cats at Christmas. It was a lovely read and I was drawn to the narrative, finding I could not put this book down until it was finished. And when I was done? I felt bereft of the paw-fect narrative.

Cat lover? Baking-mad? Cosy for Christmas? Even if it is just a yes to one of those questions, you are guaranteed to be in for a treat with this read as we follow Tabby in the run-up to opening her cat cafe. It has been a lifelong dream and she is excited by the prospect of seeing this turn into a reality… until her long-term boyfriend abandons her and suddenly the cafe is that metaphorical mountain that needs to be climbed.

Because Tabby isn’t the perfect woman. Suffering with her health, Redland explores what it means to have a disability that doesn’t always present itself. I admired Tabby’s strength and determination, whilst simultaneously sympathising with her struggles as it seems that she never gets the break that she deserves. Even though her friends and family rally around, they don’t immediately know the full extent of Tabby’s troubles and I felt sorry for her that she did not feel comfortable in sharing this burden. It is evident that Redland has done a lot of research into this part of the story and I applaud how sensitively it is portrayed in the book; not only drawing light to Tabby’s condition, but presenting it in a way that is understandable and heartfelt.

But, never fear, this book is not all doom and gloom. The glorious cats will be there for a purr and a stroke, adding to the charm of this novel. I recognised some of the other businesses referenced in the story (some being past reads, others mostly because of my toppling TBR pile which features all the Redland books I have yet to get to). This added to the community spirit of the novel which is reflected when the team gather round to help Tabby when she is at her lowest. For sure, it is the cats that help define this novel and I felt my own feline friend was always seeking lap time when I was curled up with this cosy read!

The Christmas setting adds to the warmth of the story and I enjoyed the romantic sub-plot as well. I was surprised when I realised this was an element to the story and had not foreseen which character would be involved with Tabby. Furthermore, I could not have anticipated who was behind the negativity of the hateful comments about Tabby’s cafe and enjoyed seeing how different visitors added to the cast of colourful characters in the novel.

The ending of the story was reminiscent of the Hedgehog Hollow series; it made me wonder whether Redland will return to these characters in future or if this is the end of the road. I enjoyed this book with all the cats and characters that I am intrigued to know what happens next to them, but can imagine that a follow-on story would be in danger of replicating the prickly success of the hedgehog tales.

All that is left to be said is… meow! This was a paw-some read with purr-fect characters that will have you feline ready for Christmas in no time.

With thanks to Boldwood books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Christmas at the Cat Café
by Jessica Redland

Christmas at the Car Cafe was an adorable book set in a cute Cat Cafe on Castle street! After a recent heartbreak the main character Tabby opens a cat cafe and faces many challenges including coping with her fibromyalgia. The book is great for animal lovers, displays acceptance and vulnerability and has a cute love story! I recommend for anyone who enjoys cats and romance books!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the digital advanced readers copy!! I received a complimentary copy of this book. Add it to your holiday wish list!

I wish I could love this one, but I truly cannot get past the writing. It’s so long-winded, with random big words used for no reason. I love cats and Christmas but sadly am DNFing this. Thanks anyway for the ARC.

Ailurophile - a person who likes cats; cat fancier.

Christmas at the Cat Cafe follows Tabby, ailurophile and cat mum to thirteen, in her journey from prospective cat cafe owner and beyond. But when Tabby's partner, Leon, leaves her in the lurch only a few weeks before opening day, can she successfully open the cafe on her own, despite her fibromyalgia diagnosis?

Ok, so this book was exactly my cup of tea. It had cats, romance, christmas, and...did I mention cats? It was so sweet and wholesome - I loved every second of it!

I think the sign of a good book is when it makes you feel, and this book made me feel so much; happiness, sadness, empathy and many more emotions came my way during reading so it was a winner for me. All the characters were so sweet too so win win win win win<33

If I had to change anything, it would be that I felt the fibromyalgia could have been slightly less prevalent and the story would have still worked. But then, if you're living with fibro, or any chronic condition, it really would be that impactful, so maybe they hit the nail on the head with the amount they mentioned it really. Either way, I adored the book and will definitely be reading more of Redland's work.

A sweet book with a lot of feline friends. Nothing earth shattering but I appreciated the disability representation here!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC

I enjoyed this Christmas book set in the Cat Cafe that the main character Tabby was attempting to open. I'm a self proclaimed crazy cat lady, so I appreciated all the love that the cats and kittens were given in this story. I also appreciated the representation of characters with chronic illnesses, I'm sure that there aren't many books with main characters who have fibromyalgia. That being said, it did feel a bit on the nose sometimes when Tabby's actions were being explained by the condition. At times I felt like the story fell a bit flat and didn't have as much character development that I wanted. The story was cute, but it was nothing but predictable. I could deal with that, I just wished that we had a bit more depth in the characters. Christmas books are still my favorite thing to read at the end of a busy year, however, so I appreciate the Christmas cozy vibes this one gave. This was a solid 3.5/5.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book. All opinions within this review are my own.

Christmas at the Cat Cafe has everything I could want in a holiday romance; cats, sweets, and coffee. Who even needs romance with that line up? I enjoyed the premise of a woman with fibromyalgia opening up her own cafe, and I very much appreciated the disability representation in this book. However, the story fell a little flat for me overall.

Much of the distance I felt due to the lack of character development. Everyone feels like they are there to fulfill a role (the self centered X, the best friend, the family member with Fibro, even the love interest) they all do and say the right things at the right time, but don't feel believable as people. The main character also does things that don't make a lot of sense, and then grows by realizing she needs help, but still , it felt more contrived than real. It all made me a little sad because I really wanted to like this story.

Cute cats do rule the day, but they don't make up for flat characters and plotting that isn't believable. I picked this one because of the title and the cover, but I know there are better holiday romances out there.

Thanks to Netgalley and Boldwood books for access to an eARC in exchange for a fair review.

I've never been to a Cat Cafe, but after reading this novel I really want to go! Tabby, who loves cats and baking, has always wanted to run her own cat cafe. An unexpected bequests allows her to turn her dream into a reality. However, when her partner Leon leaves shortly before the cafe is due to open, the future of the business is suddenly in doubt. An enjoyable read which touches on some in-depth themes, a good choice for fans of Julie Caplin.