3.5 ⭐️A quick and cozy christmas romance to get you ‘feline’ festive
Thank you to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for the earc. Here is my honest and unbiased review🥰

As a cat lover, I knew I had to read this book and it was a lovely little read. I enjoyed the short chapters and the slowburn friends to lovers romance as well as the representation of Chronic Illness- it was real and raw but promotes awareness in a really genuine way and Tabby ultimately had the BEST family and friends. I also liked that this book tackled the controversy around cat cafe’s and shone a spotlight on a positive cat café environment.

Unfortunately, I did sometimes struggle with the writing style and found that the flashbacks felt too intentional rather than being woven more smoothly into the narrative. I was also a bit unsure about the conclusion of the mystery as it didn’t feel entirely realistic and I wasn’t sure about the choices Tabby made in the conclusion.

What a fabulous combination – cat cuddles, tea and cake and friendship. It is this which makes Christmas at the Cat Café a heart-warming festive treat but it has a deeper theme than the usual Christmas novels we’ve read.

This novel took place in my favourite retail places, Castle Street in Whitsborough and it was a joy to revisit this atmospheric street, especially as it geared up for Christmas and meet old friends. Though the location and some characters are familiar if you have read Jessica’s other books, this is a standalone novel.

As the title suggested, this book contained cats, lots of cats and was full of love for the feline species. It was a pleasure to meet each one, and all had their own distinct personality. Their names were also wonderful. How lovely does Babushka feel and sound when spoken? The running of a cat café business was well researched and showed the immense work it takes for them to run successfully with the cats’ welfare at their heart.

Tabby was a likeable character and with a chronic illness, highly relatable to many. Her passion and determination shone on the page. She had big dreams and we all admired her for going for them despite of challenges ahead. While there were plot turns familiar to many romance novels, these were impacted by her health. It was exciting to see the stark reality of living with chronic illness fictionalised and hopefully it will give an insight to the lives of many and help reduce the stigma and guilt that is involved. Having a diagnosis of a lifelong condition is emotional as well as physical and all aspects were dealt with sensitively and felt real. It also highlighted that when affected by illness, life continues albeit differently than planned and love and relationships are still within reach. The health thread wasn’t gratuitously used as a plot device as in some fiction but used inclusively.

Community, friendship and trust were other central themes and made this a warm, heartfelt, honest and insightful read.

Tabby’s dream has always been to run a cat cafe with her boyfriend Leon. Just as her dream is about to come true Leon lets her down and ends their relationship.
Now she’s left to do it by herself. She’s been hiding the extent of a medical issue to everyone and now isn’t sure how she’s going to manage it all.
There’s a few issues with the cafe but with the help of her family & friends will her dreams become a reality?

Loved this book. Without revealing any spoilers I’ve been told to use the “spoons theory” myself and this book explains it all very well.

Jessica Redland is such a a talented writer. A very different setting for this book, but with very relatable characters. Recommended

Jessica never disappoints
And this is another great read
Absolutely loved this book
A book to just curl up with and get lost in
Thanks NetGalley

I adore Jessica Redland books and enjoyed the return to castle street.
Tabby has a dream of using her inheritance to run a cat cafe. However she has been waiting for her boyfriend to return and finds herself all alone once again. Her daily battles with fibromyalgia. Will Tabby find someone to give her heart to this Christmas?

Thank you so much to Jessica Redland, NetGalley and Boldwood Books for an ARC of this book.

This was my first (early!) festive read of the year and I always enjoy stepping into Christmas books.

I enjoyed the building festive feel in the cafe setting, and always love the presence of a relationship with pets in a book so liked the cats and all their characters. I also found the insight into fibromyalgia and living with this interesting and informative.

This was only the second Jessica Redland I’ve read, the first “Finding Love at Hedgehog Hollow”, which I’d really enjoyed and have a couple more in the series on my to-read!

I really enjoyed setting the ball rolling early with a Christmas read, and liked the animals popping up too. 🌟🌟🌟

I absolutely love Jessica Redland’s books and the world that she has created in Whitsborough Bay. So when I found out that not only were we going to go back to Castle Street, one of my favourite places in Jessicas world and there was going to be cats, I was in !

We meet Tabby, not a cat, but a young woman who has dreamed her whole life of a career with cats. Sadly it has taken the inheritance from her beloved Grandmother to make this happen but she always believed in Tabby.

Leon is Tabby’s boyfriend and with Tabby’s blessing has gone off on a cruise ship to fulfil his own dreams but he is coming back, isn’t he ?

Tabby is so excited about the cat cafe and the return of Leon but out of the blue she receives news which leaves her absolutely devastated and all her plans look like that they could all fall to pieces.

Tabby is not about to be beaten and she has faced obstacles before in her life.

This is another uplifting and insightful book, Tabby has been previously diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and I found this part of her story really interesting as I have friends with the condition and this helped me understand and empathise how debilitating the pain can be.

As with all Jessica’s books there are tough times but also hope, friendship and this one also has Christmas which makes it such a wonderful cosy read to snuggle up with this time of year.

Am I allowed to say that this book is purr fection !

Christmas at the Cat Cafe by Jessica Redland is a very interesting novel about the opening of a cat cafe. After receiving an inheritance, Tabby decides to move forward with her dream of owning a cat cafe. She lucks out and finds a storefront with a flat above on a cute street in the shopping district. But as she gets closer to the grand opening, her boyfriend breaks up with her. The worst part is that he was going to run the cafe with her and provide much needed support with her health issues.

Having to deal with the business on her own, Tabby is worried she may have to forego her dream. But despite opposition, her family and friends rally around her. Will it all be too much or will Tabby still get her happy ending?

This book dealt with fibromyalgia from different perspectives which I thought was helpful. Tabby, the MC, was sometimes in great pain and was worried about her business and about being a burden. We also got to see how others learned about the disease and handled it. Even with the heavy topic, the book was still cute.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Princess Fuzzypants here: It is only days away from the opening of Tabby’s dream, the cat cafe, that she has planned to run with her boyfriend who should be returning from working on a cruise ship. Her plans are in tatters with one phone call that informs her he isn’t coming home and they are no longer a couple. For a normal healthy person, the shock would have gutted them. Tabby has an additional issue- she suffers from severe fibromyalgia and was depending on her partner to help run the business.

When she is felled by an extreme attack, she opens up to her friends, family and her staff about the reality and is overwhelmed by the support that flows her way. She has been fiercely independent but soon realizes the offer of help from the man who grandmother had fostered and who has been like a brother to her is necessary. They learn, after spending so much time together, that they are in fact the very people the other was looking for. But as in romance books, there are going to be some major hurdles to get over.

I do not read many romances but when you add in cats and a cat cafe, I am hooked. I am glad because while the cats and the relationships they have with the various humans is heartwarming, they are what keeps Tabby getting up each day no matter what has happened nor how she feels. They all have their own personalities and quirks and are quite delightful.

In many ways this book is as much about dealing with fibromyalgia or any other chronic conditions that dictates changes to the life you lead. It was an eye opener about fibromyalgia and it only increased my respect for our heroine. While the course of true love never runs true, the physical difficulties and the challenges that Tabby faces are as integral to the story as the romance. It makes for a meatier read. Five purrs and two paws up.

My Thoughts: as a cat person this one was right up my street!

Tabby and her boyfriend have been trying to find the perfect premises for a cat cafe, which they find on Castle Street, but before they can open Leon goes away to work on a cruise ship for 3 months then the day he’s supposed to be back he calls her and says he’s not coming back… Tilly is rightly devastated and because of her fibromyalgia she almost shelves her dream because she knows she won’t be able to do it alone..

In steps her family and her brothers best friend Tom, Between them they make Tabby’s dream a reality!

It was lovely to be back in Castle Street with old friends and new, and in typical Jessica Redland style there was romance too!

I especially loved this one as someone with a chronic illness the representation was incredible, and felt genuine!

This book genuinely made me want to open my own cat cafe, but I definitely couldn’t handle the work.

This one definitely gave me the warm and fuzzies but also made me cry like a baby, who would’ve thought I’d get so attached to fictional cats 🤣

A perfect book to get lost in and add a little light to these cold dark evenings.

I thoroughly enjoyed this cat related Christmas romance. With warm and loveable characters, who wouldn't want to read about Tabby's journey to build her cat cafe. The ups, the downs and all the inbetween!.
A wonderful story deserving five stars!.
With thanks to Boldwood books for the chance to read this arc copy via Netgalley.
#Netgalley, #bookandttonic, #jessicaredlandauthor.

Thanks @netgalley for this review copy.

Tabby starts a cat cafe.
Her boyfriend doesn’t come back from work, so she has to deal with the cafe on her own. And that for someone who has fibromyalgia.

I love Christmas and cats! So this book really spike to me.
The book wasn’t as superficial as most cat-kinda books usually are. And I appreciated that.

The love interest though later in the book was a bit predictable.
But there was a lot happening in this book.
I really liked this one.

Tabby had always dreamed of running a cat cafe. I absolutely loved the plans and descriptions of each floor and it made me want to visit. It sounded adorable. This book was in turn heartwarming, heartbreaking and made you feel for Tabby. Dealing with both personal problems, a debilitating illness and problems with getting a new business up and running. I learnt about fibromyalgia and how badly it affects every aspect of your life.
I loved getting to know all the cats and the people who worked in the cafe and the other shop owners. There was a real sense of community and I'd love to visit more shops on the street and find out how the cafe is getting on.

As my first Jessica Redland book I've read, I really enjoyed this read l. As a cat lover I likes the descriptions of the cats as their assumed voices. Also about the main characters trails and tribulations of having a chronic illness.

A nice read. Sometimes a bit emotional with everything Tabby was going through and I was heartbroken with the whole Smudge situation but was happy when Tabby, Tom and all the cats got their happy ever after. An easy and enjoyable read.

Not as festive as I would have liked but still a nice read.

Christmas, cats, baking, and small towns- this book was LITERALLY made for all tastes. And with this adorable cover I was ready to just ravenously gobble this one up like a plate of yummy Christmas cookies. And there were parts of this I really enjoyed, even if this wasn’t quite the Christmas present I’d hoped it would be.

Our story centers around Tabby (bonus points for the cat punny name), aspiring cat cafe’ owner, chronic illness sufferer, copious cat collector, and dreamer. Only her dreams are threatened when her boyfriend abruptly decides to dump her around the holidays and bow out of the cafe….and turns out someone may be also trying to sabotage her cafe. So we get a little mystery with our cat cafe romance.

As a self-proclaimed and proud cat lady when I started the story to see the chart of cats I was super excited. Finally a cat lady story with an ACTUAL cat lady. And I loved all our feline friends, though with 15 cats, I’ll admit even I was on a cat overdose…it was hard to keep all these furry friends straight. But what a fun concept, and I loved that the author really committed to this part of Tabby’s life.

The story is told from Tabby’s POV- which perhaps is a signal for where the focus of this story lives. I went into this expecting a cozy holiday romance littered with cat fun…and the story wasn’t quite that. The story was really more about Tabby herself, her challenges with her fibromyalgia, her secrets from her family, and her quest to live her dream. These are all great aspects of the story- I really liked Tabby, the thoughtful representation of her condition, and rooting for her to win! But the result is that the romance felt really secondary, and I must admit a bit lackluster. I never quite bought into the romance, it never felt central, and the chemistry was about as warm as a melted snowball. And really I think it came down to Tabby’s own POV and the writing style- her narration meanders and covers a lot, so I never FELT the romance from her. Part of this may also be her getting over her past relationships. Her character journey really was great- the romance just didn’t quite sparkle. And, for someone who loves cats and Christmas, I needed a little bit more Christmas with my cats! It was more wintery than Christmas, so it really didn’t give me the holiday fix, despite the adorable cover and title. Christmas was not much in the story at all.

But the setting is truly fantastic, vividly portrayed and I’d love to hang out in this world, in this cafe, and talk to all the cats alongside Tabby. Glad to know I’m not the only one who has entire conversations with my babies. Overall, not quite a cozy Christmas read, but a solid read for a likable heroine and, of course, for cat lovers.

A really cute book. A unique idea. I really need to get myself to one of these cat cafes that keep popping up. The cats in the book were really cute. I enjoyed it.

Are you looking for a story full of all the feels? Christmas at the Cat Café by Jessica Redland is so well-written and is the purrfect Christmas read (pun totally intended). This is one for us cat lovers!

Meet Tabby. She has a dream of opening her own cat café. Her dream is finally coming true! Then she gets dumped, finds herself the target of some hate crimes, and has to come to terms with her diagnosis of Fibromyalgia. Merry Grinchmas, everyone! Will Tabby be able to overcome her obstacles and partake in the joy of the holiday season?

This is the first book I've read by Redland and it won't be my last. Clearly researched, I loved this cozy holiday read! As someone with three cats, I really loved how the love of cats shines through the pages. I wish our fur families could meet! If you’re looking for a heartwarming holiday read, full of kittens, this is the one for you!

Thanks to Netgalley & Boldwood Books for the E-ARC! This was so cute! Loved the characters & the setting! The romance was cute too. Definitely will read more from this author.