Thank you to Courtney Gustafson, Penguin - Fig Tree, and NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This was my most anticipated release for 2025 as I’ve been intently following Poet’s Square Cats for 4/5 years. I cried when Sad Boy died. I cried when MK and Monkey became pettable and then I cried again when they died. I have cried so many times over these cats. When I found out Courtney was writing a book almost two years ago, I couldn’t wait for the day I could finally read it. Her captions on Instagram are always so well-thought out and beautifully written.

I binge read this in a few hours. I loved the background life story interwoven with the story of the cats. I think with most auto-biographies you appreciate the story more when you know the person already, and this is definitely true of this book.

I loved relearning about all the different cats and the nod towards the infamous feline Thanksgiving dinner TikTok and house fundraiser. The book is also a stark reminder of how weak the US social care system is. If people don’t have the financial means to look after themselves, and a weak social safety net, how can we expect them to be able to care for feral animals correctly? You only have to look to countries in Scandinavia to see the trend between a far superior social care system and the rates of poverty and stray animals.

The illustrations and book cover are absolutely beautiful. The book cover sort of reminds me of the thumb / fingerprint doodle art they would do on art attack! I would have loved to have seen some actual photographs of the cats too though and wished the book was longer. A solid 8.5-9/10 at the moment but I might go cry at a video of Sad Boy and Lola and come back to give it an 11.

I loved this book so, so much. For starters, I've never seen any description so accurate of how it feels to love a weird little furry monster so dearly that you feel like it's walking round with your heart held hostage as it tries to get into every dangerous situation it can find. And to then multiply that feeling to all the hurt and lost and lonely cats in the world.

But it's not just a story of the colony of cats the author found when she moved into a new house, or how it led to working to look after feral cats across the city. It's about learning to find and build community, to get out of survival mode and come out of the cold. To witness suffering, grief, loss, and brokenness in both feral cats and the (usually poor) communities they live in and to keep showing up.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review (but I'm going to be buying a copy of this book to keep for myself as soon as it comes out)..

For full transparency, I’ve been following Courtey and the cats for a few years now. I’ve been waiting on this book so I was so pleased to be given an advace copy through Netgalley.

This book was a great read and really dove into Courtey’s life and how she ended up inheriting 30 stray cats. My only wish was that there were more chapters about the Poet Square cats. I’d be happy if there were another book all about their lives, as I really enjoy the way Courtey writes about them.

Pleased to say that I didn’t cry at this book through, knowing the story of some of the cats made me so worried that I wouldn’t read it at work in case I broke into tears.

All in all it was a good read for fans of Poet Square, and for those who relate to the complexities of cat rescue. Here’s hoping for another book!

A book filled with love and joy and grief and cats. What’s not to love! I’ve followed Courtney and the cats of Poets Square for a few years now, so when I saw this book I was absolutely ecstatic. Gustafson does an excellent job at combining the weight of caring for feral cats with the weight of being human in a world that always seems to be a little bit against you. I loved the insight into TNRing and how this ties to caring for the people in the same communities as the cats. The book is filled with empathy and heart, and you can feel the passion flowing from the pages. It’s well written, interesting, and beautifully designed with little cat portraits for each chapter. The writing both broke my heart and filled me with hope for a better world in which we can care for both feral cats and for each other. Overall, an easy five stars and a pleasure to read.

my most anticipated book of 2025 and it has NOT let me down! @poetssquarecats has long been my favourite instagram account and i genuinely feel so honoured to receive a copy before its publication in april.

overall, a fantastic memoir that is equally heartbreaking and inspiring. gustafson paints a vivid picture of the reality of caring for stray cats, and crucially highlights the importance of community support for everyone. i wish i could say more that does this book justice, because i think it was wonderful. thank you for sharing the cats with us! i would love to read more from gustafson in the future.

i loved the illustrations too!

[thank you to netgalley for the advance copy! all opinions are my own.]

ourtney Gustafson's Poets Square is a delightful and deeply moving memoir that surprises at every turn. While it begins as a story about thirty feral cats, it quickly becomes clear that it is not really about the cats—it’s about life, resilience, and the unexpected ways we find meaning in a chaotic world.

When Courtney moved into a rental house in the Poets Square neighbourhood of Tucson, Arizona, she discovered she had inherited a colony of feral cats—a challenge she was utterly unprepared for amidst the upheaval of a new relationship, a pandemic, and her struggles with mental health and financial insecurity. Initially resistant, she soon found herself drawn into the world of animal rescue, and through it, into a deeper understanding of care and community.

What unfolds is a memoir that beautifully balances heartbreak and humour, illustrating the lessons these scrappy, endearing creatures taught her about love, persistence, and hope. From the quirks of cats like Mushroom Risotto and Sad Boy to the unexpected joy of building a supportive online community, Gustafson’s story is as much about navigating the complexities of modern life as it is about animal rescue.

Poets Square is a poignant exploration of what it means to care—about others, about ourselves, and about the world around us. Gustafson’s vivid prose captures not only the challenges of animal welfare but also the healing power of connection, even amidst grief and broken systems.

A truly fantastic memoir, this book is about cats—but also not really about cats. It’s about finding moments of light in the darkness and embracing hope when the world feels overwhelming. Whether you’re an animal lover or simply someone searching for inspiration in the little things, Poets Square will leave you deeply touched and profoundly inspired.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

Really enjoyable memoir - it's not at all linear and the chapters and sections are pretty piecemeal but it creates such a lovely whole. A perfect read for anyone who is seeking a way to change their life slowly and perhaps without even noticing. Highly recommended and thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

I requested this book because of my love for cats and experience with stray and feral cats.
The author moves in to a house in Poets Square, and the community of cats around her house keep her company; help her through the difficult experiences in her life.
I had no prior knowledge of the author and her experience, except for the information in the blurb.
While the experience was entirely relatable, sympathetic and familiar to me, the characterisation of each cat, and how the little things in life make so much meaning.
Yet, the writing and the storytelling (what made it to the narrative) often fell flat for me.
I might as well not be the right audience for this and cat-loving, experience-appreciating may not be enough to like this book.
I suppose a younger audience can enjoy this more.

I am not entirely sure what I was expecting from this book, but I found myself utterly unable to put it down. It's a story of someone saving their own life by accidentally saving thirty, feral cats that they inherit when they move into a new home. It's so interesting, not just about the cats but about the nature of how we treat animals and by extension, how we treat ourselves.

2.5 I read this with no prior knowledge of the author or the cats. I mention this specifically because I think you almost need to; for me, this had a “reading the second in a series with very little context” feel to it!

Story and Cadence:
🐱I found the storytelling poor and suffering from a short attention span. There’s a lot of jumping around in time and introducing characters only to discard them and pick them back up later on. This made the flow feel disjointed and had a very repetitious effect that felt like an early draft, rather than a published work. There’s a lot of meandering and the book felt directionless (it doesn’t end so much as stop, which didn’t help).
🐱The book features cats but the Gustafson gives herself equal attention. I had no idea who she was and her characterization wasn’t done particularly well so I found those sections tedious. I was there for the cats!
🐱Gustafson admits around 30% of the way through that she mishandled the cat situation but it comes a bit too late and a bit too defensively to land after watching her make mistake after mistake.
🐱While it didn’t bring anything new to the conversation, I appreciated the section about misogyny about cats and cat guardians, particularly how some men perceive both, the toxic masculinity around neutering, and how projection and anthropomorphization that can deeply harm pets.
🐱The story lacked emotional hook. There’s a lot of heartache with injured or dying cats and human poverty but the writing was detached and I didn’t feel anything to compel me forward.

Characters:
🐱Despite being around the same age, I couldn’t connect with Gustafson as a character. She comes across as whiny, obsessed with how she’s perceived (including a harmful obsession with being “good”), with harmful internalized misogyny, and very defensive. I found her actions and inner monologues incredibly frustrating. I genuinely didn’t understand her motivations: she complains a lot about the expense and time of caring for the cats, makes a mess of it, and I found myself increasingly curious why she took this on instead of contacting the City, rescue groups, vet networks, etc. I wasn’t convinced by Gustafson’s claimed (and conflicting) excuses when she spent so much time justifying why she couldn’t afford it and it was too hard. It gave me the impression that she was, once again, too invested in what other people thought of her and, idk, needing to almost atone for something? Throughout the story, I was hoping for some character development from our narrator, but how we start is largely how we finish. I was grateful to get out of her head.
🐱Weirdly, I found Richard’s characterization great. I got a good feel for him as a person, I was emotionally invested in his story, and despite his flaws, it was easy to cheer him on!

Language, Writing, and Vibe:
🐱The writing was all over the place: at times, overwrought and flowery descriptions juxtaposed with skating over details about the cats that this reader would have valued spending more time on.
🐱Gustafson spends an inordinate amount of time, like the first 25% of the book, justifying the rationale for posting these cats on social media and comes across both defensive and way too preoccupied with how the reader is perceiving her and her motivations. As a reader, this made me trust her narration a lot less.
🐱There was a coldness, a hardness, to this writing that kept me at arm’s length. At one point, Gustafson invites us to look at our cat while she tells us she knows every bad thing that can happen to them. It’s like she was trying to be shocking or edgy in a hamfisted way of, idk, stirring emotion? It was bizarre.
🐱Italics, which are commonly used to delineate thoughts, were used as speech in this book. I never got used to that.
🐱The cover is beautiful but the vibe navel-gazey with a hopeless, bleak undercurrent to the story overall.

The most enjoyable section was with Richard and the crumbling apartment building. On reflection, I feel like the navel-gazing bio sections about the author spoiled the effect of the book overall: if the focus had been about the cats, it might’ve been a stronger, more thoughtful, read. Maybe this is a different experience for people who are familiar with this author; but if you’re coming in without context, this is some rocky storytelling. I was so disappointed by this book and I hope, if publishing continues on this trend of just publishing folks because they’re internet famous, they can at least start being upfront about it - this is the second time I’ve picked up a book only to dislike it and then find out the author is some online celebrity. 🤷‍♀️