I absolutely loved Helen’s heart warming novels about her cats Cleo and Jonah and was very excited to be offered ‘Bono’ for review. Bono was rescued after the terrifying ‘Hurricane Sandy’ left him homeless, weak and diseased. He was taken to the Manhattan's Bideawee shelter where he was cared for in the hope he would find his forever family. Although many prospective adopters admired him, they were daunted by his illness and the fact that it was life limiting and very expensive medicines would be needed.
When Helen visited New York with her daughter to promote a new novel, she rented an apartment and was persuaded by a friend to give Bono a temporary foster home for the month that she was going to be in the city. She was persuaded to write a blog of their time together in the hope that an adoption would be offered to Bono. He was nervous and such a fussy eater and he foxed Helen every time she tried to get him to take his medication. In fact he mistrusted her and instead favoured her daughter Lydia, who had fallen in love with him. Happily things changed when Lydia returned home and Bono actually made a lifelong friend in Helen. This is their story.
This novel is about what happened during Helen’s month in New York and what happened afterwards. I enjoyed reading about gorgeous Bono, but actually he featured in only a small part of the book and my review reflects this. The rest of the story was about Helen and her struggles in the wake of her breast cancer. She was at a crossroads in her life and was looking for new beginnings, just exactly as Bono was. This holiday in New York was for her to make decisions and changes to ensure her future happiness. Their time together changed everything in Helen’s and Bono’s life for the better and Helen learned valuable lessons from the love and acceptance of the little cat. I received a complimentary copy of this novel from publisher Citadel Press through my membership of NetGalley. These are my own honest and well considered opinions.

I actually saw this for sale today and wanted it, and then remembered I'd downloaded it from Netgalley. It was worth buying! I enjoyed Helen's writing many years ago with Cleo, although it was one of those books that made me ugly cry. This time around it was a different kind of emotional journey, but it was one worth taking anyway. Helen is brutally honest about some things we might not want to admit in relationships, and I can see that might be confronting for some people. It was a crazy ride, but a story worth reading.

Definitely an interesting story, and a rather quick read. Four stars.