Paraphrasing the author, this book details his journey from felinophobe to flag-waving cat lover including plenty of stories that ring true with humor and grace. Grounding his tale with history and some interesting facts of animal behavior, but the stars are the book are Alvin and Barry and how they worked their way into his heart. Definitely one of the best written and enjoyable cat books I have read in the past couple of years.

Unfortunately, I really didn't like this book. While it contained a few charming stories of the author's cats, overall, I found it dull. There were too many tangents about theories of cat behavior, and long descriptions of different cat breeds. It would have been much better as a collection of a few cute stories about the cats, and what they did to win the author over.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book.

The author, Nick, is one of those odd people that have always confused me; he had no particular love for cats, and really, not much of a desire for any kind of pet except perhaps a snail. As someone who judges whether I will have a good day at work by how many cats I see on my bus route (one house in particular has five residents, it's a good day if I see more than one) I just don't understand a lack of fascination with animals. But eh, by the end Nick can admit that if they didn't exactly love him, Alvin and Barry had at least liked him, and he admits a begrudging fascination himself.

This next part might be SPOILER for some but <spoiler>Alvin, one of the author's cats, goes missing and is never found. The author remains with the positive view that he just moved on, but as a city girl who grew up and had many a cat lost to the evils of the world, I somehow just don't think it's a happy ending there. The reason I put it as a spoiler is that Nick talks about it in his articles, but it's just something that had me anxiously swiping, trying to find a reunion that never occurs. </spoiler>

I liked the writing, and the laid back humour. A few sneaky spelling mistakes made it through to my eARC, but hopefully they are fixed with the published version. I recommend this for animal and cat lovers, and maybe as a gift for the cat fancier in your life! Four stars.

Princess Fuzzypants here: There are dog people (hard to believe) and there are cat people. It is always heartening to read a story of some poor mistaken human who fell into the former category but through enlightenment moved to the right side of the equation. The author dwelled in terror of the feline persuasion and suffered from rampant allergies. He was the least likely convert but a couple of important things happened.
First, he fell in love with a cat lady who, when they decided to cohabit, said a kitty would be part of the deal. His battle was lost before it began, not just because of his lady’s good taste but because once he met Alvin, a Bengal cross, he too was smitten with the kitten. Let us face it, we cats have been wrapping humans around our paws for millennia. Resistance is futile but quite humorous.
Our author’s conversion is so complete that when he is chosen by a pure bred Bengal named Barry, after his predecessor disappeared, he even ventures into the world of cat shows. Since my Momma is also a converted crazy cat lady, we laughed at his adventures in the feline world. They are great stories filled with love and awe at how amazing we cats are.
One of only two disagreements with him involve letting cats roam freely. I am an indoor kitty and happy to be so. His compromise for Barry of a cat run allows him outdoor access but safety. My other objection is more fundamental. He speaks of owning a cat. Pfft! Silly human. We own you human. Deal with it.
Still, I give him five purrs and two paws up.

This book is a deft memoir by the author of his life with cats, particularly the two Bengals he has owned, at first very reluctantly. The book is laced with humor as well as plenty of interesting facts. Harding is honest about his own trajectory from cat hater to cat lover.

While I disagree with many of his thoughts about cat behavior, it was a fun book to read.

This book was a fun mix of stories from the author's life being taken over by cats along with the history of and facts about cats. The author does a nice job of weaving this all together. As both a cat and dog person, I can't imagine life without a furry buddy around and had to laugh as Alvin won Harding over and took over the house. While I don't agree with all of Harding's beliefs about cats, this was an enjoyable read with a bit of everything.

Thank you to the author Nick Harding, Mirror Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. All comments are my own, unbiased opinion.

I think this is a book for cat lover who can recognise the antics of their cats in those describe in the book.
I liked the mix of cat stories and information as well as I liked the style of writing.
I laughed, was moved and truly enjoyed what I was reading.
It was a fast read and I couldn't put the book down.
Highly recommended to cat lovers.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC

Nick Harding is a journalist, author, ghost writer and more. Once upon a time he did not like cats at all and this is the true story of one woman and two kittens who managed to ‘convert’ him. Heavens, today he is even writing cat books and becoming somewhat of an authority in all things feline. His story is amusing, informative, sad, joyous and incredibly readable. He has carried out meticulous worldwide research in this topic and his gifted writing is warm and incredibly enjoyable.
I received a copy of this novel through my membership of NetGalley and from publisher Mirror Books in return for an honest review. Thank you most sincerely for my copy. I have read many other cat memoirs but this one surpasses them all in both content and enjoyment. I recommend this memoir to all cat lovers as unmissable and to anyone else who enjoys true stories. It’s a roller coaster of fun and information.

My bad that I didn't read that it's a memoir *and* a biography, as I was bored by the bigging-up that the author....

... seemed addicted to. It made him seem as if he felt the need to name-drop to make himself (and the book?) more interesting, but it turned me off. There's only so many times you can read <<(WHICH I GHOST WROTE)>> before you think, 'get over yourself, guy'.

I didn't realise the author was a journalist. His writing doesn't come across as that of what I think of a journalist (i.e. from the serious papers), but more along the lines of someone who writes articles that appear in a paper - I think there's a difference. But, whilst this wasn't the main focus of the tale, I ended up skimming as it was kind of...boring, and more than a bit Me, Me, Me.


I did like the tales of Alvin and Barry, and I'm pretty sure that a Bengal/Bengal mix wouldn't be for me, and it's made me see how lucky I am to have my three loving, cuddler moggies. Maybe the author should have focused on the cats, and not what seems to be a rather bog-standard 'piece' job, that didn't interest me in the slightest.

ARC courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley, for my reading pleasure.

This book was so boring. It doesn't help that the market is flooded right now it seems like with cute stories about amazing pets and their owners, but really it was written in such a way that I wasn't really interested in reading it at all after a few chapters

Amusing title and this book is somewhat amusing in parts . The author is strictly a non cat man but is gradually worn down first by his wife and then by the arrival of the first of 2 cats who invade his life and his sanity .

The book also has long parts in it when the author wanders a little and we get a lot of history of cats or cat behaviour or cat likes and dislikes . I will be honest I found this a bit boring and I often skipped pages and pages until he returned to cat life . The book has its sad moments , not over whelming but sad non the less.

I hope there will be other cat or kitty books to follow .