Thanks to NetGalley for providing an eAdvance Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

Let me start off saying I wanted to enjoy this book. I was hoping for a fun, light, palette-cleanse.

The cover alone, I was ready for RomCom central. That was not the case. I struggled through this. I had a different expectation. Some parts felt clunky and just didn't know how to continue so they different POV would happen. It was also weird how one of the many reasons the FMC told the MMC why she didn't want to be with him and her frustrations of them being together in the past was that he wouldn't talk to her about their future etc and then by the end of the book, they sorta discussed their future but ended up with (before the epilogue and finally chapter) that they just wanted to be happy, whatever that meant to them. Out of a 24 chapter book, they're still being frustrating in Chapter 23 and saying "i thought we'd gotten past that....not answering questions...etc." The couple was frustrating to read from the beginning.

Spice wise, it wasn't consistent. The first hookup between the FMC and MMC (Lindsey and Brad) was fine spice wise (may 1 chili pepper, but I acknowledge everyone's spice levels are different) and the rest are pretty much fade to black. I don't mind. Not every book needs to have spice. But typically books work up to the sizzle, not down to fizzle.

The book read young and is written young. I did go back to check the genre, which is romance, so I guess age range could be any indicator. Maybe 13+. but what do I know, Fanfics exist out there so age doesn't mean anything anymore.

I didn't realize this book was part of a series until I opened the ARC. That being said, I don't feel like I needed to read the other books to read this one.

Despite my own personal opinions I will say this. If you like slow burn (and by that I mean, you aren't getting really anything until 94% through), love the foodie/culinary experience, cats, and enjoy second-chance romance, this book is for you.

There are conversations about pertaining to toxic masculinity and homophobia/transphobia based on Brad recounting his father, but then it doesn't really seemed addressed, but said in passing. Just that "that's how his dad was."

GRAMMAR (these did not take me out of the reading completely, but I did have to go back and read a couple time.):
-I know this is an ARC, so grammar didn't through me off completely. There was one flashback that could've been helpful if italicized. The location on my iPad says 1465.
-Chapter 8: There's a part where Brad says: "I have good ideas occasionally." Lauren's head spun -- i think this is supposed to say Lindsay
-Chapter 11: There's a part where it says: or you can continue avoid him -- sentence missing "to"
-Chapter 24: There's a line that says: Lauren nodded. "I'm glad you could talk to me." -- I think this is supposed to say Lindsey

ARC REVIEW

⭐️⭐️

A cat cafe brings about a second chance at love.

🐈 Lindsay and Brad met and fell in love in culinary school. Their relationship didn’t end well at all but now, five years later Brad is the pastry chef at Lindsay’s best friend’s cat cafe.

🐈 This was a hard one for me!! I really enjoyed about 50% of this book. Lindsay was a great character who struggled with her feelings for Brad. He was also a great character who tried so hard to make things work with her. But after a while, the plot got repetitive and predictable. It left me wanting more.
However, if you are looking for a cute and quick romcom that has a few good 🔥🔥 scenes (even as early as 32%), then give it a try!

Thank you to the publisher and author for the ARC book in exchange for an honest review.

Lindsey and Brad had a serious relationship while they were both in culinary school, but catching him in a lip lock with Phoebe, another student, made Lindsey drop him like a hot scone. Now, he’s working as the pastry chef at the cat cafe she frequents. Brad swears Phoebe initiated the kiss and his heart always belonged to Lindsey. While she still loves Brad, she’s not sure she can trust him again.

The cats and the cat cafe backdrop make this series a must read for me. Second Chance isn’t my favorite romance trope, but Brad is shown to have changed. He is more future-focused and is ready to commit to Lindsey again. Lindsey, however, was problematic to me because despite Brad bending over backwards to win her back, including getting her a cool opportunity at the Food Network, she keeps pushing him away even though she never again suspects him of cheating.

The thing keeping them apart is only Lindsey’s internal conflict, and the scars of her father’s infidelity. With the exception of one instance, Brad always seemed on board with a reunion with Lindsey. Lindsey lacked agency in the plot in that every opportunity came to her without her having to actively pursue them, which diffused tension.

Brad’s internal conflict revolved around his father’s outdated thoughts about gender, thinking becoming a pastry chef and owning a cat made his son less masculine. This conflict never seemed fully addressed.

Owen, my favorite of the friend group, totally deserved to be the hero of his own book rather than having his romantic arc be a small subplot.

I really liked the scenes which included Lindsey’s friend group. The singular reference to the television show FRIENDS in this book and the multitude of references in the previous installment makes me wonder if the show may have been part of the inspiration for the series. The scenes that revolved around the Food Network opportunity and at the cat cafe were among my favorites in the book. I’d love to see more books in this cat-centric world.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca, an imprint of Sourcebooks, for providing an Advance Reader Copy via NetGalley.

I loved this book. As a self proclaimed foodie, this book entertained on several levels. I loved reading about the culinary journeys of the characters. I also loved their friendship and second chance romance. I've never been to a cat cafe but have read other books about them and think it would be fun. Hmm, maybe having a cat cafe in a book store would combine many of my interests.

This is the 3rd book in the series. I'm not a fan of it. I've tried reading each book and dislike all of them. DNF



******************I received an ARC for my honest opinion from NetGalley***********************************

I liked a lot of things about this book, but ultimately had trouble connecting with the central conflict about why they’d originally split. Even with her trust issues and history, I just didn’t buy that she wouldn’t have given him a chance to explain if they were truly in love. I felt that all along, and when I got to this line I found it really frustrating.
“I spent years convincing myself that you cheated on me with Phoebe even when I knew deep down that wasn’t really true.”

I just wanted them both to have tried harder and couldn’t quite get past that.

I thought this book was okay. Pluses for cats! And I liked the descriptions of food and the connection to food network with different shows, etc.
The romance between the two was somewhat irritating. They initially break up from a miscommunication and talk about that pretty early on.
He wants to get back together, but she doesn’t. The main reason she doesn’t trust him is because she says he flirts with everyone, all the time. There are literally zero instances of him flirting with anyone.(except one where he LOOKS AT A WOMAN) and she freaks out. But they literally do everything that a couple would do, including sex, but refuse to actually commit to being together until the end. It feels kinda toxic and makes me think they haven’t actually grown enough to really last this time.

There are a lot of sentences that wait until a bout of dialogue to explain the random name that was said. Like “Molly is Lauren’s cat. Justin is Sam’s husband” I dunno, it felt like it could have been worded better.

This random exchange was also cringe: “I don’t care about baseball” “I don’t care that you don’t care”

3/5 stars

This book was good but not great, the story was a good idea but I am not sure that the writing got me there as I had a hard time being interested in the story but I made it to the end which actually got better because of the action, I just couldn’t fall in love with it.

I wanted to enjoy this as the premise sounded super promising, but ultimately I was left wanting more from both the characters and the plot itself.

I'm always up for a good second chance romance and decided to pick this up because the blurb sounded interesting. The story was engaging enough but Lindsay & Brad's arguments got very repititive. Lindsay's issues regarding her father's betrayal were just mentioned but not explained which is why it was difficult to understand her reasonings. Sometimes her stubborn nature irritated me and I just wanted her to make up her mind for once. Brad was a good character and always spoke upfront with Lindsay. I liked it how he understood her concerns and didn't hesitate to show her the mirror when she acted heedlessly. But sometimes his habit of being oblivious annoyed me too. Both of them weren't perfect which made them real in my eyes. Lindsay's friend group was also amazing which is another thing I liked about this book. However, there were a lot of unnecessary details in the book which made me feel detached at times. The writing was good but I wish there was a solid build up for Lindsay & Brad's relationship tbh.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review

2.5 Stars Chasing Your Tail by Kate McMurray is a sweet second-chance romance about a food reviewer, Lindsay, and her pastry chef ex-boyfriend, Brad. Lindsay and Brad reconnect five years after they broke up when Lindsay does a profile on Brad since he’s working at her friend’s cat café. Lindsay was heartbroken when she thought that Brad had cheated on her by kissing another woman while they were in culinary school together. This book was sweet but didn’t bring anything new to the second-chance trope. Lindsay and Brad’s conversations about why she was reluctant to trust him and get back together again went around in circles and felt like the same thing every time. I did love that they got their restaurant in the end and the epilogue was just right.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the ARC in exchange for the honest review.

The first thing that caught my attention was the cover, it was beautiful. The title was also very calling and I immediately felt drawn to it. Any book with pets is already coming out on top with the cuteness factor in the Rom Com world.

However, it pains me to say that this book did not do the trick for me. I found it very hard to get into the story. I did not like Lindsay or Brad. The miscommunication between them felt immature and unnecessary. I generally love se one chance romances, there’s something so personal about them, but this one did not work for me at all, it seemed more like they couldn’t get over why it didn’t work the first time than actually putting the energy to make it work the second time.

DNF at 50%

Unfortunately I did not end up loving it but it wasn’t because I hated it. I don’t have bad opinions or opinions in general except that for me it was a just overall lacking . I just found I had no interest in continuing with the book and following the characters’ story.

Thanks to the publisher for the ARC!

I'm not a fan of miscommunication and this book seemed like one simple conversation would have fixed their problem. The cats were great though. The adoption event scene should be with characters adopting multiple cats so they don't get lonely when their owners are working. =^..^=

Chasing Your Tail by Kate McMurray is the third book in the Whitman Street Cat Café Series. This is Lindsay and Brad‘s story.
 
Lindsay is a journalist, and she has a lot of culinary knowledge and therefore critiques restaurants as her job. This was pretty much all you learned about her, and it was rather superficial.
 
Her friend owns a cat café, and she employs Lindsay‘s ex Brad. This was a bit of a conflict between the friends as Lindsay didn’t want to ever see Brad again. Brad is a pastry chef, and he even makes cat treats and that was really cool. He was well beloved by everyone except for Lindsay and that bothers him a bit. Their break-up in the past was also due to miscommunication and it could have easily been resolved.
 
It was not really a second chance romance and at some point, they were just together. It all started with them getting intimate pretty quickly and that was a bit cringeworthy. On an emotional level they didn’t really deal with the past or future and it was based on their momentary attraction.
 
Overall, I couldn’t form a connection to the characters any therefore also didn’t believe in their romance. 2 stars.
 
(ARC kindly provided in exchange for a review.)

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing an e-ARC in exchange of an honest review.
As a certified cat lover I was drawn by the title and the cover of this book and the food talk was definitely a nice bonus. However I feel like this book lacked character development, both Lindsay and Brad were a bit too immature for my liking. Whenever it seemed like they were past their misunderstanding from years ago, they went back to arguing over it which was a waste of time that could’ve been spent on cute scenes with the cats.
It was initially a ⭐️⭐️ for me but I added a third one for the cats. (See? I told you I’m a certified cat lover).

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for access to this eARC!

Unfortunately, I didn't mesh well with the writing style and ended up DNFing this book kind of early on into reading. I also wasn't aware, until I checked Goodreads, that it is part of a series, so I might pick up the other books first and come back to this one. (I'm not sure if they have to be read in publication order because this does sound like it can be a standalone novel, but I think reading the others first will personally help me get into McMurray's writing and the story more.) I am intrigued by the second-chance romance trope and cat cafe, so I will try to pick this back up!

*3 stars because I like the premise and will try to return to the novel soon*

I'm so disappointed by this one. I'd read the first book in the series, and really enjoyed it, but this one lacked the charm. The plot was repetitive, and the romance had no draw. The best thing about it was the cats, and even they were barely there

Thanks to Netgalley for providing a free copy in exchange for an honest review

When you have a cat on the cover and it is titled: "Chasing your Tail" I was there for it. And the dedication said to all pet parents. It was a done deal for me. This was enjoyable and loved it all.

Let's start with the cover: how cute is she?
Moving on to the content I can say that I liked it, it entertained me and it amused me, even if some parts were a bit boring and slow or too obvious.
The thing I loved the most is the fact that it talked about pastry and there were cats too !!
Romance is nice and I loved Brad Marks, the hottest pastry chef around !!

ARC kindly provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.