This book was a light-hearted, airy, breezy romance that did cover some hard-hitting topics.

I loved all things feline in this book. The cat business/care-taking was amazing to read about, especially the meet-cute between Kitty & Miles.

As much as I liked the premise, the story kind of felt flat for me. I think I needed more from it? Nevertheless, I appreciated the lack of any dramatic third act breakup.

<i>Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.<i>

I really enjoyed this quirky little romance between Kitty and Miles. These two don't have the best first impression; but with them, first impressions don't mean everything.

Miles is going through a lot with his new job and his mother being sick. The last thing that he wants to be doing is taking care of his mother's cat, especially since he is a dog person (the horror!). So he enlists Kitty, The Kitty Whisperer, to help take care of his mother's pride and joy.

Kitty instantly falls in love with the cat (Prince Francis). and agrees to help Miles out a few times a day. But that turns into much more when Prince Francis is taking his loneliness out on all of Miles's mothers belongings.

With Kitty being around so much, her and Miles go from enemies to friends and have this blossoming friendship, which I loved. That eventually turned into lovers. Their journey was so adorable! They were totally different people in their everyday lives, but when they come together, they are each others missing piece.

I've read many Helena Hunting books and always look forward to something new from this author. A Love Catastrophe is what I've come to expect from Ms. Hunting if I'm looking for a sweet, feel-good rom-com with quite a few laughs thrown in. Miles and Kitty are so awkward and sweet together that you can't help but fall in love with them and hope for their HEA. Add in some furbabies -- both dogs & cats -- and it was a delightful read. That being said, there are some thought-provoking, heartbreaking moments that also makes this a contemporary romance as well. It's always a joy to read Helena Hunting books and this was no different. I'm grateful to have been given the opportunity to read and review an advance copy of this book through NetGalley.

3.5⭐
Genre ~ romance
Publication date ~ June 13, 2023
Page Count ~ 331
Audio length ~ 8 hours 33 minutes
Narrators ~ Erin Mallon, Joe Arden
POV ~ dual 1st
Featuring ~ cats up the waz, dementia, enemies~ish to friends to lovers, opposites attract, slow burn, minimal steamage, no 3rd act break up

Miles & Kitty
Miles is looking for someone to take care of his moms cat while she's in the hospital. In steps, or trips rather, cat sitter extraordinaire, Kitty. They don't get off on the right paw, but slowly ease into a friendship as they each deal with their own family guilt.

I don't mind cats ~ my girl Stubb lived to be 19 years and 10 months old, but holy catness batman, it's a lot! Her name is Kitty and her bff's name is Kat, cats on the shirts, on the car, even on her underoos...

Both of their mom's situations were sad and broke my heart. One is still grieving from losing her husband and the other is slowly losing her memories from dementia. The way each was there for the other was nice and comforting.

Overall, not my favorite Helena read, but there were some funny moments to go with some rolling the eyes moments, AND I love, love, love that there was no 3rd act breakup!!

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC.

🌟🌟🌟 3/5 stars

A Love Catastrophe is a cute romcom about internet-famous kitty whisperer, Kitty, and her grumpy hockey nerd client, Miles. Miles and Kitty have a disastrous meet-cute and are two opposites. However, as they bond over their family histories, they realize they may have more in common than they thought.

This was a sweet little story that improved as it went along. There were a bit too many cat puns for me, but I read it in less than a day. The pace is easy and breezy, making this a great poolside read.

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

At first, I wasn't sure what I thought of this book. Kitty seemed like a caricature of a person and I wasn't sure if this was a serious book or not, but I kept reading. I ended up enjoying the book. I felt like a little more could've been done, but I thought each character was pretty well developed and I enjoyed their relationship. All in all, this was a good book. I'm not sure if it would be top of the list of romances I recommend to people, but it might be somewhere on that list. Also, I loved that it was in Canada. Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for this ARC!

This is a DNF for me, and I'm disappointed because I've loved other books from this author in the past.

I think this book fell through a bit for me.. I may just be in the middle of a slight reading slump but this book did not help to pull me out of it. I think this was just okay for me. I probably would not recommend this to a friend though.

I think you have to like cats a little bit to enjoy this book, and I do not. There were so many cat puns and cat names and just, well, cats. It was just too much and sort of took over the personality of the book for me.

I love a fun rom com, but this one was just a little too out there for me.

This book was super cute! It has cats, dogs, hockey, some opposites attract, enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine! I loved Kitty and Miles together. Their banter was so good! Awkward at times, but mostly because neither of them knew what they were doing! It was full of goofy puns and meddling pets. But there was also a lot of tender moments and emotional things both of them were going through.

I loved how quickly Miles and Kitty connected, even when they were arguing and butting heads. It took a little while for them to really realize that they could and do like each other, they had a lot going on, so the pacing was done really well! Once they did they wasted no more time! And I loved that so much for them.

They both had very similar backgrounds. They both lost family members which then halted everything in their lives. It’s like both of their families got stuck in their grief. And it wasn’t until they saw someone else living the same life did they realize they can and should change something. They were exactly what the other one needed and it was so good for them. And for both of their families! It was so nice to see everyone moving on in a healthy way.

This book was sweet! It was a little overly cheesy sometimes. But I wasn’t expecting anything different since Kitty was a professional cat sitter and her best friends name is Kat who owns a Cat Cafe.

Thank you to Netgalley and Forever Publishing for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Big thanks to Grand Central Publishing, Helena Hunting and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions.

2⭐️

Plot: 3/5
Writing: 1/5
Ending: 1/5

Basic Plot: Grumpy man falls for his awkward but cheerful cat sitter and be prepared to endure endless cat puns

My Thoughts:

One word for this one.... CRINGE. I almost DNFed multiple times. I even debated rating this one star when I exclusively save that rating for books I couldn't get through. The plot kept me interested and I liked the idea of it.... but the execution of the story, not so much. I think I honestly might have been able to endure this one if there weren't so many cat puns and so many absolutely cringey sentences....

Let's just say, if I ever showed a man my boobs and he said the words "hello there ladies..." out loud, he would immediately be kicked to the curb. Don't even get me started on what she decided to call her "bingo button" - that term should never be used in context unless there is ACTUAL bingo involved. This book felt like a high school story written by a high schooler who loved cats and decided to self-publish - not an established author. AND I LOVE ROM-COMS but this was just wayyyyyy too much.

1.5-star rounded up to a 2-star, I guess. Will I recommend this one? Paws-atively not. It made me want to actually claw my eyes out and should be called an actual catastrophe. If you think those cat puns were bad and still feel like reading this - then be prepared for about 1000 more of them that were even worse than I can give.

I could not get into this book. There was so much talk of cats in the beginning…more cats than people, and I just couldn’t get invested. Thank you for the chance to read it.

Miles Thorn is in desperate need of someone to take care of his mother’s cat while she is in the hospital after being found late at night in the streets in her pajamas, not knowing where home was. Between his new job as an analyst for the NHL, which means he’s sometimes on the road with the team, and his mother’s cat hating him, Miles knows he’s over his head. After an online search, he finds Kitty Hart, also known as the Kitty Whisperer, who has a booming cat-sitting business.

Let’s just say that there was nothing cute about their first meet. Kitty trips and the contents of her purse get thrown around his mother’s driveway. Miles is a dog person, which makes Prince Francis, his mother’s hairless Sphynx, not his biggest fan. Plus, Miles calls Prince Fracis a gremlin. Not to mention, with his mother in the hospital, there’s no one home to give Prince Francis the attention he expects. And when Prince Francis is unhappy, he makes trouble. Which leads to Miles tackling Kitty to the ground as she pulls out a water gun to correct the cat’s bad behavior. Sure, he thought it was a real gun, even though it was light blue, and that’s when the bad first impression was made even worse.

Nevertheless, Kitty takes on Prince Francis as a client, while Miles sorts out whether his mother is going to be released back to her own home or will have to be relocated to somewhere with more care. While a routine is put in place, Miles’ mother’s house becomes the place that he and Kitty meet after work, not just to talk about the cat, but to talk about life. They are an unlikely twosome… she’s sunshine and he’s like a cloudy day. But they do say opposites attract.

This book has a lot of cat puns, but it also has real-life issues like early onset dementia, family losses when both main characters were younger, both trying to figure out their lives while caring about the parent they do still have. Plus, there are young hockey players that keep trying to horn in on what Miles wants for himself, which honestly gives him the kick in the pants to go for it. In the end, Miles and Kitty’s story made me smile and that was worth staying up past my bedtime to finish this book.

Thank you to the publisher for this free galley in exchange for an honest review! This has been my favorite Helena Hunting novel so far. Quick, easy and addictive. This book would be a great read to throw in your beach bag this summer.

I loved this book! I fell for the characters and the plot flowed very well. I loved the slow burn of their romance. I enjoyed this read immensely and would recommend it to anyone!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher Forever team for the advanced copy.

Miles and Kitty both have pretty complex emotional backgrounds. They have both had immense loss in their lives, and while it looks different, it's quite similar. I love their initial dislike of one another and the slow burn of seeing them fall for each other.

Kitty is a delight! Her ability to make light of many situations is quite enduring.

Miles is tough on himself because he isn't a hockey player in a hockey centered job.

His insecurities and her upbeat attitude are a combination of wonder. I enjoyed this read immensely. Highly and enthusiastically recommend!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher Forever team for the advanced copy.

This was sweet and emotional love story. These two characters were just "it" for each other. The story was just the perfect mix of funny and sad to pull at your heartstrings in the best way.

I gotta say, the beginning had me worried a little but it all worked out in the end. Lately I feel like there's been a trend of extra "quirky" fmc's that just don't seem realistic to me and I was really afraid thats where this was going with Kitty. But, she mellowed out and became more relatable once we got into the story. I'm not sure we can call this an enemies to lovers, more of a bad first and second impression to lovers? I'm usually all for an enemies to lovers trope, but maybe bc Kitty made a lot of disparaging comments about dog people I struggled to get into it (I love cats but am allergic and def more of a dog person so I felt judged) and really enjoyed that we quickly moved to friends to lovers.

Because once we got past the beginning this is really a very sweet story of two people navigating grief and great change in their life. Kitty and Miles have a lot to relate and help each other with even though their situations are very different. Grief does weird things and they are able to help each other navigate their own guilt and deal with family stuff that's been simmering a long time. Helen does a fabulous job balancing the comedic aspect of the romcom with the serious aspects, which is something that can be really hard to do.

And we cannot forget Prince Francis and Wilfred! I love animal characters and they both are amazing, especially Prince Francis! I love a pet with personality and Prince Francis has that in spades!

There are a lot of potential triggers with health issues and death so feel free to message me if you want to know more about the CWs.

I picked this up the other week because Estelle mentioned during the summer preview event that A Love Catastrophe was a slump buster, which was exactly what I needed.

I flew through this novel in less than 24 hours - thanks to things like work, and other previous appointments, it wasn't something I could read in one sitting.

Miles, a dog person, needs to find a pet sitter to watch his mom's cat while she's in the hospital, and he's on a business trip. He is able to find Kitty the Kitty Whisperer (yes, an unfortunate name for the business but she didn't realize it until after she did all her branding). a cat sitter/wrangler/influencer. Their first meeting, while not disastrous, could have gone better. Miles did get Kitty to agree to watch the cat. Through the cat caring lessons, Miles and Kitty get to know each other, and their bond cements after Kitty needs to take Miles to the hospital because of an allergic reaction.

There is comedic situation after comedic situation, which led me to fly through the book, but Hunting also tackles a few serious issues. The loss of a child/sibling, loss of a spouse, grief and grieving, early on-set dementia. I felt that while these issues were handled lightly in the novel, they were handled well. Each character processing their trauma, without making the trauma the focus.

I think there's also an underlying growth arc for both Miles and Kitty. Where if they are willing to take risks, things will happen that will lead to change. Sometimes this change is needed, especially if they've been stagnant for so long, that they don't realize it's impeding the ability to move on.

Five stars!!!!!! This story was such a cute romantic comedy!!!!!!!! I really enjoyed it! Helena Hunting can always be counted on for some good laughs in her romantic comedy stories! I definitely recommend!