This was not at all what I expected. I felt really mixed emotions for our hero, who was having to come to terms with his mom’s diagnosis. I felt sorrow for him as he dealt with the shock of her medical condition, horrified at the state of her house and how she was living without him knowing it, dread at how he was going to have to empty the entire place, and then having to rely on someone to come in and feed cats who was giving him a hard time was too much! I did not like her at all. Then I realized I was projecting my similar past situation and emotions (except no romance and a very nice pet caretaker) on the story.

I still think Kitty was almost a caricature at the beginning. Daft. Then, once the point was made that she loves cats and he loves dogs, we settled into the real part of the character. Maybe that is the point of the story- people let things like a love of cats vs dogs keep them from enjoying relationships with each other, or judging people for pet hair on their clothing, or for wearing an over-the-top cat shirt. Aren’t those silly reasons not to like someone, much less love someone?

I read Helena Hunting’s novel Meet Cute and enjoyed it, so I was looking forward to the same kind of experience with A Love Catastrophe. The initial set up was kind of cute with a few small hiccups, but things started to really decline for me around page 90.

Here are few of the things that went wrong for me:
-The cat puns were over the top and made me cringe.
-There wasn’t a main conflict in the story that engaged my interest and compelled me to keep reading.
-There were too many mini conflicts (or subplots) that presented themselves and then quickly and easily resolved.
-The characters all felt underdeveloped.
-Every relationship (including the romantic relationship between the MCs) lacked depth, connection, or chemistry.
-The quirkiness of the MCs (although funny to begin with) became uncomfortably awkward and embarrassing to read.
-Every time I picked up the book and started to read, I was fast asleep within 20 minutes. (Actually, this helped my insomnia, which is a good thing in the long run. I just don’t think most people are hoping to fall asleep when they pick up a book.)

Although I have a cat and appreciate her, I don’t think I’m enough of a cat person (or dog person for that matter) to really connect with this book in the way hard core pet owners would. There’s no way I’d let my cat sit on my head, sleep on my bed, or wrap herself around my neck like a living stole. I’m not the right demographic for this story, but I’m sure there are library patrons who will love it.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
#ALoveCatastrophe #NetGalley

Unfortunately, I have decided to DNF this book. I do not think I'm the target audience for it. I do like cats but I think only a true cat lover will appreciate this one. The first few chapters with the cat talk were a bit much for me but I expected it to calm down a bit once we got more into the story and focused more on our two MC's. That didn't really happen and honestly took me out of the story a bit.

I also would have liked more development between our MC's. It felt like a lot was happening but not enough to grip me into wanting to stay and complete the story. The romance felt a bit forced but I was already struggling to finish the past couple of chapters so it could have been me.

I did enjoy some of the humor, the hockey sports rep, as well as the dementia awareness. Definitely recommend it if you are a cat lover!

A lot of my book friends recommend Helena's Pucked and The Shacking Up series so I still plan to check these series!

Thank you to the publishers who kindly provided the ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher, NetGalley, and Helena Hunting for a chance to read an early copy of “A Love Catastrophe.” I really enjoyed this title, despite not being particularly fond of cats. :) The development of the friendship and eventual romance between Miles and Kitty felt natural - their meeting was initially awkward and it took each of them a while to warm up to the other. I liked how each character grew during the story and supported one another through challenging times. I highly recommend this book to other readers of contemporary romance, especially if you love cats. :)

3.25/5 stars! I have read several books by Helena Hunting and really enjoy her writing style, so I was excited to read this book. I'm also a sucker for the grumpy sunshine trope, which this book had in spades. I did like Kitty and Miles. Their romance and chemistry was sweet and silly. But the cat angle was over the top and kept taking me out of the story with cringiness. Love this author and trust her writing, but parts of this story were a miss for me.

I received an advance review copy for free through NetGalley, and I am leaving this review voluntarily

Thank you, Forever and Netgalley, for the arc!

So this book would either go two ways for me: a complete catastrophe, or I’d adore it. Thankfully, it was the latter. I’m not a cat person, but I’m a fan of Helena Hunting and animals, so I figured I should give A LOVE CATASTROPHE a chance. I’m delighted I did.

I laughed so much - I had no idea there were so many cat puns. The chemistry between Daisy and Miles was superb. And the side characters - both human and animal - really enhanced the story.

The pacing was great. I loved the choice that Hunting made to flip the chapters between Daisy and Miles occasionally. It enhanced the story and gave a lot of insight into each character.

I had a lot of fun reading this. I love when books make me laugh out loud, which this one did a lot. Picking this one up to read would be a pawsitively perfect idea!

CW: dementia, grief, death of a parent, death of a child, cyberbullying

If you are a cat person, this book is definitely for you. It is a cute and funny romcom about a cat sitter and a dog nerd person falling in love (nerd level bow tie with binary numbers lol). There were so much awkward and quirk moments that you cannot not love both of them. Despite the love and funny moments, both the two characters had to learn how to move on from the grief of their past. I really enjoy this book. There was fun, love, emotional moments and no drama between the two.

*Thanks Netgalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing), Forever for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Equal parts funny and light. There was some dark times but light always came through. I thought the book was awesome. I found some of the cat training to be interesting and could feel the nails of Prince Francis in my leg as my cats do the same. The ending was sweet and predictable but it was a good read.

Such a cute and quirky read! A cat lover, Kitty Hart meets hockey and dog lover, Miles Thorn. At first, they can't stand the sight of each other, and coupled with their initial awkward meeting, any chemistry they may have originally felt is immediately dissolved. As time goes on, the attraction becomes stronger, and they find themselves drawn to each other, with their respective animals only making the bond stronger.

The humor here is laugh out loud hilarious!! I absolutely adored Kitty's sense of humor and awkward cringe moments- SO relatable. Miles' viewpoint on things was also cute and refreshing. I truly enjoyed this one from start to finish.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!!

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.

I’ll start by saying I’ve read and enjoyed quite a lot of Helena’s sports romances but have not been enjoying her recent contemporary releases.

First off I found the writing in this cheesy and awkward.
Add that to characters that have absolutely no chemistry at all whatsoever and you get this book. The MMC actively dislikes and insults cats and the FMC works with cats for a living.
The main characters felt like fuck buddies at best. I was tempted to dnf but I wanted to see if the book got better in anyway but it really didn’t. There were too many plotlines and an overwhelming emphasis on cats and puns to really allow for much depth in the story.

This one missed the mark for me. Was hoping to get a delightful rom-com and that cat content took over. Would not recommend.

Utter disappointment. The plot was thin at best, and there was no drama. I completely did not buy the female character, she was quirky but stuck and it was boring, I also did. It love that she only began to change when a man forced her to. The sex was uninspiring and lacked heat.

Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to review this ARC.

3.5 stars. I haven’t read any books from this author, but I’ve been told this one it a bit different. I will preface this by saying, I love cats… but felt like it may have been too much cat. The cat puns were a bit much.

The spicy moments felt awkward to the point of finding myself literally cringing. I love an open door book, most of the time it’s a requirement for me to read a romance. It was a frenemies to lovers. Some social anxiety and grief. May want to check trigger warnings.

It wasn’t my favorite March read, but I could absolutely see it being others. As someone that is incredibly anxious and socially awkward, I find it hard reading it, maybe because I relate too much. I’d rather a book not be loaded with fluff details and kind of get more too the point.

A Love Catastrophe is simultaneously more silly and more sad than I was expecting, and I didn't really feel the chemistry between the two protagonists. I love the concept, but I found this book to be more awkward than sweet.

I really wanted to like this entire book because it started so good. The first 50-60% of the book I enjoyed. There was good tension, banter and emotional stuff. She even took care of him after an ER visit.

I liked that the characters were quirky, nerdy and awkward because I could relate to that. And I could overlook all the cat puns for the sake of the plot.

However, the second half of the book just fell flat for me. After they got together and got his mom settled everything seemed forced. There was a lot of focus on the cat business and not a lot of the development of the relationship and it got kind of boring. The problems seemed forced and the resolutions seemed rushed.

Overall pretty quick and cute read just got a little boring.

Helena Hunting is a wonderful writer. She crafts beautiful stories full of wonderful characters. This was a fabulous book that I enjoyed reading. I can't wait to share this fun, engaging stories with others through recommendations.

A Catastrophe indeed! I really liked the description of this book and the first 10% but then it went downhill and spiraled fast. I think the book just tried to do too many things and it was cumbersome and overwhelming and in the end made the book extremely overwhelming and the romance underwhelming. First the positive, I really liked the introduction to the characters, their meet cute, that they're both a little awkward and adorable. I was really excited to see their love evolve and the premise is truly unique, I have never read anything like it. However, so many things were shoved into this book. First we have the dual character plotlines around grief and guilt. While completely unrealistic that two people randomly meet and have the same exact trauma and help each other, I can see it. Their families are perfectly paralleled- they both feel guilt and responsibility by negligence about the death of a family member. Their mothers fell apart and they picked up the slack. COINCIDENCE! But now Miles' mother has early onset dementia which started out mild and has her fully blown out amnesiac within half the book!!!! This felt a bit heavy and unreasonable. Why do the mothers never meet and interact??? So I thought that's what the plot would be about - growing from grief and loving cats. Don't get me wrong, this book is one giant ode to cats. I've never read so much about cats. It completely overshadowed the romance if I'm honestly but I can lean in.
And maybe if the book had stopped there, it would have been fine. But then it had to have a huge subplot about social media fame and infamy, animal abuse, cat training, influencing, and even... hockey player fame. All of it was excessive and unnecessary. It was a LOT.
Again... where was the romance? Our characters basically just fall in love, easy as. One minute he's tackling her, then she's staying at his mother's house and then they're together. I did appreciate the lack of third act breakup but the romance was paltry. The ex scenes even worse. After reading a clit describes as a "bingo button", I'm not sure I want to ever have sex again. And then after reading "I hugged your penis with my vagina", I'm absolutely sure this author has made me never consider it. Sex scenes were lame with no steam or connection. Time was measured as forty five minutes and two orgasms... every time.
Finally, the addition of random characters that were meant to be important and just weren't. I liked focusing on Miles and Kitty's families and those descriptions and characters were good and pretty well developed. But then we came to the extras that were supposed to be best friends but got absolutely left to the wayside - Kat and Josh. Remember them? Ya, no one does either. Kitty's a fairweather friend it seems as she only sees Kat to do paperwork and promos. Josh... Miles could not ditch him fast enough for Kitty. Brit Sheers? a third act addition for no reason! Teresa, a person named FANCY, a cat (??? People used as plot devices and added nothing but confusion.
I wouldn't recommend this to anyone and that's a real shame. Didn't hit my bingo button that's for sure.

Thank you @readforever for the early copy!

This has such a cute premise, and being from Helena Hunting, I knew I wanted to read it ASAP!

One word to describe A Love Catastrophe would have to be quirky. Don’t get me wrong, it has adorable moments, cute cats, and fun characters, but it is definitely a quirky read! The cat puns had me LOLing. Miles and Kat went from hating each other to being obsessed with each other pretty quickly and I feel that their story was a quick & easy one.

There are some heavy topics mentioned but Helena handles them with a light touch.

ARC received from NetGalley
I am not going to lie - this book ended up being a lot more serious than I initially gave it credit for. Based on the title I was expecting a cheesy love story filled with cat puns (which it delivered), but the author also hit hard topics such as death of family member, grief, aging parent, cyberbullying, and being true to yourself.

The story revolves around Kitty, owner of a cat care service and genuine sweet soul, and Miles, an analyst for an NHL team. Kitty is hired to care for Mile’s mom’s cat while she is being moved into a home for early onset dementia. Kitty and Miles don’t get off on the right foot – basically cat lover vs. dog lover. As they spend more time together and reveal more about themselves, their relationship soon grows from enemies to lovers.

Overall, this is book was a sweet and emotional read. It read like a Hallmark movie. At times the cat puns made me cringe, but they also added to Kitty’s quirky personality. Though I wouldn’t recommend the book to everyone for this reason.

Thank you to @netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for this ARC. Kitty "the whisperer" Hart has been called to help cat sit for Miles while his mom is in the hospital. When she arrives for her first home visit, Miles and Kitty start off on the wrong "paw".
If you want a cute, easy, steamy read, this one is for you!
#ALoveCatastrophe #HelenaHunting #June2023 #GrandCentralPublishing