I wanted to read this book as I am a huge cat lover. I currently own 3 cats, 2 of them are rescued cats. I used to spend a lot of time at my local cat shelter and learnt about how the cats came to be there. I hoped that this book would have have stories about the cats but they were barely mentioned.
The human characters were definitely at the front of the story and I was disappointed that there was no storyline involving the cats. It was good how the book shows the struggle involved in keeping animal shelters open. Sadly the cat shelter where I got one of my cats from closed due to Covid-19 and didn't reopen.
There wasn't much cosiness about this book either. The title is very misleading. There was a lot of sadness and heartache within the characters. I did enjoy the book, but not as much as I expected to.
Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for my ARC.

Princess Fuzzypants here: . It took me a bit longer to get into the book as I kept waiting for the kitty characters to make their appearance. But slowly I became ‘enmeshed in the lives of the humans who volunteered and took care of the cats until they could find their forever homes.

There is Luke who is searching for his birth mother who happens to be Sasha, who run the charity. He is determined to find out who he is in spite of the objections of his adopted parents and the avoidance of Sasha. What he finds is so much more. All the characters have been damaged. They all do not realize it but they need the support and friendship of the people with whom they share the journey of saving the rescue and finding a new home for the cats.
There is Paul and Anna and Mim who turns out to be the catalyst for many of the good things that happen. They find love and purpose caring deeply about the cats.

Anyone who has ever volunteered at a shelter will understand the human/feline connection. The kitties and the humans who look after them are very special. Four purrs and two paws up.

The Cosy Cat Society was a real life book. I don't mean that it was a biography, but it was fiction that captures all facets of life as so many of us live it. The sheer amount of topics that this book touches on all wrapped up in a theme of animal therapy is amazing. Each of the characters the book follows has their own issues. Sascha, the owner of the cat sanctuary is struggling with the upcoming eviction from the property and has no idea how to ask for help. On top of all that, the child she gave up when she was 16, has shown up as a grown man asking to know who his mom is. That man Luke just wants to know why he is the way he is, and feels the only way to do that is to meet and understand the woman who gave him one half of his genetics. Paul just recently got out of a horribly emotionally abusive relationship and is trying to figure out how to go about life now that he has the freedom to do so without being judged. Mimi is a retiree, with no children, trying to come to terms with the way her life turned out. She had great times as a holiday agent in Spain with her husband. All that time abroad has left her depressed over the fact that they never had a family, no matter how hard they tried. Last, but not least, there is Anna. Anna was the character I connected with the most. She has just lost her parents after a year long battle with dementia. She has some severe mental health issues that cloud her judgement in every way. She can't bear to get rid of anything with sentimental value (which is everything). She is anxious about everything life has to offer. The author does a fantastic job of demonstrating just how mental health problems manifest as issues that other people can clearly see are ridiculous. Or that it's just completely irrational. However, when you're in the thick of it, your brain chemistry clouds all of this. So, all of these characters interact to bring out the best in each other. Through all of their trials and tribulations, everyone that volunteers in the cat sanctuary learns how to deal with all of these real life problems. The underlying work with the cats as a type of therapy brings all of them together and unites them in a cause.. They need to save Fluffy Paws and they need to do it quick. If you are looking for a book to show you that life will always find a way to work itself out, and that there is always a way to find a family, The Cosy Cat Society is for you.

The story of five strangers who meet at a cat rescue and help each other as well as all the cats. Told from various points of view, but easy to keep up with.

Dnf at 10%

Unfortunately this just wasn’t for me - despite really hoping it would be! It’s been been advertised as a cosy book, and maybe the cosy vibes picked up after a while but it was just…making me sad. There was a lot of characters, none of whom I really connected with, who were dealing with a lot of issues, and I sadly just couldn’t click with the writing.

Hopefully others enjoy it more than me!

Thank you to the publishers, and Netgalley, for the early copy to review.

The Cosy Cat Society sounds like a wonderful tale of friendship and love for those who enjoy cats. It unfortunately did not live up to those expectations. While I pushed through to finish the novel, it took a very long time for lack of interest. This review will cover specifically why I debated not finishing this story.

The first issue that arose with Cosy Cat Society was the cultural reliance on both mannerisms and phrases of UK English. While this was not a complete deterrent to the text itself, it made it difficult to digest as an American reader. However, this alone was easy to forgive and still feel enveloped in the story. What was the most difficult aspect of the story was the lack of investment in each main character. While the author tried to provide some character development, none of the characters were relatable or relatively interesting. The romances were forced over a short time period and characters with issues found them quickly resolved with minimal impact to their daily lives. It was such a picture perfect scenario that it felt dull and boring.

The Cosy Cat Society is a poor fit for a name as cats played such a minor roll in this novel. The cat sanctuary brought these characters together, but it really did nothing to support the story other than provide a communal problem that magically solved everyone's issues. Likewise, the plotline bounced between viewpoints with no clear indication of time or purpose. The story fell flat, much like each of the characters.

This novel receives a two star review instead of a one star simply for the effort. There is a good idea here, but the author truly missed the mark.

*This review was collected from an ARC provided by NetGalley

Absolutely brilliant, loved it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me an advance copy, I will definitely be recommending.

Ok, if you are looking for cute cat stories, this is not the book. This is about the people who work in a non profit cat shelter. All of them had different approaches to life and deal with issues from loneliness, mental health, regrets, fear, etc. In that sense it was great to see them be there for each other, showing a lot of support and love. The ending felt a bit disjointed, because they tell you about things that happened, and then go back in time to tell how that went, so it gave me a bit of whiplash... I did feel that the characters could have been fleshed out a bit more, but we get enough to feel satisfied with their journey. And we get our happy ending, which is always good.
It is a feel good, warm story.

I am a cat person through and though and immediately picked this story because it sounded touching and fun. And it sure was! The story warms the heart, the cat sanctuary setting was purrfect, and the charming narrative and fully fleshed characters -- each working through personal angst -- made for a feel-good tale I could not put down. Recommended!

I received a free copy from the publisher through Netgalley and voluntarily reviewed it.

I DNF'd this one at 8%

I was in the mood for a cosy uplifting read with cats and instead this was just sad and depressing. Every chapter had a new main character and they all have big problems and struggles. It made me sad and feel bad for these characters. It wasn't cosy or uplifting and I wasn't in the right mood for such a read. Also there were very few cats so far and the focus more on all the various main characters, with the pov switching every chapter so far I was hard to get attached or interested in any of the characters. The writing style didn't really work for me either. So I decided to set this one aside.

I’m really not sure how I felt about this one.

On the one hand, it highlighted the struggles cat rescues go through and there were some sweet moments with the cats. The name of the rescue “Fluffy Paws” is just the cutest.

But on the other hand, it was hectic. There was a lot going on with this book and because of this I felt I didn’t really gel with any of the characters.

I would have preferred more on the cats and the rescue than the chaos that was the characters.

Such a cute and cosy read!
It is a lovely story about the volunteers of a cat sanctuary who come together to help the sanctuary find a new home as its current premises are being sold. Each of the staff and volunteers also have their own personal issues to deal with from finding their birth Mum to relationship issues and grief over lost parents, as well as other things too.
Love this story.

Soft and fluffy in patches. I loved the idea of community spirit when the cat sanctuary was under threat. Being from Essex originally i enjoyed all the local geography. Just felt abit lacking after reading some books recently which really held my interest.

As a cat lover the book cover and title, “The Cosy Cat Society” caught my attention straight away!

It is a lovely story about the volunteers of a cat sanctuary who come together to help the sanctuary find a new home as its current premises are being sold. Each of the staff and volunteers also have their own personal issues to deal with from finding their birth Mum to relationship issues and grief over lost parents to name a few.

There is quite a lot going on in this book and at times I felt we weren’t able to get as deep as I’d of liked in to some of the storylines before we jumped back to one of the other ones. But overall I really enjoyed this book and would read more from this author. The characters coming together for a good cause (saving the cat sanctuary) and their friendships despite their own personal struggles were really lovely to read about. Also felt you got a little insight into cat rescue homes too.

I’d say my rating is probably around the 3.5 starts out of five mark.

Many thanks to Hera Publishing and NetGalley for the advanced digital review copy of The Cosy Cat Society. Let's get into my thoughts on this one.

What I Liked

I loved the diverse cast of characters and how we slowly got to know them and their lives over the course of the book. It was nice to dip in to each of their lives and get to know them, plus see each character through the eyes of others. The characters and wanting to see how things turned are definitely what

The quest to save the Fluffy Paws cat sanctuary was nice overarching plot point and gave the story a bit of urgency.

The characters and wanting to see how things turned out for them and the cats is definitely what kept me invested in reading this book, even though there were a few elements that did have me considering putting it down.

What I Didn't Like

Unfortunately, the writing style for this book often didn't work for me. The author uses a lot of comma splices throughout, which are a particular pet peeve of mine. This made it pretty difficult for me to sink into the story like I wanted to, because I just kept noticing the sentence structure.

I also felt that it took a little while to get invested in the characters, because some bits of the story moved quite slowly and I never got a clear idea of some of them. In general, the plot was a bit uneven, and some seemingly major moments took place off page, which was a bit jarring.

In all, this definitely delivered on the promise of cozy and cats, even if there were some elements that were a bit lacking for me personally as a reader. I think cat lovers who don't mind a comma splice and enjoy a full cast of characters will definitely enjoy this one!

I would like to thank netgalley and Hera Books for a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Just not keeping my attention.

Thank you for the ARC

Being a cat lady and sharing my home and life with 5 rescue cats, I was really hoping to like this book more than I did. I enjoyed how cats brought together 4 vey different people and provided solace to each. But the story moves slowly and characters are not well developed enough or interesting enough to have me fully recommend this book. Even the cats are not well developed. I would have oved to learn more about the cats, their names and unique personalities.

A DNF for me unfortunately. I really wanted to love this book and had great hopes for it however I just feel like it felt slightly flat.. For me personally there was just too many characters and too much bouncing about. If multiple perspectives coming all together is what you like you may love this book as it does have a good storyline and it does have potential to be a really heart warming book. Just for me. there's too many characters and cuts to form a relationship with them properly.

2.5 but I'll round it up to three because I hope anybody who reads this realises the work that animal charities to to protect vulnerable animals.

Overall, I was a bit underwhelmed by this book. The title made me believe that I'd love it as I'm huge cat lover, but it fell a little flat for me. I found some of the story a bit cringe and there wasn't a while lot of depth to a few of the characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hera books for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Do you love cats? Are you craving a book from the UK? Do you love when a group of characters who have different stories weave together with one commonality? Or perhaps you love a heartfelt happily ever after? Then this book’s for you!

Charlie Lyndhurst’s The Cosy Cat Society is just as I had described above - it follows a group of people, no one real main character / all equally important to the story, who are all connected through Fluffy Paws adoption agency. Whether it’s grieving, stress at work or home, or complicated relationships, all of them find refuge in saving cats.

I absolutely adored this story. Heartwarming at its best. I felt like it was written for me at the perfect time, just having traveled to the UK and loving cats myself. Several times it made me smile, tear, and hug my cat. I loved it and have already bought my own copy - can’t wait for it to arrive!

A few criticisms I had - it was a bit slow to start. I felt like I was trying to get which character was who for a longer time than I’d liked. There were also points that felt repetitive - I actually stopped and thought I had read it already. And points in the book felt a bit dull and dragged.

Overall though, I loved the book and the cast of characters. Such a great feel-good story and one I’d be happy to reread again and again!