Come for the cats, stay for the poignant life stories.
Courtney does such an amazing job evoking emotions on every page. Not only does she paint each cat so well, but she packs in so much real life to the stories too. You wouldn't expect a memoir of cats to teach you so much about love, grief, sense of self, community, mental health, and more, but Courtney does it so beautifully.

Touching, reflective and incredibly vulnerable, Gustafson tells her story in short vignettes that are both engaging and deeply insightful, humorous and heartbreaking. While the stories do tell about the cats, they are also stories of Gustafson's exploration of self and her relationships with the people around her.

I really, really loved this. I also will say (without being a hater) that I really appreciated how Gustafson tells the stories of the animals without moving the reader too far into either saccharine sweetness or over the top melodrama, something that I think can be a fine line to walk when telling animal stories. Gustafson is a talented writer, easy to read and perfectly paced. I think this one is gonna have huge broad appeal.

I highly recommend! Poet's Corner releases April 29th. Thank you to @netgalley and @crownpublishing for the advanced reader copy.

It's always a bit hard for me to properly review memoirs; but i definitely loved this one. It did my cat-loving soul good and as a bonus, i found the writing engaging and easy to keep reading. This is sometimes a sticky point for me in memoirs but I didn't have any trouble getting through this one.

“Sometimes it seems like the sweetness between the cats has seeped into me. Sometimes I feel like I deserve it”.

This book tells the tale of Courtney Gustafson and the 30 feral cats that live in her yard. That’s what I thought when I started reading this but it’s so much more than that.

I gotta admit that I’ve been following Poets Square Cat for a couple of years now. As a cat enthusiast and cat rescuer myself, I loved following the stories of these feral cats. We get to hear the incredible stories of Gustafson’s cat rescuing adventures while also hearing about brutal reality of life and womanhood. I commend Gustafson’s vulnerability in this book and wish I could give her a big hug! This is so much more than a book about cats, it’s a book about love, grief, and community.

Thanks NetGalley for this arc!

Give me anything involving cats and I am sold.
But really, I'm not super big on memoirs and I actually really enjoyed this one a lot. I absolutely loved the way she weaved the stories of her life with the stories of the cats she has rescued and cared for.
I have followed Courtney on both tiktok and insatgram for a few years now and have always enjoyed reading her posts, as she has some really beautifully written captions, so I am not at all surprised I enjoyed her writing in this book.
Overall, a very lovely memoir!

A sweet memoir about the comings and goings of cats in a woman's life. I hadn't heard of Courtney Gustafson previously but I would definitely keep an eye out for her work in the future (especially if it also happens to be about cats!). Heartfelt, funny and very interesting, I loved reading this one.

This is a compelling read that relates the struggles of cats to the struggles of humans, all the while impressing upon the reader the importance of looking after feral cats and getting them the care they need.

Booktube video monthly wrap up featuring this book coming soon.

Throughout this beautiful, almost poetic, memoir, Courtney Gustafson weaves a web of emotion that is hard to crawl out of after you finish. With threads of anxiety, depression, grief, and all those bigger, unnameable feelings, she forces the reader to feel the deep emotion she writes of, whether or not they’re up for it. Told through both flashbacks and her present day life in Poets Square with her famed 30 cats, she tells a story of girlhood that is so deeply relatable it is almost painful to read.

What a charming and lovely book! This is a must-read for cat lovers and really all animal lovers. I have been following Poets Square for a few years now, and was thrilled to see this book coming out. Not only does Gustafson talk about her rescuing experience, but she also weaves in tales about her own life. I preordered a physical copy of this book, and am looking forward to a re-read once it arrives!

Perfect for lovers of cats, but most importantly, lovers of people.

When you usually hear "the internet is fake", you think of skinny, tanned models on luxury yachts. Not that your favorite cat rescue Instagram might be winging it as she goes like the rest of us! Poets Square: A Memoir in Thirty Cats is an honest look behind the curtain at the very real person behind the account.

“I started an Instagram account for the cats because I had too much love form them, scary amounts of weird obsessive love for these creatures in my carport who could, at any moment just die. I had a creeping sense of how big my grief would become. I was inviting someone to share it with me. Please, I was saying. I cannot feel this much by myself.”

Of course, Courtney Gustafson didn't mean to inherit a feral colony of 30 cats when she moved into a rental house with her boyfriend during COVID. But here she was, and there they were. Gustafson, like most of us, didn't know exactly what to do about her situation and initially thought she could ignore the pitter-patter of kitty feet on her roof and the big sad eyes of the kittens in her yard. But soon enough, she was cataloging each cat, spending hours and money to care for them, running an Instagram account and her own cat rescue.

None of this happened by accident, but it all happened organically and with hard work. Told in essays, Gustafson takes us through her life, her insecurities, and her duty to these cats. She's fearful that she can never do enough to save every cat, that maybe she's only doing it to prove she's a good person. She recounts sleepless nights searching for feral cats, digging through hoarders' homes to rescue dozens of kittens living in squalor, and the gut-wrenchingly human mistakes we all make when we care too much. While caring for cats all around Tucson, she meets all sorts of people living in various stages of poverty whose dedication to the roaming cats breaks your heart- because there is only so much we can do. The chapter "The Hotdog Man" will stick with me for so long. I knew the cats that lived there, but never their story.

I found Gustafson's musings on her emotional state beautiful in their openness and rawness. Her longing for community is all too real, and when dealing with the constant crisis mode of animal rescue, she feels herself slipping. But, those following her online and those in the local rescue community always came through and helped her find that purpose and drive to continue.

“I wanted belonging to be something I could inherit, something I could step into fully formed. I imagined community as a space I could passively inhabit. It would be so many years before I learned that community was an action, something we build and rebuild and contribute to. That belonging is something we invent.”


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

this was a sweet, compulsive, easy to read memoir about a woman who rescues feral cats in her neighborhood. she weaves in vignettes about her upbringing, family, and identity through stories of cats that she had saved and cared for. i love the overarching themes of community and care, as well as her commentary on gender, race, and systemic failures in our society that she finds ways to connect to her stories of being the neighborhood cat lady. i loved this book!

After following Courtney for the last few years I have had the pleasure of following her journey through social media. I was beyond excited for this book when it was first announced. This book was everything I wanted and more. Photos of the cats that I have loved through a screen had me crying on public transportation. As someone who works in food and nutrition, I had no idea Courtney’s background in that field and really connected with what she talked about facing during the pandemic. I enjoyed this book so much that I have already preordered a copy for myself. A must read for all cat lovers.

Poet’s Square by Courtney Gustafson is a heartfelt memoir that blends cat rescue with reflections on community, empathy, and personal growth. Gustafson’s storytelling is both raw and poetic, weaving tales of feral cats with deeper themes of mental health, systemic failure, and human connection. More than just a book about cats, it’s a meditation on care, resilience, and the impact of small acts of kindness. A moving, beautifully written read.

Poet’s Square by Courtney Gustafson is a poignant, character-driven novel set in a charming neighborhood where residents are bound together by their shared love of poetry and art. The story weaves the lives of these individuals, each dealing with their own personal challenges and dreams, into a tapestry of self-discovery, creativity, and emotional growth.

Gustafson’s writing is lyrical and evocative, capturing both the beauty of the characters’ creative expressions and their internal struggles. The pacing is reflective, allowing for deep character development and emotional exploration. The novel’s atmosphere is warm and inviting, making it an ideal read for those who appreciate stories about human connection and the transformative power of art.

Overall, Poet’s Square is a heartfelt and insightful read, perfect for fans of literary fiction and character-driven narratives about creativity and self-reflection.

The book is written around the premise of how feral cats helped the author understand more about the world and it's brokenness.

Thank you to Net Galley and the Publisher for an arc of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.
I love this book. There is no way other to describe this book other than an act of love. I have been following Poet Square Cats on tiktok and instagram since 2020 I think. Courtney speaks with love about every cat and the lessons she has learned through the hard work of caring for feral cats who may never love you back, and trying to care for the struggling communities who also love these cats.

The book reads in the same calm voice that Courtney brings to every video. Reading this book felt like a movie instead of a book. I love this book like a feral cat. I only wish there was more stories int he book.

As a fellow cat lover and rescuer, I’ve been a long time follower of Poets Square and have long admired her work with feral cats and TNR. For years, I looked forward to tales about her 30 feral cats- seeing Sad Boy and Lola’s love, MK and Georgie, Francois, Monkey.

This book was so much more than a tale of 30 feral cats. Courtney’s beautiful writing and the well- woven snippets of her life was a story about love, heartbreak, survival, humanity, and community. Her vulnerability and growth were admirable and I often found myself in tears while reading this book. An excellent memoir and a true 5 stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the arc!

I don't remember how I happened upon this book, but suspect I was drawn in by the inviting book title and the whimsical presence of cats on the cover. I do love cats, and at one point in my life owned three along with a dog. While I did enjoy the book, it did somewhat exhaust me as I neared the end with the neverending stories of cat rescues. This book is around 250 pages, but it began to feel like longer. The author Courtney and her partner Tim were renting a place in Tucson, Arizona called Poets Square, and they discovered around thirty feral cats occupying the area. She already had a love of cats having owned one called Bubbles in the past, who was a comfort to her. The author has a history of mental and physical challenges, and these passages about her own makeup were randomly interspersed throughout the book between the cat rescue stories. I actually would have enjoyed more of those glimpses into her person and a little less of the cat stories. Some of the rescue situations were tough to read about with hoarding and people living in condemned buildings and cars. Courtney would handle mammoth cleaning situations clearing mounds and mounds of garbage, while also feeding and caring for loads of cats. She learned rescue techniques like trapping so that she could transport cats to the vet for spaying and neutering, to control the population and help the cats live easier lives. She started posting photos and videos of these rescue cats on social media, and to her surprise garnered a huge audience of likes and interest. Through the success of these postings, she became monetized and also received a steady stream of donated pet food, toys, beds, and other needed items. She started with the cats where she lived, but it branched out to her being called into other rescue situations on a regular basis. Just reading about it I felt overwhelmed for her, and I admire her strength, hard work, and love for these animals that became her mission in life. This was a good read, but I just would have enjoyed the subject matter being balanced out with more human interest content about her personal life along with the cat rescue stories.

Thank you to Crown Publishing for providing an advance reader copy via NetGalley.

As a cat volunteer in my city and longtime follower of Poets Square Cats, I was so excited to see that Courtney would be putting out a book, and it absolutely surpassed my expectations (which were pretty high). Followers will recognize some of the stories and cats mentioned in the book, but it is more than a retelling of the Poets Square story; this book lets us get to know the person behind the cats and what caring for animals has taught her (that has nothing to do with animals). It shows us that caring is sometimes hard, dirty, and even confusing work. And to me, one of the most important things about this book is that it shows us as readers that anyone can step up and make a difference - we do not need specialized training or fancy equipment to improve the lives of the people and animals around us. We have more power to improve the lives of living things, be they animals, people, or our communities and environments, than we often think.

There are many lessons in Poets Square, some of which have nothing to do with cats but are about love and compassion for people, including ourselves. This is one of the best books I've read in quite a while (and I don't just say that as someone in the cat/animal area). The writing/prose of the essays are wonderful, the book is organized well, and I hope that readers will finish this book inspired to make something better for someone or something in the world - I certainly did.

I can't wait for this book to be released and for more people to read it. It's an absolute gem. Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for this eARC.

Thank you Courtney Gustafson and Crown Publishing for an ARC copy of Poets Square!

Rating 4.5/5

As a long time follower of Poets Square's TikTok and huge fan of all the cats, this was by far one of my most anticipated releases this year.

This book was so many things; a collection of silly cat stories, an exploration of the darker sides of rescue work, a realistic view of life with depression & anxiety, and most importantly how necessary a community is for you to truly thrive. Courtney’s narration on life, tragedies, and successes is both raw and inspiring.

I laughed, I cried (happy & sad tears), this is such an excellent memoir. I can't wait to see what Courney’s future holds!