#Review: Christmas at the Cat Café by Jessica Redland @JessicaRedland @BoldwoodBooks @rararesources #BoldwoodBloggers #newrelease #romance #CastleStreet #WhitsboroughBay #RespectRomFic

I’m so delighted today to be joining the blog tour for the latest book from Jessica Redland, Christmas at the Cat Café – set in Whitsborough Bay, on Castle Street (as were a number of her earlier books), but one you can enjoy as a standalone read. Published by Boldwood Books on 15th September, it’s now available as an ebook (free via Kindle Unlimited), in paperback, and as an audiobook. Many thanks, as always, to Rachel at Rachel’s Random Resources for the invitation and support, and to the publishers for my advance reading e-copy (provided via netgalley).

The last time I spent time on Castle Street, Jessica was an author who hadn’t yet hit the big time – I loved every one of those early books, and I’m really thrilled that they’ve now been enjoyed by so many more readers (thanks to Boldwood!) who’ve equally taken her to their heart. You’ll find all my early reviews if you pop her name into my search bar – and, of course, of her wonderful Hedgehog Hollow series, all the books set at the Starfish Cafe, and the first in her new Escape to the Lakes series too. But I’ve always loved the atmosphere on Castle Street at Christmas, all those lights and lovely windows and the fantastic community – and a new cat cafe, how perfect!

Let’s take a closer look…

It’s the most wonderful time of the year on Castle Street, and there’s a paw-some new business opening….

 

It had always been Tabby’s dream to work with cats and an inheritance from her beloved nanna has finally made that a reality. Idyllic Castle Street in Whitsborough Bay couldn’t be a better place for pastry chef Tabby to open a cat café with her boyfriend, Leon.

 

But when Leon leaves her in the lurch, the pressure mounts for Tabby. With Christmas fast approaching, she has to open the café on her own – a daunting prospect, especially when she’s been hiding her health issues from the ones she loves.

 

Faced with local resistance to the café – and somebody seemingly determined that she won’t succeed – Tabby will need her friends, family and cats more than ever to recover her broken Christmas spirit and pull together for a Christmas miracle.

 

Will the cat café bring the festive joy to Castle Street as Tabby had hoped or will it be a cat-astrophe? And can the magic of Christmas on Castle Street mend Tabby’s broken heart as well as her business?

 

Escape with million-copy bestseller Jessica Redland this Christmas for the purr-fect festive treat!

At one level this book is the engaging story of Tabby’s efforts to open a cat café on lovely Castle Street – using an inheritance from her grandmother, despite being let down by boyfriend Leon, finding unexpected opposition but also warm support from the community and the closest of friends, moving on to the need to make some difficult choices about her future. There are, of course, lots of cats – every one of them an individual, beautifully drawn – and I loved both Tabby herself and her passion for her project and her desire to share it with others.

But she also has a particular challenge with the unpredictability of fibromyalgia – a life-limiting condition that I previously knew shamefully little about, and I learned so much about its impact and the strategies to cope with its management. And perhaps the most important of those strategies becomes allowing others to be aware of how difficult living with pain can be, letting friends and family see her at her worst, and allowing them to step in and provide the most wonderful support.

The warmth of friends, family and community is something the author always does so very well – and never better than in this lovely book. The support she becomes able to draw on frequently brought a tear to my eye – I’m not the only person who loved Tabby, and the special people around her filled my heart with joy. There’s a particular focus too on following your dreams – and whether it’s sometimes ok to accept that the future might not be quite what you imagine or want it to be, and that’s a side to the story that’s handled with all the emotional sensitivity the author always brings to her stories.

The balance in this book is quite perfect – the delightful environment (so beautifully described) that Tabby creates, the day-to-day triumphs, but also the many setbacks along the way and their emotional impact. I can’t speak highly enough about the way Tabby’s health challenges are handled – never too heavy, but detailed enough to build a real understanding of her condition. And I so loved being back in Castle Street in time for the really special switch-on of those Christmas lights – with cameo appearances throughout from familiar and previously loved characters, but it really wouldn’t matter at all if this was your first and only visit.

For so many reasons, I think this was my favourite book yet from this really special writer – she just gets everything absolutely right, drawing it all together with the most perfect ending, and I couldn’t recommend it more strongly. Just perfect – and one of my books of the year.

About the author

Jessica Redland writes emotional but uplifting stories of love, friendship, family and community. Her Whitsborough Bay books transport readers to the stunning North Yorkshire Coast where she lives with her husband, daughter and sprocker spaniel. Her Hedgehog Hollow series, set in a hedgehog rescue centre, takes readers into the beautiful rolling countryside of the Yorkshire Wolds.

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