This book was a pleasure to read. It took me a while to get to know Lisa, the main character, who seemed to be a bit of a scatter-brain. But once I did, I enjoyed getting to know her story.

The story is told from both Lisa, and her friend Flick’s, point of view, and it was nice to get an insight into both of them. Flick is a really busy mum, with four small children, and her life is pretty hectic. They were both best friends growing up, but they lost touch with each other, and I was intrigued to find out what caused this, and to see if they could heal this rift.

She meets her childhood sweetheart, Nathan, after sending him a friend request following one too many sherries (the only alcohol she could find in her parent’s house!), and a will-they, won’t-they scenario begins.

As Lisa returns to her childhood home, and begins to reconnect with her old friends and her family, we find out what happened to her.

There are plenty of laughs in this book, and a host of great characters. I particularly liked Winnie and Dom, and Jack, the Labrador.

The Purrfect Pet Sitter is a fun, enjoyable read that had me laughing throughout. At first I struggled to connect with Lisa but the more I read the more I started to like her and I’m glad I stuck with it.

Lisa has returned to her hometown to set up a pet sitting business, she re-connects with an old friend, Flick and they soon become good friends again. The relationship between Lisa and Flick is believable and genuine. I enjoyed reading about their friendship as there are some similarities between some old friends I have.

I love Carol’s writing style, it’s the first book I’ve read by her but it definitely won’t be my last! Carol is engaging in her writing and she draws you into the book. There was more to the book than I was expecting at first glance – there’s themes of lost friends, moving on and second chances. Of course there are some pets involved and some gorgeous men that was enjoyable to read about!

There are some hilarious moments that are just brilliant, the book has a feel-good factor about it. I found this book to be a heart-warming and sweet read, full of lovely, down-to-earth characters which I loved reading about. It’s a perfect read for a warm summers day with a cool drink in hand, you’ll soon escape in Carol’s writing. A lovely read.

When Carol Thomas got in touch about reviewing 'The Purrfect Pet Sitter,' it sounded like too much fun to pass up, so I had to add it to my TBR pile. I'm so glad I did, because I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish.

Lisa Blake is back in her hometown, after years of travelling and then living in London. She's just started her new business and is trying to get it off the ground, even if her clients have a knack for running away! She's focused on getting her life back on track and learning to slowly accept the past. That is until she bumps into her past at the supermarket and all of a sudden it's all Lisa can think about. Can she really go there? Can she make amends and have back what she thought she lost forever? And that's just one part of her past! After drinking too much one night, Lisa drunkenly sends a friend request to her first love. What is she doing to herself and how on earth is that going to down? She's supposed to be starting afresh, instead she's opening doors that were closed many years ago, but maybe that's what she's needed for a long time!

You know those characters that you just click with and like? Well, Lisa Blake was one of them for me. I instantly warmed to her clumsiness and second guessing and worrying, because she felt like someone I would want to look after and be best friends with. I wanted to be there to boost her confidence and tell her she could do anything. She seemed like she needed that and it made me sad that she had been on her own, dealing with certain things for a while. I liked having her in my little world and wanted to be there for her. She made me laugh with her awkwardness and smile with how genuine she was.

I felt like there was always something going on in this story, which kept it moving steadily and holding my interest. From Lisa reconnecting with her friend Felicity and getting to read about her life and children, to Lisa's afternoon tea and biscuits with Winnie, I enjoyed meeting the wonderful cast of characters that made up the story, and I loved how each part of Lisa's life meant something and helped her move forward. It made me excited to sit down to read, that I even allowed myself some Sunday morning, curl up on my couch, reading time! Usually I'm busy writing or getting jobs done in the morning. This was a lovely treat, one that I relished in!

I also have to mention, that after reading 'The Purrfect Pet Sitter,' I know need to go to a chalet in France! Oh my goodness, Lisa's Mum and Dad had the right idea. Their place sounded amazing! I could picture the ski slopes, glistening white mountains and fairy lights and at Christmas too!!! Heaven! Literally, going to google chalets now! :)

If you are looking for a fun, romantic, heartwarming story, filled with friendship, love and not giving up on the past, then I definitely recommend reading 'The Purrfect Pet Sitter.'

Lisa returns to her childhood home for a fresh start, and to start a pet sitting business. Her parents have retired to France and her brother now lives in Australia. She had cut the ties with her friends when she mysteriously left the lovely seaside town and now back, she finds herself isolated and alone. The chats with the man from the Chinese takeaway and an elderly client called Winnie just weren't enough and she craved having her old friends back in her life.

By chance, Lisa bumps into a woman in the supermarket. She smells of vomit, is wearing a man's coat over a satin nightie with her ample cleavage bursting out and has bits of carrot in her hair. When their eyes meet, Lisa realises that the woman is her childhood best friend Felicity Forster (Flick) but  Lisa bolts without acknowledging her.

What did Lisa do that was so bad she disappeared completely from her best friend's life? Who is the mysterious ex-called Ben who broke Lisa's heart? What happened between Lisa and her first love Nathan? and will Lisa be able to repair the damage she's done and make a new start in her hometown?

I adored Lisa's elderly client Winnie who employed Lisa to walk her cross-eyed labrador, Jack. She came out with some pearls of wisdom including this one;

"Rotten eggs have a way of making their smell known in the end" 

Many women will relate to the character of Felicity, who juggles married life and four children in a permanently exhausted state. She provides some really comical moments that brought back some long lost memories.

I could tell from the start that Carol Thomas is a natural storyteller. Her characters are described with such fine detail that they evolve from the pages into real people. I love relatable characters in books and this is a great example and comes highly recommended.

Thank you to Rachel, the author and Ruby Fiction for supplying me with a copy which I reviewed honestly.

A delightfully charming read I simply could not resist, fans of Holly Martin and Jenny Colgan are going to love Carol Thomas’ enchanting novel, The Purrfect Pet Sitter.

When Lisa’s life in London ends in sudden disappointment and misery, she realises that she cannot continue to live in the big city surrounded by her own misery, disappointment and failure. Rather than curl up in a ball and wallow in self-pity, Lisa realises that the only way is up, so she moves back to her old hometown where she decides to reinvent herself as the purrfect petsitter – which might be an ever so slight misnomer as she does having a penchant for losing – or rather misplacing – her four legged friends albeit temporarily. But Lisa refuses to be deterred. She needs a fresh start and a new beginning and even though she has been away from her hometown for quite some time now, she soon learns that you simply cannot run away from your past – as she discovers when she begins to bump into old friends who have not yet quite forgotten what Lisa was capable of…

From an embarrassing encounter with her best friend Flick to a cringe-worthy meeting with her first love, Nathan Baker, with whom she has a rather wretched history, her old friends haven’t exactly welcomed Lisa with open arms. However, living in such close proximity with them, Lisa realises that she cannot continue to run away from her past and burying her head in the sand. She must confront her mistakes and atone for her old transgressions because only then can she begin to move forward with her life and finally find a place that she belongs and call call home.

As a mysterious leather-clad admirer comes into the picture, Lisa must find the courage to make amends and move forward and finally achieve the happiness which she has been searching for for so long…

Carol Thomas will charm her way into your heart with this irresistible romantic tale. The Purrfect Pet Sitter is a book that once you start reading, you will not be able to put as it is funny, touching, compelling and full of wonderful characters you will take to your heart.

A spellbinding tale you will read with a great big smile on your face, The Purrfect Pet Sitter is compulsively readable tale from a wonderful new writer, Carol Thomas.

I am highly impressed that the author managed to change my opinion of the book within a matter of chapters. I have to admit that I was umm-ing and ahh-ing about the storyline to begin with, crossing everything that the pace would pick up the more of it I read. Thankfully though, I wasn't left on the fence too long with my uncertain opinion as, before I knew it, I was snlaughing and covering myself in my boiling hot cup of tea. Oh how things can change!!

Lisa Blake, unfortunately, has a habit of mislaying her clients. And no, I don't mean the two-legged variety. For a person who you're supposed to have complete faith in to look after your pets, Lisa's track record isn't exactly the reassuring kind. That said, she more than makes up for it with her bubbly personality and the fact she would do absolutely anything for the dogs, even if it includes turning into one temporarily in water. (Trust me, it'll make sense once you read the book).

For Lisa Blake, life isn't all pooper scoopers, tearaway animals and looking after furry friends of the smaller variety, especially when she ends up coming face to face with someone she knew inside out. Can Lisa finally own up to her past mistakes? Or will her new/old friend end up tearing away like her four-legged friends?

'The Purrfect Pet Sitter' had me in absolute stitches more than once thanks to Lisa's questionable antics. Despite going through a tough time herself, she didn't take herself too seriously and was more than willing to get stuck into any situation, even if it meant her looking like a numpty. I thought the social media references were apt and brilliantly written, highlighting the true antics of twenty-something people everywhere. Anyone who says that they haven't facebook stalked before are lying!

I thought Felicity was a fantastic character to read about as she was just so black and white, coming out with a lot of things that mothers everywhere would be nodding their heads at.

All in all, my original opinion of 'The Purrfect Pet Sitter' got chucked out of the window quicker than Lisa caught her tear away dog. My gut instinct told me that this book was something special, and once again my gut instinct was one hundred percent correct.

Carol Thomas' novel is a fantastic, laugh out loud novel which will leave you feeling care-free and content. I cannot recommend this book enough - what a fun-filled read this is.

My Rating:

4.5

Favorite Quotes:

My Stan, you know, by God he knew how to treat a lady! The things we got up to when we took our bikes out of a Sunday afternoon. You should’ve seen us. Going alfresco, Stan would call it… The daft beggar! Ah, I miss him. I miss every bit of that man, I can tell you…

Less impressive were the too-tight-fitting Spiderman costumes worn by a marching band of elderly gentlemen, who were showing off more than their musical skills with the cut of their tights.

Uh oh, you didn’t find Napoleon, did you? … Napoleon Boneypart, the skeleton in my closet!

My Review:

I enjoyed this sneakily constructed second-chance romance, despite the slower pace of the developing story. The main character of Lisa Blake was struggling, oh so mightily, with absolutely everything. I wasn’t always as patient with Lisa as I should have been being that I had initially thought her selfish and then rather mousy and easily influenced, as I didn’t fully grasp just how damaged and traumatized she was until I was more than midway through the book. Oh this clever and wily author, she tucked sly humor into unexpected nooks and crannies and threw several curve balls that kept me a bit on edge by dropping clues and misdirection and deviously planted worrisome seeds to draw my concern in the wrong direction. And I fell for it. Silly me. Ms. Thomas’s writing was engaging, entertaining, and often amusing. I will be watching her for repeat visits.

THE PURRFECT PET SITTER by Carol Thomas is a heartwarming story about the importance of friendship, both old and new, and family.

Lisa Blake didn't plan to end up living back in her childhood home in her childhood town but when her relationship and life in London don't go to plan, home calls out to her. But it isn't long before Lisa feels like everyone has moved on except her and with her new job as the 'purrfect' pet sitter a lot harder than it looks, life just doesn't seem to be panning out as she planned. But when Lisa bumps into her old childhood friend, and drunkenly Facebook friends her first love, she starts to realise how her actions have impacted those from her past, and whether or not it is possible to start afresh in a place that holds so many memories.

A little slow to start, THE PURRFECT PET SITTER by Carol Thomas soon wormed its way into my heart and I was hooked on what was happening. While I liked all of the characters, Felicity was my favourite and I enjoyed learning about her life the most. There is canine capers, hurt feelings, some handsome admirers, and real friendship mixed throughout this story and it will definitely appeal to contemporary fiction fans who enjoy a rewarding story. Well worth a read.

Encouraging, enchanting, and winsome!

The Purrfect Pet Sitter is a sweet, charming, heartfelt read about rediscovering and renewing old relationships, moving on from heartbreak and loss, and remembering the importance of family. 

The prose is fluid and light. The characters are flawed, affable, dependable, and real. And the plot is a delightfully entertaining tale about life, love, hopes, dreams, family, friendship, forgiveness, understanding, discovering one's true self, and second-chance romance.

Overall, I would have to say that The Purrfect Pet Sitter is an amusing, heartwarming, enjoyable read by Thomas that's engaging and witty and in my opinion absolutely perfect for dog lovers, romance fans, and summer!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and the Publisher, Ruby Fiction for this review copy given in exchange for an honest review. Also thank you to Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources for organising the Blog Tour.

This book looked so inviting it just had to be read! The cover is bright and colourful, with a perfect beach scene. The title is ‘purrfect’ and I love books with a pet theme! For information, this book is set around the West Sussex area, with mentions to Littlehampton and Arundel! This is my first book by this author and I will definitely be going and looking for more!

Lisa has moved back to her home town to reinvent herself as a pet sitter. On the whole she does a good job, although does have a habit of losing some of her charges! She is obviously back in town due to something which has happened in her life and as the story moves on you get fed little bits of her background. Lisa is a lovely character who seems to come across as the ‘bad guy’ particularly in her relationship with her old friend, Felicity. Felicity is also a lovely character, and her story running alongside Lisa’s is particularly heart-warming. I love the general chaos that always seems to be around Felicity and her four children, so true to life!

I love the connection between Lisa and Don who she literally bumps into when on the search for one of her missing dogs, but did find the build up to this a bit slow. There are a lot of different characters, and it took a bit of time to remember who was who but once I did, the story flowed well and it really enjoyable. It had its sad moments, but plenty of happy ones. It also had lots of funny laugh-out-loud moments which had me sniggering right through to the end with my favourite being where Lisa takes little Freddie to the doctor (you’ll understand when you read it!)

A wonderful tale of friendship, love and of course, pets! Definitely one to take and lie on the beach with and would certainly recommend this one!

Lisa runs “Purrfect pet sitters” a pet sitting and dog walking service which she loves doing. She has had the odd escapee and met Don when she was chasing Jack the dog. Don now calls her Rose ( for the film Titanic- Rose and Jack) and they have a date-eeek!! Her ex- best friend is Flick, whom she bumped into in the supermarket and was so surprised she didn’t know what to say- so didn't say anything. Lisa realises that since she moved on from Ben that she needs friends in her life and some from her past. A story of friendships, of life and its ups and downs. A read with a smile and maybe even a tear. An easy read and one to restore your faith in friendships.
For more reviews please see my blog http://nickibookblog.blogspot.co.uk/
or follow me on Twitter @nickijmurphy1
(rest of links as part of blog tour)

My very first impression of this book from its cover was that it was going to be an extremely light, almost fluffy read that might have been too much of a contrast to the gritty thriller genre which I seem to have become entrenched in due to the huge number of those books which are flooding the shelves so far this year. I am delighted to say that there is so much more than that to this book. Yes it has an easy to read, flowing writing style but there is a depth to the storyline which doesn't come across through the cover - that will teach me to listen to the old adage of not judging a book by its cover (which I admit is one of my failings: I do love a well designed cover, and the beach huts on the front of this book kinda sold it to me).
Lisa Blake has moved on from her teenage life in her hometown and spent recent years building a new exciting life in London with her boyfriend, abandoning both her best friend Felicity and her family who have always been there for her. All this crumbles when she sees a side of her boyfriend that she really does not want to spend the rest of her life tolerating and she returns to her parents' house where the ghosts of her past start to filter back into her everyday life.
Lisa's new career as a pet sitter is rather eventful, but among the rabbits, cats and a cross-eyed dog she finds a new friendship with one owner in particular Winnie, with whom she enjoys sharing tea and biscuits and chats in which they put the world to rights.
I enjoyed seeing the relationship between the two generations build and as Lisa faces the issues which have built up during her time in London, Winnie passes on the wisdom only age can bring. This wisdom helps Lisa build bridges with old friends where maybe otherwise a great void may have remained.
Things between Lisa and an old flame however are not quite as straightforward to repair and despite several meetings, some planned others accidental, the messages between Lisa and Nathan continue to be mixed and misconstrued. It's not until they decide to attend the Bonfire Night parade purely for old times sake that they finally manage to untangle what each other wants from life.
This is a great story of friendships lost and found which demonstrates just how much we should communicate clearly with one another so that misunderstandings from the past don't continue to influence our future. A few basic conversations can make such a huge difference to our happiness if only we are open and honest with one another - a lesson which is relayed in a non-judgmental, heart warming way.
My review will be published as part of the blog tour in May via www.sandiesbookshelves.blogspot.co.uk and Rachels Random Resources.

Once I got into the groove of this book, I thoroughly enjoyed it. This is a book about regaining old friendships, old flames re-appearing and how to move forward with your life.

For a book about a pet sitter there seemed to be a disappointing amount of animals featured, with predominately just one dog that was key to the story, as is Lisa's friendship with Jack's owner Winnie, For Winnie is one of very few new friends that Lisa has made since returning to her childhood town.

We also get to know Felicity with her four children, which added a nice bit of contrast to Lisa's rather more solo story, but it wasn't until their stories interlink that I really felt the book started to get going. At which point I enjoyed the various dynamics a lot more and there are some utterly hilarious scenes.

The Purrfect Pet Sitter is a good story that I was really entertained by on a wet and windy bank holiday weekend. It took me on a lovely journey of personal growth and even features a couple of gorgeous men too.

Thank you to Netgalley and Ruby Fiction for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

I was fortunate to be allowed an advance copy of this novel. I read it around Valentine's Day which was the purrfect time of year for this fun, romantic read.
It is not silly and sappy or gooey sweet. Actually, the heroine struggles with her emotions through much of the book.
It is a wonderful novel of friendship and learning to love oneself, about facing life's difficulties and continuing to move forward. It is about remembering to appreciate the good times and people life places in our path.

Carol Thomas writes cleanly with the right amount of humor to put a smile on your face and a few laugh out loud moments. This is the kind of book I want to share with friends.
I give it a full 5 stars.