Member Reviews

What a lovely collection of heart warming cat tales, with different felines taking centre stage at Christmas time. I like reading anthologies and short stories, they are great if short on time or attention span for a whole book. Usually I’d read in bite size pieces but I whizzed through this over a couple of hours.

I can honestly say I liked every single story, often in a collection like this you lean to some and not so much others. So that was a great surprise. If you are a cat fan you will know and laugh at the well known antics that are unique to cats from head bonks to impatient noisy meowing and crazy zoomies time around the house. Each story features unique cats, often many! From regal Siamese to feisty rescue cats, lazy cats, downright naughty cats and of course stories of the great cat nurses. The ones that know we need them at difficult times who don’t leave your side. Not to mention various responses to the interesting and tempting Christmas tree. Each cat is so special that is included.

I’ve owned cats all my life, my own two cats I have now are truly my best friends. They’ve got me through incredibly difficult times with chronic illness and major traumas. Every writer that contributes to this collection is a cat lover and it shows. Each feline is special and the story of how the cat or cats came to be in their lives are varied and interesting. It’s a really great book. I’m very impressed. Each writer has a load of published works, many with awards and all with a great love for our feline friends.

This is the perfect book for anytime of the year but with Christmas soon approaching I highly recommend getting this one early for the cat lover in your life and get a copy for yourself also. I absolutely loved getting lost in these purrfectly written cat tails..I mean tales. 5 solid paw prints from me for this one. Just lovely.

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Sweet book full of loving stories any cat lover will understand.
Callie Smith Grant edited together individual short stories by various authors about their cats and their adventures.
Mostly based around Christmas, but not only, these will remind you of your own little balls of fur!

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Christmas and Cats are two of my favorite things in the entire world!!! The cover of this book is enough to make you grab it and want to read it immediately!!!!! This book is so sure to bring you the Christmas spirit no matter what time of the year it is.


I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and was not required to write a favorable review. All opinions are my own.

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Cats and Christmas, what a great combination! I enjoy short stories and the cover caught my attention right away. This might be a good selection for cat lovers to read and enjoy, or to select as a gift.

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A sweet little book about my favorite-CATS! I downloaded this before Christmas and enjoyed a few stories during the holiday 2022--but life happened and I had to wait til now to finish... if you are a cat enthusiast like me this is a must-read. Any time of year will put a smile on your face. I plan to gift a few copies for Christmas 2023. Well done and very enjoyable.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital copy to read for review. I loved it!

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Princess Fuzzypants here: You always know when you pick up one of the books edited by this author, you are going to get some wonderful stories about kitties, some that are funny, some that are moving, some that are bittersweet but always interesting.. It is often a good idea to have a Kleenex nearby as there will be leaky eyes from time to time.

This book centres around Christmas and a number of them centre around the Christmas tree and other decorations. We kitties can be stinkpots and if it is shiny and bright, it takes all our will power to resist the lure. Many of the readers will be able to empathize from personal experience. But whatever the story and whatever the ending, they are always entertaining- as are we kitties. It makes for a good bedside read as the stories are all short. Five purrs and two paws up.

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This is a charming and amusing set of short memories about sharing Christmas with a cat or cats. Each is an individual, quirks, loves, hates, moods and voices. Some climb the Christmas tree and some don't. Some steal the ornaments and some ignore them. Some play with dogs, some stand up to dog bullies. More than a few bring home gifts of rodents, but the unharmed bat takes the prize.

Despite the lightness and charm, we find the authors' serious life moments. A Christmas after a friend or a family member has passed away. Moving house, first Christmas as a couple, a baby expected.

The one story with no real cat, tells of a little girl who made a model cat for the crib, since she knew a stable needs a cat to keep down pests. Quite right too.

Each author is a serious and awarded or published writer, some with novels to their credit, so the stories are well written.

Enjoy. I downloaded an e-ARC from Netgalley. This is an unbiased review.

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The Cat in the Christmas Tree
Short Cat Stories
Edited By Callie Smith Grant

Revell - October 2022

Non-Fiction


It's the Christmas season. The beautiful tree full of ornaments. Decorations abound, some antique, others new, all generate their own memories. Family, guests, and parties. Every detail is attended to.

But then, add in a cat. Or two.

If you've ever had a cat during the Christmas season, you know that mayhem can ensue. Whether it is a downed Christmas tree, broken ornaments, gifts given (by the cat), or something eaten that shouldn’t be. This is a collection of over 20 stories by people reminiscing about cats, and their antics.

And proving that sharing the season with these feline friends makes the holidays shine even brighter.

The Cat in the Christmas Tree is the perfect book for any cat lover to read for Christmas. The quick stories are great while waiting at an appointment or for a quick read (or two or three) before sleep. I thoroughly enjoyed reading these stories, and they made me remember kitties I've had over the years, and their quirky Christmas antics.

Kathy Andrico - KathysReviewCorner.com

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I chose this book as part of my Christmas readathon due to the inclusion of cats, as I am a browbeaten human owned by 2 very demanding moggies. However, I feel as if I have read a very different book to the reviews I have seen on Goodreads and Amazon. I did not find this an enjoyable book, the short stories didn’t resonate with me and I felt that the writing could have been so much better (or maybe it just needed different stories). I love cats and find them endlessly amusing, but the stories seemed to lack the comedy I felt they were trying to put across. It may have been lost in translation (many seemed to be written by American authors).

This book didn’t top my tree this year!

Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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If you love cats and Christmas then this is the book for you. It has such a lovely collection of stories about cats and the funny little things they get up to during the festive period. I smiled and laughed though out reading this book. It was such a cute cosy ready. Xx

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Everyone who has cats can relate to these stories that the cats get up to with mischief around their owners Christmas trees.

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YAY! I love cats! I love Christmas! The combination is too good to be true! These stories are a little corny, but great for cat lovers who are looking for a little holiday cheer.

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This was such a lovely collection of stories about cats and the funny little things they get up to during the festive period. I smiled and laughed more times than I can count, as it reminded me of my two little demons. Definitely a delightful pick me up I think many will love. Thank you to netgalley, the author and publisher, for a chance to read and review this book.

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The Cat in the Christmas Tree is a heartwarming collection of reader stories and anecdotes curated and edited by Callie Smith Grant. Released 11th Oct 2022 by Revell, it's 192 pages and is available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats.

These are just as described, funny, heartwarming, and full of feline mischief. Most of the recollections and stories are 3-4 pages and readers will definitely recognize themselves in many of their own interactions with the cats in their lives. There are stories of cats playing in Christmas trees, upending decorations, and bringing joy and love (and purrs) to their humans.

The writing is variable since the stories are sent in by individual contributors, but all of them are easy to read and enjoy. The stories are all Christmas themed and feature kitties in all their mischievous glory. 

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

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I fell in love with the cute cover and loved the sweet story about Christmas and felines. As I'm owned by three cats I shared some experiences with the writers and loved the story.
Perfect for cat lovers.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

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The Cat in the Christmas Tree is the very nice collection of true stories based on cats. I definitely recommend this book to cat lovers. My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for my book. This is my unbiased review.

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This is a very sweet collection of cat-focused Christmas stories, though for some reason they didn't fully click for me. I did deeply appreciate that the focus was on joy and sweetness, eschewing any trauma or sad endings, though. Very high praise for that.

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I am a real cat lover and was so excited to get this fun book to read!
The Cat In The Christmas Tree was the most adorable book! The book had such cute short Christmas stories about kitties. This was a beautiful wonderful book for anyone who loves Christmas and cats!

Very creative and full of warmth and fun. I highly recommend this book!

Thanks to Netgalley and Baker Publishing for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

#TheCatInTheChristmasTree
#Netgalley

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As a cat owner I adored this cute book. I enjoyed the lovely stories of cats. I highly recommend this book to any cat lover to bring joy to your heart.

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This is a wonderful book full of stories of cats and their Christmas antics. Whether destroying decorations on a tree or ripping up wrapping paper, all the stories are sweet and a lovely read. Most of the stories are upbeat and funny but some are a little more heartwarming. I love this book. It's would be a great gift for any animal lover.

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