Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of A Love Catastrophe by Helena Hunting.

It seems like I've read a lot of books about cats lately. Unintentionally.

Kitty and Miles are grumpy sunshine opposites in this quirky romcom. But it isn't all rom and com and does tackle some weightier issues.

No cat and mouse chase in this one. Just a simple track to falling in love while dealing with family and life issues. A little more real than your normal rom com, but with quirky likable characters.

Helena Hunting always nails it. Funny, swoony and a romance that stays with you long after the book is closed. Autobuy author!

Kitty runs a cat sitting business. Iles jeeds help after his amount is hospitalized. What follows is a sweet themed sliw burn tqnce with both lots of heart and cats. A fun escapist novel.

I love cats, so I genuinely loved the premise here. There were some fun moments, but other than that, it's a fairly standard, low stakes novel. There's not much of a plot, and the main couple got together so quickly it was borderline instalove.

The novel does touch on some hard topics, particularly guilt and grief, and I did think these parts were well done.

2.5

Another traditionally published Helena Hunting story that hits it out of the park. Just the right level of steam, the right level of banter and chemistry... it's the kind of story you cuddle up with and devour in a day.

A Love Catastrophe follows Kitty Hart, who is a cat-sitting business boss lady. Her character is a unique one, for sure. I did appreciate her love of puns. I'm not a cat person, so it impacted my overall connection with Kitty. This book is an opposites attract, grumpy/sunshine, friends-to-lovers. I did like their disastrous meet-cute.

I have enjoyed previous work by this author more than I did this one. I think most of the content is just not things I personally love or connect with. They include cats obviously, dementia, enemies~ish to friends to lovers, opposites attract, slow burn, no 3rd act break up. Really the only one of those that I appreciate in no 3rd act break up.

As a cat lover, I was intrigued by the concept. A rom-com about cats, with a sporty male lead, and enemies-to-lovers trope? Sign. Me. Up.

Unfortunately, the execution fell flat. Both the romance and conflict/internal character struggle felt underdeveloped. And, while I recognize this is a book focused around a main character that is a "cat whisperer", the cat references were excessive and took away from the story as a whole.

First let me say that I typically really enjoy Helena Hunting. Her books are always a solid read and she does series really well building on siblings or work partners and their relationships. I knew the premise of A Love Catastrophe would be a little goofy with a FMC named Kitty Hart that’s known as the Cat Whisperer. I was definitely up to the silliness. But I think the tongue in cheek tone of ALC was just a little too forced. Kitty drives a cat mobile, her lingerie and clothing is cat print, she speaks in kitty puns and it just made me cringe because I really really wanted to like her. Miles is a great foil to Kitty and he hires her to take care of his mother’s cat, while she is unable to live in her home. This is definitely a meet cute of awkwardness and the two initially don’t like or respect one another until they are forced to work together and take the time to see beyond the stereotypes. Hunting is known for her hockey books and so loved how she gave Miles a hockey adjacent career. The romance falls secondary to the stresses of being a caretaker for an aging parent, career challenges, negative social media posts, grief and there is a definite heaviness to the plot. Although I enjoyed the intimate scenes between Miles and Kitty, I think the cat puns and language at the beginning of the book just turned me off from liking this book more. I know Helena Hunting will continue to write solid romances and know that for me, this just wasn’t a favorite. I received an advanced copy from NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions are my own.

This was the cutest romcom ever! I’m obsessed with every aspect of this book. We love a cat lady! I’d love another one ;)

This is a fun grumpy-sunshine romance. Kitty has become an internet famous cat-sitter deemed the Kitty Whisperer. When Miles hires her to help care for his mother’s cat, Prince Francis, they both start off with bad impressions of each other. But as Kitty spends more time with Miles as well, they get to know each other much better and this alters those not so great impressions they had of each other.

I think I would round up to 4 stars. I enjoyed the audiobook narration and the story kept me engaged. It was heavy on the puns & a tad cheesy (cringed at "bingo button"). I loved the Sparks Fly series and will definitely read more from Hunting.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Forever/Grand Central Publishing for the eARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. I am a cat lover so for me, this book was a blast to read. The cats antics were so true to life and it made me smile. Kitty is a really nice girl and Miles is much more logical and pragmatic. They somehow still click and it was fun to see happen. I liked Wilford as well. 4 stars

This one was just okay for me. The plot was promising - A cheerful cat sitter and a grumpy hockey nerd but I am not feeling the chemistry and the sexy part was just a little awkward. Some people probably love this quirky humorous romance though.

Kitty is an internet famous cat sitter and Miles is more of a dog lover. He hires Kitty to help him out with his mother’s cat. They have a hilarious meet cute and soon the sparks start to fly.

It’s an opposites attract romance with a little bit of spice. Both characters are delightfully awkward which made for some laugh out scenes. It was a little cheesy with a lot of cat puns, but if you can overlook that it was an easy and lighthearted read. I did enjoy the development of Kitty and Mile’s relationship becoming friends and then eventually more, and there were some serious topics of dealing with grief and a parent with dementia. If you’re looking for a fun read with cats give this one a try.

Holy hell, the beginning of this story kept my second-hand embarrassed on high. This quite honestly made me think of a romance between Jess and Winston from New Girl, I couldn’t stop laughing at their hijinks. I really wasn’t expecting the depth of the themes of long-term grief, but I found it quite touching how the characters helped each other grow and heal. Loved that there was no second act break up, however the conflict did seem a bit forced. Overall a pretty solid read!

a love catastrophe is a silly, enjoyable comfort-read type of romcom that is aptly named considering the cat-themed content. i thought this story was so cute and really loved the evolution of miles and kitty’s relationship. i also really love that helena hunting created a third act crisis rather than a third act breakup — that’s what i like to see. i just love a good grumpy sunshine romance and of course that’s exactly what this was (though miles dropped the grumpy act and fell hard REALLLLL fast). speaking of, miles is such a cute mmc. i love him dearly. i also think the way he and kitty were able to find emotional freedom within each other was so beautiful.

my main criticism of this book is the number of cat jokes. there were definitely too many, so much so at some points that it was hard to focus on the actual book because of the cringe factor.

overall, this book is a great romance with lots of good laughs, and i would definitely recommend to fans of helen huang, sarah adams, etc. super cute and quick, will definitely leave you with a smile on your face!

Five stars! My interview on While You Were Reading, a podcast for contemporary romance readers is here:

https://www.whileyouwerereading.com/episodes/helena-hunting-a-love-catastrophe-lisa-daily-romantic-comedy-while-you-were-reading

3.5 stars!

I always look forward to each book that author Helena Hunting releases. A LOVE CATASTROPHE was a cute, heartwarming read I hoped it to be.

WHAT TO EXPECT
-opposites attract
-meet/cute
-grumpy x sunshine

*many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the gifted copy