Prudence is worried when her human, Sarah doesn't come home to feed her. Laura, her daughter, turns up a few days later and packs everything into boxes. How will Sarah know where to find her? We follow Prudence's journey into the unknown and as time goes by we gain more information about Sarah and Laura's past. Enjoyable book but after a few chapters I was hoping it wasn't all going to be from Prudence's viewpoint as the charm only goes so far. Fortunately we also get the human stories too.

I just finished reading Love Saves The Day. Normally, I like to savour a book for a while before I start my review, but this one needs to be done now because it's all about emotions, and I want to write the review feeling how I do now: happy and sad. I am not a sobber, but I found myself crying quite a few times during the story. In the end, they were happy tears, which is not too much of a spoiler given the title...

The main characters who tell the story are Sarah, her daughter Laura, and cat Prudence. What a great name for a cat, coming from the song Dear Prudence by the Beatles. Sarah found her, and those two were made for each other, or were they?

I love stories told by cats because if it is done well, for me as an all-time cat lover, there is nothing better. And how Gwen Cooper stages Prudence is brilliant because the way Prudence sees the world is on point.

Love Saves The Day tells the story of how Prudence gets to go and live with Laura and Josh after Sarah, Laura's mother, has passed away. Bit by bit, it becomes clear that a specific day was the cause of a rupture between Laura and Sarah. Things have been wrought between them since, and nothing is talked about until it is too late. Luckily, Prudence comes to the rescue, as cats only can.

Gwen Cooper is excellent at putting her pen on the sore points, but there is a lot to laugh about, too. Anyone who has had a cat knows they are the most comical beings. So it's not all sad and gloomy. My tears were mainly happy tears at the end, though when the day finally gets described, it is heartwrenching to read. I just don't understand how animals' lives can be rated lower than people's...

I also enjoyed venturing on the trip down memory lane that this book gave me. I started going to discos and bands in the 80s, and although I have still not been to New York, I can relate to Sarah's experiences. I love music so much and also often sing to my cat Max. Although my voice might not be as good as Sarah's, he does seem to appreciate it...

What sticks with me most, though, is what happened to cat Honey and Mr Mendelbaum on that particular day. It was certainly heartwrenching, but also totally unnecessary.

Hopefully, some of the people in power will read Prudence's story as well and realise how their actions can influence or even end pets' lives. The inspiration for the day that was so significant for Laura and Sarah's relationship was taken from reality.

Prudence



This is a heart warming weepie of a book by an author ther who really loves cats.

The sole premise is built on a cat not understanding bereavement. However, if her beloved person was ill then died the poor cat would know what lay ahead and what happened from however far away.
It's worth being read widely if only to publicise the deathly effects of lillies.

Intertwined is a story of past and present grief for both impoverished tenants who were made homeless and for a workaholic go getter who almost loses everything in the pursuit of money.

3.5 stars

Gwen Cooper is a dedicated 'cat mommy' who likes to share stories about her beloved pets. I was introduced to Cooper's writing when I read her book Homer's Odyssey, about an adorable blind kitty who knew no limits.

In 'Love Saves The Day', Cooper writes about a fictional cat named Prudence, a standoffish feline inspired by Cooper's REAL cat Scarlett, who - when visitors came - would always be the kitty who required an explanation: "You shouldn't touch Scarlett. You definitely shouldn't try to pet Scarlett. Maybe it's best if you don't even look at Scarlett."

Much of this book is narrated by Prudence, who has her own feline way of looking at the world. Prudence's chapters alternate with those of Sarah and Laura. Sarah is Prudence's first human 'roommate', who - as a young woman - owned a record store and wanted to be a DJ; Laura is Sarah's daughter. As an adult, Laura is a successful corporate lawyer.

Prudence tells us much about Sarah and Laura's adult relationship when the feline observes: "[One] way humans have of not telling the truth is when they're trying to trick one another outright. Like when Laura visits and says 'I'm sorry I haven't been here in such a long time, Mom, I really wanted to come sooner'....and it's obvious, by the way [Laura's] face turns light pink and her shoulders tense, that what she really means is she never wants to come here. And Sarah says, 'Oh, of course, I understand', when you can tell by the way her voice gets higher and her eyebrows scrunch up that she doesn't understand at all."

Sarah meets Prudence when the striped tabby is a kitten, starving and hiding under a cement block in a big empty lot. Sarah and Prudence become 'roommates' in an apartment on New York's 'cleaned up' Lower East Side, and Prudence is very happy until Sarah doesn't come home one day. Prudence waits and waits - wondering where Sarah is - when Sarah's daughter Laura shows up with a man called Josh, and they pack up all Sarah's belongings.

Prudence observes, "The anxious feeling in my belly gets stronger as I try to understand why Sarah would go and not tell me or take any of her favorite things with her." Prudence worries about her fate until Laura says, "It was important to my mother that Prudence stay with us. She was very specific about it in her will." And Prudence is soon an 'immigrant' to the Upper West Side, "which is obviously all the way on the opposite side of the world."

In Laura and Josh's two-story apartment, Prudence spends most of her time in a room with Sarah's boxes (which Prudence calls the Sarah-boxes), that have Sarah's smell. And we pine along with Prudence, who's waiting for Sarah to come get her. Still, Prudence gradually adjusts to her new life, with some hiccups along the way.

Like the time Prudence jumps on the table during the Passover seder, ready for Laura or Josh to put together her little Prudence-plate, like Sarah did. Prudence recalls, "I put one paw lightly on the brisket, which is the food I want to try first.....Well, Never in your whole life have you heard such a commotion! Laura and Josh yell, "PRUDENCE, NO! GET DOWN" And Josh's mother yells, "What is the cat doing on the table?" in the same kind of voice a human might use if they found a cockroach in their food."

Prudence panics and a glass is knocked over, soup is spilled, a salad is scattered, etc. Laura gently rescues Prudence, and we start to see a bond forming between them. In time, Sarah and Prudence examine the contents of Sarah's boxes together, and Sarah talks about her mother.....slowly easing the distance that had been created between mother and daughter.

In the chapters narrated by Sarah, we read about Sarah's difficult childhood, her brief marriage, and her life raising Laura as a single mom. Sarah owned a record shop on the Lower East Side, near her apartment. At that time (before the city was cleaned up) the neighborhood was rough, and there's a lot of talk about drug corners, prostitutes, music, bands, friends, and neighbors. As a child, Laura was very close to an elderly upstairs couple called Mr. and Mrs. Mandelbaum, who had a cat named Honey. Unfortunately a sad incident, related to being 'poor', caused an irreparable distance between Sarah and her daughter.

In the chapters that focus on Laura, we read about her fear of poverty and her determination to be successful. Laura is a corporate lawyer on the partner track, which means working from early in the morning until late at night. Laura's husband Josh is a music magazine executive, and he LOVES Sarah's old vinyl records stored in the Sarah-boxes.

Unfortunately, the magazine print industry is downsizing, Josh hits a rough patch, and Prudence is on hand to comment about everything. For instance, Josh is home, pacing around and talking on the phone, and opening and closing the refrigerator and kitchen cabinets without taking anything out of them. Prudence notes, "This is particularly frustrating because a cat has every right to expect that when a human opens the refrigerator, he'll pull out some food and share that food with the cat."

As things play out, Prudence serves as a kind of metaphorical rope that forms a connection between Sarah and Laura, and revives some of the loving feelings that Laura buried years ago. The book - which touches on families, friendship, love, and perseverance - is fun, touching, and uplifting. Cat lovers will be especially enchanted.

For a laugh, here's one of Prudence's observations.

In Josh's home office, "there is a wonderful heated cat bed [keyboard] that rests on the desk in front of a small TV screen. Attached to the bed is a toy mouse on a leash, which just goes to show how little humans like Josh know about mice. In the first place the toy mouse looks nothing like a real mouse, and in the second place no mouse would ever let a human put a leash on it....The first few times Josh saw me sleeping here, he told me that me having to stay off was a 'rule.' (You can imagine how that went. LOL)

Thanks to Netgalley and Gwen Cooper for a copy of the book.

Super cute and easy read for all us cat lovers. I’ve recommended to a few of my friends to watch out for this one.

I fell in love with the cat on the cover and liked the story as it's told by a cat and i love everything cat.
Sweet, compelling and well plotted
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A really fabulous book which I will certainly recommend to others.
Thanks for the opportunity to read & review it.

DNF at 20%. I thought this book would grasp me emotionally, but I struggled with the POV and I felt as if Sarah's death came too quickly for me to get any form of attachment to her. I think that lack of emotional bond massively pulled me out of the story.

Unreadable. I really couldn’t get beyond the first 20 or so pages without losing all my brain cells, this book is so twee and saccharine. Horrible!

Princess Fuzzypants here: This was a hard book to read, not because it was bad but because it was very good at tugging at my heart and making me feel so sad for the kitty, Prudence. The book opens with her wondering why her human, Sarah, has not come home. She keeps thinking that Sarah will return, even after a neighbour comes in to feed her and even after Sarah’s daughter, Laura, puts her in a carrier and takes her to a new “country” - the other side of Manhattan.

There are three different view points throughout the book but Prudence’s loyalty and love and hope are so painful because she still wants to keep Sarah close to her. But Sarah is gone and both Prudence and Laura have to come to terms with it. Laura, in particular, has been estranged since one tragic day in her early teens. Mother and daughter never really communicated after that.and Laura bears the wounds of that rift. Now it is too late for either of them to say the words that might have reconciled them. Throughout the days when she is unable to mourn, there are other changes being thrust upon her and bringing her to the breaking point. Almost.

But Prudence will teach her some important lesson and love will save the day. It is an emotional rollercoaster for the characters and the reader; I did not expect it to be quite as heart wrenching but by the end of the book, I was glad I stayed the course. The fact that some of the events related in the story actually did happen makes it even more devastating. Four purrs and two paws up.

In this sequel to Dear Prudence, Cooper weaves the stories of Prudence, a cat, Sarah, her owner, and Laura, Sarah's daughter who inherits the cat. Unable to grieve, Laura and Prudence begin to love each other and to heal.

This is such a beautiful story it will forever remain at the top of my favorites list. You can't help but fall in love with Prudence as she trains her humans in a cat's way of life and love. You will enjoy this book regardless if you're a cat lover or not. Thanks to author Gwen Cooper and NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.