I absolutely loved this book!!! I had not followed Courtney on social media before reading this book (I do now!), nor had I heard of her. I usually exclusively read fiction, and wasn’t quite sure what to expect from a memoir about cats. I ended up loving how the book was structured, how it taught me so much about animal rescue, and how much of it ended up being about how hard life is yet we keep on persisting. It taught me to be ready for the unexpected. I really really loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for the ARC!

"Poets Square" is a delightful, heartwarming story. I love all the different cat personalities. How the author learns to see how she's cared for by caring for the cats is really beautiful.

For the record: I would give this book 6 stars if I could. This quickly became one of my favorite nonfictions! I've been following the Poets Square social media pages for years and when I heard that the woman behind the accounts was coming out with a nonfiction book about the cats, it immediately became one of my most anticipated books. And I'm happy to say, it did not disappoint! While I didn't cry as much as I thought I would, there were so many stories that tugged at my heartstrings. I think Gustafson did an incredible job mixing stories about the cats she's helped with stories about her personal life. The cat stories and the personal stories always felt relevant in the context of the other and it never felt like a forced connection. It was super interesting to learn more about Gustafson outside of the cat things and I enjoyed the mix of self-reflection and social commentary. Gustafson is an incredibly talented writer and I'm excited to see where this book takes her!

I mean how do you not love a book about cats? Especially about a book where cats are being fallen in love with and saved from the streets? I think it also brings to light how sad a feral cat’s life really is. I loved that this showed compassion for these animals that didn’t ask for this life. And just how hard rescue work can truly be. There is a lot behind the scenes that people don’t always think about Courtney Gustafson brings to the surface.

This book was heartwarming and heart wrenching all at the same time!

Wow. I expected to enjoy this memoir, but I was surprised at just how powerful Gustafson’s story is. I love how she combined the story of rescuing the feral cats in her neighborhood with her own healing and personal growth. Her memoir includes painful stories of poverty, mental health challenges, toxic relationships, and the power of community, as well as some devastating stories about cats she tried to rescue but couldn’t always save. Despite these difficult topics, her story conveys a strong message of hope and compassion.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who enjoys memoirs, stories of animal rescue, or stories of community building.

I received a complimentary ARC through NetGalley; I volunteered to provide an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Publishing for providing me with a digital ARC of this book!

Poets Square: A Memoir in Thirty Cats is a deeply heart-wrenching memoir about finding an unexpected community and the ways that community care can transform lives when the systems fail us. Part backstory on the inception of the @poetssquarecats social media account, part personal memoir, part exploration of community care through the lens of TNR work, Gustafson weaves all these threads together to paint a complicated portrait of human—and feline—experience.

This is certainly not a lighthearted read. One need only glance at the chapter titled “In This One the Cats Don’t Survive” to catch on to this fact. However, through the pain and death and struggle, Gustafson manages to find hope: through community and through the cats that were the unexpected, beloved start of that journey towards hope.

This book is so tender. The author, who runs a popular social media account documenting the feral cats that live in her yard, waxes poetic on how her life has been shaped by being an accidental cat rescuers.

Thank you to Netgalley for this eARC.

#netgalley #memoir #poetsquarecats #newrelease2025 #newinMay #catrescue

3.75/4 stars!

I always enjoy a memoir with a twist, and this exceeded that goal. At first, I wasn't sure if this would be the best book for me because I am not a cat person (stop booing!), but I found the author's story very compelling. I enjoyed the way the adventures with the 30 cats were interwoven with the rest of her life story. This memoir hooked me once she explained her success on social media, which I was unaware of. I enjoyed the stories of the flocks of cats she was rescuing and getting spayed/neutered. I am happy for her and all of the cats!!!!

I took a very long time to read it so it actually isn't an ARC anymore because it was released over a week ago. I will recommend it to my cat-loving friends! Thank you to NetGalley and Crown for this ARC!

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
TL;DR: this was a beautiful musing on cats and people and life and mental illness and relationships. It was close to perfect.

I did expect to cry picking this up - I knew it was about cats and damnit if animal stuff doesn't get me tearing up every time. Even thinking about animal movie scenes has me choked up sometimes.
And this did indeed get me a few times. One story in particular I think is going to live rent free in my head.

But this is more than a book about cats - in fact, it is just as much (if not more) about humans. The narrative isn't linear and it doesn't always follow up on things, which is my only real complaint in terms of the book, but it does hit on a lot of different facets of cats and humans in a lovely way. I think I'll be thinking about myself and my role in the world for a long time.

I also learned some important things about cats and the people who love them, and that was really great. This is a great book for cat lovers, sure, but I think anyone looking for a memoir on cats and humans and the relationship between them would enjoy it - even if you're not a self proclaimed cat lady. It is beautifully written and the stories in the memoir are remarkable.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

I won't lie: I requested this book entirely based off the cover. It's cute, it's about saving feral cats, surely it'll be a nice little book, I thought. I wasn't prepared for the emotional whiplash this would give me. (I mean this in the best way.) Courtney writes in such a poignant, poetic way, perfectly blending the stories of all these cats with the stories of people she's met and her own. Each chapter left me with something to think about regarding our larger culture, the systems we have to help each other and how they don't always work, the loneliness of being in your 20s and directionless. Wondering if you're a good person, do you deserve what you have. How wonderful it is to love something so innocent as a cat, and to be loved in turn. At some point in nearly every chapter I had to stop and put it down because it was stirring up so many intense emotions. Never has a memoir impacted me so deeply and I'm going to be thinking about it for a long time.

Thank you NetGalley & Crown Publishing for the ARC!

Wow. I'm not sure what I was expecting, as I went into this almost entirely blind, but Courtney's story blew me away. I felt like I was CONSUMING this book, in the most literal sense of the word, taking in as much as I physically could in one sitting, until I was so full that I was forced to stop. There was not a single chapter that did not make me absolutely sob, and then get off of my couch and suffocate my cats with kisses. Courtney manages to tell her story in the most visceral, raw way, while also bringing a sense of whimsy. We get the cold and harsh truth of what taking care of feral cats is, but not letting us forget that after all is said and done, these cats are silly guys when they're given the right amount of love. Sprinting to the bookstore to get my own physical copy after reading this ARC and telling everyone I know to read this book!!!

I didn't know this author or her Instagram going into this (quite frankly, I was pulled in by the cover art), but I enjoyed this book all the same. I loved the chapter illustrations, and I felt there was the perfect mix of the author's backstory, her life outside of cats, and the cats themselves. I was expecting to be sadder while reading, but Courtney did a wonderful job of writing so positively about the cats, even the ones who didn't make it, that it didn't feel depressing.

When Gustafson moved into a new apartment in the Poet’s Square neighborhood of Tucson Arizona, little did she know her life was about to change in profound ways. That’s because she quickly discovers 30 feral cats living on the property. Overwhelmed at the scope of the situation, she slowly begins the process of learning how to care for them.

In time, Gustafson becomes an expert and becomes known as the ‘cat lady,’ helping others who find themselves in similar situations. But she struggles, doing the work as an unpaid volunteer, while also working a stressful job that barely covers her own basic needs. She finds support through posting the cats on social media where she becomes popular enough that her account is monetized and she’s able to quit her day job and dedicate herself full-time to her work as a cat advocate.

This tender memoir is as much about rescuing cats in need as it is about survival under the harsh realities of capitalism, the persistence of sexism, and the importance of finding community.

At turns heartbreaking and hopeful, interspersed with stories about her personal life and fascinating anecdotes about her work with community cats (and the people who love them), this will appeal to fans of Hannah Shaw, AKA the Kitten Lady’s books- Cats of the World and Tiny But Mighty: Kitten Lady's Guide to Saving the Most Vulnerable Felines.

Happy Pub Day to Poets Square! This book is an example of the importance of reviews. About 20% into the book, and I was ready to DNF it. The subject matter, set-up, and author all bugged or bored me. But when I saw all the five star reviews on goodreads I decided to stick with it. And I am so glad I did. Because everything which bugged or bored me before, became interesting. I became invested in the story of these cats and the people they interacted with. There is some absolutely beautiful writing. There are a few chapters I would put up against any creative nonfiction out there. I am grateful goodreads reviewers convinced me to keep going, my life would be drabber without these cats and their stories living in my heart. Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the eARC.

This book! This book! This book! The connections with animals, the back and forth between Courtney's real like (past and present) and the juxtiposition of how she interacts with the cats was delightful. I really loved this book and as a cat lover myself, it has made me re-think my own relationship with my current furry friends, what I can learn from them, and also what I can do to help support the feral communities around where I live.

That lifelong pull toward cats is what made Courtney Gustafson's memoir Poets Square resonate so much. In 2020, Gustafson and her partner moved into a house in Tucson's Poet Square neighborhood, only to discover that 30 feral cats lived on the property. She began feeding them, learning their personalities, and soon found herself enmeshed in Tucson's cat rescue community. What started as an act of care grew into something much larger—an entry point into a deeper understanding of herself and her city, which she explores in the memoir.

I teared up through much of this book. Not because it's overwhelmingly sad, though it has its moments, but because it captures the grief we carry for animals. If you've ever loved and lost a pet, you know how easily that grief resurfaces no matter how long it’s been. It was hard to read about the goodbyes, but equally heartwarming to read about the cats who transform and find a healthy, safe life.

She also asks a larger, more complicated question throughout the memoir: why is it often easier to feel empathy for animals than for humans? Working in neglected neighborhoods with large feral colonies, she begins to notice how often the people are just as overlooked as the cats. Why do some lives move us more than others? What shapes our capacity for care?

These are questions that have bounced around my mind as I've volunteered at the shelter for the past two years. Volunteering with shelter cats has softened me in a way I didn't expect. It's taught me that care doesn't have to be loud or heroic—it can be as simple as showing up week after week.

Poets Square reminded me how much depth there is in small, consistent acts of compassion. Gustafson's story is about cats, yes, but it's also about what it means to choose empathy in a world that often makes it hard. For many people, myself included, cats are teachers of that lesson. When we allow ourselves to love them, we open the door to loving the natural world—and all its beings—a little more fiercely, too.

This book is absolutely fantastic. A memoir and cat stories in one. The interwoven stories of the cats Gustafson inherits with her rental house and of her own life leading up to those cats were incredibly moving, heartwarming, and heartbreaking.

I didn't know anything about the author or her online following before reading the book, so it was so much fun to go to her insta and see the cats in videos and photos (Sad Boy is my favorite.)

As someone only minimally aware of the Poet Square Cats, I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed Gustafson’s story. She does not make assumptions that you already know every cat’s story, making sure to spend time building out their history. Perhaps my favorite part is the authentic and effective writing style. It feels like Gustafson wrote this, carefully connecting her own life with the lives of these 30 cats. This memoir is an important lesson to show that, as living beings, we are all more connected than we think.

This was beautiful. We can learn so much from the creatures we share this planet with. This book captured the spirit of what we gain from pets - how caring for an animal, without expecting anything in return, teaches us about ourselves, our world, and what love really can be.
This book was wise and thought-provoking, but at the same time so incredibly tender. I didn’t know about Gustafson’s instagram account prior to picking up the book, but I’m grateful she shared these cats and gave us all a chance to learn from them. I was not expecting this experience from a memoir about cats, but it really was such a special book. I will be there on Tuesday to purchase a physical copy to keep on my shelves. 🐱

Everyone stop what you are doing right MEOW and go get you a copy of this book!

Oh. My. Gosh. I went into this book completely blind. I saw the title and the cover and thought, "this is totally my vibe." You see, my husband and I have been rescuing cats for over 10 years. We almost exclusively do bottle baby kittens. We deal with a lot of loss, a lot of bills, a lot of allergies... I thought it would be fun to read someone else's experience. What a delightful surprise to realize the author has a full Instagram and following and ALL THE GOOD she is doing in this world.

If you love cats, animals, volunteerism, just overall doing the right thing, this is the perfect book to add to your collection. I particularly enjoyed how each chapter tied a cat experience with a human experience and how it's all relevant and related.

Beautiful. Perfection... or should I say, puuurrrrrrfection!

Thank you Netgalley and publishers for the ARC. All opinions are my own.