Bubbling up with Helena

• Title: A Cat Cafe Christmas
• Author: Codi Gary
• Publisher: Forever
• Release Date: 10/4/22
• Genre: Contemporary Romance
• Age Range: Adult
• Rating: ★★★★
• Publisher’s Summary: A laugh-out-loud, opposites attract romance about three of the world’s most beloved C’s: Christmas, Coffee, and Cats. Veterinarian and animal lover Kara Ingalls needs a Christmas miracle. Opening the Meow and Furrever Cat Café to find loving homes for adorable, adoptable cats was a dream come true—but with more cats than customers, it’s quickly turning into a nightmare. If Kara can’t figure out some way to get the café out of the red, it won’t last past the holidays. Marketing guru Ben Reese may be annoyingly smart and frustratingly bossy, but when he hatches a plan to put the café in the “green” by Christmas, Kara realizes that she’d be a fool to turn down his help. And so what if he turns out to be an excellent problem solver and nerdy-hot—he can’t even handle fostering one little kitten. She needs to keep their relationship professional and focus on saving the cafe. But if Ben and Kara can set aside their differences—and find homes for all the cats by Christmas—they might discover that, by risking their hearts, they’ll have their own purr-fect holiday . . . together.

A book set during the holiday season with a lot of cats? Sign me up! A Cat Cafe Christmas is a little joy bomb. It is a sweet and fluffy romance novel, and would pair perfectly with a a nice mug of peppermint hot chocolate.

Like Ben, I didn’t think I was a cat person until a rascally little kitten came into my life. Now, anyone who knows me will tell you that I love my cat more than anything. Rescue pets are the best, and it was lovely to see that highlighted in a romance novel. I absolutely loved all of the cat introductions at the beginning of every chapter of the book. I frequently would read them out loud to my husband, and they always made us smile.

Both Kara and Ben emerge as likeable characters and solid people. How could you not admire a woman using her skills and veterinary degree to help as many cats as possible? Also, even though he is hesitant and grumpy at first, Ben still agrees to keep a kitten in his home to help Kara out. He also offers to help her with her plumbing problems and does everything he can to help her with the cafe. They both have some baggage in their romatic history, but it was lovely to see them commit to helping each other work through the trauma they’ve faced. It is really easy to root for them both and for their relationship.

This is definitely not a down and dirty romance novel. Of course there are some scenes depicting intimacy between Ben and Kara, but Bridgerton Season 1, this is not.

The Holiday season is definitely a time when family drama can bubble to the surface, and A Cat Cafe Christmas certainly captures that. Ben is hesitant to go home for the holidays to have to confront his brother who married his ex-girlfriend and decides that he would rather spend Christmas with a friend in Mexico than with his family.

I appreciate a romance novel that not only focuses on relationship success, but also keeps the professional lives of its protagonists at the forefront. Kara is passionate about her work at Meow and Furrever, but she also wants to expand and open a low cost clinic to continue to help as many animals as possible. In fact, Ben wants to help her reach her professional goals. He uses his skills in marketing to help Kara make her business successful.

I wish that Meow and Furrever really existed and that I could grab a coffee and hang out with cats there all the time. A Cat Cafe Christmas is as warm and fuzzy as the cats it depicts. Hallmark should definitely make a movie of this one.