A Love Catastrophe by Helena Hunting - Book Review

Publication Date: 13th June 2023

Genre: Contemporary Romance 

3 Stars 

One Liner: Okayish 

Kitty Hart loves all things cat and works as a kitty whisperer, training unruly cats and caring for them. She is determined to prove that cats can be trained. 

Miles Thorn is a dog person and pretty much hates cats. However, he has to take care of his mother’s cat when she’s at the hospital. His new job is just as stressful. Not knowing what to do, Miles hires Kitty to care for Prince Francis (the cat). 

Kitty and Miles start on the wrong foot but soon realize they have a lot in common. However, they need to deal with a few issues before claiming the HEA. 

The story comes from the first-person POV of Miles and Katty. 

My Thoughts: 

I like cats and lighthearted reads, so this book seemed a great choice. Also, it’s not common to have the MC take care of cats as a profession. 

While I love cats and humor, I also prefer things to not go overboard. Kitty Hart is a cat whisperer. Yep, good. She wears leopard and cheetah prints. Well, fine. She uses weird language and terms. Erm… maybe not. The cat puns get a bit too much. I mean, she can speak normal language even though she loves cats. 

Despite the weird stuff, the book deals with important topics like losing a parent/ sibling, dementia, living in the past, etc. Some of it is well done. These discussions are the best parts of the book. 

I like awkward characters. They make stories more endearing. However, the MCs don’t really make things cute here. Some of it is, but most of it is not. But yeah, I do like that both have eyeglasses. 

Guess my issue is more with the FMC. She calls herself socially inept. Sure, she is missing a few filters, but that seems to be the case only with the MMC. Her interactions with others are quite decent, so her saying silly things felt more artificial/ forced than an integral part of her characterization. 

She is also a social media influencer, and this didn’t seem like a major deal. I was glad that we don’t all get influencer thingy. Then, for the conflict in the last section, we have exclusively social media stuff and the toxicity that comes with it. If this was the plan, I’d have preferred more references to the FMC actively posting on SM instead of others commenting about it. 

The book starts with Miles’ first-person POV. I admit it took me time to get used to his voice. Though I knew it was the POV of a male, I kept imagining the voice as that of a female. The tone just didn’t sound like a man. Throughout the book, I kept checking the chapter heads to make sure whose POV I was reading.  

Of course, I’m relieved there are no third-act breakups, misunderstandings, and dramatic reunions. There’s an epilogue too, which ties up the loose ends. And oh, the book has some steam. 

To summarize, A Love Catastrophe is a lighthearted romcom that deals with some serious topics. Check it out if you are willing to ignore the cat puns and some strange language. I heard good things about the author's works (this is my first), so maybe this is an odd one out. 

Thank you, NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing/Forever, for the eARC. 

#NetGalley #ALoveCatastrophe

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P.P.S.: This review is also a part of the #ReadingtheMeow2023 hosted on the Literary Potpourri. This event has enough cats and more, much to the delight of cat lovers.