Mia is a great modern protagonist, refusing to be pigeonholed into the role of a woman obsessed with motherhood, friendships, and shopping. She is career focused and obsessed with her cat, a stepmother, who puts up with her husbands ongoing friendship with his ex-wife. Mia belongs to a pet bereavement group, which compromises a wonderful eclectic mix of characters. These are my favourite scenes. Why belong to a pet bereavement group when her cat is alive? The cat kept her alive at a time when Mia felt suicidal. Whilst there are many light-hearted and laugh out loud moments, there are heavy references to mental health issues, and Mia's life begins to implode from all angles. At her lowest, she clings to her cat and her sense of humour. There are some major traumas. This is one of Dawn O'Porters more sober dark comedy fictions.#catlady #dawnoporter #darkcomedyfiction #netgalley

I don’t know if I’m hormonal or what but this book hit me in the feels!!! It manages to be just the right amount of funny, cringey, emotional and feel-good.
Towards the end I was on the verge of happy tears for most of the rest of the book.
I’m yet to read a Dawn O’Porter that doesn’t make me smile.
Loved it!

As a dog person I loved The Cat Lady. It makes you think about what is important in life. I cried tears of laughter. Refreshingly honest.

What can I say, Dawn does it again with another fantastic book. I just love her unique writing style and she never fails to make me laugh out loud whilst reading her books.

This books does deal with some heavy topics such as grief, mental health and childhood trauma. But as always Dawn balances out the ‘serious’ with the ‘funny’ in the most perfect way!

I loved Mia as a character and was fascinated to see how someone can go from what appears to ‘having it all’ to rock bottom so quickly, just shows you the fragility of life. I also loved how Dawn challenged the stereotype of ‘crazy cat lady’.

Thanks Dawn for an other brilliantly witty book and to Netgalley and to for the advance copy.

As always, Dawn O'Porter writes unforgettable, quirky characters and stories that stay with you, for both good and bad reasons. But the good far outweighs the bad.

The bad being, really random, and at times, graphic scenes (looking at you pencil/sharpie scene). The first half is a bit of a slow build up, with some really random descriptions that feel a bit forced, but they are a quick way to characterise Mia, the main protagonist. We quickly realise that she is a very unique person, with a difficult upbringing.

The second half was my favourite, the pace picks up as things begin to unravel, the randomness fades away and is replaced with sisterhood, loyalty and love. Dawn is able to write with such raw emotion which comes to the fore here. She perfectly captures the unique love we feel for our pets and the terrible grief we experience at their loss. I stayed up late to finish it and cried so hard at parts.

I enjoyed this one, if you're already a fan of the author's writing, you'll love it. If you like quirky characters and some bizarre, laugh out loud scenarios, then you'll also love it.

Note: If you are currently struggling with the loss of a pet (like me), I'd approach this carefully and be gentle with yourself.

I think it is fair to say I am a fan of Dawn O'Porter's books as this is the fourth book of hers that I have read. The characters feel so real and you do wonder if you could have a conversation with one or two of them some time. The characters in this narrative are no exception. This story unapologetically looks at our close relationships with our pets and how much they mean to us.

Once again Dawn delivers another laugh out loud read. I demolished this in two sittings. It follows a few days in the life of Mia with twists and turns as she decides what she holds dear. A brilliant read

My favourite book of the year so far. Funny, rude, real and sad. (I actually shed a tear, don’t often cry at books). Loved it and yes though I’m married with kids I am a Cat Lady.

Cat Lady is a quirky, original, enjoyable and ultimately emotional read.

The chapters are grouped into sections beginning with a snippet from the past. Part one is entitled Mother, part two Career woman, part three Animal, part four Wife and part five Cat Lady. We are taken through elements of Mia’s life, and her past, in sections which all run together.

Right from the beginning I was drawn in by the chatty ease of main character Mia. She is honest and interesting, and I thoroughly enjoyed her perspective and following her life. There were quite a lot of similarities between Mia and Eleanor Oliphant which I found fascinating, as she is an equally unique and intriguing character.

The focus around pets and the normality of their passing and even the dedicated pet grief therapy made everything feel extremely natural. The treatment of her cat as a family member and her love for Pigeon is relatable and nicely written.

The development of Mia’s character as the novel goes on is really wholesome and her growth as a person as she realises what is right for her, which is not necessarily conventional, is quite empowering to read.

There is a lot of wonderful characters and brilliant friendships in the novel but alongside this there is also quite a lot of sadness and grief. Mia’s family history is especially sad and there were many points in the novel where I wanted to reach out and give her a hug!

There was a lot of sentimentality to the novel and a lot of love lost and found in unlikely places. It was a truly original and enjoyable, if heartbreaking, novel.

This book is a must read for anyone, but particularly any cat owner. It is hilarious and relatable to every woman that prefers her cat to most people!! Be prepared though, I cried so many ugly tears. My husband thought something serious had happened! Overall, a brilliant book that I couldn’t put down!

My first book by this author and a refreshing read.

Witty, thought-provoking and quirky story of having the courage to live your own life.

Mia is a very put-together career woman, managing director of a jewellery business, and maintaining a well organised home life with her husband, step-son and her beloved cat, Pigeon.

Beneath the surface, Mia tries hard to shirk the stereotypical "cat lady" label, conforming to the life she believes she is expected to lead, despite her difficult childhood. She doesn't really have friends but she feels she has found her tribe amongst a pet bereavement support group. Her cat isn't actually dead but her fear of losing her is palpable.

Just when everything seems to be going so well, suddenly every piece of her life begins to fall apart, and she is adrift without the blanket of organisation she has woven to protect herself.

Hitting rock bottom, she reassesses what she wants from life, also realising others don't have the perfect lives she'd assumed either.

I’ve tried, really I’ve tried. Sometimes you’re just not in the right frame of mind for a book so you put it to one side and pick it up at a later date. But sometimes, no matter what you do, you just can’t finish a book and enjoy it. This is that book, I really don’t think this is the right author for me.

Cat Lady is another triumph by the diamond that is Dawn O’Porter. Its wickedly funny and unapologetically frank, while also being tragic and heart-felt.

Mia approaches life in a functional mode, operating as society expects her too – the perfect wife, loving stepmother, competent and controlled career woman. All framed by complex human relationships, none of which seem to bring her much happiness. There is however, nothing truer in life than the love of a pet. Her cat Pigeon is the love of her life.

When she makes an unlikely group of friends through a pet bereavement group, she feels like she’s found her tribe. However, love goes hand in hand with loss, and Mia’s world starts to unravel…

Oh dear, sorry but this one wasn’t for me and I found it a struggle to finish. The main character Mia wasn’t very likeable in my opinion and there were some weird parts to it where the humour fell flat and was more weird than funny. I’m not sure I found any of it actually funny but I guess humour is subjective!

I wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to feel about this book when I started it, despite loving Dawn O’Porter’s other books. However, I really enjoyed it. There’s never any soft approach to Dawn’s writing, it’s very real and I love that. I connect so much more with the characters. Really recommend - 4 stars****

I'm usually a huge fan of Dawn O'Porters work so I couldn't wait to get my hands on this. I like to read her work in between Crime/Thrillers for a nice change, but unfortunately on this occasion it just didn't work.

I usual find her work so witty and actually laugh out loud at things (and that's normally me!) but this time I just didn't find it funny at all. I persevered as I hate to DNA a book, and the second half did seem to change tempo and was a lot easier to read, but overall I felt a bit let down i'm afraid,

I didn't connect with the characters very well, Mia warmed to me a bit towards the end but it was all just a bit odd, and I feel awful saying this.

Thank you to Harper Collins and Netgalley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Mia is a self defined cat lady – she loves her cat, pigeon, more than anything. As she stumbles through marriage troubles, job troubles and general life problems, the one consistency is her cat. She has met a new group of friends at a pet bereavement group, and is slowly finding peace in the world. But then everything tips………

Over the course of the story, we learn a lot about Mia and her past which contribute to her being the way she is. Her label of Cat Lady, even though she is married, with a good job, is hung relentlessly onto her. But is that a bad thing?

The book understands how in the modern world when you share your life with animals they have your heart. Losing them is hard, as they know you, they don’t judge so you are completely yourself. You understand completely how Mia feels when her world is rocked – and you get to follow the journey when she learns to live. Allows others in, but chooses her new ‘family’ to be kindred spirits.

Blunt and unapologetic yet engaging and sentimental. This is the first book by Dawn O’Porter that I’ve read and I’ll be reading her others.

I have read and loved all of Dawn O'Porter's previous novels so was very keen to read this one too. I enjoyed the love of animals that ran through this book but I found it difficult to connect with the humans. It was hard to see how the main character was the way she was, she didn't feel entirely believable to me. I did enjoy the writing and the social commentary throughout the book but it's not my favourite novel by the author. I am still looking forward to whatever she publishes next though.

Such a wonderfully clever book with such well-rounded characters.
I felt every mishap and every learning curve. I cried, I laughed.
Another great read from this author.

Brilliant , sharp , whitty , whilst also having you sob’ Showing how everyone needs someone and life can go on after the toughest of times in your life!