Molly and the Cat Cafe

Molly is a cat and this book is written from her perspective. I'm not a cat person but I enjoyed reading this charming story. (It even gave me confidence to stroke a strange cat and understand that when they arch their backs against your hand, it means they're responding in a good way.)

Molly loves her elderly owner Margery and they live a happy, uncomplicated life together. But it is short-lived. Margery declines into dementia and is moved into a home, leaving Molly alone.

Margery's son arranges for Molly to be taken in by a friend who owns three cat-unfriendly dogs. Eventually Molly has enough of being neglected by the dogs' owner and bullied by the dogs and runs away.

Bedraggled and half-starved, Molly eventually finds Debbie who is a newly-divorced mother trying hard to make ends meet by running a rather run-down cafe. Life is hard; Debbie's teenage daughter Sophie is angry and unsociable and appears to hate Molly.

Outside the cafe, is an embittered old woman who is determined to make life even more difficult for Debbie and Sophie by getting the cafe closed down. But she reckons without Molly, who is an astute feline with a strong sense of justice.

Molly is a lovable and - oddly believable - furry main character. I couldn't help rooting for her in all her adventures. Several times she took me by surprise.

I enjoyed this book and am happy to award it 4*.

Red Cabbage Blue

I was avidly waiting for this third book in the Dr Mike Lewis series written by Annie Try - and I wasn't disappointed. I loved it and think it may be my favourite of the series.

Adelle is a fascinating young woman who, out of a fun challenge in her teens, will now only eat blue food, wear blue clothes and dyes her hair blue. She even wears blue make-up.

Her latest in a series of psychologists is Mike, but he is different. He sees Adelle the person rather than Adelle the client. I particularly enjoyed him politely shutting her somewhat controlling mother out of the room at their very first session. One way to win over the client!

I found it interesting to be a 'fly on the wall' in their therapy sessions. As Adelle gained in confidence with Mike, the reader learns more about her, why she has made the decisions she's made and how things hidden in her past have helped shape the person she is today.

There are twists and turns in the plot that kept me hooked. Just when I thought 'aha, I've got it', there was another twist I hadn't foreseen.

Intertwined with Adelle's story is Mike's personal life. I found myself muttering at the book as I was reading, desperately wanting him and his wife to make a go of it after a period of separation.

Red Cabbage Blue is a book where the reader can't help but care about the characters, wanting things to work out, looking for a happy - or at least a positive - ending. I have to say it kept me hooked up until the very last page.

I loved this book and unreservedly give it a 5* rating.

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