Friday Reads: Catastrophe -- the hilarious second installment of The Cat Lady Chronicles by Susan Donovan and Valerie Mayhew
Friday Reads
This week’s Friday Reads finds me just finished with Catastrophe - the 2nd installment of The Cat Lacy Chronicles, a mid-life paranormal women’s fiction series about a crazy cat lady who finds herself inadvertently anointed as “The Acolyte” — a woman bound to the service of the goddess Bastet with the inescapable and dangerous mission of killing the supernatural evil known as Apep — or dying in the attempt. I should say temporarily killing, because Apep always regenerates, requiring new acolytes to be anointed every sixty-some years.
Usually the acolyte is young, supple and gets years of training. Middle-aged, overweight, out of shape, crazy cat lady Felicity Cheshire has only days — and pursues her mission through outrageously untraditional methods, aided and abetted by her “goddess posse.”
These books are literally laugh out loud funny. Plus, there’s steamy romance, strong women, cats (a LOT of cats), and an immortal cat-shifting warrior whose job it is to whip Felicity into shape and help her overcome the evil nemesis.
DISCOVERING THE BOOK
The Cat Lady Chronicles found me by way of Pam Stack, head honcho and mistress mind behind The Authors on the Air empire. Pam loves the mid-life paranormal genre, has a wicked sense of humor, and is a bit of a crazy cat lady herself, so it’s no great surprise that she recommended these books!
ABOUT The Cat Lady Chronicles
Let’s start with the back cover copy for the first book in the series, Catalyst, because you really will want to start at the beginning:
What happens when a middle-aged cat lady learns she's humanity's only hope? Chaos. Catnip. Curse words.
One tough cookie...
Felicity Cheshire has survived cancer, medical bankruptcy, and the world’s slimiest ex-husband. Now she’s about to be evicted from the ramshackle Airstream on the Oregon coast that's home for her and her twelve rescue cats.
One last kitty...
When her car breaks down during a freakish rainstorm, Felicity spies an injured tomcat on the roadside and thinks, “how much trouble can one more be?” A lot, as it turns out. Soon there’s a naked mystery man in her bed and her small-town, middle-aged existence careens to WTF? territory.
Two weeks to save the world.
With her posse of badass BFFs at her side, Felicity takes a terrifying journey from has-been to hero, where she must face her darkest fears in order to save those she loves. She might even have to attempt sit-ups.
WHAT I LOVE ABOUT Catalyst and catastrophe
These books are totally lightweight, funny, and snarky — but somehow or other the authors manage to keep the suspense building because of all that. There are romantic threads in play, with no promise of any happy ever after, so I definitely needed to find out if things were going to go right for these characters I love. And I do love them. All of the women, that is, and Tom. But there are also some characters that are so much fun to hate, and the Apep Ass Kicking moments are simultaneously hilarious AND satisfying AND suspenseful.
This is also a story of resilient, strong women discovering their own inner power even after life has given them a serious beating — and also discovering how to trust and rely on each other. And yes — opening themselves up to love again after previous romantic disasters.
When I finished Catastrophe, I promptly went to check on the status of book three, and was delighted to discover that Cataclysm will be out in the world on June 4th. Yes, I’ve pre-ordered.
You can find out more about the authors here — Susan Donovan — and here - Valerie Mayhew.
Do you have a mid-life paranormal that you love? Tell me in the comments!