Format: Kindle, 300 pages
Release Date: February 10, 2025
Publisher: Helen Harper
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Nobody is just a cat lady.
Kit McCafferty's life is quiet, unremarkable, and filled with cat hair. In the magical city of Coldstream, located on the border between Scotland and England, Kit is viewed as little more than mildly eccentric and mostly harmless. She passes her days caring for her family of five cats, feeding the local feral moggies, and maintaining relatively good relations with her neighbors.
All that changes, however, when a teenage werewolf shows up at her door in the desperate hope of renting out a nearby vacant flat. Kit knows that the smart move is to tell him to leave. The last thing she needs is to become embroiled in complicated shapeshifter politics. But something about the secretive young werewolf tugs at her heartstrings.
It's not long before Kit ends up caught in a maelstrom of mysterious crime and magical wrongdoing. Fortunately, there's far more to Kit McCafferty than meets the eye, and she has a few dark secrets of her own.
Of course, anyone with an ounce of intelligence knows that you underestimate a cat lady at your own peril.
Kit McCafferty's life is quiet, unremarkable, and filled with cat hair. In the magical city of Coldstream, located on the border between Scotland and England, Kit is viewed as little more than mildly eccentric and mostly harmless. She passes her days caring for her family of five cats, feeding the local feral moggies, and maintaining relatively good relations with her neighbors.
All that changes, however, when a teenage werewolf shows up at her door in the desperate hope of renting out a nearby vacant flat. Kit knows that the smart move is to tell him to leave. The last thing she needs is to become embroiled in complicated shapeshifter politics. But something about the secretive young werewolf tugs at her heartstrings.
It's not long before Kit ends up caught in a maelstrom of mysterious crime and magical wrongdoing. Fortunately, there's far more to Kit McCafferty than meets the eye, and she has a few dark secrets of her own.
Of course, anyone with an ounce of intelligence knows that you underestimate a cat lady at your own peril.
Helen Harper's Waifs and Strays is the first book in the author's The Cat Lady Chronicles. Set in the enchanting border town of Coldstream, straddling Scotland and England, this novel introduces Kit McCafferty—a cat lady with a quiet life and a past that’s anything but. Coldstream is filled with magical beings, including vampires, werewolves, witches, Druids, and a woman with purple hair who is a Cat Sith, a person who can shapeshift into a cat as well as something even more dangerous.
Thanks to being forcibly retired by her former employer, Kit’s days are filled with cat hair, feral moggies, and the gentle eccentricity of a woman who’s content to be underestimated. Living in Coldstream—a magical nexus where the mundane meets the mystical—she tends to her five feline companions and keeps her neighbors at a polite distance. That cozy routine unravels when a teenage werewolf named Nick knocks on her door, desperate to rent a nearby flat. Against her better judgment, Kit’s soft spot for strays—human or otherwise—draws her in.
What starts as a simple act of kindness spirals into a whirlwind of shapeshifter politics, mysterious crimes, and magical mayhem after Nick is kidnapped and she must face the wrath of the werewolf pack, led by Alexander McTire, Nick's uncle. As Kit digs deeper, she uncovers a web of danger involving vampires, druids, witches, and fae, all while juggling her own hidden talents and a past she’d rather keep buried. The stakes climb higher with kidnappings, threats, and something dangerous happening on the Winter Solstice demands her attention.
Kit also encounters a rogue werewolf named Thane who claims he was also attacked and lost memories of what happened to him. Thane and Kit work well together, but there is no romance to overwhelm the story. Through it all, Kit’s cats—far more than mere pets—prove to be her secret weapon, hinting at a power that’s as surprising as it is delightful. In her 40s, Kit is a refreshing departure from the twentysomething heroines dominating urban fantasy. She’s confident, capable, and comfortable in her own skin—neither haunted by her past nor bored with her present.
Her interactions with her cats are endearing, as are the curious names she gives them, and these cleverly woven into the plot reveal layers of her character that make her instantly lovable. The ending is surprisingly shocking and unexpected, but it actually makes sense if you're a person who loves cats. Enough said.
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