Review of:  Shaken, Not Purred (Undercover Cat Series)

Kelle Riley

Talented Writer, Best Yet to Come!

Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2017

I enjoyed this book! It was very unique with a strong science/ chemistry theme, and I really enjoyed that - especially how the author demonstrated the relationship between chemistry and cooking. The book even contains the featured recipes! I also liked the main character and appreciated the fast pace of the story. It is definitely clear the author is very intellectual/ academic, which translated nicely into the character of Bree/ Cat. However, the book was a bit too wieldy, and simplifying/ streamlining it would have made it so much better. I never really understood the multitude of business relationships, businesses (I just counted 8), all the characters and their ties to which ones of the companies and to each other. As well as Bree's identity for each of these! If you can look over the confusion of the businesses, the plot development for the main story is fantastic. I'd also like to learn more about her long-term project with Zed! I hope this gets explored further in future books. Also, I thought the romance was over-the top and more like a foray into the romance genre, not to mention seeming a bit forced and unrealistic. I'd much rather have the author explore Bree's relationship with Matthew more deeply over the course of the series, as there was really no need at all for yet another love interest. The other reason I took off a star was that twice in the book the view shifted from the main character (Bree) to Matthew for about a page each time. This was jarring to the reader and made no sense if the author wished to have a love triangle sub-story. All in all, the storyline and characterization were fantastic! The author, however, should decide if she wants the series to be "cozy" (ie. with recipes, cats, non-graphic romantic encounters, no F words, etc.), romance, or suspense/ thriller. Despite the cute cover of the book, cats were not a featured part of the story.