Book Review/Giveaway: Kit Kat and Lucy: The Country Cats Who Changed a City Girl's World by Lonnie Hull DuPont

From the publisher: After years of loving the vibrant city life in San Francisco, Lonnie Hull DuPont reluctantly trades her three-room apartment on foggy, lively Telegraph Hill for a farmhouse on a quiet plain in Michigan. She immediately misses the rhythm and the pace of the city, and the isolation country living brings has her longing for something more.

Enter Kit Kat and Lucy--stray cats who arrive at the farmhouse a year apart and each ask to move in. The antics and oddities of these two strong personalities wrapped in fur bring a new light to the farmhouse and DuPont's life. Kit Kat, an obsessive-compulsive tortoiseshell, can purr her new human into a happier state of mind. Lucy, the playful, leaping Russian Blue who can nail a bat right out of the air, makes her laugh.

From the hysterical process of getting two strange cats to like each other, to the exciting years of watching those cats thrive--and inspire DuPont in the process--this book is an energetic tale of cat and human foibles. Animals enrich our lives, and the heartwarming story of how Kit Kat and Lucy changed one woman's world will leave readers enchanted.

When I stumbled upon this book while browsing Amazon I gasped out loud. First, because of the gorgeous tortie on the cover. Not many torties become cover girls, much less the subject of their very own book! Second was the name. When I adopted Mudpie her name at the shelter was Gemma, and I debated several name changes for her. I wanted it to be chocolate-related, partly as a tribute to Truffles and partly because chocolate names for torties just feels right to me. Kit Kat was one of the names I was debating. (In the case of this book, the name Kit Kat was chosen because of the famous clock.)

I loved every word of this memoir of a woman who had her life changed by two very special cats after leaving her big city lifestyle to make a new life for herself and her husband in the country. Have you ever seen that bumper sticker that says "Who Rescued Who?" Both Kit Kat the tortie and Lucy the Russian Blue arrive at a time when no one is aware just how much they're going to be needed in the future. Their personalities couldn't be more different but they form an unbreakable bond with each other and their adoring humans who do whatever is necessary to give their beloved pets the most perfect life possible and in return receive the comfort and loving touch that only a cat can provide.

As much as this is a story about the cats, it's also about the author as she faces family issues, bouts with depression and anxiety, and all the mixed feelings that come with such a drastic move. I especially enjoyed the passages about the author's writing and how the cats became her constant companions while she put pen to paper. As someone who has found her cats to be her greatest writing inspiration, this section really resonated with me.

As with all cat books I found myself in tears by the final pages, which I guess is appropriate because that's how the story always ends with our beloved pets. I think that's what makes this book so special: it's a look at one woman's life told through the story of her time with two very special, life-changing cats. Who among us can't identify with that?

Kit Kat and Lucy: The Country Cats Who Changed a City Girl's World will be on store shelves tomorrow, September 6th!

Author Lonnie Hull DuPont is an award-winning poet, book editor, and writer. She is the author of several books, including five compilations of animal stories under the pseudonym of Callie Smith Grant. A member of the Cat Writers Association, she lives in rural Michigan with her husband and their cats.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. Thanks to them I also have a copy to give away to one lucky reader in the US! Simply fill out the Rafflecopter below to enter and good luck!

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