Book Review: Queen Paisley the Magnificent by Sarah Andrews

From the publisher: Paisley’s day began in the ordinary way.…Isn’t that how all strange days begin? You wake up, have breakfast, run around and play, and then go back to sleep and wait for your favorite human to come home. At least, that’s what you do if you’re a cat.

But what happens if your favorite human never comes home? Suppose your unlucky, dimwitted human meets up with a dangerous wild animal and, chomp, chomp, chomp, no more human? Who will play with you and tell you how pretty you are? Who will walk your family’s shaggy brown dog? And most importantly, who will feed you?

That is precisely what happens to little Paisley on her very strange day—the day that transforms her from an ordinary housecat into a visionary leader with dozens of followers, both domestic and wild.

This is the day she becomes Queen Paisley the Magnificent.

I don't think I've ever read a book that has left me grinning from ear to ear the entire time I was reading it like this one did. Queen Paisley the Magnificent is without a doubt one of the most adorable and entertaining cat stories I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

It all begins on a regular morning when Mommy leaves home for the day and tells her three cats and a dog that she'll be gone longer than usual and for everyone to be extra good. Of course no one is listening so when Paisley the tortie wakes up hours later to a painfully silent house she manages to convince herself that their beloved Mommy has been eaten by a crocodile while out "hunting" for food at the place she calls "store" and won't be coming home. She puts herself in charge and announces to her fur siblings that she is now Queen and will be taking care of her loyal subjects as well as, if not better than, their Mommy did. But what happens when the dog needs to go for a walk? Or when they run out of food or the litter box needs cleaning? How are they going to protect the house when the door needs to stay open because it's too darned hard to keep opening and closing every time they have to leave? Paisley certainly has her work cut out for her, so it's a good thing she's magnificent and has a solution for every new problem that arises. Or does she?

I don't often re-read books because I have so many in my TBR pile, but this is one I'll be re-reading in the future because I'm sure there are little details I missed. While reading I was able to picture the entire story in my head, easily seeing pampered house cats left to their own devices getting into the trouble that this crew did. Poor Paisley doesn't even realize how much everything is snowballing out of control until the end of the day comes and she's absolutely exhausted, with no idea how she'll keep up such a pace from now on. It's absolutely hysterical and cat lovers from 9-90 will fall in love with her and her housemates. (And obviously Paisley is extra special to me because she's a tortie, but her sweet, innocent little brother Webster stole my heart just as much. I just wanted to scoop him up in my arms and reassure him that everything was going to be alright!) Yes, I got very emotionally invested in these characters...

If you'd like to meet the real life Paisley and Webster, visit them and their human (who writes pawsome cat cozies too!) at The Cuddlywumps Cat Chronicles!