I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was like eating comfort food or sitting down and chatting with a childhood friend. Little Women and cat lovers will especially be drawn to this story. In some ways it is old fashioned, in other ways it's quite modern with no shortage of dating, short term relationships and even an explicit sex scene or two. And while it's true the the plot development is slow moving, I was completely comfortable with that and enjoyed the journey including the everyday details and character development experienced along the way.

Perhaps it was my love of Little Women AND cats that completely enraptured me while reading this book. The central characters are sisters Amy and Jo and their childhood friend Theo, who at one time or the other it appears both sisters have lost their hearts to. We first meet Amy who is in the process of breaking up with her latest live-in boyfriend. Well, she was the one who was living-in, that is. Amy has a history of short lived romances with some pretty eccentric men. She has to move out of her current situation quickly, as her replacement is moving in pronto. This leads her to an apartment that is available immediately, which is actually the second floor of a gorgeous home with lots of character and a whole bunch of cats!

The professional side of Amy's life is totally the opposite of her love life. She is a Ph.D. and has been granted a position as chair of the English Department of the local college in the town of Laurel. She is a respected scholar and has fit in nicely in the world of academia. Her passion, however, is art. It is a passion that is mainly left unfulfilled and she constantly yearns for time in her extremely busy schedule to be able to devote to it. It is also a passion that has caused a rift between her and her beloved friend Theo from an incident in the past. This estrangement causes her much sadness, especially since they had briefly been on the verge of a romantic relationship and she has secretly harbored a crush on him since childhood. A crush that has turned into full blown love and lust in adulthood. Her sister and Theo had a mysterious blow out argument and no longer speak to each other, adding the final death knell to their formerly inseparable trio.

As luck would have it, it truly is a small world and the homeowner and live-in landlord of her new lodging turns out to be Theo himself! After the initial shock, they settle into a civil routine of old friends, now housemates. Theo also experiences ill-fated relationships. Both Amy and Theo are full of insecurities and there are many deceptions, past and present, going on as well. As they circle around each other, and each in their own way work through the traumas and insecurities they have suffered, they start to heal emotionally. And oh my gosh, I loved the pets, especially the cats, who rule over the home. Particularly the cat who adopted Amy, whose name is Nina. She stole my heart! Theo fosters cats and sometimes dogs for the local animal shelter until he can find homes for them (except for some like Nina, who finds her own place with Amy).

This is the perfect book for a cozy weekend of reading, with a cup of tea, and hopefully a kitty or two! ( )

The heroine is over her disastrous love life that is full of terrible choices. She ends up becoming roommates with her crush, the commitment-phobic hero who is also her sister's best friend. Yet the close proximity with each other changed the dynamics of their relationship, which may help with the hero view the heroine in a new light. Will this change in the relationship result in the happy ending that the heroine longs for, or will it be another addition to her catastrophic love life?

This is a modern tale of the classic LITTLE WOMEN book focusing on the heroine that married her sister's friend. The author captured the heroine in a way that has some essence of that heroine role that she was aiming for. Yet it was not enough for me to change my view of said heroine role and this book's heroine, a character that was just a presence in the classic book. I'm glad that this book's heroine is together with the hero, who I didn't gravitate to in the story. Thus, I wasn't as committed to their romance as the book wanted readers to be, but the story did have a nice flow to it. Overall, a nice book for those who adore the couple from the classic book and want that aforementioned couple to have their own modern book.

** Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review copy. All opinions and thoughts in the review are my own. ** ( )