Despite some opinions to the contrary, I have not lost my marbles and started repeating myself in person or on the blog. Well, okay, maybe a little in person, but I try to be a little more vigilant professionally. That said, you are right that I did post this review last Sunday on Mother’s Day, but there is a reason for the repeat.
The special sale pricing the author is offering for both books in the Destiny series lasts all this month, and I’d like to help her promote it by sharing the review on social media. Problem is, the lovely banner I had at the top of the Sunday post that wished everyone a happy Mother’s Day is the image that always popped up on my posts on Facebook and Twitter, even after I took the image off that original review post. Apparently, those sites still remember that image EVEN THOUGH IT’S NOT THERE ANYMORE. That, according to my son, the family IT guy.
So, my solution is to just create a new post.
Take that Facebook and Twitter.
And now, without further blathering on my part, here’s the review.
This is a book about cats and kittens, written by a cat. That’s right. A cat. You didn’t misread that or fall into a fugue state where everything is upside down in your world. Destiny’s Children is a sequel to the charming They Call Me Destiny that introduced the rescue cat and the woman who gave her a home. As I said in my review of that first book, you don’t have to be a cat lover to enjoy the anecdotes about the life of this special cat and her special owners. Or should I say the people Destiny owns.
The first book was a nice blending of two lives, a cat’s and a woman’s, and the experiences that challenged them during the years they shared as Destiny grew from a bedraggled kitten to a stunning black cat. This second installment in the story is equally a blending, although the focus is more on Destiny and her babies as they grow from newborn to frolicking kittens. The tagline for the book is: “Surviving kittenbirth, menopaws, and divorce. Not mine – Fern’s.” And we see it all from Destiny’s point of view.
I laughed out loud when I got to the chapter Menopaws that starts with the trip to the veterinarian for Destiny to get spayed. Destiny relates what she has overheard Fern saying to her partner Konny “She’s saying that in one of the books she was reading about something called spaying – the doctor had written that there were absolutely no side effects or changes in a cat after being spayed. Really? I thought to myself. I wondered how many cats that doctor had interviewed to come to that conclusion?!”
Earlier in the book when Destiny is reflecting on her genetic makeup after Fern has suggested that Destiny could be part Burmese, Destiny says, “I don’t really see the resemblance, but it is a good-looking cat, so I don’t really mind her description of my heritage.”
Apparently, looks are important, even to a cat.
Throughout both books, there are lessons about life and love and commitment and how important it is to live up to our commitments. Whether that is a commitment to our partner in life or a commitment to a pet that we have welcomed into our home.
In this second book there is a lot of reflection on what it means to be a mother how one feels when the children are ready to leave home. Much like Destiny missed her babies after the kittens were given to new homes, we human mothers miss our children when they go off to establish a new home of their own.
These tidbits of wisdom that are sprinkled throughout the book in the midst of the humorous stories take the book beyond just a fun read about cats. Kudos to Fern for being able to capture Destiny’s voice so well.