Agnes Aubert Mystical Cat Shelter

Genre: Fantasy Fiction, Romantic fantasy, Romance novel, Historical fantasy. 

Author: Heather Fawcett

Rating: 3.5/5⭐️

Agnes Albert's mystical cat shelter is a romantic fantasy set in 1920s Montreal. The main character is Agnes who is a grieving Widow. She runs a shelter for stray cats. She ends up in a desperate situation where she has no choice but to move her shelter to a place that is quite suspicious and it turns out that she ends up sharing a space with the deeply mysterious Wizard King, Havelock Renard, who has a very dark reputation. The story tangles into adventure, challenges, growth, and relationships.

1. Which character did you connect with the most, and did your opinion of them change from the beginning to the end?

The character connected to most was Havelock. I really appreciated that he wasn't all that his reputation said he was. One of my favorite things about his personality is that he was witty and was quick with a comeback. I also really enjoyed the fact that he was an awkward introvert who despite what his reputation may have said just wanted to be alone with his books and his magic and he never wanted to bother anyone to begin with. I also really loved the fact that he had this deep relationship with his sister and we got to see the dynamic of how their relationship influenced who he was and how he went about his life. 

2. Did the romance give you the emotional payoff you were expecting, and what do you think was missing?

The romance unfortunately did not give me the emotional payoff I wanted. I am the type of girl who appreciates everything in between when it comes to romance in my novels. I like the attraction, the noticing, the yearning, the denial, then the emotional realization, the tension and the vulnerability. Then the longing that comes along and the confession rather that's direct or indirect. It doesn’t have to have all of that, you get what I'm saying?  

I love the small moments in a book where you can see them falling in love with each other or growing feelings for each other and that I got a lot in the book. I have highlighted plenty of those moments but where my payoff didn't come was the fact that in the book there's only two kisses and besides some glances and awkward pauses that’s all we get. Which is fine I don't need a whole bunch of details but I don't appreciate the way the book ended because basically it was: the big conflict is over, we know that we like each other, nothing has been said, big romantic gesture, new beginnings, the end. Nothing about the relationship was ever said only insinuated but not very well. I don't need things to be said directly for me to appreciate them but this book didn't do anything really when it came to establishing the romance aspect at all. 

For example: there are books like Howl's Moving Castle and even though the romance isn't the main aspect of the book it's still built over time really well and by the end of the book we know that they are two people in love. The crazy part is we didn't get all that insane yearning and stolen glances in HMC there was absolutely more of that in the book. Yet, somehow I felt more of a romantic relationship between those two characters than I do between Agnes and Havelock. The book treats romance more like a fact that is established over time rather than an actual relationship developing and that's where it kind of falls off when it comes to romance. It’s basically a crush. It was built up really well. It had tension and yearning but it fell short by the end of the book. It was very sweet but underwhelming. 

3. What made this book enjoyable despite the things that frustrated you, and would you recommend it to someone else?

So despite the things that frustrated me about this book, the things that made it enjoyable was definitely the setting for one. I really like that it was set in the 1920s, and I really enjoyed the fact that the Magic World in this book was different from what you would usually see. Usually in fantasy we see that Wizards are these great powerful creatures that everyone might cherish or worship or love but in this book they are actually seen as these evil characters and they are mischievous, destructive and not well-liked by the human world. It's something that is established in a way where you see these powerful individuals who do not think about the repercussions of their actions because they are not usually the ones who are hurt by them. 

I also really enjoyed the fact that they come from a different world and that world isn't some beautiful magical place like how you would you expect in the usual fantasy novel instead it's a place where they are actually destroyed if they spend too much time there and it's a world that they are called to but it can hurt them and that is very different and I think that's a part of why the Wizards are kind of evil in this book because they come from a world that is essentially evil, so evil that it doesn't even spare them. 

When you think of wizards you probably think castles and wands and all these beautiful things but in this book you get danger and fear and evil from Magic. I also really enjoyed the fact that in this book the Magic is limited again, because in a typical fantasy that's not usually a thing you see. In a lot of fantasies they are in a world where magic is unlimited and there are no boundaries that can be crossed and usually if there is a boundary that can be crossed it's the main conflict of the novel but in this book the Wizards are actually limited in their magic and they have to retrieve it not only from that evil world but from these artifacts that their magic can be placed into. 

What I also enjoyed is that over time as you read the book you see Agnes’ growth and we get to see that her perspective of magic changes partly because she begins to fall for someone who represents the beauty of it to her for the first time and magic is a part of who he is. There are many dangerous things about magic in this world. The wizards are these extremely selfish people but magic can also be very beautiful when placed in the right hands with the right intentions. 

I also really like the experience of grieving. We get two very important examples of grieving in this book and that's grieving someone that has passed and then there's grieving someone who is still alive and the two are both extremely hard things to go through. 

With Agnes you see her grieving her late husband who died suddenly and she didn't get the chance of closure and saying goodbye and although it's not something that she is in the beginning stages of she is still grieving and adjusting to a life without him. She is still having that longing for someone that she cannot have access to. I also really appreciate that the book doesn’t erase the love that she has for her late husband but rather makes it something that is a part of her and that she has made peace with. 

With Havelock you get this grieving of someone who is still alive which is his sister and it's because of a betrayal that's happened in their relationship that they are no longer close as they used to be and when someone betrays you and hurts you in that way you have no choice but to separate yourself whether you want to or not and usually they do it for you. We get to see a part of Havelock that isn't originally introduced, which is a guy who has been alone for a really long time and the only person that he had his entire life essentially threw everything away and betrayed him. Not only does he grieve his sister but he grieves the relationship and the possibility of what they could have been. Not only that but he also has to watch her become someone who is filled with hatred and jealousy and envy that is not just there but it's specifically towards him. 

Overall I really enjoyed this novel. The only reason it's not rated higher is because the romance trope was quite disappointing for me. It's still a really enjoyable book outside of the romance but my expectations were set high. Everything else is great though and I would recommend this book. 

I will be ready for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay next so stay tuned. 

Thank you guys for reading!🌸

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