Reviewed by Valerie
TITLE: Cute as Cats
AUTHOR: Suki Fleet
PUBLISHER: Star and Ink Press
LENGTH: 48 Pages
RELEASE DATE: November 20, 2023
BLURB:
Meet-cute in a cat cafe, but oh no! there’s a storm and they’re trapped together…
Zu has spent his life wishing he wasn’t so big and awkward and always making a mess of things. When he gets stood up by his date at a cat café one rainy Christmas eve, it turns out to be the best thing that could have happened to him. He finds himself exchanging flirty glances with Kiitan, the café’s slender pudding chef. But when they start to talk, Kiitan tells Zu he’s deaf and Zu’s shyness get the better of him, and his worry about messing up makes him do just that.
Gathering his courage, Zu vows to wait until the end of Kiitan’s shift to make it up to him. But as the streets around the café start to flood, the café closes early to make sure everyone can get home, and Zu thinks his chance is gone. Until he sees Kiitan is staying behind to protect the café’s cats. Ignoring all the ways things could go wrong, Zu does the only thing that feels right—he takes a chance and offers to help him.
This contemporary Christmas short story has gay, pansexual, disability rep and a HEA.
An earlier version of this story was available as part of the Rainbow Christmas Advent in 2022. This is an extended and updated version of that story.
REVIEW:
Cute as Cats is a precious meet-cat, er, meet-cute story set on Christmas Eve in a London cat café. A chance meeting leads to what promises to be a life-long romance.
I have a theory: people who hate cats have never met a cat. You won’t want to read Cute as Cats if you’re an unfortunate cat hater (who has a cold, black heart and no soul), but then again, you wouldn’t even have picked up a book with this title. For those who love cats – or those who’ve never met a cat – reading this sweet short story is the perfect way to get a feline fix.
The leading men are as cute as the cats. Zu (which keeps autocorrecting to zucchini as I type this) is a lonely guy who misses having a relationship and being close to someone. Somehow he meets up with a coworker for what he thinks is just a friendly get together at a cat café, while she thinks it’s a date. What Zu doesn’t expect is to get caught up in some pretty intense eye contact and shy smiles with a cute guy across the room. Kiitan (gotta love his name!) is adorable. He’s a chef at the café and he’s deaf. I’m fond of stories featuring characters who overcome their disabilities or, in this case, are written as people who don’t let their disabilities stand in their way. Zu has struggles, too, related to body image. I love both characters and am so glad to see them find happiness with each other.
“You look perfect to me, he writes, just as you are. You look strong, powerful, like no one is ever going to push you around, like your place in the world is certain. Like if you hugged me while all around us a storm was raging, I’d feel like it wouldn’t touch me. You’d make me feel protected.”
Suki Fleet has written a lovely story that’s perfect for this time of year. It’s filled with the magical feelings brought about by the holidays, and its short enough, at 48 pages, to read in one sitting and fit into this busy time of year when taking the time to read may be at a premium. This is one super sweet love story you don’t want to miss.
Now if only I could find my own cat café.
RATING: 
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