Review – Feline Good

Lana Kole is a romance author who does a lot of her marketing through the TikTok app, which was an unusual approach in my opinion. I’ve read so many romance books in the last year it isn’t even funny, but it’s refreshing to come across a good one. Feline Good is a stand-alone reverse harem about three cats turned into men, and it’s not even surprisingly good – it’s a-mew-singly so. It does a great job of showcasing the author’s voice, and it’s pretty much what one would be shopping for in this genre even if its supernatural elements are more camp than grounded.

The story, as described as an outline, is surprisingly straightforward. The main character, Maya, runs a popular bar and lives by herself. She hasn’t had much luck with romance, outside of reference to an abusive ex named Alex. She has three cats though! One day, while closing, she’s attacked by some men, and in struggling to defend herself three mysterious men come to the rescue. It’s her cats. Her cats are men now. And they’ve been with her for 15 years and they were with her all those times she did things that a young adult who thought no one was watching would do. They’re rather nonchalant about this though, because there’s a mission to find a mysterious amulet and save the world from the Goddess Sekhmet escaping her place of imprisonment. Turns out these cat men were tasked by Bastet to watch over a bloodline tasked with watching over this amulet, and Maya is the last of that bloodline. Probably not for long, though, because the level of attraction between cats and “owner” quickly heats up.

I’m not kidding about that “quickly” part either. In the 2002 Martial Arts comedy Kung Pow! Enter the Fist there’s a scene where the main character and “chosen one” is being introduced to the movie’s main romantic interest Ling by his teacher and sifu Master Tang. This exchange takes place:

This scene is exactly what I thought of when the main character quickly changes her thought processes from “who are these men protecting me” to “oh god the things I’ve said and done around these cats when they were just animals” to “well, they’re very attractive and have penises, and if there’s two qualities I enjoy in men it’s that they’re attractive and have penises.” This novel wastes no time ramping up the heat, while also ensuring to address concerns of if her ownership of them as pets might interfere or influence their desire to be with her as people, and navigating the fact that all three are interested in her and what that entails. From sexy shower scenes to standard bedroom scenes taken to the next level, this author is not afraid to showcase her writing style and explore spicy scenarios, and she does so in a way that never feels weighted or wasted.

There’s an overarching plot outside of these sex scenes. It turns out that the Gods of Ancient Egypt were real, and Sekhmet has a thing against humanity because they don’t respect her. Sure, she’s a lonely Goddess who spends a fair amount of time with an individual named Kyril (who it turns out is not a deity, but the truth to him isn’t shared until the very end of the book). There’s a strange disconnect between the humanization of the deities, which works by playing them off as characters one can sympathize with who also have a greater understand and reach, and playing Sekhmet off is a lonely goddess with a bit of a drinking problem works a little better than I’d like to admit. That said, it also creates one of the biggest issues with the book, in that it sets a very specific tone for the story that enhances its camp factor. These characters would fit in well in a Universe like Buffy or Supernatural. The threat to the whole world, or even the main characters, is stated in a way that it should be grave, but simply feels like it’s a boogeyman in the background to push the story along.

Sure, there’s some fight scenes, but without exception they are forgettable. There’s a lot of come-to-realize about Maya, her skills as a Keeper of Time and ability to see the past and future by weaving, but a lot of this is only average. The way things wrap up before the epilogue works, but outside of perhaps the twist of who Sekhmet’s boyfriend is the whole affair is very predictable. This isn’t a novel one will want to read on its adventure merits, to be sure.

That said, it’s romance is top notch, it’s main character is a strong female lead who knows what she wants and is surprised but not overwhelmed when she actually gets it, and the ending in the epilogue is going to give a lot of fans of the genre some very warm blushy feelings. There isn’t a lot that feels “new” here, but it’s a solid light hearted romance novel with a great voice and even stronger sex scenes. An easy way to spend a couple of nights in bed.