The Purrfect Pet Sitter by Carol Thomas (Book Review)

The Purrfect Pet Sitter

 Carol Thomas

I am so excited to be on the final stop of the Blog Tour for The Purrfect Pet Sitter by Carol Thomas. As soon as I read the blurb and saw the front cover I emailed Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources to ask her if she had a free stop on the tour. I love any books featuring pets (especially dogs) so I couldn’t wait to dive in!

The Purrfect Pet Sitter

Introducing Lisa Blake, the purrfect pet sitter! 
When Lisa Blake’s life in London falls apart, she returns to her hometown rebranding herself as ‘the purrfect pet sitter’ – which may or may not be false advertising as she has a rather unfortunate habit of (temporarily) losing dogs!

But being back where she grew up, Lisa can’t escape her past. There’s her estranged best friend Flick who she bumps into in an embarrassing encounter in a local supermarket. And her first love, Nathan Baker, who, considering their history, is sure to be even more surprised by her drunken Facebook friend request than Lisa is.

As she becomes involved in the lives of her old friends Lisa must confront the hurt she has caused, discover the truth about her mysterious leather-clad admirer, and learn how to move forward when the things she wants most are affected by the decisions of her past.

Purchase from Amazon UK –Amazon Purchase Link

My Review

Lisa returns to her childhood home for a fresh start, and to start a pet sitting business. Her parents have retired to France and her brother now lives in Australia. She had cut the ties with her friends when she mysteriously left the lovely seaside town and now back, she finds herself isolated and alone. The chats with the man from the Chinese takeaway and an elderly client called Winnie just weren’t enough and she craved having her old friends back in her life.

By chance, Lisa bumps into a woman in the supermarket. She smells of vomit, is wearing a man’s coat over a satin nightie with her ample cleavage bursting out and has bits of carrot in her hair. When their eyes meet, Lisa realises that the woman is her childhood best friend Felicity Forster (Flick) but  Lisa bolts without acknowledging her.

What did Lisa do that was so bad she disappeared completely from her best friend’s life? Who is the mysterious ex-called Ben who broke Lisa’s heart? What happened between Lisa and her first love Nathan? and will Lisa be able to repair the damage she’s done and make a new start in her hometown?

I adored Lisa’s elderly client Winnie who employed Lisa to walk her cross-eyed labrador, Jack. She came out with some pearls of wisdom including this one;

“Rotten eggs have a way of making their smell known in the end” 

Many women will relate to the character of Felicity, who juggles married life and four children in a permanently exhausted state. She provides some really comical moments that brought back some long lost memories.

I could tell from the start that Carol Thomas is a natural storyteller. Her characters are described with such fine detail that they evolve from the pages into real people. I love relatable characters in books and this is a great example and comes highly recommended.

Thank you to Rachel, the author and Ruby Fiction for supplying me with a copy which I reviewed honestly.

 

About Carol

Carol Thomas lives on the south coast of England with her husband, four children and lively young Labrador. She has been a playgroup supervisor and taught in primary schools for over fifteen years, before dedicating more of her time to writing. Carol is a regular volunteer at her local Cancer Research UK shop. She has a passion for reading, writing and people watching and can often be found loitering in local cafes working on her next book.