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Book: “Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter” by Heather Fawcett
Publishing Info: Del Rey, February 2026
Where Did I Get this Book: ARC from the publisher!
Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound
Book Description: Agnes Aubert leads a meticulously organized life—and she likes it that way. As the proudly type-A manager of a much-needed cat rescue charity, she has devoted her life to finding forever homes for lost cats.
But after she is forced to move the cat shelter, Agnes learns that her new landlord is using her charity as a front—for an internationally renowned and thoroughly disreputable magic shop. Owned by the disorganized—not to mention self-absorbed, irritating, but also decidedly handsome—Havelock Renard, magician and failed Dark Lord, the shop draws magical clientele from around the world, partly due to the quality of Havelock’s illicit goods as well as their curiosity about his shadowy past and rumors of his incredible powers. Agnes’s charity offers the perfect cover for illegal magics.
Agnes couldn’t care less about the shop—magical intrigue or not, there are cats to be rescued. But when an enemy from Havelock’s past surfaces, the magic shop—and more importantly, the cat shelter—are suddenly in jeopardy. To save the shelter, will Agnes have to set aside her social conscience and protect the man who once tried to bring about the apocalypse—and is now trying to steal her heart?
Review: The ways this book immediately landed on the top of my TBR list are numerous and probably obvious. Heather Fawcett, author of the awesome Emily Wilde trilogy? Yes. Title/cover/subject matter having to do with cats? Hell yes! The only factor holding me back a bit, however, was the cozy factor, as too often I find myself bouncing off that subgenre, especially when it strays into the “day in the life” type of coziness. Ultimately, this book was a bit more of a mixed bag than I had hoped, but I also enjoyed it for the most part.
To start, I think I have to acknowledge the basic fact that this book’s subject matter carried me through a lot of complaints that I may have had with it had it been focused on some other topics. Per my usual preferences, I struggled with the day-in-the-life moments of this book. However, as here these moments focused on cats and the quirky personalities of the various cats in residence, I found myself smiling and nodding along much of the time. What can I say? Cats are charming, and what could have been slow-moving scenes were helped by my inclination to identify the various cats with my own real-world companions. That said, if I was less interested in cats, I do think some of these cozy moments were a bit lackluster. The book had a lot of charm, but I’m not sure it had an equal amount of heart.
This extended to our main character and the love interest. Perhaps it isn’t fair to compare these two to Emily and Wendell from the Emily Wilde series, but it’s unfortunately a reality that must be dealt with by all authors who find great success with a trilogy. Comparisons are inevitable. Unfortunately, neither of these two characters quite lived up to the previous two. There were clear, defining traits about them both, but, again, it felt like there was no true depth to be found or connection to these characters to be made.
Agnes is a very different person than Emily, and once I realized that and I was better able to settle in to the sort of character I was following. I particularly enjoyed the way the book grappled with her grief over the loss of her husband years prior. I just recently read a book (The Trident and the Pearl) where this same topic was handled and, in my opinion, bungled badly. But here, Fawcett devotes just the right amount of time and depth of feeling to give this prior relationship its due without undercutting the development of Agnes’s new relationship.
What I liked the most about this book, however, was the magic and setting of this world. In many ways it reminded me of Howl’s Moving Castle in the best of ways. Of course, much of this was also tied closely to the actual plot of the book and thus more disconnected from the day-in-the-life portions that I didn’t connect with as well. Here, the book established a nice balance between whimsy and dark menace and even took a few wild turns towards the end that I didn’t expect at all!
I also liked the romance, for the most part. It felt very familiar, but in a good way. Again, the Howl vibes are clear, and as long as readers clearly disconnect these new characters from Emily/Wendell, I think the romance works well. That said, I do think the book would have benefited from a bit more page time devoted to these two interacting with one another. While their love story was slow and sweet, looking back on how much page time they actually have with one another, it’s fairly limited.
So, I liked this book, but didn’t love it. It wasn’t nearly the high of the Emily Wilde books, unfortunately. Everything was just slightly…less. Part of this may come down to my own preferences with cozy fantasy, but I also think the character work simply wasn’t as strong here. And for books like these, they really live and die on the strength of the leads. That said, it was by no means a bad time, and I definitely think fans of Fawcett’s other books should check this out, as well as any/all cozy fantasy readers!
Rating 8: The cats definitely carried a decent portion of this book! However, I don’t think the characters were quite as strong as I would have liked.
Reader’s Advisory:
“Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter” can be found on these Goodreads lists: Clowders, Glarings: Cat Hoarding, etc. in Fiction and Best Cozy Fantasy Books.
The Library Ladies 