A review by zooloo1983
The Calico Cat by Amanda James

4.0

This is a story of self-discovery and acceptance, along with the chance to find love for the first time. I can relate to Lottie, I had a crappy childhood at times in different ways. Yet, I did find Lottie a bit irritating at times, I completely get that everyone deals with trauma in different ways but I found sometimes her behaviour a bit “off” and I did struggle to understand where she was coming from. However, about halfway through the story, something clicked between me and Lottie, maybe it was because she started to see life in a different light. She began to see that maybe her behaviour was not entirely just. Don’t get me wrong, she opened my eyes up to a few things. She asked questions which I had not thought of before and she was quite right with some of them.

However, she meets Louisa and what a change! She is the family she never had. Lottie’s real mother is absolutely despicable and such an awful person, you can see why Lottie closes herself off from the world and people. It is the grand story of nature vs nurture and which is the strongest to win out and like I said everyone deals with it in their own way. Like Lottie, I knew the type of person I did not want to be, yet, sometimes it seeps back in when you least expect. Not only does she meet Louisa, I just had to single her out, but on her walking holiday, she meets different people who impact her life and decisions without her even realising it. The interaction with these people are the building blocks on her journey.

I just did not know where the book was going, but the journey is one to hold dear to your heart. The growth of Lottie is one to admire, from not knowing what she wanted, and what she did not want. However, when she goes on a walking holiday with Caleb, a guy she use to work with, she discovers so much more and unfortunately, more betrayal which rocks her hard.

I tell you what though, I want my own Louisa. What a gorgeous soul. A woman who has lost what she holds dear and still finds a way to open her heart to people. She nudges Lottie as if she is a mouse finding the way to a slice of cheese. Small nudges in the right direction, asking her questions that she doesn’t want to face and ends up getting that dreaded word “closure.”

This is another book which is nothing like anything else that Mandy as written. Like a Calico cat, you can not pigeonhole this book. It is unique, it is sassy, it is independent but it is a lovely book, it is loyal to its course and it accepts that it is what it is, beautiful and uplifting.