A Purrfect Match by Chris T. Kat

Title: A Purrfect Match
Author: Chris T. Kat
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Length: 65,024 words
Genre: m/m Paranormal Romance
Heat: 3 – Sexy & Mild
Sex Frequency: 3 – Average Story to Sex
Keywords/Tags: Adorable, Co-Workers, Heartwarming, Interracial, Kids, Kink, Spanking, Light & Sweet, Secrets & Lies, House Cat Shifters
Rating: Really Like It

Reviewed by Nikyta

BLURB

When a bad day at work culminates in losing out on a promotion, Jim Sanders shifts into his animal form to let off steam. Then his bad day turns into a bad night—while prowling his Atlantic City neighborhood as a large gray house cat, he’s caught in a torrential downpour. What little luck he has washes down the gutter when his new boss, Andrew Wright, catches him taking shelter on his porch, brings him inside, and starts calling him Mr. Frosty.

As a feline, Jim becomes the inadvertent confessor for his boss’s lonely son, Tony, a victim of schoolyard bullying. As a human, he feels drawn to Andrew, a man he wanted to resent. Finding love was never part of Jim’s plan for the future—not with his bizarre secret—yet suddenly he finds himself navigating that minefield anyway. But not everything is easy, especially for an interracial gay couple dealing with prejudice in the workplace, at Tony’s school, and even within their own families.

REVIEW

After a rough day in which Jim gets passed over for a promotion, he decides to blow off some steam by running in his shifter form. Unfortunately, it starts storming and he’s a long way from home. Taking a break on someone’s porch, he’s found by a boy named Tony, the son of the man he lost his promotion to, Andrew. Jim is still furious but he’s also exhausted. Before he knows it, Tony and Andrew are taking care of him and naming him. But not only is Tony growing attached to Mr. Frosty but Jim is starting to really like Andrew and Tony. It’s not long before he starts spending time with Andrew at work and then spending time with both of them as a cat. Jim doesn’t want a relationship with Andrew but he can’t help how much he’s coming to care for them. There’s a lot of things standing in their way of a relationship, though, like bigotry, slight racism, bullying, and a needy kid.

I really liked this story for a lot of reasons. The characters are very likeable to the point you want to hug them until everything turns out okay. Jim is actually a bit of a jerk in the beginning. He’s this huge hulking black man and his anger is one of the scariest things some people have seen. However, he’s got a big heart in that gruff manner and that heart is set on Andrew, whether Jim likes it or not. Andrew, on the other hand, seems almost fragile compared to Jim. He’s just uprooted his whole life to live somewhere that Tony could get a good education. He’s stressed beyond belief because his job demands so much but Tony demands even more. He’s sweet and kind but won’t take shit from anyone when he’s pushed too far. One of the cutest things about this book, aside from Tony, is how Jim acts in his cat form. I found him both hilarious with his inner monologue and adorable in his actions.

Their relationship is a bit rocky because Jim is very resentful of Andrew and Andrew is uncomfortable around Jim. Jim is very firm in his desire to just be friends at first but when they finally get together, I found them to be smoking hot and readers should know that they dabble in a bit of spanking, that while out of nowhere, I found fitting to their situation and their personalities. I loved that while Jim didn’t want to necessarily have a relationship with Andrew at first, he was surprisingly accepting of Tony, even to the point of being protective of him and Andrew, and handled Tony being sick very well. I adored Tony, even when he was being a little brat. His struggles with moving, not being able to be with his dad so much and getting bullied felt like very real problems. Another thing I liked is how there were moments of bigotry and racism thrown in that were dealt with in their own time and while I thought how they were handled was slightly too fast, I still enjoyed the conflict it gave the story.

Even with enjoying this story so much, I still had some problems with it. Mostly, while I liked that Jim was forced into a parent role, I felt like it was too fast considering he was still relatively a stranger to Andrew. I adored that he handled the kid so well but I didn’t appreciate his comments regarding how Andrew should raise Tony while Jim was in his cat form. I felt like it was unfair to judge Andrew when he didn’t really know either Andrew, Tony or their situation at that time. Beyond that, I wished there had been more explanation of Jim’s shifter ability and how he was able to do it. There’s a vague reference to why he’s a shifter but it wasn’t enough to satisfy my curiosity especially since when Andrew found out, it was remarkably easy for him to accept that Jim was also Mr. Frosty. One other thing is I wished we got to see more of Jim’s family, more time with his parents and even meeting more of his family.

Overall, this was a very well done story. It’s well written and I adored the characters and what they had to go through. More than that, I loved how Jim and Tony got along and the fact that Tony understood what Jim meant to Andrew and how easily Jim incorporated himself into their family. If you’re looking for a cute, sweet and heartwarming book with some moments that are touching and hot, you’ll want to read this story.