★★★★☆ Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter, by Heather Fawcett
Cozy goes hardcore
Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter
Heather Fawcett
Cozy goes hardcore
Heather Fawcett wrote a series of fantasy novels, the Emily Wilde series, which I really enjoyed. I liked them because Fawcett pulled off an impressive bit of magic of her own: she wrote three novels about a powerful, child-torturing, royalty-poisoning enchantress and convinced the world that they are cozy fantasies. In my reviews, I described Emily as formidable, terrifying, and capable of anything -- the last is a direct quote of something her romantic interest Wendell Bambleby said about her. And he was right!
The trick is all in the packaging. Emily is an introverted professor who drinks HAC Beverages in large amounts. (”HAC” = “Hot Alkaloid-Containing” is a shorthand that includes tea, coffee and cocoa. HAC Beverages are of course the defining feature of cozy literature. Check out any novel that has been designated “cozy” and you will find that the characters spend much of their time offering each other and consuming HAC bevs. In fact, I posit that HAC bevs in large quantities are not just a necessary, but a sufficient condition for coziness.)
Fawcett, in Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter has shone light into all of Emily’s dark places while turning the cozy to the max. We have not only HAC beverages, but also a variety of pastries, and -- get this -- our heroine runs a shelter for distressed stray cats. She literally lives with dozens of them and finds them homes. This is Beatrix Potter levels of cozy, but for adults!
The heroine, of course, is Agnes Aubert. She and her shelter are located in 1920s Montréal. It is not our version of the 1920s, however. There is magic in this world. Agnes, like all right-thinking folk, despises magic. Magicians are lawless and powerful and cause endless trouble. A few years ago one of them almost effected the End of the World. More recently, dueling magicians blasted a hole in the wall of the building that housed Agnes’s shelter. Thus, as the story begins Agnes is looking for a new home. She finds one at a suspiciously low rent. Well, you can guess why the rent is so low. (And the publisher’s blurb, which is full of major spoilers, will tell you why even if you can’t guess.)
I didn’t enjoy this as much as the Emily Wilde series. Agnes was too sweet for me. I’d have preferred a protagonist with more spice or sour notes. That’s just me, though. If hard-core cozy is your thing, you’ll enjoy Agnes.
Thanks to NetGalley and Del Rey for an advance reader’s copy of Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter. Release date 17-Feb-2026.