RebeccasReads.com - Chloe Anne: Force of Nature by Valerie Oblath

Featured books

Featured Websites

.: Reader Views Kids

Provides book reviews, by kids, for kids

.: Inside Scoop Live

Provides live author interviews for podcast

.: Authors Access

Provides interviews with experts in the publishing industry

.: Midwest Book Review

Provides post-publication reviews

.: Reader Views

Provides book reviews and author publicity

.: LR Communication Design

Provides professional website design and development

.: Blogging Authors

Provides a place where writers and readers meet

.: Review The Book

Provides 5 books reviews on 10 different sites

.: Best Sellers World

Provides book reviews and author features

.: Feathered Quill Book Reviews

Provides book reviews and author features

reviews

Chloe Anne: Force of Nature

Valerie Oblath
Three C’s Publishing LLC (2008)
ISBN 9780980062328
Reviewed by Mary Durfor for RebeccasReads (8/08)

This story is told in first-person (make that first-cat!) and it is really a fun, light read.  Chloe Anne (the cat) tells her story in a compelling way, first detailing her rather pedestrian existence in her first home, where her moniker was Penny.  She had to be left behind when her people moved.  Penny overheard the preparatory conversations – The Humane Society?  She felt it sounded like a place where other cats with breeding and style might congregate, possibly to do good works. 

The reality hits Penny as she joins the other prisoners in the lock-up.  She remembers the made-for-TV women in prison movies she had seen in the past, and hopes she will be adopted quickly.  The guards, Penny found, were kind and gentle and full of compliments to the prisoners.  She played coy with the visitors, until she met Valerie, her new mom.  Valerie immediately renames her Chloe Anne and brings her home to her wonderful Jewish home to be a friend to Cinders, the cat Valerie inherited when her mother passed away.  Chloe Anne is ecstatic to now be a part of the Chosen People.  The author works in the celebration of The Seder – the food preparation, the recounting of the exact dishes, which are cooked and served, the actual proper way of observing the ceremony, which is integrated into the dinner.  Additionally she cleverly refers to many television and movie stars and shows. 

Chloe Anne recounts her first solo experience outside the house – with a duck, which lives on the lagoon outside their home.  Since Chloe Anne is declawed, the experience is both inherently dangerous and forbidden.  She also recounts a dream sequence (part of her detailed discourses on sleeping) where she is a contestant in Dancing with the Stars, her partner, Antonio Banderas, and she expertly execute the steps of the rumba and then samba off the stage.  The author has the inside Hollywood scoop and gossip, which she weaves into the story.  She easily contrasts the personalities of the three judges and the process used in the actual television show. 

Several more interesting occurrences round out the book, and the finale gives more insight into the type of cat personality Chloe Anne possesses, as well as that of Cinders and Valerie.  Any animal lover will appreciate the wit and humor of this cat tale, especially cat lovers, of course.  Lighthearted and funny, it is a treat to read and enjoy. 

  

.: Blog