Sandra S Cox

This book was definitely a delightful cat-tastic heartwarming story!

Following a lot of the plot formula of its precedessor Shardai, Akasha is a beautiful feral calico with her three kittens that live in a boathouse by a lake. Lighting strikes during a storm and Akasha along with two of her kittens drown and they all end up in Catarau, the heaven of cats.

Akasha and her two kittens are soon welcomed by Ramses and his girlfriend, the grey tabby that raised Shardai during his second life (now known as Great Mother). Akasha's moment of happiness to discover she was now in heaven is thwarted when she realizes her daughter Cairo is still alive and trapped on a piece of floating wood. She manages to convince Great Mother to babysit her two kittens and is returned to Earth to save her daughter from certain death.

I really like Akasha. She is rightfully distrustful of handsome male cats after a certain tuxedo left her once she got pregnant and feels disgusted she has to live her second life in the body of a scrawny tortishell with dirty fur. Being truthful to the plot device that reincarnated cats posess the bodies of recently deceased cats, it makes a lot of sense Akasha wakes up in a highway and has to rely on her wit to stay alive.

She is not alone. A scruffy looking orange tomcat named Bo soon realizes she is an apprentice cat from the way her eyes glow and he insists to accompany her every step of the way until she locates her daughter. She soon realizes he is an Old Soul living his second life and despite his gruffiness, his intentions are good as he teaches her to become a mentor.

Just like the first book, Akasha frequently runs into endless hurdles which makes her grow more attached to Bo without extinguishing her desire to locate her kitten. If you enjoyed book 1, the sequel offers more of the same, which to me was perfectly fine. We even get to bump into a certain character from book 1, albeit it is a spoiler. I recall seeing several typos in this book, but it didn't detract from the enjoyment of the story.… (meer)