Bunny's Reviews: Dr. Susan's Reign Review Spotlight

Welcome to the book tour for Katerina Degratte's novel, Dr. Susan's Reign! Read on for my review and more details!

Dr. Susan’s Reign is the first book in Katerina Degratte’s Cat Johnson Chronicles. Being an avid lover of cats, and an avid reader of fantasy novels I was eager to jump into this book. Unfortunately, while the blurb for this book paints an intriguing picture, the actual story falls short.

Dr. Susan’s Reign is a story that focuses on Cat Johnson. Cat Johnson works two jobs – one at a game-store selling magic cards and helping customers get what they need, and then for HQ taking dangerous jobs. This book drops readers in middle of chaos with Cat being attacked by a giant cat the size of a tiger. This particular predicament is courtesy of her former girlfriend, Dr. Susan. Cat had no idea at the time of the relationship just what kind of person Dr. Susan was, but now she’s got more than a bit of a clue as her back is being shredded.

I enjoy science fiction/fantasy novels, but I really felt thrown off kilter with this book. I think that the author would have been better served to give readers more foundation and background in starting this story. I understand the desire to start the story off with a proverbial bang, but it only caused me to be confused and wonder if I had missed something. Unfortunately, this feeling of having missed something becomes a common theme throughout this book. As I read through this book I kept wanting more information about Cat. I get some here and there about her background, and provides me with that information I’m craving, but I needed more.

The title of this book is “Dr. Susan’s Reign.” For me, the title implies that we are going to get Dr. Susan as a primary threat in this book, and the story is going to focus on the chaos that she creates. Sadly, that is not the case. We get a couple of scenes with Dr. Susan, but also only a couple of incidents of her mayhem. The title of the book makes it sound like Dr. Susan was going to be a heavy focus of the story as the bad guy in the story. We get more of the Aqua haired beauty than we do Dr. Susan. I think that if the story had started with Cat meeting Dr. Susan that it would have been more interesting, and less chaotic. I say this because it would have developed to the point of Dr. Susan showing a moderate interest in Maori which would help lead to where the story is ultimately going. As the story is, I felt like it was all over the place. There are moments where the storyline straightens out and flows smoothly, but then it hits a spot and gets thrown off it’s perfect flow.

I love the cats in this book. Maori is snarky and sassy, and then you add in a tiny kitten and it just becomes cuteness overload. There are moments in this story where it seems like Maori’s chapters are more focused than Cat’s chapters.

Don’t be fooled by this book’s cute and colorful cover. This book is very much more for mature audiences with it’s adult language and sexual situations. There is a bit of violence in this book, but you’re going to have to use your imagination as to what exactly happened, because that does not appear in the book. Yes, that was one of the scenes where I thought that I had swiped and the book skipped a page or two, but no – there just anything depicting what happened.

I honestly wanted to love this book, but it falls short of expectations. I feel that dropping readers into an action scene with little to no context was a mistake. The story needed a foundation to build on, and the author needed to focus more on Dr. Susan so that the story truly fits the title. With a bit more focus and structure this story could have been really good. As it is, it seems that the kitties are expected to carry the story and that’s not fair to them. LOL! I’m choosing to rate this book 3.5 out of 5 stars. There are some enjoyable moments in this book, but the chaotic writing is a bit too much for me to truly enjoy this book. If you love cats, like science fiction, and wish to take a chance on this book – feel free. I loved the cats, so I’ll consider continuing this series in the future.

Dr. Susan’s Reign (Cat Johnson Chronicles #1)

Genre: Sci-Fi/ Fantasy/ LGBTQ2+

Publication Date: August 2021

When a mad scientist swipes her chatty pet, she’ll claw her way through any danger to get her back…

Cat Johnson just wants a quiet life. Living paycheck to paycheck, the soft-spoken game-store clerk prefers to spend her nights home alone in the company of her sassy, talking kitty, Maori. But when a beautiful woman lures her out on a date, she’s devastated to discover it was a ruse to abduct her beloved feline friend.

Forcing the duplicitous dame to show her where Maori was taken, Cat races to a secret research lab to rescue her bestie. But she’s horrified when her snarky pal has been transformed into a giant killing machine.

Can Cat free Maori from a terrifying fate?

Dr. Susan’s Reign is the electrifying first book in the Cat Johnson Chronicles LGBTQ science fiction series. If you like strong female characters, sarcastic four-footed heroines, and non-stop action, then you’ll love Katerina Degratte’s meowsome tale.

Available on Amazon