I haven't read a cozy mystery since...high school? It's been a while, and it was never a main genre of mine, but I could not resist the cute cover or the heavy cat-ness. This is very cute!
So I really love the setup for this series. The heroine, Mimi Lee, is a pet groomer who just opened up a store called Hollywoof. Though she prefers dogs, her sister finds a cat in need of a home and gives the big fluffy white cat to Mimi, who adopts him and names him Marshmallow. Turns out Marshmallow can talk to her and her alone, because he can only speak with his owner. He is sassy, as the series name indicates, and easily my favorite character. The mystery, too, focuses on a terrible dog groomer. There are so many animals, and I love it.
On the other hand, the plot of this was rather weak. I just could not handle the way Mimi would constantly leave her struggling store in the middle of the day to go investigate or talk to a friend. Similarly, I don't believe that Josh would be able to help her as much as he did; they talk about his busy schedule, but he's generally pretty available. Aside from that, Mimi's investigating was ... not well thought out, though potentially that adds charm?
The romance had a lot of potential, but for me it almost felt like a middle grade romance. They become a couple having talked a couple of times and without having kissed. I think they kissed once in the whole book! Even though they live in the same apartment complex and have easy access. All relationships are different, but there's nothing said about this at all, so it just felt weird and made the book feel a bit juvenile.
I had fun reading this for sure, but I don't think I'll be back for book two, as I wanted a bit more romance from this than the author clearly did (which is fine! but means I'm not the right reader). I'd recommend to animal-loving cozy mystery fans who like clean reads.