Crash Kitty

by Rachel Tremblay

About 30 years before Off My Feet. Five women share an apartment and Friday nights. Wine and creativity keep them well entertained and always on the brink of trouble. One doomful evening, an alien craft lands onto their building and brings mystifyingly charming creatures into their lives. Creatures they would never have suspected were sinister…

Boy, were they wrong!

Read the tragicomedy that started it all!

140 pages, Paperback

First published June 16, 2020

About the author

Rachel Tremblay is a Canadian artist, musician and writer. Working on poetry, songs and hip-hop lyrics in her young adult life, she also spent a lot of time drawing. This led her to study fine arts in Matane, Quebec and then Kelowna, British Columbia. Without abandoning her other artistic endeavors, she wrote her first music album, under the band name August Elliot, upon returning to Quebec. During this time she married and had her first child. She spent a good part of the next decade honing her craft as a contemporary realist painter under the wing of an argentinian mentor, all while writing music for her second album, gigging, working as a graphic designer, and giving life to a second child. Painting, music and poetry led her to finally write the novels she'd always dreamed of. Mother to two grown children whom she homeschooled, you can find her in her native Montreal or in the Laurentian woods making art in some form or other.

Rachel has self-published four books and her fifth, Lavender Spike, is scheduled for released with ECW Press fall 2025.

Reviews

[Geneviève (thefreckledbookworm) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought I had written an actual review of this book when I first read it, a year ago. But I can't find it anymore!! I guess it just means that I have no choice, but to reread it once it's released, so then I can write a proper review!!

All I can say is... even though this is a PREQUEL to Off My Feet, you NEEEEEED to read it AFTER. I was completely mind blown. ALL THE TWISTS AND TURNS, OMG. Alsooo, Rachel's books are always completely fucked up and absolutely amazing. MUST. READ. I am willing to shove this baby down your throats.

I am not kidding.

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this one a little less than the "main book" because I felt like it was a bit rushed so I had trouble making sense of what I was reading but to be honest "cats coming from space" are not something you want to make sense of hahaha Loved the writing style and the story!

[Laura (crofteereader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

My sincerest thanks to the author for the advanced review copy of this novella and its sister-novel Off My Feet. All thoughts are my own!

I loved the friendship between Maddy, Kat, Bee, and Lo. It felt real and fun and a little bit wild - like four friends-for-life who don't quite know how to grow up (and that particular insecurity is even examined, which is amazing). They're full of mischief and a great big helping of naivete.

The unflinching directness I've come to expect from Tremblay was again present, but tempered a bit more with dialogue and a deeper eloquence of language. Apart from a few abrupt transitions, the story flowed logically from scene to scene, even though it did get progressively weirder.

Personally I would have preferred the story to either end with Maddy (and I'll leave that purposefully vague) or go a bit deeper into Edie. The "epilogue" as it were felt a bit too much like an afterthought.

But! The gore was a pleasant surprise. I love gore.

[Janell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The beginning is pretty great.
Girls being wild.
Calling pizza for delivery.


... and then kidnapping the guy?
I didn’t really think that was going to happen.
I totally thought they were going to chicken out or just play a joke.


Then all of sudden... here come the SPACE CATS.
I love cats, I can get down with this idea.
No matter how outlandish the idea is.
In fact, I would actually much prefer a story more in depth about Tabby & the vampire kitties.



But wait.. hold on.
The kittens eat four of the five girls.


This is where the story totally changes.
& I feel super lost.


I feel like the author didn’t originally intend for this to be the end of this story..?
Maybe I’m wrong.. but it felt like I jumped into a completely different story but with the same character names.

This book is only 119 pages so of course I’m not expecting any in depth world building details.. but I don’t understand why it ended the way it did.

All in all, it’s why I’m giving Crash Kitty 3.

[Angie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read this immediately after finishing Off My Feet! This was a fun, funny, sad, traumatic and fast story that was so SO good. I loved the girls and their young, carefree life together. I loved their relationship and that they took in the cats. I loved Maddy and Jack and their whirlwind relationship. I even loved the gross parts... ( 🐈‍⬛ 🍲 ☠️) I read this so fast because I just had to keep turning those pages! Rachel is a wizard with words and her stories are always wonderful!

[Claire P · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very compelling prequel story that gives some much wanted background into Edie's life, while also being a wildly engaging independent story from the very first page. Not for the faint of heart, though!

[twinklesandstars · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this origin story so much. Let’s just say that now I want to order pizza with my friends ...

[Erin Hartel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious, trippy, sex, magic, drugs, space cats

[Prin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kept me on the edge of my seat. This author never fails to surprise me. What a great prequel to OFF MY FEET.