I’d Rather Have a Cat than a Harem! Reincarnated into the World of an Otome Game as a Cat-Loving Villainess, Vol.1

I’d Rather Have a Cat than a Harem!, Book 1

By: Kosuzu Kobato

Narrated by: Jennifer Aquino

Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

Cats are better than harems!

I’ve been reincarnated into the world of an otome game, and…what? My mom, too? Even my dad, and my older brother?

Meet Amy, the daughter of the Earl of Northland. Her entire family has been reincarnated as the aristocratic Northland family. In an attempt to amicably remove herself as a candidate for the Third Prince’s fiancée–which would certainly cement her position as the game’s villainess—Amy has taken drastic measures: eating tons of food and just enjoying life (at her mother’s suggestion).

With this reincarnation, Amy has been given a precious second chance at life, and this time, nothing—not even an otome game—is going to stop her from fulfilling her dream: Amy wants a cat!

©2022 Kosuzu Kobato (P)2022 Podium Audio

No real arc

I was invested in the story and would like to continue. But I feel it need to be an omnibus because with no action ending and no real reason for the book to cut off when it does it just feels like they hit a page count and moved on instead of telling say all of her childhood or going from not wanting to be involved to being engaged or something.

While the character grows and changes it isn’t any sort of arc for anyone, even the story of how the parents met is just randomly in the middle instead of a cap off to this.

Recommended but only if you are willing to invest in multiple books and since I didn’t read book 2 yet I can’t even say how much further this had to go. But it’s entertaining as it runs

Very cute, looking forward to the next one.

Only critique I have is that I wish the narrator wouldn’t try so hard to make the voices sound young. It make me think of them as being around 5 years old instead. Otherwise I quite enjoyed the story and all other aspects of the narration.

Fun Fluff

Overall, I found this enjoyable. I’ve heard both better and worse narration. Some voices sound a bit similar, but I had no problem, knowing which character was speaking at what time . This is a very non-stressful, fluffy Isekai book. There is no intense or deep plot. It’s very much a slice of life revolving around someone who was reincarnated into a game. I’m very happy to see more light novels becoming available as audiobooks.

Jumps Around ALOT!!

It was a good pre-teen story. But it jumps around on the timeline. There was even a flashback within a flashback... then there was the 4 years later chapter but barely any time into it it does a flashback of 4 years ago... without any clear warning........

The title is a bit misleading

Overall, the story is cute and doesn't really have anything to do with being a villainess (at least in this book).
My only problem with the story was the poor scene transitions. Such as when time pasted or a flashback happened. It was quite vexing to hear one thing then wonder how the character is on a different place already.

Cute for a while, but it's too uneventful for me

This is a fun idea, and I do like the characters, but listening to it really just felt like listening to the extended summary of a story I'd like to hear. I got a bit sick of having emotions and actions explained to me rather than shown to me. It also kept repeating explanations that it had already given in another character's scene almost word for word. I really wanted to like this book, but it just didn't make me care enough about it to finish.

how amy would unconsciously have Ed fall in the with her

I liked how the story went from when she was 10 all the way up till she started school at 14. but one thing I didn't like about it was they never really told you exactly where her life went 4 years into the future

Great performance, cringy storyline

I made it two hours into the story before I couldn’t do it anymore. My two main issues were the constant harping on about skinny bodies being more favorable than plump ones, which can have negative effects on some readers, and the fact that the main character is a 10 year old girl in a harem novel. I’m sorry, it’s cringe and creepy. She is supposed to have the reincarnated mind of a teen, but it’s still not okay. I love manga, so I was excited to try a new story, but it was just too weird.