Traveling Sisters Review: The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle

The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Date read:  May 22 to 24th, 2017

Traveling Sister Read Review by NORMA, BRENDA and LINDSAY!!

THE BLESSINGS OF THE ANIMALS by KATRINA KITTLE was not what we expected at all going into this one.  We went into it thinking it was going to be more about the connection/relationship between humans and animals and their power to heal but found it to be more of a complicated chaotic mix of human relationships — with so many different topics that we found them too complicated to connect with and the importance of the topics were lost in the struggle to engage in them.

KATRINA KITTLE delivers a complicated read here which is told mostly from our main characters point of view, Cami who is a veterinarian and her husband blindsides her one morning by leaving while she is out on a humane society rescue.

Things that we enjoyed about this novel:

** Loved the animal aspect of the book and how the characters related to them and how they found comfort in being around the animals.  (Muriel, the goat was one of Lindsay’s favourite characters!)

** Liked the main character, Cami – she was a strong, independent woman who faced an inner struggle of working toward finding her true happiness.  We enjoyed watching her character progress, overcome challenges and grow throughout the story.

** We enjoyed the farm, stable, and veterinary clinic settings. (This was very relatable and an enjoyable aspect of the novel for Norma.)

Norma’s thoughts:  For me living on a ranch and raising horses, I did really enjoy Cami’s connection she had with her animals especially the horse, Moonshine.  I see first-hand everyday the bond that my daughter shares with her horses and how amazing horses are in their ability to get right into your heart and soul.

Things that we didn’t enjoy so much about this novel:

** We felt that several of the topics covered could have been omitted from the story and it would have made for a much stronger read.  We would have liked a little more character development instead of adding more topics.

**  We all found keeping track of the characters was a little confusing for us at times as there were too many secondary characters introduced to us without taking the time to develop them to understand how they fit into the story.

**  We felt that the book tackled too many topics — while many of the topics covered were very interesting to read about, the fact that so many were included in one book took away from truly connecting with the storyline and characters — which did take away some of the enjoyment for us.

Overall, we all enjoyed Katrina Kittle’s writing style and found comfort in reading this moving story.