Review: The Blessings of the Animals by Katrina Kittle |

Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Harper Perennial; 1 edition (August 3, 2010)
Source: Publisher
ISBN-10: 0061906077

When they were young, Bobby rescued Cami from debilitating anorexia. Decades later, she needs saving again when he decides he wants to end their marriage. Cami is devastated. She’s a veterinarian, running her own practice and Bobby owns his own restaurant. While things weren’t perfect, she never expected this.

Earlier that day, Cami goes on on a horrible cruelty & abuse case in which she has to euthanize several horses beyond healing. One of the survivors is a severely underweight horse with a serious back kick. Even though he literally knocks Cami out when she attempts to load him onto her trailer, she can’t bear to leave him in the current conditions and she takes him home to her farm.

Despite the rough start, this horse, eventually named Moonshot, becomes a key part of Cami’s physical and emotional recovery. Her form of healing is in the presence of animals.

She’s torn between following the advice of her family and trying to mend a broken marriage and finding a life of her own. She starts to evaluate and reconsider the relationships of those around her: her parents who are about to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary; her brother and his lover, trying to adopt a baby; and her best friend Olive, just embarking on the adventure of marriage.

Inspiring her is their teen daughter, Gabriella. Gabriella sees the pain her father has put her mother through and swears of marriage. Cami can’t bear to see her daughter feel this way about love and marriage. She must prove to Gabriella, and herself, that being true to yourself brings happiness.

I think I’ve read everything Katrina Kittle has ever written, and I’ve literally fallen in love with every bit of it. Her books, the characters, the storyline are all very compelling, multifaceted, and really leave you contemplating your own life. You close the book, the only words that come to your lips are “Wow!”, and you can’t wait to start the book all over again.The best way to sum up this book is to quote it directly:

“What a risk love was. But the riskier the venture and greater the chance of failure, the higher the reward.” (p. 422)

WARNING-the rest of this review might be considered a spoiler!

My favorite thing about this book: the ending. So many times I read books with similar story lines, and the woman feels the need to be in a relationship with a man. She either begs for her husband to stay with her or rushes into another relationship. Cami does neither, and I commend the author for writing such a strong and independent character.

Katrina Kittle will be on Blog Talk Radio on August 26th at 7pm ET. Here’s the link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/book-club-girl/2010/08/26/katrina-kittle-discusses-the-blessings-of-the-animals. Be sure to tune in, I know I will!

Thank you TLC Book Tours for giving me the opportunity to participate in this tour. Be sure to check out the other stops: