Katie's Updates en-US Fri, 13 Jun 2025 18:58:36 -0700 60 Katie's Updates 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review7652538381 Fri, 13 Jun 2025 18:58:36 -0700 <![CDATA[Katie added 'Just Making: A Guide for Compassionate Creatives']]> /review/show/7652538381 Just Making by Mitali Perkins Katie gave 3 stars to Just Making: A Guide for Compassionate Creatives (Hardcover) by Mitali Perkins
If you have ever wondered, "What is the point of making art when there is so much suffering in the world? What good can it possibly do?" This book may be for you.

In Just Making, Mitali Perkins draws on her life experience and her personal practices as an author to discuss the act of making art and how it relates to justice. She gives examples of how art helps to create, promote, and demand justice in society, and gives the reader practical advice on how overcome the challenges of being an artist in today's world.

There were parts of this book that I found really interesting and inspiring. The connections she draws between women's nurturing and creative roles and the creative, nurturing aspects of God were particularly exciting, and I found her discussions about how to remain humble when working with stories that are not your own were very thoughtful and helpful.

However, I feel that this book could just as easily been called "Christian Making," (or even, if I'm going out on a limb here, "Catholic Making.") The Christian elements may be helpful for some, but distracting for others. The perspective felt unbalanced - Perkins talked about injustice in Muslim countries and how art was used to address that, but never mentioned how art has been used to speak out against injustices within the Church, or even much within the United States. There is a fascinating history of how people have used art to fight injustice, and her focus on this only within the Middle East didn't sit well with me. It is easy to speak about injustice outside of our own experience and often difficult to confront it within our own circles. Given some of the advice she gives in the rest of the book, I am disappointed that Perkins does not seem to confront this in her work here. I hope that she has an opportunity to publish another edition of this book one day, and that she uses that opportunity to address this.

Just Making is a beautifully written book, with an important message to spread. I found that in some ways it missed the mark, but I think that it still holds a lot of value, especially for Christian readers.

3/5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. ]]> Review7365781408 Tue, 10 Jun 2025 11:37:10 -0700 <![CDATA[Katie added 'Doll Parts']]> /review/show/7365781408 Doll Parts by Penny Zang Katie gave 5 stars to Doll Parts (Paperback) by Penny Zang
Female friendships are one of my favorite book subjects, and holy cow, this book did not disappoint.

In her debut novel, Penny Zang follows the friendship of Nikki and Sadie and what happens after, as Sadie tries to uncover the true cause of her childhood best friend's death - while living in her home and getting pregnant by her grieving husband. A story of mistakes, redemption, ghosts, mystery, and the horrors that can come when a society glamorizes suicide, Zang's novel is a masterpiece and easily one of my favorite reads this year so far.

My favorite aspect of the book is the very real and beautiful way that Zang talks about friendship, the ways girls show up for each other, and the messiness and struggle within female relationships. It's so REAL in a way that many books just aren't. The mother-daughter relationships, the friendships, the student-mentor relationships, the "this is awkward because we both used to be friends with the same person, but we don't actually know each other, but I want to be friends, but I'm pretty sure you hate my guts" relationships (how did she make something I've never even experienced before so relatable???).

That, combined with absolutely beautiful prose, ghosts, and a mystery that kept me guessing until the very end, made this book unforgettable and an absolute pleasure to read.

5/5 stars
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. ]]> Review7443530140 Fri, 28 Mar 2025 18:19:31 -0700 <![CDATA[Katie added 'Blazing Eye Sees All: Love Has Won, False Prophets, and the Fever Dream of the American New Age']]> /review/show/7443530140 Blazing Eye Sees All by Leah Sottile Katie gave 5 stars to Blazing Eye Sees All: Love Has Won, False Prophets, and the Fever Dream of the American New Age (Hardcover) by Leah Sottile
This is easily one of the best books I have read this year.

Leah Sottile writes about conspirituality, feminism, psychology, history, and the new age in a way that is everything I want in a book. She shares people's stories with nuance and kindness, works intersectionally to help make sense of the stories she's telling, and brings some really important insights into this conversation.

Reading this book felt like someone had sifted through my brain, found all the questions I had never thought to ask about some of my favorite subjects, and then put all the answers to those questions in a book. I can't shut up about it, I've been telling anyone who will listen about how great this book is.

I listened to the audiobook, which was narrated by the author. It was a solid performance- nothing special, but no complaints.

5/5 stars, easy.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. ]]> Review7260639473 Wed, 19 Mar 2025 18:30:08 -0700 <![CDATA[Katie added 'The Everyday Naturalist: How to Identify Animals, Plants, and Fungi Wherever You Go']]> /review/show/7260639473 The Everyday Naturalist by Rebecca Lexa Katie gave 4 stars to The Everyday Naturalist: How to Identify Animals, Plants, and Fungi Wherever You Go (Paperback) by Rebecca Lexa
If you have ever found yourself wondering about the birds coming to the feeder in your backyard, or curious about a plant you noticed growing by your mailbox, this might be the book for you.

Rebecca Lexa takes the daunting task of nature identification and breaks in down into easy, digestible lessons in The Everyday Naturalist. She walks with you through the natural world, showing you step by step what is important to observe, and how to use those observations to identify what you're seeing. And not only does she teach you what to look for, she teaches you where to take that information once you have it and how to use it. Her lists of resources are absolutely invaluable, and make this book worth purchasing in and of itself.

As someone who grew up learning how to use guides and websites to ID nature, much of this book was reviewing what I already knew. But it was a thorough and interesting review, and while I wish it could have gone a little more in depth, I would absolutely recommend it to a beginner. I will be buying a physical copy to keep on hand once it comes out - it will be perfect for teaching my children one day, and in the meantime, I will use it as a reference when looking for new resources.

4/5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy in return for an honest review. ]]> Review7373268155 Mon, 03 Mar 2025 17:51:41 -0800 <![CDATA[Katie added 'How to Seal Your Own Fate']]> /review/show/7373268155 How to Seal Your Own Fate by Kristen Perrin Katie gave 4 stars to How to Seal Your Own Fate (Castle Knoll Files, #2) by Kristen Perrin
I'm always a little skeptical of sequels, especially if the first book wasn't my favorite. This one defied all my expectations.

Annie Adams is living in the house she's newly inherited, trying to find herself in the wake of solving her great-aunt Frances's murder. When another dead body appears in her house, she becomes once again wrapped up in a mystery that bridges the past and the present, with only the clues left behind by Frances to help her solve the case.

I DEVOURED this book, I couldn't get enough of it. I loved the way that it explored Frances's past even further, adding even more depth to her character as well as some of the characters introduced in the first book. Annie is...not my favorite protagonist, I would love to see more growth for her in upcoming books. It's frustrating for her to feel so flat as the living character when the dead ones have so much more life. 

All in all, a very fun read. Plenty of juicy clues, believable suspects, and an ending I didn't see coming. 4 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. ]]> GiveawayRequest682524566 Sat, 01 Mar 2025 10:36:19 -0800 <![CDATA[<a href="/user/show/43459648-katie-howey">Katie Howey</a> entered a giveaway]]> /giveaway/show/407528-doll-parts Doll Parts by Penny Zang ]]> Review7340611718 Thu, 20 Feb 2025 17:36:35 -0800 <![CDATA[Katie added 'Propaganda Girls: The Secret War of the Women in the OSS']]> /review/show/7340611718 Propaganda Girls by Lisa Rogak Katie gave 3 stars to Propaganda Girls: The Secret War of the Women in the OSS (Hardcover) by Lisa Rogak
This is not the World War II you learned about in high school.

Propaganda Girls tells the story of the war from the eyes of four women, who helped write, perform, and distribute the propaganda that helped to end it. Their stories are fascinating, and give an insight I'd never before had into what it was like to work as a woman for the US Army during WWII.

Despite having a great premise and fascinating women to write about, this book fell a bit flat for me. I was left wanting so much more, more personal stories, more...life. It was hard to remember who was who at times because I didn't see much difference in personalities between some of the women. I wanted to really understand who they were, and they felt kind of flat.

The narration was good, but the voice used for quotes from the women was a little strange, and the fact that the same "accent" was used for all of them may have been part of why the characters felt flat.

3/5 stars. Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy. ]]> Review7282398927 Sun, 02 Feb 2025 05:38:57 -0800 <![CDATA[Katie added 'The Library Game']]> /review/show/7282398927 The Library Game by Gigi Pandian Katie gave 2 stars to The Library Game (Secret Staircase Mysteries, #4) by Gigi Pandian
I typically really enjoy mystery stories, but this one fell flat for me.

Tempest is a former stage magician working for her family's business of building magic into people's homes - moving bookcases, secret stairways, and hidden levers to open hidden doors. They are working on putting together an escape room experience to promote the opening of the new private library they are helping to build, one that specializes in classic mysteries. But when one of the cast members shows up dead, Tempest and her friends must solve a real-life closed room mystery in order to prove their innocence and save the library.

I really enjoyed the setting for this book - the small town is adorable, and a library of mystery books inside an old house with hidden staircases and moving bookshelves? Dreamy!!! The diverse cast of characters really helps to bring the town to life too, it's nice to read a mystery that isn't just a white man solving a mystery in an all white town, again.

Unfortunately, the characters are also where the book started to fall flat for me. The dialog was clunky and didn't feel like how people actually talk to each other, and the characters tended to have emotional outbursts that didn't really make sense. Their moods would shift at the drop of a hat (pun intended). On top of that, Tempest seems like she is supposed to come across as "quirky," but just ends up being...kind of weird. She randomly does handstands instead of bending down, or will stand up and twirl to clear her head. The rest of the way she behaves feels so normal (almost bland at times), and so these behaviors just feel out of left field, even with the "former stage magician" explanation.

And it wasn't just the characters, the mystery aspects also felt clunky. My favorite mysteries are the ones where the details are described so seamlessly that you don't even realize you are being given clues - this book felt like it was pummeling me in the face with them. There were so many and they were so obvious, if I missed one it was because there were so many others to keep track of. And ultimately, the crime didn't feel believable. It goes back to the characters having unrealistic responses to things happening to them - I just can't really believe that the culprit really would have behaved the way they did.

Lastly, the format. I listened to the audiobook version of this book. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't really anything special either. Sometimes the readers emphasis felt off, or the emotion she put behind the words didn't quite fit, but otherwise it was a solid performance.

2/5 stars.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for a review. ]]> ReadStatus8983363089 Sun, 26 Jan 2025 17:55:51 -0800 <![CDATA[Katie is currently reading 'The Everyday Naturalist: How to Identify Animals, Plants, and Fungi Wherever You Go']]> /review/show/7260639473 The Everyday Naturalist by Rebecca Lexa Katie is currently reading The Everyday Naturalist: How to Identify Animals, Plants, and Fungi Wherever You Go by Rebecca Lexa
]]> Review7231434337 Sun, 26 Jan 2025 11:12:30 -0800 <![CDATA[Katie added 'The Sirens']]> /review/show/7231434337 The Sirens by Emilia Hart Katie gave 5 stars to The Sirens (Hardcover) by Emilia Hart
You know those books you read that just feel like they become a part of you? This is one of those. A beautiful piece of magical realism, if you loved Weyward (Emilia Hart), Thistlefoot (GennaRose Nethercott), or Remarkably Bright Creatures (Shelby Van Pelt), you will absolutely love this one.

The Sirens by Emilia Hart follows the stories of two families - one broken apart when twin sisters Mary and Eliza are taken from their home and shipped across the sea as a punishment for their crimes, the other riddled with secrets as daughters Jess and Lucy try to untangle their pasts, and the reason their dreams are haunted by ghosts. It's a haunting story of parental love, of pain, and of the fierce strength, courage, and beauty in the face of the world's ugliness that binds women together.

I couldn't stop listening to this one. The narration was perfect, Barrie Kreinik does an amazing job of switching between voices and giving life to the characters, making it easy to tell which story in the dual timelines she is telling. Her singing is lovely too, and brings the feeling of the story's song to life.

The Sirens broke my heart, mended it, healed me, and made me feel a deep connection to the women around me and those who came before. An easy 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for a review! ]]>