Pitter Patter of Little Thoughts

Plain Kate can carve wood like a master, even at such a young age. But when her father dies and whispers begin circulating around the town about witches, Plain Kate may have to make a bargain with a witch to save her life.

I didn't really like this book because it didn't have direction. I fell in love with the concept easily. I love the idea of carving something so beautiful it looks as if it would come to life. I have a soft spot for magic and beautiful art. At first glance, this book would totally be up my alley. But instead, the deeper I got into the book, the plot cohesion steadily declined and the plot failed to actually make sense.

You see, half the book we don't even know what the main plot is supposed to entail. It just seems like a random adventure for Kate to survive and find a home. And then we get catapulted into a plot to save a city that we have no prior attachment or love for. Honestly, do we even care about Lov? Heck, you won't even see the city's name until you get 75% into the book. Ridiculous. There is no internal motivation to do anything except that it is the "right thing to do". And we don't have any solid characterization in Kate that she cares about the right thing in all aspects. Hence, this book just seems to meander along without a plan or a plot, attempting to make us love the book through the main characters.

But that is also a problem because as much as I love cats, I didn't think Taggle was that strong of a character. He was more like a human that tried to imitate a cat's mindset. Honestly, when do cats ask permission to scratch someone? He might as well have been a dog, for all the cat-like things he did.
Kate was fine as a character. She wasn't an idiot, she was fairly practical. But she didn't change at all. And that is a problem for any main character. That is also why this book felt a little stagnant.
And all the supporting characters had no personality at all, no dimension. In this way, the book is relying on Taggle and Kate to make this book - and they are just not up to par.

The ending was anti-climatic. I thought there were a couple of deus ex machina plot problems - and at the end, I just didn't really care.

I'm glad it was a fairly easy read because I don't think this book is worth reading.

One star because lack of plot cohesion.
Not recommended for anyone unless you're a very bored YA fantasy lover who has completely run out of all options.