223 ratings | 97 reviews | avg rating:4.55

Kate’s Year In Books

Kate’s 2025 Year in Books

Take a look at Kate’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.

Go to Kate’s 2025 Year in Books

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Jessica

110,564 books | 2,428 friends

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2026 Reading Challenge

2026

READING

CHALLENGE

Kate Shanahan has read 12 of 45 books.

27%

Kate Shanahan

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United States

Website

https://kvshanahan.com/

Genre

Historical Fiction, Fantasy

Member Since

April 2022

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After graduating from University of Michigan with a BA in Political Science (East Asia Concentration), Kate taught English in Sapporo, Japan for two years. She enjoyed the experience so much she returned to U of M for an MA in Asian Studies (Japan Specialization), and while there, worked part-time for the Center for Japanese Studies. Fortunately for Kate, Honda was expanding operations in Ohio around the time she finished, and she spent an entire career at Honda in project, business, and people management, thrilled to be able to travel to Japan and speak Japanese for work, all the while dreaming of writing a book about tenth century writer Sei Shonagon.

After all those years in northern latitudes, Kate and her husband moved to Florida's Gulf ...more

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Combine Editions
Kate Shanahan’s books

Average rating: 4.22 · 119 ratings · 60 reviews · 2 distinct works • Similar authors

	Tangled Spirits (Tangled Spirits #1) 4.16 avg rating — 96 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Iron Palace (Tangled Spirits, #2) 4.48 avg rating — 23 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

9 posts
Kate Shanahan's Blog

2025 Books

Below is a very short quiz based on what I read in 2025. See if you can answer any of these, and if you can't (or don't want to), I put the answers at the end of this post. You can see my full list of 2025 books in my Goodreads profile.

1. Which two books include a key plot point that involves leprosy?

2. Which three books are translations from the Japanese?

3. Which four books are set in Japan? (If Read more of this blog post »

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Published on December 29, 2025 11:37 • Tags: books, reading

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Series by Kate Shanahan

Tangled Spirits (2 books)
by

Kate Shanahan (Goodreads Author)

4.22 avg rating — 119 ratings

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Kate’s Recent Updates

Kate Shanahan finished reading Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao (Goodreads Author) Goodreads Choice Awards Nominee in Readers' Favorite Fantasy	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Apr 12, 2026 12:16AM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Kate Shanahan rated a book it was amazing Desolate Harvest by Christine Dufour	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Desolate Harvest is a work of historical fiction about the forced expulsion of the Acadians from Nova Scotia and the Maritime Provinces by the British, who wanted the rich farmland for British colonists. I’ve been curious about the Acadian diaspora e ...more
Mar 24, 2026 10:25AM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Desolate Harvest by Christine Dufour. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Desolate Harvest by Christine Dufour <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Kate Shanahan rated a book really liked it Onmyoji and Tengu Eyes Vol 1: The Spirit Hunters of Tomoe by Yoshiko Utamine	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I bought this book as research for my own writing, and didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I did. Having worked in Japan, I loved the references to things like "no overtime days" and other aspects of the salaryman life but with the twist that the gu ...more
Mar 12, 2026 02:41PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Onmyoji and Tengu Eyes Vol 1 by Yoshiko Utamine. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Onmyoji and Tengu Eyes Vol 1 by Yoshiko Utamine <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Kate Shanahan rated a book really liked it Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I looked forward to reading this novel set in Japan but I was a little disappointed. It was a little too much of a mashup of recent Japanese literature (When The Coffee Gets Cold series in particular) and lots of random fantasy elements. The main cha ...more
Mar 12, 2026 02:32PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Kate Shanahan rated a book liked it Kissing the Sky by Lisa Patton (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
There isn't much of a plot, so it feels more like a documentary than historical fiction. I appreciated the sensory details - at times I felt like I was there in the rain and the mud - but much of the story is told through the main character's inner n ...more
Mar 12, 2026 02:24PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Kissing the Sky by Lisa Patton. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Kissing the Sky by Lisa Patton <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Kate Shanahan is currently reading Desolate Harvest by Christine Dufour	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 12, 2026 02:21PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Desolate Harvest by Christine Dufour. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Desolate Harvest by Christine Dufour <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Kate Shanahan wants to read The Ruling Class (The Fixer, #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 04, 2026 01:06PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Ruling Class by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Ruling Class by Jennifer Lynn Barnes <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Kate Shanahan rated a book it was amazing Girl in a Box: A Novel by Jean Gordon Kocienda (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I couldn't wait to jump into my ARC copy of Girl in a Box by Jean Gordon Kocienda. Set in Japan? check. Historical fiction based on a real person? check. A woman's struggle to change her destiny? check. Set in Japan in the late 19th and early 20th ce ...more
Mar 04, 2026 12:42PM · 1 like · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Girl in a Box by Jean Gordon Kocienda. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Girl in a Box by Jean Gordon Kocienda <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Kate Shanahan rated a book it was amazing Death in the Downline by Maria Abrams (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
A satirical take on multi-level marketing, this novel has something to say about how people (especially women) get drawn into a sales scheme that is not in their best interests. The company in question is so bad it verges on caricature, but because t ...more
Mar 04, 2026 12:36PM · like · see review · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of Death in the Downline by Maria Abrams. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — Death in the Downline by Maria Abrams <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">
Kate Shanahan wants to read The Ruling Class (The Fixer, #1) by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 04, 2026 12:35PM · like · preview book See a Problem? We’d love your help. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of The Ruling Class by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Problem: Details (if other): Thanks for telling us about the problem. Not the book you’re looking for? Preview — The Ruling Class by Jennifer Lynn Barnes <iframe sandbox id="wrongBookKindlePreviewScreen">