Firekeeper’s Daughter manages to be a lot of books at once. The main story- the mystery of who is cooking and distributing meth on a Native American reservation- exists alongside deep stories of love, friendship, and traditional Ojibwe culture. I was very engrossed in the stories, and once I hit near 65%, I didn’t want to put the book down because I needed to know how everything would come together. Thanks to Netgalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

CW: drug use, drug overdose, physical abuse, sexual abuse

I received a free electronic ARC copy of this excellent young adult novel featuring high schoolers of the Ojibwe tribe of First Americans in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. This book features a lot of ice hockey and teenage angst but is an excellent look at life in small Michigan towns and the influence of weather on the lifestyle of the community. There is a wide net of family support not often seen in large American cities, and a sense of comradery similar to that experienced in the western towns I am familiar with. But of course, down here we have football...

I enjoyed this dip into winter - and have stopped whining about our low of 23 degrees one-night last week - and thoroughly enjoyed a look into the lives of these families. It was good to see examples of support and compassion expressed well during this pandemic that has us all isolated and feeling our own angst against the world.

And it is soon to be adapted at Netflix for TV with President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground! How exciting!

Daunis is a 18 year old who feels she doesn't belong in either world, the Ojibwe world and the rest of the world. Her one set of grandparents would not allow her Ojibwe fathers name on her birth certificate but she still has learned the way of her people so not quite fully in either other world. When a new kid comes to town, plays hockey and manages to get on Daunis' brother Levi's team, she starts to fall for this new guy, until at a party one night she sees her best friend get shot and killed, by her meth head ex. Now Daunis finds herself undercover and looking for a new meth.

This is a exciting full of action, and suspense book with a awesome behind the scenes look of the Ojibwe way of things. Isabella Star LaBlanc is a great narrator of this book, she keeps it going and makes you feel like you are there helping Daunis get through all of the negative to help show her there are positives things to look forward too as well. This is a book you just can't put down so I hope you all will like it as much as I did.

This will appear on my blog on the March 16th.

This book exceeded my expectations. It was absolutely one of the best things I’ve ever read.

First of all, the exploration of loss and grief in this book is one of the best I’ve ever seen in fiction. Everything from how it can change your eating habits, to how the trauma can affect how you talk to living family so you don’t make them anxious because you feel like you have to take care of them... this book was incredibly honest and authentic in this way.

Another way in which it was powerful was in the depiction of Ojibwe culture. The reverence for her elders, especially after the elders come through for Daunis not just once but twice in HUGE ways, actually brought me to tears. This is a love story to the authors culture, a labor of love and emotion, and I appreciate her so much for gifting the world with it.

The plot was excellent, as I did not see most of the twists coming and there were smaller and larger mysteries sprinkled throughout that I was wondering about the whole time.

The conclusion was heartwrenching as it depicts that justice does not exist for everyone under the so called “criminal justice” system, especially for women of color.

I will read anything this author writes from here on out.

🔥Book Review 🔥: Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

18 y/o Daunis Fontaine is a biracial Ojibwe/white woman who feels misunderstood and like she will never measure up. And when tragedy, addiction and death hits her community, she finds herself in the middle of a FBI investigation as a confidential informant. As she becomes more entangled in the methamphetamine case, she struggles with hiding secrets from her community in an effort to protect herself and the ones she loves.

In three words, this book is about: Strength 💪🏼 Bravery 👊🏼 Community 👥

Daunis is an incredible young woman with a complex back story. I loved her dedication and commitment to her family and community. My favorite part about Firekeeper’s Daughter is the interwoven Indigenous language and Ojibwe perspectives.

This YA Mystery Thriller book is phenomenal. There is even some romance! 😉 I also appreciated the discussion about Indigenous stereotypes (casinos=bad, not being Native enough) and the effects of generational trauma.

This book reminded me a lot of Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden which is another fantastic Indigenous debut book.

CW: racism, racial slurs, drugs, murder, rape, sexual assault

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for an honest review.

In Firekeeper’s Daughter, by Angeline Boulley, teenage Daunis Fontaine is an unenrolled Ojibwe tribe member, which means learning the ceremonies, attending dances, remembering the prayers, and speaking the Ojibwe language, but not having a vote on tribal matters or receiving the per-cap money from the tribal casino. This is her dual identity in general, since she is Ojibwe Firekeeper from her father and wealthy French Catholic Fontaine from her mother. Her family is complicated in other ways, too: her half-brother Levi is just a few months younger than she is, born to their father’s wife.

Daunis witnesses an awful attack, and discovers that this is just a tiny part in a wider criminal network, blending drugs and corruption at all different levels. A chance to work as an undercover informant could help her get justice for her friend and safety for others in the community, but it’ll also mean keeping secrets from those closest to her and maybe revealing community information to outsiders. There is a very real sense of danger, and an awareness that the cops are not the good guys.

I liked how complicated this investigation was, and how Daunis handled her conflicts. There was less about Bad Guys vs Good Guys, although the villains really are evil. They’re not just breaking the law, they’re exploiting the powerless and hurting the whole community. But Daunis has to question if law enforcement is actually 100% on her side here and which local secrets she should share with outsiders.

Firekeeper’s Daughter is a solid mystery, with sleuthing and science combining with respect for the community. This desire to find out more and answer the questions along with Daunis pulls readers in. (This is one of the things that worked for me in Lightseekers, too.)

I liked how complex the characters were, even the minor ones, which helped to develop the community and Daunis’ reactions. For example, one of the boys has parents who love him very much and are desperately unreliable caretakers due to their addiction struggles, and these things are both true at the same time.

Firekeeper’s Daughter was an engrossing coming-of-age and mystery story, in modern Native life. If you don’t know very much about Ojibwe customs or life when you start reading, you can still understand the plot of this book and you’ll get to discover and learn more about the culture as you follow Daunis’ choices.

I’d like to thank Henry Holt & Co and Netgalley for so generously providing me a copy of Firekeeper’s Daughter. All opinions are, of course, my own.

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley is a thrilling and stunning debut novel that is part crime fiction and part coming of age.

Daunis Fontaine is 18 years old born to a Native father and a white mother. Daunis balances these two worlds better than I could ever expect to balance anything. She’s already seen a lot of heartbreak in her life with the recent passing of her uncle and her grandmother having a stroke, but she’s really handling it quite well.

Despite the heartbreak, Daunis has a half-brother (through their father) who she is very close to, her best friend Lily, and her family and friends. Until one day when she’s the witness to a murder and through a series of events, becomes a CI (confidential informant) in order to bring justice and safety to her community.

Boulley also grew up with a Native father and a non-Native mother on/near Sugar Island so she’s able to paint an authentic picture of not only the location, but Daunis. And, possibly more importantly – the ongoing issues that Native communities face including Indigenous women.

I love how beautiful Boulley’s writing was while still bringing very real, very serious issues to the limelight.

I received an eArc of this novel and when I finished the last page, I immediately went and pre-ordered a physical copy. That is how much I loved it.

This book grabbed me from the first page and didn't let me go. Boulley took what, at first glance, appears to be a simple YA realistic fiction and turned it into a complex thriller. Daunis is a strong, smart female character who finds herself in the middle of a federal investigation. She is complex, well crafted, and smart in a way that makes her instantly likable. Boulley intricately weaves together the character's history with social issues to create a mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat. Boulley wrote both a pitch-perfect thriller and a commentary on the experience of Native Americans. This is the author's first novel and I can't wait to read more.

Absolutely loved it. I'm not a regular YA reader but this I recommend to YA and all adults.
Daneis is one of my favorite characters ever now. She goes through so much and stays strong and true to herself, even when she is facing discrimination for both sides of her heritage - her mother is white and her father is Anishinaabe.
She is a very complex character who I could read about forever. Please do a series!
The story involves an investigation into drug manufacturing and selling near and around reservations, including Sugar Island by Sault Ste. Marie in Michigan where Daneis' father was from. I loved how much Daneis used her traditional knowledge to guide her through tough times and how she never failed to help her Elders, learn from them, and fight for her community.
I can't stress enough how great Daneis and her story is.
Some content warnings include substance use, murder, kidnapping, rape, racism.

I know it's early to be calling it but The Firekeeper's Daughter is absolutely one of the best books I'll read in 2021. Everything in this novel is done to perfection: the characters are real humans with real foibles, the pacing is right on point, the mystery element is surprising, the setting is interesting, the ending was spot-on, and the writing itself is beautiful.

Daunis is one of those fictional characters that I feel will live inside of me for a long time to come. I connected with her instantly. I felt her wonder and joy in equal measure to her heartbreak and anger. I rooted so hard for this girl. She made me laugh aloud and cry. I'm not a crier but this book made me sob my heart out at what Daunis and the other characters go through in this story, and how they are all just pieces of a larger community struggling and suffering while also managing to hold onto such a beautiful culture and traditions.

I learned a lot from her and from this book. Honestly, this review does not do The Firekeeper's Daughter justice at all, I can't put into words what this book has done to my heart, so I'll end with this: read this book and pass it to a friend. No one can be disappointed with this gem.

Note: I received a free electronic edition of this book via NetGalley in exchange for the honest review above. I would like to thank them, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to do so.

"Curiosity killed the cat. But satisfaction revived her," ~ Firekeeper's Daughter

Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault

I'm so glad there are more and more novels being published with strong, powerful Indigenous heroines! Daunis is not only a brilliant botanist-in-training but she's so quick on her feet, clever, and brave. I loved how complex and surprising her journey was - with twists and turns I never saw coming. Her character arc was extraordinary for a standalone novel. This book is like nothing else out there, but if you enjoyed "Nancy Drew" books as a kid, this is the diverse, adult version of those stories. I was rooting for Daunis the whole time and I was satisfied with her ending - just what she deserved. This whole story was so well-thought-out and incredibly detailed with all the characters, folklore, and familial relationships.

A wonderful book that I will certainly be recommending for years to come. It's a very powerful and diverse book, and I have no doubt readers will love it.

5/5 stars

Wow. This book has left me blown away. Angeline Boulley pulls no punches and THAT ENDING, wow. I'm going to be thinking about this book for...a while to come, I can tell.

Back to the beginning — the book starts out and you think it's going to be just like a fun story about science and a girl meeting a new boy and then BAM. Things start to HAPPEN. Shit hits the FAN. Boulley hit the ground running and kept putting her characters, especially Daunis, in increasingly bad situations, ones where she's forced to use her cleverness and wit but also tap into her community and their knowledge.

Daunis is a biracial, yet unenrolled, tribal member, and her connection to her community, as well as her knowledge of tribal traditions, play a key role in her ability to unravel the mystery that unfolds throughout the novel.

I am at a loss for how to write a proper review for this book just because it's...so good? It's been stuck in my head since I started reading it, much like a song I adore, and I know I'll be contemplating all the plot points, character reveals, and the harsh truths Boulley presents for months if not years to come.

I cannot recommend the book highly enough.

This Review will go live on 3/15/2021 at https://chaptersandcharms.com/2021/03/04/book-review-firekeepers-daughter-by-angeline-boulley.

A stunning #OwnVoices debut representing Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) culture in a hook-you-from-the-start thriller. Teenage Daunis Fontaine gets roped into an FBI investigation of a meth ring in her small hockey-obsessed town near the Canadian border. Her knowledge of the Anishinaabe community, the hockey world, and medicinal plants make her the perfect informant, but digging too deep will put her in grave danger.

Genre: Young adult; mystery; thriller
Who should read it: I guarantee most of us are not reading enough indigenous authors, so I recommend this book to everyone (unless you need to avoid the following triggers: rape, drug addiction, gun violence, suicide).
You may like it if you like: Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann; Breaking Bad tv show

Characters

Daunis Fontaine - Daunis' father was an Anishinaabe man, but her mother is white and Daunis is not an officially enrolled tribal member of the Anishinaabe. Nevertheless, she is close with her dad’s side of the family and practices nish customs daily, like offering tobacco and asking for a blessing each morning. Nicknamed Dauny Defense, she was a great hockey player herself but doesn’t play anymore.

Levi Firekeeper - Daunis’ half-brother and captain of the local hockey team. He can be a little overprotective of Daunis, but they are close, despite his mom being the one who ultimately married their dad and him being the one to get tribal status. (Daunis’ mom didn’t list her dad on her birth certificate because she was a teenager when she gave birth to Daunis and her parents didn’t approve of Levi Sr.)

Jamie Johnson - a new guy from out of town who joins Levi’s hockey team. When Daunis is tasked with showing him around, she has no intention of becoming one of those obnoxious hockey team girlfriends. But Jamie is alluring as he is mysterious; such a good listener but so reticent to talk about his own past.



Plot

An epidemic of meth addiction is plaguing Daunis’ town. It hits particularly close to home when Daunis’ best friend Lily’s boyfriend becomes a shell of himself and Daunis has to use all the intimidation skills she picked up from hockey to keep him away from Lily. Daunis’ uncle also died of an overdose not long before.

But when a particularly potent strain of meth starts popping up in hockey towns around the area, the FBI begins investigating and trying to find its source. They suspect someone from the Anishinaabe reservation is involved and may be lacing the drug with some sort of medicinal mushroom.

With Daunis’ familiarity with both the Native and non-Native members of her town, as well as her interest in plant biology and traditional medicine, she is a prime candidate to help the FBI with their investigation. Can she find the source before the drug ring takes more lives?

My Thoughts

Daunis’ strength throughout the book is inspiring, especially at the end. Her dedication to her loved ones and herself help her survive all that she goes through. Romance is a part of her story but it does not take over her life and dreams and goals.

Themes covered in this book range from the pull of two cultures and perpetual outsider status of being mixed race, to the widespread violence against Native American women and lack of attention to the issue by authorities, to drug abuse in athletic and Native communities, to the importance of elders in Ojibwe culture, to the tense relationship between sovereign tribes and the federal U.S. government.

As a linguist, I particularly loved the use of Anishinaabemowin (the language of the Anishinaabe) throughout the book and I even recognized a few words by the end.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC in exchange for review.

In what other book will you find STRONG female characters, Ojibwe traditions and tribal life, problems of living on a reservation, sexual assault and redemption, love, drug use, and mystery?

There are few books where I wish I could meet the author immediately after reading. But I want to know how Boulley found the passion and the language for so many stories within one. Since the pandemic, we've been hooked on short binge-worthy series like Queen's Gambit and WandaVision - complete stories where one episode leaves you hungering for the next. This is how the chapters of Firekeeper's Daughter read. How do the people we love get mixed up in so much turmoil? Life.

At 18, about to be 19, Daunis is the daughter of an Ojibwe hockey star and a white, French heritage mother. The drama starts before Daunis is born and continues. Some she is aware of. Some she isn't. Get to know Daunis and the rest of the French family and Ojibwe community. Find out why her best friend died and why the people closest to her aren't whom they seem.

When I first heard about this book, I knew I wanted to pick it up. Since I'm Canadian, I'm very aware of the plight of First Nations people in Canada and this book revolves around an Anishinaabe young woman coming to terms with her dual identity, which sounded fascinating. I also loved how this book would be a blend of a coming of age story and a mystery/thriller.

While this book delivers exactly what it promises, I had some mixed feelings about it. Firstly, I loved the character of Daunis. She was so dynamic and she felt like a real person instead of just a bland protagonist with a few interesting quirks thrown in. I also really enjoyed learning so much about the Anishinaabe culture and the nuances of being part of two worlds. I actually ended up learning a lot, though I already knew about the crimes against Native women that go unpunished or uninvestigated. It's a bleak story, but learning about the history of Daunis's community was probably my favourite part of the book.

I think where the book faltered was the actual plot. It had so much potential because I love mystery novels and the idea of the main character being forced to be part of a criminal investigation was really intriguing, but it was extremely slow at times. I think the pacing of the novel was really weak and it could have used some tighter editing. Also, I wasn't a huge fan of the romance in this novel since to me, it just felt like it crossed a lot of boundaries.

I am interested in reading Angeline Boulley's future novels because her writing is strong and I really like how her mind works, but this book didn't quite meet the mark for me.

I could not put this book down. It is a powerful_ both raw and empowering_ stunning YA debut by Angeline Boulley that is multilayered. It is triggering, insightful, gorgeous, transcendent, and so much more. It is very much a cultural story within a mystery and thriller (crime) individuals and within an Ojibwe community. I don't want to gush too much because I feel I'll spoil this book. I recommend reading it!

Thank you, NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co. (BYR) for this ARC for my honest review.

I just reviewed Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley. #NetGalley

A riveting debut that had me binge reading - I couldn’t put it down! This powerful and important story provides a detailed portrayal of Daunis, an 18 year old biracial Native teen who tries to help her community by helping to secretly investigate drug related deaths in her community.
The author deftly immerses the reader in Native tribal life, weaving elements of the community’s tradition, rituals, language, beliefs and hierarchy while highlighting past and present injustices to indigenous people. The protagonist is strong, independent and courageous dealing with trauma and grief, family and her own identity. While at times devastatingly painful there is also a feeling of hopefulness and transcendence.
Overall, a masterpiece own voices novel that explores timely and salient topics. The complex and multi-layered story evoked emotion while being fascinating, suspenseful, gripping, painful, devastating and beautiful. Highly recommend this gem!

I've taken a day since I finished reading this book to try to get my thoughts together and my mind is still reeling. I'm going to try to explain how much this books means to me and how much I loved it.

The writing style of this book is very interesting. We spend the book in Daunis' head. She is very smart and extremely good at science. So she will pepper in anatomical references and use scientific terms while thinking through things. She has such a strong voice and feels things so passionately. I truly love her as a character. She has her flaws and there were times that I was yelling at her not to do something and she did it anyway.

One thing that I adored about this book was Daunis' relationships with her family and her community. She is straddling two worlds (in her mind), the world of her GrandMary, who is a wealthy white woman, and the world of her Firekeeper family and Ojibwe community, who face the challenges of being Indigenous in a white world. Daunis is not enrolled and struggles a lot with her identity in this book. She tries her best to navigate the challenges she faces. She visits her GrandMary nearly every day and spends just as much time with her Ojibwe community. Though it is a bit fraught, I love her relationship with her mother. I also love her relationship with her Aunt Teddie and the twins. There is so much love between them. Her relationship with her brother Levi is so sweet, especially because of the circumstances (which I will not spoil here). Daunis' best friend Lily is so funny. I loved her character a lot. The two of them get into all kinds of shenanigans.

I would be remiss if I didn't talk about the romance in the book and the love interest Jamie. The romance is secondary but important to the story. Jamie and Daunis are so soft, and I absolutely adored the development of their relationship. Jamie is such a bean of a character. He is kind and considerate, but quick with a witty reply. His character meant a lot to me, personally. It may be a spoiler of sorts to say why so I'll leave it at that.

Without expounding for too long on it, the plot was fantastic. The investigation that Daunis is roped into has so many twists and turns. I was guessing and rethinking and guessing again constantly. It was truly a wild ride. I frequently found myself shocked by what happened. I've heard this book is optioned for a TV show, and I am literally so excited to see it on screen.

I highly recommend this book. I know I've spent a lot of time describing how the book made me feel, but the book deals with so many important topics. There is a lot about dealing with grief both individually and as a community, the effect of drugs, sexually assault, missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW), struggles of being biracial, racism, police, medical conditions, loss of parents and friends, and more. There were many times I found myself tearing up. I think so many people will gain so much from reading this book. For one, it is an amazingly crafted book, and for two, there are so many different things to love about it.

*A huge thank you to Henry Holt & Co. (Macmillan Children's Publishing Group) and Netgalley for the eARC*

After looking at the representation of my reading list from 2020, I was upset at the lack of Indigenous voices! I've been looking for books that fit my reading style with that representation, and I was excited to get my hands on this debut novel by Angeline Boulley.

The summer after Daunis graduates from high school, she faces a future that doesn't look what she thought it would look like -- she isn't going to her dream school, she isn't playing hockey, and she isn't spending time with her Uncle David who seemingly died of an overdose. When Jamie, the new boy on the hockey team, comes into her life (rather forcefully by her little brother, Levi). Daunis finds herself involved in a dangerous investigation into the recent spate of overdose deaths on reservations across the state.

This book is more than just your typical crime thriller. Yes, it has all the makings of a good thriller -- red herrings, nefarious villains, plot twists. But it also is so much more. Boulley is able to interweave real societal issues and obstacles that Indigenous people experience including generational trauma, drug and alcohol abuse, biracial identity, and the dismissal of crimes perpetuated against people in these communities. Daunis is deeply rooted in her heritage and tradition, and I learned a lot! Boulley is able to integrate this information into Daunis' character development so it never felt like an info dump, but rather a look inside the main character's life and personality. I'll also say that including a "forbidden" romance didn't hurt either for this reader. I thought the resolution of that subplot was appropriate, but not disappointing.

I felt that getting into the real conflict of the story took longer than I wanted. While this book is only 320 pages, I have a feeling the font will be small or the pages large because it took awhile to get through it. I can't tell if it's the format or if it's because I spent a long time getting into this one. As soon as Daunis gets into the investigation, I was hooked, but it took a bit to get there. The only other thing that didn't work for me was the foreshadowing, which for me felt a little too obvious. The kind of foreshadowing that reads like "and that's when my life changed forever..." but you won't find out what happened for a few chapters. For some people, maybe it will get them to keep turning pages, but for me, it's always kind of cringe-y. Some of the events that are foreshadowed (ex. why she quit hockey) seemed pointless to even spend time making the reader wait for the reason!

I'll end with high praise -- this wasn't a predictable YA thriller for me. I think at a certain point, I entertained the possibility that the main "villain" would be who it ended up being, but Boulley quickly diverted my suspicion. There were so many people who COULD be responsible that it honestly was a complete mystery. That was nice to experience in the YA genre, which can be predictable to the point that after you read the first few chapters you can guess at the resolution of the whole thing. For those who like the YA thriller genre and like strong female characters whose actions are not controlled by men. this is the book for you!