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.

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!

Thanks to Partner NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co. for the digital ARC of Angeline Boulley’s Firekeeper’s Daughter in exchange for an honest review. The book will be published on Tuesday, March 16.

Daunis Fontaine is an athlete and former hockey player, Levi’s half-sister, bi-racial, an unenrolled member of the Ojibwe tribe, a daughter and granddaughter, a best friend. She’s also loyal and stubborn and tough, dedicated to learning her tribe’s history but equally committed to the other, white and wealthy side of her family, including her mother.

Angeline Boulley’s YA novel Firekeeper’s Daughter is as multilayered as its protagonist. It’s an edge-of-your-seat thriller, a mystery novel, a coming of age story, a romance. It addresses the multifaceted nature of Daunis’s identity without simplifying her or the varied communities to which she belongs.

At the outset of the novel, Daunis is preparing to go to college—already, her life is not quite what she envisioned. Daunis has changed her college plans and decided to attend the local college instead of going away to school. Her mother is fragile after both the recent death of her brother from an overdose and Daunis’s grandmother’s stroke. Daunis is unwilling to leave her mother to deal with her grandmother’s illness alone. She is comforted by the fact that she will attend school with her best friend, Lily, also an unenrolled Anishinaabe.

Daunis lives in a hockey town, and she used to be right in the middle of that culture, one of the few women on the high school hockey team. She no longer plays, but her half-brother Levi is on the Supes, the local hockey team for up-and-comers hoping for a career. When Jamie joins the hockey team, things get interesting: Daunis is determined to resist her attraction for Jamie—she doesn’t want to join the group of women who follow their boyfriends on the hockey team—but she’s definitely interested.

Life is already complicated for Daunis, and then something happens that changes everything. Daunis’s world is upended, and she has to reconsider all of the things she thought she knew.

This book is such an accomplishment, juggling so much effortlessly and never losing forward momentum, even as it’s patient in developing a portrait of this character, her culture, and her place. Daunis is fiercely committed to her community, to connecting with her Ojibwe heritage but also very aware that she comes from two cultures. She has to confront the forces that impact her community: the power dynamics, the violence, and the corruption that threaten her world. This book made me think, it made me feel (yes, there was some ugly crying), and it made me curious to learn more. Firekeeper’s Daughter is such a revelation, and I can’t believe it’s Angeline Boulley’s debut. What a book.

I truly didn’t know what to expect from this book. I loved the cover. I heard NOTHING about it. But I received an email that said I should read it, saw the beautiful cover, and I’m so glad I did.
This story is a YA mystery about life on an Ojibwe Rez in Michigan near the Canadian border.
You get a sense of the prejudices with the people of the tribe, which was fascinating. Also it wasn’t so much about not trusting outsiders, but you could see the pain and distrust the federal government has caused to the community. So the fact that they have to let in outsiders, albeit from the government or non tribal members to aid in the situations... the angst this brought was heavy.
I loved the strong women characters. This culture values women and I loved how even during some shifting times, the women were still revered, still listened to, still honored.
There are some triggers: underage drinking, rape, gun violence, drugs
That being said, it was worth every page. I was sucked in right from the start and was sad that it ended, but loved the ending!

This book was such a heartbreakingly great read! It was a sweet slice of life story until about 18% in, which is when it gets DARK, and I mean dark QUICK. Daunis is such a strong character, and I love her soft, tender moments. There are, obviously, a lot of trigger warnings for this story, but it's SO well done. I couldn't stop hoping she would figure everything out faster! I was surprised by every twist.

This book has been getting a lot of good reviews, and they are well deserved. This book tackles some really hard issues, such as substance abuse, sexual assault and the murder and disappearance of Native women, and does it well for the most part. The plot is well done with lots of twists, solid characters that you can believe in, and you learn a lot about the main character’s culture.

Daunis is a girl between worlds, her father was an Ojibwa and her mother is white. She has faced discrimination from both sides and has had to deal with a lot in her young life. But she is strong, and resilient. She has a strong sense of family and community which will help her in her life to come. She is also smart, and knows how to handle herself in stressful situations. But she also makes some very dumb decisions, which seemed a bit out of character, but I think realistic too. Everyone makes mistakes and has to face those consequences.

The one thing I really liked about this book, was the way the author was able to weave the native traditions, politics, stories and the struggles of her community seamlessly into the narrative. Also the hockey and its importance in the community was nicely done. I learned a lot about the Ojibwa culture and language and didn’t even notice that I was.

The plot overall was good. I liked the mystery and there were some good twists that were hard to spot. The writing was a little rough in places, which hopefully will be smoothed out before publication. The pacing at times also lagged, which did hurt the narrative a little bit. There were also a few times where I was frustrated about things hinted about in Daunis’s past that were influencing her decisions, but we weren’t told what these things were until about 3/4ths of the way into the book. The romance between Daunis and Jamie didn’t entirely work for me either. I liked Jamie, but just never felt the chemistry between them jell.

Overall this was a good read. I liked the story and the characters, even with some of the rougher patches in the pacing and story. This is an author to keep eye on. I think we will continue to see great books from her.

This highly engaging novel tackles a part of American culture that is typically not portrayed in YA fiction. While this novel is a lengthy one, every part of it was needed and relevant. I loved the backstories, the main character's express of cultural beliefs, the romance was hot. I loved the male romantic lead more than I thought I should, but the chemistry between Daunis and Jaime was fire. This was a great thriller.

For some reason I could not get into this story. I felt disconnected to the characters and the setting and the plot drug on and on for me.

Easily one of my favorite reads this year, and it's only March. Halfway through, I preordered this lovely book because it really is that good. A crime thriller with an MC that is a new adult (18 years old), so it reads more like a new adult category than a YA. Many themes are prevalent throughout, such as identity, community, becoming more independent, grief, healthy boundaries, and more. The characters feel well thought out, and the plot goes at a really steady pace, quickening as the climax draws near. There were adorable moments of brevity, challenging moments of sorrow, and beautiful moments of community. Truly a stellar read. My full review will be released closer to publication date. Thank you so much Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for a copy of this arc in exchange for an honest review!

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

This is one of the most powerful books I have read in a long time. It deals with the clash between cultures, crime, tribal membership, and respect for elders. Although billed as a YA novel, presumably because the main character is 18, the novel deals with adult themes in an mature way.

The FBI and tribal police have asked Daunis to help them as a confidential informant. They are trying to stop the spread of deadly meth on and near the reservation at Sault Ste. Marie, MI. Several of the local teenagers have died and there is word that the problem has spread to other reservations. In the process, Daunis learns about relatives on both sides of her family, most importantly, and about herself.

During the course of the investigation, the reader learns about the tribal customs, rituals, and beliefs of the Ojibwe people native to the area.

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, libro.fm and NetGalley for the #gifted copy of this book.

I actually ended up listening to this on audio and really enjoyed the narrator. The only thing I struggled a bit with was some of the native language, but it did not detract from the listening experience. In many ways, it enhanced it.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this YA Thriller, but I fell very quickly in love with this story about a Native American teen who is trying to figure things out. Daunis is a very good hockey player and has always felt like she didn't fit in. Her tribal heritage comes from her father. She is an unenrolled member of the Ojibwa Tribe. Everything changes when Jamie comes to town. Daunis finds her self in love. She works undercover for the FBI to finish her Uncle's work. Little does she know many lives will be affected by her work.

This story was a powerful one. I can't wait to read more by this author.

Triggers - murder, rape, drug abuse, death, sexual assault

I won this book from a Yall Write Giveaway and all opinions are my own. Also, thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group.

I was unsure about this book at first because I didn't know for sure what to expect. After all, there was so much hype around it and in my experience, a lot of the time when books are hyped so much, I usually end up being disappointed in them, but that's not the case with this book. This book really does live up to the hype and more.

I do have to preface that if you don't know much about this book, you should make sure you research it before you read it to be aware of the heavy material in it. Also, there is a lot in this book that is heart-wrenching, heavy, difficult to read, and can be triggering. A few things I can think of for possible content/trigger warnings are drug abuse/overdose, murder/suicide, death, adoption, sexual assault, and abuse.

In general, this is a good book with a great storyline in the suspense/thriller genre. With it being an OwnVoices novel and the MC being a Native teen with this unique perspective and insight, it makes the story even greater and I am appalled at reading some of the things in this book. It's eye-opening and upsetting to read and see this glimpse into what life could be like/is like in an Ojibwe reservation. We really need to hear and read more books like this to help us be more aware and want to learn and educate ourselves about others and how we might be able to help them.

This book is a glimpse into a stark reality for Daunis, who is an unenrolled tribal member, that explores and looks at how it is for her to be in that role, with a glimpse and information about the spiritual roles and traditions of this Ojibwe tribe. Daunis is looking forward to going to college with her best friend, Lily and they are living their normal day to day, having fun when she meets a new guy who joins her brother's hockey team and they become friends and get close until the night of a gathering/party when she is witness to a shocking murder and everything is suddenly changed. Then Daunis finds herself in the middle of an undercover FBI investigation trying to help root out a plague from her community before more lives are lost.

If you haven't heard of this then where have you been and make sure you put this on your tbr list asap and get ready to read it when it comes out this month. Also, another reminder to make sure to be prepared for possible triggering and heavy hard to read topics with this story and also remember to keep kleenex handy just in case. It's a very worthwhile read, one of those heart-stopping, intense and full stories much like life can be.

One little footnote to add-this does also have a bit of language in it if that's something that you prefer to try to avoid in stories when possible.

In Firekeeper's Daughter, Angeline Boulley delivers a rich story full of myriad layers of culture, love, spirituality, and questioning. This is a fantastic YA crime novel that delivers so much more than a mystery/thriller than many other books. Daunis, our 18 year old heroine, deals with many issues throughout the novel including feelings about her heritage and where she belongs, her romantic relationships, the death of her loved ones and how her people are being affected by a variety of traumas depicted within this book.

I think this book does a great job of weaving a mystery into more of a coming-of-age tale where Daunis considers who she is and where she belongs and what she needs in her own life to be who she wants to be. We see other characters, like Jamie, having similar revelations throughout the novel. This book has a bit of a slow, methodical start, but it seemed right seeing as how quite a few of the characters were scientists with such a methodical way about them.

I would recommend this book to readers of Courtney Summers and Angie Thomas.

I love that this is the sort of story I've never really gotten to read from this perspective. The way the community was built was one of my favorite parts; I would definitely recommend this.