Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for an ARC of this novel. All opinions are honest and my own.

This is the 3rd book that takes places in the ‘Firekeeper’s Daughter’ universe, and I have come to the conclusion that if Angeline Boulley writes it, I’m going to read it.

Both her previous novels were 5 star reads for me, and this one will make it on to my “favorite reads of 2025” list.

This novel is gripping and will keep you anxiously turning the pages to see what happens. At one point I looked down and realized I only had 10% left of the book… I knew I would be sad when it came time to turn the last page, but I couldn’t stop devouring the pages.

However, this isn’t just a thrilling fictional tale of a foster teen on the run - it touches on the heartbreaking reality of Indigenous children being taken from their families and stripped of their culture, as well as the importance of ICWA.

Daunis (the main character in ‘Firekeeper’s Daughter’) plays a significant role in this novel, and I’d highly suggest reading ‘Firekeeper’s Daughter’ before diving into this book. You could read ‘Warrior Girl Unearthed’ after reading this one, because chronologically it takes place after the events of this novel.

PUB DATE: September 2, 2025

RATING: 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

SUGGESTED SNACK PAIRING: stuffed manicotti

“Jamie enjoys cooking. My favorite meal is his homemade manicotti stuffed with ricotta and a plant-based, perfectly seasoned Italian sausage. He even plates our food as if he were on Iron Chef, with a sprig of parsley, or a practically transparent lengthwise slice of cucumber tied in a pretty bow.”

TRIGGERS: trafficking, child abuse, teen pregnancy, explosions and bombing, ableism, anti-Indigenous racism and colorism, hospitalization, cancer, gun violence, death, mentions of police brutality, genocide, colonialism, minor off page drug use/abuse

This book was given as an advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book was so good. I was invested. Lucy was a character to root for and it was so much fun to have Jamie and Daunis together for another story because I love them. This story covers a lot of challenging topics but in a graceful way that allows readers to think about them. As a foster parent, hearing about Lucy’s experiences with foster care and ICWA was heartbreaking. But hearing an experience that might not always be shared is really important, and what Boulley does so well.

I received a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Angeline Boulley is officially a must-read author for me. I adored Firekeeper’s Daughter, and in spite of a few small quibbles, really enjoyed Warrior Girl Unearthed as well. This hooked me immediately and reminded me why I like her writing so much.

Boulley is sort of doing a Gary Schmidt thing here - all of her books are set in the same…universe? Featuring a lot of the same characters (who I’ve dubbed the Sugar Island crew…although this book doesn’t actually take place ON Sugar Island). And although you don’t need to have read all of the books in order, or at all, to follow each individual story, it adds another layer. This one is set in between Firekeeper and Warrior Girl. Perry and Pauline are name-checked, but they’re kids rather than teens. And for the life of me I can’t remember if Lucy is mentioned in Warrior Girl at all (I feel like she’s not, and there’s a reasonable explanation at the end for why we haven’t heard of her before, if my memory is correct!). But we do get plenty of my girl Daunis. And also Jamie, who I confess to having forgotten about from Firekeeper (much as I loved that book, for some reason the finer details did not stay in my brain - I had to look up a lot of details when I read Warrior Girl).

But our main character here is Lucy. After her father died when she was a teen, she became a ward of the state and cycled through several different foster placements. When we meet her, she’s aged out and is working at a diner. But she seems on edge, like someone is watching her. She meets with Jamie, now a lawyer working to reunite native kids with their families (Lucy has always been told that her mother terminated parental rights, and her father claims she’s Italian). She thinks he’s the one who has been following her. She’s made the decision to skip town, but goes to work one last shift at the diner. And at the end of that shift, the diner explodes. And Daunis and Jamie swoop in to save the day.

What follows are a series of back and forth chapters. We see Lucy in the present day, healing from her injuries, plus flashbacks leading up to the diner incident, explaining who may have been following her. It’s an undeniably sad story - Lucy has a series of truly terrible placements, but her final one at Hoppy Farm *seems* like it’s too good to be true. All the while in both timelines there’s this creeping sense of dread - both who is following Lucy in the present, and what happened in the past that led to her being followed in the first place. It’s hard to say more without spoilers, but this was a really compelling read. I had a hard time putting it down, and I kept thinking about it when I wasn’t reading. Lucy’s sister is Lily, Daunis’s best friend who is killed at the beginning of Firekeeper (for reasons I cannot explain, I kept thinking Lucy was supposed to be Lily’s *daughter*, and the math was not mathing [and also we watched her die while very much NOT pregnant]).

As is typical with multi-timeline stories, I was a little more interested in the flashback chapters than the present day - without giving away too much, there’s some Jamie/Daunis romantic drama that sort of drags. I really liked Lucy as a narrator; she reminded me quite a bit of Louisa from My Friends, actually. They both have that same prickly “I’ll hurt you so you can’t hurt me” mentality.

After devouring Firekeeper's Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed, I knew I would read anything Angeline Boulley wrote.

Sisters in the Wind, the third of what I assume will be four elemental-titled books, is a dual-timeline novel following Lucy, a teen navigating the foster care system after her father dies.

Boulley is exceptional at using storytelling to teach complex legal and social issues. In Warrior Girl Unearthed, we learned all about the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, and in Sisters in the Wind, we learn all about the Indian Child Welfare Act.

Fans of the series will be excited to see the return of Daunis and Jamie, with a few cameos from Perry as well. This is a heavy book; Boulley doesn't pull her punches, and I am still reeling from that ending, but it's an incredibly worthwhile read for adults and older teens.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Angeline Boulley has done it again. This book is an amazing story that will keep you on the edge of your seat, racing to figure out the mystery before it's revealed to you. The way that mystery, a love of indigenous culture, and the meaning of home and family are woven together creates a masterful story that I'll be thinking about for a long time. The cast of characters are incredibly life-like and make you want to know more about them and how they got to where they are as well as where they'll end up. The way this story broaches the topic of MMIW is equal parts moving and horrifying to witness as you know it's based in reality. I love each Boulley story more than the last and this one will stay with me for quite awhile. I highly recommend this book!

Thank you so much to the Fierce Reads team for sending me an advanced digital copy of Sisters in the Wind for me to review! After reading and loving Firekeeper’s Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed, I was so excited to read this book!

I can't remember the last time a book moved me as much as this book has. Reading this book allowed me to revisit the world of Firekeeper's Daughter in a way that added to the story, without being a full sequel. I continue to be in awe of Boulley's writing abilities! She so expertly manages to write a story that captures beauty and the ugliness of the world, joy and pain, love and heartbreak.

Boulley's craft as an author continues to grow with each book she writes. This book follows the protagonist, Lucy Smith, throughout her traumatic past, as well as navigating her current “new normal”. I think going back and forth between the past and the present was a great way to build tension in the story, and make the reveals even more impactful.

One subject that this book addresses is the foster care system. For several years now, books and other forms of media that discuss the foster care system have intrigued me because they highlighted how much I did not know. Learning about the struggles of many children in the foster care system was very eye-opening for me. This book took it a step further, and made the connection between some of the bad things in the foster care system and the prejudice and harm perpetuated against indigenous people/children. It’s a very heavy topic, but important to address, especially since this book also highlighted how the trauma of the boarding schools indigenous children were forced to attend created generational damage to whole families. So many of these factors contributed to how Lucy navigated through the plot of this book, and how she went about solving her problems.

Overall, reading this book felt like coming home. I’m so happy we got to revisit this world, see old characters and develop them even further, and meet new characters and delve into another perspective from an indigenous story. I recommend this book to all readers, and I can’t wait to read more Angeline Boulley books in the future!

Wow, this did not end how I expected it to! This is another strong, heart-wrenching, trauma-filled, book from Boulley, that everyone should read. The only reason I didn't give this 5 stars was that the back and forth present/past format wasn't as smooth as I would have liked. I also felt that there should have been more time for the reader to know her while she was at the diner. But this was excellent, even if it was a tear-jerker and my mama-bear was activated several times on Lucy's behalf.
TW: parent and friend deaths, foster care, abuse, bombing, arson

Fantastic! I immediately connected with Lucy, her story, and the mystery surrounding her back story and life on the run. The reappearance of characters and storyline from Fire Keeper's Daughter was excellent, and I love how this community builds throughout Bouilley's books. This is an author that I recommend without hesitation and pre-order books without even trading the description.

Angeline Boulley is so talented when it comes to weaving together mystery, societal issues, and compelling stories with strong female characters. Sisters in the Wind felt a bit more like a thriller than her first two books did which caught me a bit off guard but I ended up really enjoying it.

I loved watching Lucy learn about her culture and slowly reveal the events that led up to the blast. I also really loved getting to visit characters from Angeline's other novels in this one - it felt like getting a chance to deepen their stories a bit. I also really commend the author for the way she uses each book to draw attention to larger cultural issues that impact women and specifically Indigenous communities. I always feel like I come away from her books with a much better understanding of an issue and this book is no exception. I learned so much about the foster care system and the way it fails people, but particularly the way it actively can harm Native communities as well.

In terms of the brief criticisms I have of the book, I didn't love the portions with Lucy's stepmother. I know that was part of her journey to the foster care system, but it felt almost a bit heavy-handed sometimes and was such an abrupt shift from when we first meet the stepmother. I also felt like the first third or so was a bit slower than I would have liked, but the remainder of the book made up for that.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This girl's life has gotten turned upside down and sideways so many times - she deserves all good things. Very engaging story that includes some characters from the Firekeeper's Daughter.

Oh my heart, Angeline Boulley. Her books are categorized as for young adult, but they're really for anyone that's willing to read them and confront the thorny issues she tackles in them that are of heightened concern for indigenous people. The first book that centered around Daunis Fontaine dealt with drug addiction and drug dealing. The second book covered cultural appropriation and assault and disappearance of indigenous women, and has Daunis' niece Perry as the protagonist.

Chronologically, Sisters in the Wind, the third book, takes place in between the first and third book and focuses on the abuses and issues within the foster care system, and the struggle that tribes face with women being forced to give up children for adoption, and despite legislation, the lack of effort to place Indian orphans with members of their own tribe. The protagonist in this story is Lucy Smith, the daughter of an Ojibwe woman who is raised by her white father.

When her father dies while Lucy is a teenager, she flees her stepmother, who ends up surrendering her adoption rights. This lands Lucy in the foster care system. While she does have a good experience at one home, circumstances force her into a home that initially seems okay but leads her to placement in a third home, where she increasingly begins to see something sinister underneath the initial glossy exterior.

Boulley makes both of these situations ones that if you weren't living the experience ones that would be hard to notice that something wrong is going on. And something definitely is. It eventually leads to Lucy being on the run because her life is in danger, and she ends up in the care of Daunis, and Jamie, who readers will remember from Firekeeper's Daughter. It was a joy to see both characters pop up again, and provides a bridge to the Daunis readers meet when they read Warrior Girl Unearthed.

Lucy doesn't want to reveal why she's on the run to the pair, but their continued care and concern for her makes her more and more willing to share about her past as she gets to know them better. The book alternates between 2009, when Lucy meets Daunis and Jamie, and her childhood as various events happen, so readers know what's going on before Daunis and Jamie do, but only as Lucy ages throughout the book. The book eventually climaxed in a way that absolutely broke my heart, but provided closure and hope too.

The book isn't for everyone; it has quite a few trigger warning, and not unjustly either. But like Boulley's other books, it's beautifully told and absolutely worth it if you're willing to take the bad things that happen in life right alongside the good things. A complimentary copy of this book was provided by the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

OBSESSED with Angeline Boulley’s writing. I was so excited to get to read more about the characters and community from Firekeeper’s Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed.

I could not put this book down. I sat down to read a bit before bed, and next thing I knew it was 3am and I finished the book. I love Angeline Boulley’s writing. I don’t see pictures in my head when I read but her writing makes it almost feel possible. I was glued to the page.

I also love that it takes place in Michigan!

I am a fan of Angeline Boulley and I was so excited when I got an ARC of this book. I have her other two books in my high school library and this one will be right next to them. Lucy Smith has been in the foster system for five years and is now on the run to hide from horrific events that happened to her while in foster care. A Mr. Jameson finds her and tells her he is part of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and wants to help her reunite with her Ojibwe family. While thankful to have his support along with Daunis ( who was in the other books) Lucy has many secrets that need to be kept from them because she is being hunted down by some terrible people who are doing horrible things.

I couldn't put this book down once I started reading it. The importance of community and family is evident throughout all of the book. Throughout the story, I learned more about Ojibwe culture and the importance of one's people.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the free advanced copy!

I'm feeling quite disappointed in this- I adore Angeline Boulley and devoured Firekeeper's Daugther and Warrior Girl Unearthed. But this one I just couldn't get into it. I'm not even really sure why, I just felt as if even though when I was 30 percent in, I just wasn't sure where I was in this world and felt really disconnected. I struggled to pick it back up. I'm overall in a reading slump right now, and this probably wasn't the novel to help me out. This is likely going to connect with other readers and Boulley is objectively talented and I'm sure I'll continue to pick up her work. But I was just thinking about her recently, and when I got the email that I was pre-approved for this upcoming novel that I hadn't even heard of yet, I was totally thrilled. But this wasn't for me!

Lucy has been out of foster care for 6 months. Someone is stalking and threatening her. When a bomb (meant as a warning) goes off in the diner where she works, she and another waitress are injured.

Lucy wakes up in the hospital with people she doesn't know there to support her. The social worker in charge of her case ignored the Indian Child Welfare Act and placed Lucy in foster care instead of with extended family. Through flashbacks, we learn more about what Lucy endured and who is after her.

The book delves into ICWA, the broken foster care and injustice systems, abuse, childhood trauma, advocacy, love, family, and hope. It's beautifully written and incredibly powerful. It's a call to action, too.

I have a book hangover after reading this one, and want to immediately re-read it so I can savor the writing. It's become a mentor text for me and is the best book I've read all year. I need to get two copies of my own, one for reading and one for analyzing the writing.

As Dr. Bishop stated, some books function as a sliding glass door and change the reader. This is one of the books that has changed me. It's inspired me and woven its way into my cells. I will never be the same, and that's a good thing.

I'm telling everyone I know to preorder this book. It's one to treasure. I'll be shocked if it doesn't win multiple awards.

Miigwech to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book. I am still stunned by it. It's gorgeous, heartbreaking, and healing all at once. It's instantly become one of my favorites.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing for the ARC of Sisters in the Wind by Angeline Boulley. I don't know how she does it!, but this was another winner for me! I couldn't put it down and finished the whole novel in one day! This is the 3rd book in the Firekeeper's Daughter timeline. It introduces new characters as well as incorporating some of my favorites from the Firekeeper's Daughter. It shares with us how flawed and damaging the foster care system has been for Native Americans as the story of Lucy unfolds. First when you learn how her father got sole custody of Lucy and then later when you learn what happens to Luke. In addition to that you see how different foster families have impacted the main character and forced her to live a life on the run.
The way the author goes back and forth in Lucy's timeline really helped build up suspense about who was trying to find Lucy and even though it was a main focus I was still surprised by the ending! I would read anything by this author because she does such an amazing job of hooking a reader and this book was no exception!

Angeline Boulley might be my favorite author. I look forward to each book and then savor them! In this latest book, we get a look into the foster care world and all that can go wrong. We also get to see Daunis come back and get a continuation! Really enjoyable writing with a message.

For the third time in a row - Boulley does it again, writes a book I cannot put down! This book was an intricate mystery that kept unfolding with each chapter. Lucy has been on her own since running away from the foster care system and now her past has caught up to her. Not only the recent past that she tried to escape, but also a birth family she didn't know about.
While this book is a stand-alone, it contains favorite characters from past books like Daunis and Jamie. This book has so many intertwining themes like identity, family, and home as well as bringing up concerns about the foster care system, adoption and giving details about the Indian Child Welfare Act.
I loved that by the end Lucy has found people she can trust and justice tries to prevail. This book is for anyone who love mysteries, relational dramas, Indigenous influences and Michigan.

Angeline Boulley never disappoints. I loved this one so much and the end had me sobbing. A fantastic read for anyone!

She did it again - another great book! Daunis is back in a supporting role and support she does.

When this book started, I wasn't sure what to think. The direction was so different than Boulley's first two books. I could tell right away that the main character didn't know she was Ojibwe, so I wondered where the story was going to go. While the focus was on our main character surviving and navigating the foster care system, I loved how Boulley weaved in the injustice of the system particularly with indigenous families.

I enjoyed this book so much - right up to the very last page. Usually I speed up reading at the end of a book because I'm so excited to know the end. With this book, although I wanted to know how it wrapped up, I was savoring every sentence!