Book Review: Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

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Rating: ★★★★
Audience: YA Contemporary Mystery
Length: 496 pages
Author: Angeline Boulley
Publisher: Henry, Holt, and Co.
Release Date: March 16th, 2021
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BOOK SUMMARY:

As a biracial, unenrolled tribal member and the product of a scandal, eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. Daunis dreams of studying medicine, but when her family is struck by tragedy, she puts her future on hold to care for her fragile mother.

The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, certain details don’t add up and she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into the heart of a criminal investigation.

Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, but secretly pursues her own investigation, tracking down the criminals with her knowledge of chemistry and traditional medicine. But the deceptions—and deaths—keep piling up and soon the threat strikes too close to home.

Now, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she’ll go to protect her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known.

Debut author Angeline Boulley crafts a groundbreaking YA thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community, for readers of Angie Thomas and Tommy Orange.

FIERCE DEBUT.

This was absolutely worth the hype and awards. I had no idea this was a mystery book until the first few chapters and the unwinding of the plot was intricate, twisted, and kept me on my toes.

I loved the main character, Daunis. She was strong and brave. I loved the way she loved her community, friends and family. It was a coming-of-age tale interspersed in a tense landscape.

Highly recommend this one on audio!! The narrator did a wonderful job. The book slowed down a bit in the middle for me. But the last half definitely picked up. I couldn’t stop listening. I had to know what was going to happen next. Who was going to survive and how everyone learned to move on from difficult situations.

The romance disappointed me a bit. I loved the small role it played throughout the book. A bit of a forbidden, first-love kind of devotion. Yet, I realized with the ending I didn’t get that closure I was hoping for with them.

All in all, I’d say this is a must read. I loved learning about the traditions, the multiple layers to drug abuse and it’s resounding effects it has on those around to pick up the pieces. How traditions and complex family dynamics hold a place in your soul. A haunting tale, a beautiful landscape, fantastic writing, and I hope this author has more books out in the future!

Overall audience notes:

  • YA Mystery
  • Language: some strong
  • Romance: one closed door
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: ableism, racism/racial slurs, sexual harassment (on page), rape (on page), cheating, child abuse/neglect, substance abuse, murder-suicide (on page), overdose mentioned, grief/loss depiction, loss of loved ones, car accident (resulting in hospitalization, near death moments, bullying

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Book Review: At Love’s Command (Hanger’s Horsemen #1) by Karen Witemeyer

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Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: Christian Western Romance
Length: 384 pages
Author: Karen Witemeyer
Publisher: Bethany House Publishing
Release Date: June 2nd, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Ex-cavalry officer Matthew Hanger leads a band of mercenaries who defend the innocent, but when a rustler’s bullet leaves one of them at death’s door, they seek out help from Dr. Josephine Burkett. When Josephine’s brother is abducted and she is caught in the crossfire, Matthew may have to sacrifice everything–even his team–to save her.

COWBOY TAKE ME AWAY.

This was more charming that I was expecting, even if the book wasn’t the five-star hopeful I was going for.

What I really enjoyed was the romance, so that’s a positive. It’s pretty instantaneous, but with the time period + layout of the story, it worked well. Matt is a stoic ex-cavalryman trying to assuage his guilt and Josephine is a doctor trying to get the respect she deserves. I love the way these two hit it off and anytime Matt grasped her for a fierce, will he survive, kind of kiss, I swooned big time.

There was a severe lack of dialogue. The more I read the more I started noticing that the pacing kept sloooowing down. I wanted more conversation and banter between anyone. The story then started to feel about 50 or so pages too long. The plot was entirely focused on something that I didn’t realize was going to take up so much page time. It’s not that it was bad, with the combination of other issues, just made me want to skim to the good parts.

I loved the setting because I’m pretty sure I’ve never read a Western historical romance (and I need to change that ASAP). And I also admittedly love a good lover distress moment where someone needs rescued. Cue a racing heart and daring getaways.

Overall audience notes:

  • Christian Western historical romance
  • Language: none
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: gun violence, physical altercations, kidnapping for ransom
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: the prologue is a recounting of the battle of Wounded Knee from the eye’s of Matt, loss of family, sexual harassment

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ARC Book Review: The Unknown Beloved by Amy Harmon

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Rating: ★★★★★
Audience: Historical Romance
Length: 413 pages
Author: Amy Harmon
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Release Date: April 19th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From the bestselling author of Where the Lost Wander and What the Wind Knows comes the evocative story of two people whose paths collide against the backdrop of mystery, murder, and the Great Depression.

Chicago, 1923: Ten-year-old Dani Flanagan returns home to find police swarming the house, her parents dead. Michael Malone, the young patrolman assigned to the case, discovers there’s more to the situation—and to Dani Flanagan herself—than the authorities care to explore. Malone is told to shut his mouth, and Dani is sent away to live with her spinster aunts in Cleveland.

Fifteen years later, Michael Malone is summoned to Cleveland to investigate a series of murders that have everyone stumped, including his friend and famed Prohibition agent Eliot Ness, now Cleveland’s director of safety. There, in a city caught in the grip of a serial killer, Malone’s and Dani’s paths cross once again.

Malone is drawn to Dani and her affinity for the dead and compassion for the destitute. It doesn’t take long for him to realize that she could help him solve his case. As terror descends on the city and Malone and Dani confront the dark secrets that draw them together, it’s a race to find the killer or risk becoming his next victims.

Thank you to the author for an eARC.

ALL THE STARS.

I am forever attached to Harmon and her writing magnificence. The beauty and portrayal of the nuances of every aspect of her stories is immersing and impossible to turn away from. The moment this dropped onto my kindle I read it was quickly as I could as once again, I have nothing but good things to say.

AH THE ROMANCE. If you love a good age gap romance, this one is for you. I looooved the way that Dani and Michael came together. Through learning about each other’s backgrounds, to the slow forced proximity of their situations. And at last to the clashing of their souls has love took them under. It was everything subtly beautiful I love in a romance. I constantly needed more of them because each interaction pulled at my heart and while I loved Dani and Michael separately, I also loved the way they stood together.

The gritty murder mystery throughout was definitely hard to read in the dark at times. A bit gruesome and will keep you on your toes. I constantly was waiting for the other foot to drop and for the those final throw down scenes to ramp up my heartrate. Don’t worry, IT HAPPEEND. I liked the conclusions that were brought through to the end to tie up things for a book (even with the author’s note at the end explaining creative differences for the sake of the story).

This review is already a lot longer than my usual because I can’t STOP. I loved everything about this story. Amy Harmon writes historical romances like no other.

Overall audience notes:

  • Historical Fiction Romance
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: closed door
  • Violence: med/high blood and gore
  • Trigger/Content Warnings: kidnapping, gruesome depictions of murder, dismembering, gun violence, murder/suicide

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Book Review: The Bone Thief (The Bone Charmer #2) by Breeana Shields

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Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Audience: YA Fantasy
Length: 384 pages
Author: Breeana Shields
Publisher: Page Street Kids
Release Date: May 26th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A deft exploration of the weight of grief and cost of revenge, Breeana Shields’s Bone Charmer duology reaches its spine-tingling conclusion in this high-octane fantasy-thriller.

Saskia returns to Ivory Hall to train in bone magic, determined to stop Latham from gaining the power of all three Sights—past, present, and future. But danger lurks within the fortress’s marrow. Trials are underway for the apprentices, and the tasks feel specifically engineered to torment Saskia, which is exactly what Latham wants.

As she grows increasingly more suspicious, her thirst for revenge becomes all-consuming. Together with the friends she can trust and the boy she loved in another lifetime, Saskia traces clues from Latham’s past to determine what he’ll do next. Their search leads them across Kastelia and brings them to a workshop housing a vast collection of horrors, including the bones Latham stole from Gran, and the knowledge that the future isn’t all that’s in jeopardy—but the past as well.

A SOLID DUO.

This was a good duology!! I thoroughly enjoyed both books. And even though this one didn’t have the same pop as the first, I still liked it and the final conclusion.

It’s such a cool magic system. I love the vast options that magic has in the world and that tattoos play a huge part in their lives. What type of events they’ve gone through, if they’ve fallen in love, or mastered a magic. It’s interesting and one of the best parts of the series.

Saskia is a main character I liked a lot. A bit stubborn, and occasionally making mistakes made her feel real. She was also tender and loyal to those around her. I would have looooved a bit more romance like there was in the first book. Nothing really happened until the end and I wish it had flowed through the entire story more.

At times I thought the plot didn’t matter or fit the revenge plot idea from the first book. The further the book goes, things seem to round out. The tasks that Saskia and her friends are asked to do start to converge with the final showdown.

It’s a great duology with easy, magnetic writing. Even if I was struggling with the plot at times, I still never felt the need to skim. A lesser known duo to definitely look into!

Overall audience notes:

  • Young adult fantasy
  • Language: very little
  • Romance: kisses
  • Violence: physical altercations, magical weaponry, attempted murder

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