Fire Keeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley

Title: The Fire Keeper's Daughter

Author: Angeline Boulley

Genre: YA

Rating: 5 out of 5

Daunis Fontaine has never been able to fit in, in either her hometown or on the nearby Ojibwe reservation.  She puts her future of studying medicine on hold to help care of her ailing mother.  The only seemingly bright spot in her life is Jamie a new recruit on her brother's hockey team. Yet, as she falls for Jamie, things he says and does doesn't add up and she begins to suspect that he is hiding something.  When she witnesses a horrific murder, everything begins to make sense and she is thrown in the middle of a criminal investigation.  She agrees to go undercover, but soon discovers that the deceptions and betrayal keep piling up and comes to close to home.  Now she must learn what it means to be a strong Ojibwe woman and far she will go to protect her community and those she loves.

I had this book on my TBR for a little while, and then a woman in my book club mentioned how great it was so I moved it up on my list and read it right away.    The first half of the novel we get background information and character building, but as the book progresses the plot thickens and gets intense.  You will get completely swept up into the storyline, I know I did. The second half of the book becomes a real rollercoaster of emotion, tragedy, suspense, coming of age, and culture.  Whatever your reason for reading this book you will learn something new.

I love how steeped in Native American culture this novel was, I love learning about the traditions, religion, language, history, herbs, relationships and more.  And there is no better author to present this information than Angeline Boulley.  Boulley approaches touch topics in a professional, and mature manner.  There are so many topics that could be a trigger such as abuse, addiction, sexual assault, grief, and even politics, but Boulley includes these topics in a way that it doesn't trigger (at least it didn't for me).  She doesn't include them in a gratuitous way nor do they take away from the story.  If anything it makes the novel more intense, more emotional.

The cover drew me in and Boulley's words held me captive.  Probably the BEST book I've read this year.

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