This book WELL exceeded my expectations. I had my doubts, but the hype train totally delivered.

Firekeeper's Daughter will be in my top reads of 2021 for sure. This was a fantastic book. The writing is fabulous and mixes cultural language with English in such a great way. There is such attention to detail and such a lyrical way that things are delivered without being flowery in the writing. The protagonist is PERFECTION. I loved Daunis. She is strong, determined, and smart and she cares deeply about her community. Her backstory is believable and her circumstances understandable. The focus on plant life and science was so much fun and I loved how much of a science geek Daunis was. It made me so happy.

The plot moved at a fantastic pace, pushing me forward and making me hunger for more. I didn't want to stop reading! The tension was just right...it didn't feel quite like an intense thriller, but the intrigue was still fantastic. The twists and turns were subtle in their approach and then hit hard. There were a few bits here and there that I figured out, but overall it was an incredible rollercoaster of a ride. The story is complex and multifaceted, yet it is presented in a way that is completely accessible and a smooth read. I was sucked right in.

I loved how atmospheric the story was, bringing together cultures and describing things in a way that had me learning so much about indigenous life. The ability to subtly, yet powerfully introduce history, racism, and prejudice into the plot was well-executed and I think there is a lot to learn from the narrative. The creation of community spirit was fantastic and I loved having so much of the culture presented in different ways. The connection to the land and to spirit was so beautifully delivered, it was a great and powerful demonstration of Anishinaabe life.

The side characters were very well crafted. There was a lot of community created in the characters and I loved that there were characters built in all age groups to really make the entire narrative feel fully inclusive of Daunis's experience. Boulley definitely captured teenage spirit in her characters and ran the gamut on personality types.

This is a beautiful, haunting, powerful, and impactful read. I adored it and highly recommend it.

Review to come.

Kristin Hannah is just my jam. I love her writing style and the brutal honesty of her narratives. This book is fantastic, but oh boy does it rip your heart into pieces.

The plot sucked me right in from the beginning and I loved Elsa as a character, even when I wanted to smack her upside the head. Same for Loreda. That girl is one heck of a troublesome, headstrong teenager. She is written brilliantly. I love the way Hannah's characters become so incredibly realistic. There are often times when I forget that I am reading fiction, everything is super tangible and reads like a biography.

I love the female-focused plot and the centering of the story on the dust bowl era. This was incredibly unique and interesting to read. I knew about the event in a peripheral historical way, but it was engrossing to read about the details of the hardships and to examine the ways that life then does incredibly parallel some of the issues we struggle with today. The writing was incredibly atmospheric and the narrative was immensely emotional. I ran the gamut with emotions on this one: disbelief, anger, frustration, love, fear, heartsickness, grief, pain, relief...the list goes on. This story is a gut-puncher.

I realize that I'm rambling about it, but really this is just a great book. It is hard-hitting and painful...don't go in expecting sunshine and roses...but it is beautiful too. One of my best reads of the year so far.

This book was just what I never knew I wanted. Books about books are always up my alley and this one takes place in a library as well. Bonus! The use of the library and references to historical literature were a huge plus.

Davis's writing is lovely. It felt natural, yet highly imbued with detail and historical content. The dual timeline was fun and well-woven. It kept things interesting. There were slight moments when I did get my timelines and characters confused, but things generally straightened out fairly quickly due to Davis's knack for including context detail that immediately clued me in to the time period.

The characters were fun and I particularly enjoyed seeing Laura's character development throughout the narrative arc. I love reading books with strong female characters and both Laura and Sadie felt like they traveled the path to being stronger from start to end. It was a good progression that felt natural and rewarding.

I LOVED the setting and the time periods used. I have a fascination with the early 20th century and this narrative brought in so much of the historical content, especially focusing on the budding feminist movement of the area.

The tension throughout the plot was fairly well handled. It didn't feel over-the-top, but there was clear pressure on the characters that came through the narrative. The big mysteries of the plot were well-hidden with decently intriguing reveals. There were pieces that were predictable, but not in an overly irritating way.

The romantic elements in both timelines were somewhat awkward, with Laura's feeling a bit too obvious and Sadie's feeling somewhat forced. I didn't seriously mind either, but I do think the story could have been perfectly fine had they not been parts of the plot. For me they just detracted from the story and the intrigue.

Ah, the ending. It was very well handled. I admittedly left the story wanting more, but mostly in a good way. This is typically a sign for me that the author has done the perfect job wrapping things up while letting the reader envision beyond the ending. The big questions were answered and there really weren't any loose ends. I just liked the characters and particularly enjoyed the setting...I wanted to move right in to this book.

Such a fun and interesting read. Review to come.

Awesome. A new middle grade favorite. I loved this read so much. A great female protagonist and a gripping fantasy plot. The world is really fun and I loved the setup for this series. The characters are cute and have great values and there is a lot at work to root for. I cannot wait to read the next book in this series.

I understand now the hype behind anything written by Becky Chambers. This was an incredibly fun and creative read. There is a lot of allegory in the writing and themes, but it is so well-done and such a delight to read.

I love the characters and found Dex to be just a delight. The writing of their character is done with such innocent candor and never have I read a nonbinary character who read so seamlessly. The pronoun usage felt natural and was just perfect. Mosscap was also a wonderful character and the use of both of these characters as explorers was sweet and endearing. They were each learning in gentle ways about the other. Their banter is witty and honest and at times hilarious. The ways they considered one another's feelings and tried to understand things from the other's point-of-view was a great lesson for humanity and I just loved it.

The world and the journey were also enjoyable, but they are not the center of the story. The journey definitely provides the opportunities for character growth, but is slightly extraneous to the interpersonal connection that is occurring and developing.

Chambers' writing is amazing. It is smart and lyrical and full of subtle analogies. It is compactly able to deliver powerful lessons about humanity and the ways in which we look at, exploit, harm, and explore the world. I am very excited to read her backlist as well as to read more from this particular series. I don't think they can be released fast enough. I loved this so much.

4.75 stars.

Eerie, creepy, and mesmerizing. I love weird books that I can totally get lost in. For some it's totally frustrating to not understand what is going on throughout the story, but I love that. Something about that confusion just completely hooks me. This book had suspense, the confusion factor, and a cult setting. I was in heaven. The less you know going into this one, the better.

Everything about this book was mind-bending. The setting was wonderfully atmospheric with a lot of creepy vibes. It was at once a bit post-apocalyptic and a little colonial. It's a perfectly dark read and the plot is incredibly twisty. There is a great mix of genre bits as well. A little bit horror, a little bit scifi, a touch of magical realism, and a lot of suspense.

The writing is fantastic, with a way about it that just gripped me. This was one of those reads that kept me up late as I devoured page after page, not wanting to put it down. A lot of fun and a good, solid ending. I'll be reading more of Shea Ernshaw's work for certain!

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Another fun read from Charlie N. Holmberg. She wraps up this story fantastically with a duology. Her stories always have just the right amount of tension for me. The stakes are high, but the story still feels fairly light. The pacing is wonderful and I flew right through my read. It doesn't hurt that her writing is always just right for what I need.

I love her characters. She always manages to give the female characters in her novel a bit of subverted power that gives them a bit of something extra for the day and age they live in. I love that slight bit of feminism that comes across without being overly heavy handed. She also had some diversity in this duology that I felt was handled subtly, but nicely. She presented the topic of racism without making it the primary focus of her work, something I think that can be tricky to do without having it simply feel like an afterthought. The romance element was also nicely handled. Not too much of an instalove and not too much of a heavy-handed enemies-to-lovers trope. It all felt pretty natural

The magic system in this series was also a lot of fun. Her worlds always feel tangible and the atmosphere in this series definitely gives off a feeling of darkness in the Moors. I was totally a sucker for it.

I am sad that there won't be more in this series, but it really did work out well to be a 2-book series. I have said it before and I will say it again. I will read anything Charlie N. Holmberg decides to publish.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *

There are so many things to say about this book. When I first finished it, I was disappointed and confused in the outcome, but then sat for over an hour picking the narrative apart and rethinking it in pieces until I began to see so much more. I am utterly overwhelmed. In fact, I have not stopped thinking about this novel since I finished it around twelve hours ago. It is sitting hard, like a lump in my chest. It is highly impactful, immobilizing, terrifying, and poignant. There is so much to consider and analyze.

In college, I read "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. I was instantly transported to that experience upon reading Little Bandaged Days. The novel is a gripping account of postpartum depression and psychosis in the scope of modern day life. It is based lightly on the author's actual experience and it reads immensely authentically. I struggle to say everything I want to about this book without creating spoilers, so let me just say that this book could also be used as a college read for analysis. It is brilliantly crafted with a protagonist whose every action has meaning and even though you follow the read thinking you're understanding what is going on and all the pieces are falling together, you are left at the end questioning EVERYTHING you knew. It's an amazing read. But it is so incredibly painful.

The trauma gripped me hard. The pace moved from something I could handle and evaluate to something that tore the breath from me and left my heart beating anxiously with worry and concern. I am still not over that feeling.

I am a mother of two young children. I can identify with much of the early thoughts and feelings that the protagonist voices. (I don't recall her being named anywhere in the narrative, but the synopsis identifies her as Erika.) I know what it is like to become overwhelmed by the responsibilities of motherhood and the loss of self that comes along with that responsibility. I am all too keen on the feelings of absolute love and devotion for your children alongside an internal desire to have a moment of peace, a bit of time alone. Due to circumstances of my own life, I also understand her feelings of loneliness and solitude.

There are a lot of things to question about the construction of this novel and the individual characters within it, but I have to assert that I feel this is all purposeful. It makes sense looking backwards. It also does not make sense. Because that's how mental illness is.

I will need to read this again. I have no doubt. It bruised my motherly heart and tore me in pieces at times, but I need to relive it to see it deeper. Just writing through this has made me appreciate it even more.

* Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. *