Category: Thriller

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley

I received a free e-ARC of Firekeeper’s Daughter thanks to Fierce Reads in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

I absolutely loved this book. I’d been anticipating this book since I found out about it’s existence, so when I found out I won an ARC, I was so excited. 

Let me tell y’all, it lived up to the hype. I still find myself thinking about this story, Daunis, and the cast of characters we journeyed with even after the last page has been turned. 

Firekeeper’s Daughter: Strengths

I’m a huge fan of strong female protagonists, and Boulley hit the nail with Daunis. She is biracial and a product of teenage pregnancy. Neither side of her family really embraced her, but she is heavily involved with both. She feels like an outsider but is trying to find her place.

I loved the insight to the Ojibwe community that Boulley weaved into the story. The language and traditions that we learned about was such an important inclusion into the story and an important piece of Daunis’s identity. Another aspect that we see is loyalty. Loyalty is shown in many different ways in this book, but we can see it throughout. Women were loyal to each other during a specific tradition even if they didn’t want to participate. Later, toward the end of the book, we see the elders being loyal to Daunis; I won’t say more as it would be a spoiler. Throughout the book, we see Daunis being loyal to her community during her time with the FBI as she’s constantly wondering whether she should tell Jamie and Ron or keep something to herself for a while.

The storyline itself is so powerful. It covers a plethora of issues including violence (gun, domestic, etc.), drug addiction, grief, sexual assault, racism, unfit parents, corruption, and greed. What starts as an investigation into a drug-operation turns into an eye-opening experience for Daunis into the lives of those around her. We’re taken on a thrilling, dangerous, hope-filled ride as we search for answers with Daunis.

Boulley’s masterful telling of Firekeeper’s Daughter is one that won’t be forgotten. I highly recommend this book. I’ll be keeping Boulley on my radar.

Firekeeper's Daughter ARC Cover Page (blank title)

The Project by Courtney Summers

I received a free e-ARC of The Project thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

When I saw that Courtney Summers had a new book coming out, I was so excited. I read Sadie and I enjoyed it and gave that one 4/5 stars. I’d heard such good things about The Project and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.

We follow Lo as she searches for her sister Bea, who has become a member of The Unity Project after a tragic accident left them parentless. Trying to expose The Unity Project as the cult she believes it to be, Lo goes to work investigating and asking questions. But when she gets close to Lev Warren to expose him for who and what he is, she begins to question everything she thought she knew. 

The synopsis sounded good and I know I already like Summers’s writing style. Unfortunately, the execution of it didn’t pan out for my personal tastes. 

The Project: The Scoop

This is being marketed as a thriller, and it is about a cult. Honestly, I didn’t get any thriller vibes at all. It felt too dry. There were times where I think it could have been trying to lead up to that point, but it never really got there for me. There just wasn’t enough suspense built. 

In regards to the cult aspect, I wanted more. We are told that people in The Unity Project are engrossed and enthusiastic members. We only really got to know a handful of people and how it’s impacted them, so I just wanted more detail. I also wanted answers to some of the questions that Lo went in search of but were just kind of forgotten about. 

Most of the characters were kind of flat for me, so I didn’t care about most of the characters. Some of the character traits didn’t make sense for the roles.

Overall, the story wasn’t terrible. If it hadn’t been marketed as a thriller/mystery, I personally would have enjoyed it more. As it stands, there wasn’t anything wrong with the story, it just wasn’t for me.

I know that I have an unpopular opinion. Although this book was a miss for me, I will still read other books by Summers. I encourage you to read some of the other reviews about this book, especially those that did enjoy this book. 

Publication is set for 2/2. 

The Project by Courtney Summers
Cover of The Project from My Netgalley Account

The Companion by Katie Alender

I read The Companion by Katie Alender as part of my TBR and because it was one of my most anticipated reads.

We follow Margot whose entire family died in an accident and everyone tells her how lucky she is. But then Margot gets taken in by a wealthy family and finds out the true reason for their kindness: to be a Companion for their daughter with a strange illness. When Margot discovers the secrets lurking in the Copeland Hall estate, she can’t help but wonder: is she lucky?

I had really hyped this book and I’d heard such good things about this. Going into this book, I was expecting a creepy read. However, I didn’t really get creepy vibes while reading. In fact, I was pretty disappointed. Maybe I’ve watched too much ID channel or too many lifetime movies.

So the whole premise of this story is that Margot is always told how lucky she is. When she moves in with the Sutton’s at the Copeland Hall estate, she soon finds out that the house is full of mystery and secrets. Once strange things start happening, Margot is left questioning her luck. I had read an excerpt of this book and was so excited to find out what happens. It seemed so promising and like the perfectly spooky story to get me ready for Halloween. Unfortunately, the execution did not pan out.

The Companion: My Verdict

Described in some parts almost as a living thing, we’re supposed to think of Copeland Hall as a haunted house with untold secrets and overall a spooky vibe. In some aspects of the book this worked well, but for the most part I just didn’t get a general haunted-house-spooky vibe at all. I think that is one of the biggest problems with this book. We’re supposed to be thinking that part of the reason Agatha gets sick is from something in the house. Nothing made me connect the house with her illness or even creeped me out.

There were a lot of things that didn’t have any backstory or “tied ends.” I wanted more on Laura. She made comments and then that would be it. I wanted more information or context; why did she hate the phrase “right as rain?” I understand wanting a complex character but it just felt forced to make for an unstable character. I also didn’t understand Margot in the fact that she questioned things and acted like she knew what was going on but still went along with what was happening. Why make her wary and naive at the same time? I wasn’t exactly sure what Alender was trying to do.

Probably one of the biggest issues I personally had was that it was too predictable. There were no twists in it that I did not see coming. This felt like a lifetime movie I’ve seen more than once.

While I wasn’t a fan of it, it has a high rating on Goodreads. Many do enjoy it and think it is creepy enough and has enough twists and turns for their liking. If you’re into mysterious estates and dysfunctional families with secrets, definitely check it out. Maybe you’ll enjoy it more than I did!

The Companion by Katie Alender

August Wrap-Up

Well, y’all, I didn’t get to all the books I had wanted to. I had tried to read 8 books during August and I was only able to fully complete 5 of them. I’m in the middle of 2 others and one I wasn’t able to get to. Let’s dig in, shall we?

So what did I read this month? To recap, there was White Fox by Sara Faring, How It All Blew Up by Arvin Ahmadi, The Talented Miss Farwell by Emily Gray Tedrowe, Eleanor, Alice, & The Roosevelt Ghosts by Dianne K. Salerni, and Dress Codes for Small Towns by Courtney C. Stevens.

I didn’t find any new favorite books this month, but there were two that I did enjoy more than the others. Those books were White Fox by Sara Faring, and Eleanor, Alice, & The Roosevelt Ghosts by Dianne K. Salerni. I hadn’t read from either of these authors before but I found myself enjoying both books and I will look for more books from them in the future. Faring did a great job with the atmosphere in White Fox and I found that a particularly strong element in that story. Salerni really brought the characters to life in Eleanor, Alice, & The Roosevelt Ghosts and made me want to continue down the history tunnel. I gave each book a 4/5.

The books that were misses for me were a tie between Dress Codes for Small Towns by Courtney C. Stevens and The Talented Miss Farwell by Emily Gray Tedrowe. Both had interesting premises but seemed to fall flat in their execution. I struggled to get through both and can’t say I’d recommend either one. Both received 2/5.

So there you have it, folks. What books did you read last month? Were you able to find some awesome new books? Any that you’d recommend?

Eleanor, Alice, & The Roosevelt Ghosts by Dianne K. Salerni

I won a free copy of this book during BookCon thanks to Holiday House in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

This is a middle grade book set in 1898 New York City, a time when humans and ghosts co-exist. We’re following cousins Eleanor and Alice, who team up when they suspect sinister ghosts in their house who are not there for friendly reasons. Previously unable to get along, the girls set aside their differences in order to eradicate the ghost from the home of their Aunt Bye, each for different motives. Ghost hunting isn’t as easy as it may seem, and these girls are in for a frightening time. But with each other’s help, and their own unique skillsets, they may be able to fend off the ghost for good.

I really enjoyed this book! It was a quick read and super interesting. The way Salerni combined history and supernatural elements in this book was such a good way to get younger readers interested in history. I know even myself, having my BA in history, wanted to keep reading up on the characters mentioned in this story because the way they came to life in the story was so fascinating. I just wanted to keep learning. 

Some of the elements in this story seemed a bit heavy for middle school grade, although I’ve been out of middle school for quite some time, so I can’t remember what types of books I was into. But this book contains murder and attempted murder. I would just take that into consideration when deciding if this is right for you and/or your child.

Overall, however, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone. It was a fun spin on history and a quick read. It would be a good read for fall. Publication is set for September 1.