"Kindness is something that seems small, Daunis,  but it's like tossing a pebble into a pond and the ripples reach further than you thought."

My first 5-star read of the year! Firekeeper's Daughter had been on my radar since its publication,  but I wanted to wait to read it when it came out in paperback,  boy am I late to the party! Angeline Boulley writes with passion and does a great job of bringing Western ideologies and those of traditional tribes together. Not to mention she did a phenomenal of writing a strong female character in Daunis. Daunis is a proud female of mixed races. She is proud to be a Firekeeper and honors those traditions throughout the book. Despite, at times, the heavy foreshadowing,  Angeline had me gasping out loud in the last 80 pages with surprise twists that the reader won't see coming.

Daunis is the oldest daughter of her white mother and Indian Father, born out of scandal, she makes the best of honoring both her parents and her community.  Daunis is up against her biggest opponent yet, one not found on the ice hockey team she loves, but ravishing the community she loves so much. Meth is somehow being made on her beloved sugar island and being distributed to other tribal communities.  It's up to her to become a confidential informant for the FBI to put a stop to the destruction that is tearing her community apart. Daunis fully commits, but she already lost two close people, what's Daunis going to do when the investigation puts more of her family in the crosshairs.

Firekeeper's Daughter is an edge-of-your-seat mystery,  as well as a story of where you come from, honoring those traditions, as well as ancestors.  If you haven't read this beautiful book, please do yourself a favor and read it.