Daunis is a child of two very different worlds, descended from both the historically French settlers of her Michigan town and the native Ojibwe people who live on a reservation nearby--and yet, she doesn't quite fit into either place. After putting her dreams of university on hold to care for her mother following a family tragedy, Daunis doesn't have too much going for her, except for Jamie--a new recruit on her brother's hockey team, who's kind and charming and very similar to Daunis in his relationship to his own Native family.

Soon thereafter, though, tragedy strikes Daunis' community yet again, thrusting her into the heart of a criminal investigation that takes her undercover to investigate the very tribe that she grew up with. But the more death, betrayal, and deception she witnesses, the more it calls into question how far Daunis is willing to go to protect her community, and in fact who her community needs protection from.

I absolutely loved this book--it literally made me cry twice. What an absolutely gorgeous exploration of not only the tragedy and pain facing Native rez communities today, but at the same time the joy and power of Native culture and community. It would be so easy for a less talented (or non-#OwnVoices) author to turn this narrative into tragedy porn, but Boulley expertly weaves together threads of generational trauma and institutionalized violence and colonization into a rich, thoughtful, nuanced tapestry. And woven in right alongside those threads of trauma are equally strong threads of good medicine and the wisdom of elders and powerful women and the strength and importance of indigeneity and language.

And the thing is, this isn't just fiction. As I read, I was also reminded of the continuing injustice for missing and murdered Indigenous women in the US and Canada every day, and how critical it is that we not turn our eyes away. These are real questions and problems that are faced by Native communities in the real world, and so my urging would be that if you read and loved this book like I did, that you also give your attention to the non-fictional Native people who need support in their fight against injustice and governmental neglect.