Tag: present

Online Reading Challenge – September Wrap-Up

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Hello Fellow Challenge Readers!

How did your reading go this month? Did you read something set in the 2000s to the present that you enjoyed? Share in the comments!

I read our main title: Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley, but also discovered that the majority of my other reading also took place in the same time period.

(Did you know that there is a companion novel for Firekeeper’s Daughter? It is called Warrior Girl Unearthed. This title takes place in the same community as Firekeeper’s Daughter and features many of the same characters.)

Let’s talk Firekeeper’s Daughter. Daunis Fontaine has never fit in. She’s considered in outsider in her hometown of Sault St. Marie and the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She is deeply connected to her area as a well-respected hockey player and is active in her tribal community as she is half Ojibwe. Desperate to find a place where she fits in that is all her own, Daunis dreams of going away at college to become a doctor. Her dreams are shattered when a series of tragedies destroys her family, forcing her to stay home to look after her mother. Love falls into Daunis’ life when she meets Jamie, a young hockey star. She feels like he’s hiding something. When Daunis witnesses a murder however, she is drawn into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug and agrees to go undercover. This is dangerous, digging up old secrets.

I devoured this audiobook in two days. The author’s writing quality was superb, the narrator was excellent, and the complex plot had me hooked right from the start. The characters were multi-dimensional, pushing through issues and fighting for the truth. This book also deals with serious subject matter in such a heartfelt and emotional way. I can’t wait to read the companion novel!

This title is also available in large print, CD audiobook, and Playaway audiobook.

Sugar Island series

  1. Firekeeper’s Daughter (2021)
  2. Warrior Girl Unearthed (2023)

Next month, we are traveling to the future!

Online Reading Challenge – September

- Stephanie Leave a comment

Welcome Readers!

This month the Online Reading Challenge travels to the 2000s to the present (that’s a large time period which means lots of books to choose from!). Our main title for September is Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley. Here’s a quick summary from the publisher:

Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team.

Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug.

Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, drawing on her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to track down the source. But the search for truth is more complicated than Daunis imagined, exposing secrets and old scars. At the same time, she grows concerned with an investigation that seems more focused on punishing the offenders than protecting the victims.

Now, as the deceptions—and deaths—keep growing, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she’ll go for her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known. – Henry Holt and Co. Books for Young Readers

Looking for some other books set in the 2000s to the present? Try any of the following.

As always, check each of our locations for displays with lots more titles to choose from!

Landline by Rainbow Rowell

- Stephanie Leave a comment

landlineLandline is Rainbow Rowell’s second trip into adult relationships, following the release of Attachments. Having read two of her young adult books, I decided to give Landline a try, not knowing what I was getting myself into.

Landline begins by introducing readers to Georgie McCool. Georgie is a writer for a popular television sitcom. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Neal, and their two young daughters. On the outside, it looks like she has it all, but inside, Georgie knows that her marriage is in trouble. It’s not recent trouble, but something that seems to have been brewing under the surface for a long time.

Two days before she is supposed to leave with Neal and the kids to head to Omaha for Christmas, Georgie and her writing partner find themselves under a pile of work that has to be completed as soon as possible. As a result, she is unable to head to Omaha for Christmas, something she knows will anger Neal. He is upset, but instead of the family staying in Los Angeles with her, Neal packs up the kids and heads to Omaha anyway. This makes Georgie worry if she has finally done the one thing that will make her marriage break apart. Is her marriage broken? Has she ruined it?

Desperate to fix things, Georgie begins calling Neal. She never seems to be able to get a hold of him on his cell phone and her phone is always dead. Georgie digs a rotary phone out of her childhood bedroom’s closet and uses it to call Neal at his parents’ house. Their conversation is slightly off-kilter though and bothers Georgie. When she realizes why, she just can’t believe it. Georgie has found a way to talk to a past Neal. What she chooses to do with this will determine what happens in all of their lives.

This book is available in the following formats: