The first third of Keeper ‘n Me details the life of Garnet Raven who was taken from his Objibway parents when he was three years old and raised in non-native foster homes.

He grows up never knowing who or where his real family is and his search for identity and belonging are authentic and poignant.

Like so many First Nations people from similar backgrounds, his dysfunctional life inevitably finds him in prison where he is contacted by someone who says he’s his brother. Indeed, he has an entire family living on a reserve in northern Ontario.

Upon his release and with nowhere else to go he decides to check it out.

The balance of Keeper ‘n Me is the story of his reunion with his family on the remote White Dog reserve and his introduction to the culture and spirituality of his ancestors by an old man referred to as Keeper.

Life on the White Dog reserve is mostly boring and so is reading about it. The anecdotes about events are quaint but mostly uninspiring. The importance of the connection Indigenous people have with nature is reinforced again and again and ...

The climax of the story comes when Garnet spends four days in the wilderness by himself – a vision quest of sorts, which, of course manifests in meaningful dreams about his ancestors.

If this book wasn’t written by an Indigenous person it would be dismissed as a clichéd misrepresentation of the contemporary First Nations people.

For The Pixel Project.

Thirty-something me has no patience for gutless heroines pining after oblivious idiots.

I still love tropes pining and angst, but first give me a character I can stand to watch pine. Give me someone who isn't afraid of living and going after something she wants and give me a real reason why she should pine in silence instead. Don't give me "for four years she was his doormat and loved every second of it because of his kids." 

The rating wavered between one and two stars, but I've read worse. Much worse. 

I really liked the story, writing and characters, but in a few weeks or months someone's going to ask me recommendations and I won't remember the title or the author. And that'll be a shame, because most people aren't as jaded about romance genre as I am. 

So, if you like the "faking it until it's real"-relationship romances, you should read this.

P.S. A heads up. Come New Year, I'll be walking away from Booklikes. It's become unusable with the browser of my choice (Tor) and I don't feel like just handing my data to faceless entities who don't even pretend to care about people who are generating their income. 

You can find me on Twitter if you really want, but there aren't any blogs or other bookish social media sites I update with any regularity. Good luck to you all.