Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Why you shouldn’t sleep on Jessica Johns’ Bad Cree: A chilling debut about family, grief, and survival

What begins with a severed crow’s head and a haunting dream evolves into something far more layered in Bad Cree, Jessica Johns’ eerie and powerful debut. This genre-blending novel offers readers a gripping supernatural mystery while also digging deep into themes of grief, intergenerational trauma, and the quiet, often unseen strength of women supporting one another through pain.

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When Mackenzie wakes to find a crow’s head in her hands—only to have it vanish—she can no longer ignore the disturbing dreams that have been plaguing her. As her waking world becomes increasingly infected by her nightmares, she leaves Vancouver for her hometown in Alberta to reconnect with the family she left behind. At first, she fears the worst: her mother and sister are furious with her for skipping her sister Sabrina’s funeral. The stage is set for major emotional fallout—but instead of fracturing further, the women in Mackenzie’s family do something more surprising: they show up for each other.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Book Review: Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie R. Rendon

In Where They Last Saw Her, Marcie R. Rendon weaves a hauntingly powerful narrative that not only grips the reader with its suspense but also sheds light on the grim realities faced by Native American women. The novel, set on the Red Pine reservation in Minnesota, follows Quill, a determined and resilient protagonist, as she grapples with the disappearance of a woman from her community—a catalyst for confronting systemic injustices that have plagued her people for generations.

The story begins with Quill’s morning run, an activity meant to prepare her for the Boston Marathon, interrupted by a scream in the woods. What she finds—tire tracks and a single beaded earring—propels her into an investigation that exposes the horrifying vulnerability of Native women. Rendon’s use of this seemingly ordinary moment transforms it into a chilling metaphor for how quickly safety can be stripped away.

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