Jessica Johns

A Novel

Bad Cree

steph

It's funny what our minds will parallel when we want something bad enough.

What I appreciated the most about this book was the exploration of grief and how it affects people differently. Everything felt very natural to me and while I’m not indigenous, the relationship structure depicted was very representative of my own family. It felt familiar, even in the toughest moments between the characters. There were definitely parts that lingered, and I think the pacing could have been improved but overall, the author did an excellent job in this debut novel.

Nik ✨

anna g

I adored this book. It made me scared, made me cry, made me feel something!!!!

Dark, atmospheric and nostalgic. Beautiful writing and great characterization.

ella hardy 

teks

a beautiful story centered around first nations legends and culture. it perfectly captured the way grief sits between ndn families and how much ndn women love and care for one another. i felt a pang in my chest each time mackenzie had no idea how to interact with the ones who love her most because of how she chose to deal with her feelings and grief, something we ndns know too well. 

this story has a special place in my heart and i cant wait to read it again.

west

Katie elliott

Beck Krystal

Davis

jordyn

In this gripping debut, a young Cree woman’s dreams lead her on a perilous journey of self-discovery that ultimately forces her to confront the toll of a legacy of violence on her family, her community, and the land they call home. When Mackenzie wakes up with a severed crow's head in her hands, she panics. Only moments earlier she had been fending off masses of birds in a snow-covered forest. In bed, when she blinks, the head disappears. Night after night, Mackenzie’s dreams return her to a memory from before her sister Sabrina’s untimely death: a weekend at the family’s lakefront campsite, long obscured by a fog of guilt. But when the waking world starts closing in, too — crows stalk her every move around the city; she gets threatening text messages from someone claiming to be Sabrina — Mackenzie knows this is more than she can handle alone. Travelling north to her rural hometown in Alberta, she finds her family still steeped in the same grief that she ran away to Vancouver to escape. They welcome her back, but their shaky reunion only seems to intensify her dreams — and make them more dangerous. What really happened that night at the lake, and what did it have to do with Sabrina’s death? Only a bad Cree would put their family at risk, but what if whatever has been calling Mackenzie home was already inside her?

Bad Cree A Novel

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