Blessed (The Matawapit Family Series, #1)

Two former lovers have to face each other again as one is about to take his formal vows into the priest hood over a fight to retain a church on the tribal lands.

Emery Matawapit has decided to come home to save the reservation’s Catholic church and to ask for forgiveness from the man he left behind. In a few months, he will become a priest and forever turn his life over to God. He feels he needs to make peace with the past before he can take this step.

Darryl Keejik has never forgiven Emery or his family for deciding their fate. Ten years ago Emery threw him away. Now all Darryl wants to do is serve the Council on the reservation and preserve the Native traditions. This puts him in direct opposition with the Matawapit family.

When Emery and Darryl meet face to face all of the old arguments are still the same…has ten years changed anything?

I loved the story and the journey. It has made me think and nod my head on multiple occasions. I loved both Darryl and Emery’s soul searching dialogues in Blessed. This is not to say that Blackbird did not include any romance! She did and she did it well as always.

I usually have some kind of snappy or witty ending to my reviews and I do not have one this time. Read Blessed if not for the Emery and Darryl’s spiritual journey than for their love story – it is worth it.

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

This is the 1st book I’ve read written by Maggie Blackbird; she has done a great job at writing a good book; I can’t wait to read more of her books.

The story line caught my attention at the very beginning and kept me interested throughout the entire book.

I loved the chemistry between the characters.

I received a free copy of this book via booksprout and I’m voluntarily leaving a review.

Book one in The Matawapit Family Series, by an Author I have not read before. Ten years ago Emery Matawapit walked away from Darryl Keejik because of his father Deacon Matawapit and the feelings he held for another man. Now he is coming back because he is needed in his hometown. This story handles the issues, and injustices of the Native peoples and the love of one man for another with feelings and care. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

I would rate this 3.75 stars.

Ten years ago Emery Matawapit broke Darryl Keejik’s heart, by chosing obedience to his parents over the love he shared with Darryl. Emery’s father Nathan is the church deacon and Darryl still holds a grudge. Emery comes home from Saint Michael’s Seminary six months before he’ll enter the priesthood to address the past, and ask for Darryl’s forgiveness for the way their friendship ended. Darryl is now part of the Traditionalists Society’s mission to preserve and teach the Anishinaabe ways. The deacon is scared they’ll yank the monthly donation to his church for their hydo bill. When the church asks for even more money to hold a Healing the Spirit workshop developed by the diocese to reconcile First Nations and Christian communities, all heck breaks lose. The workshop is supposed to help recovery for the generations traumatized by the Indian Residential Schools the Canadian Government imposed on the Indigenous people throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Old hurts against the church bubble to the surface causing political problems for the reserve and personal problems for our MCs.

This book is an emotional journey and anyone with a complicated relationship with Christianity whilst supporting LGBTQIA+ people might want to read it. Where I live we just had our first Pride event and it was interesting to see which churches came and were supportive. In many ways, Protestantism is geared to be more supportive of queer people, but that doesn’t always work in practice. The issue taken up here is Catholicism and how it related to the “two spirit” on the reserve. There are many times where the author tries to say Creator and God are the same, making prayer the same whether it is the Anishinaabe way or the Catholic way. While I actually agree personally, the official Catholic and Christian line is that you believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God or you are not saved and are going to hell. A lot of this book tries to justify this position of these different faiths being equal or compatible in a way that is not defensible; if that church was a Unitarian Universalist one, we might be able to have a different discussion, but not when the church is Catholic. While the Catholic (and Mormon) church may allow queer people as long as they never actually have sex, I have a difficult time understanding why anyone who believes the Lord made people the way they are would tell them that they can never experience physical love with the person they are in love with. I also can’t understand why a queer person would choose to be part of a church like that when there are churches that have a more nuanced understanding of scripture, that use proper academic translations rather than radical paraphrasing, and learn about the actual historical context of the bible, that would accept them as they are. For full disclosure, I was Christian and went as a missionary to evangelize at one point, but after studying early church history, latin, and medieval pilgrimage, as well as traveling in different countries, I became pagan. I say this because I don’t care if queer people choose to be Christian, I just don’t understand choosing a particular church that thinks queer people are abominations–that seems unhealthy. Also, I don’t have to understand, I just have to be supportive.

I like reading about some of the Anishinaabe traditions. The book doesn’t shy away from tough topics such as alcoholism, sexual abuse, and inherited trauma. I do wish Darryl was a little toned down at the beginning; he is so angry it’s off putting and comes across as immature, his constant profanity is coarse. Emery’s dad is controlling and scared his son will make a decision he doesn’t want without constant supervision. Even though he comes around in the end, it is difficult to like him. Many of the characters are difficult to like until the end and I feel this would have benefited from more time being spent with Father Arnold, Emory’s spiritual advisor, or Darryl’s spiritual advisor Basil. These two men make the most sense in the whole book–wanting what is best for everyone without forcing an agenda, giving advice but letting them make their own decisions. It was good to watch Emery listen to his heart and stand up for living his own life when the cost for him was so high. I have to say there are some awkward transitions between scenes. The sex scenes weren’t particularly erotic as the author uses some strange word choices like “tingles” and “hot shivers” repeatedly: “the ripeness in Darryl’s crotch teetered on bursting.” Part of me feels this would have been more successful faded to black, while the other part of me recognizes that would defeat the point, which is that sex between two men in love is natural and nothing to be ashamed of. Sex scenes are incredibly difficult to write and are subjective to judge as not everyone will like the same thing, so it might just be me.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this book. I like reading about other cultures and points of view, so I’m glad I read it. There were things that didn’t work for me. In the end, it was good to see Darryl and Emory grow both together and in spirit. Keep in mind after ten years apart, this takes place within three weeks so developing the relationship longer would have added more emotional impact and made everyone’s reactions hold more weight at the end.

I picked up Blessed by Maggie Blackbird because I’m anxious to introduce more Native romance written by Native writers into my reading listing. What really interested me about this one was it’s a M/M romance, but there’s a whole lot more here than a simple slow-burn second chance.

The story follows Emery and Darryl who have loved each other since they were boys, but family obligations and religious expectations clouded their emotions and separated them for a decade. Now grown men, they come together to reconcile their friendship, only to find their true feelings for one another never went away. Only problem is Emery is studying to become a Catholic priest.

Emery and Darryl’s love story is a spiritual journey both in the traditional Ojibwe sense and in the Catholic sense as the two men from different factions of the tribe navigate painful tribal history, family and community expectations, and rigid church policy regarding homosexuality. It’s a lot, and it’s handled in a wonderfully thoughtful manner.

My one complaint might be that, as someone who is not religious, the biblical references and dense details about Catholic ritual sometimes lost me. But I don’t feel that my lack of understanding hurt my ability to follow the story. And I really appreciate the depth of research.

It’s a well-written and well-researched story that covers so much. I recommend it as a slow, thoughtful read.