Blood Will Tell by Heather Chavez
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Ginger

Schoolteacher and single mom Frankie Barrera has always been fiercely protective of her younger sister Izzy—whether Izzy wants her to be or not. But over the years, Izzy’s risky choices have tested Frankie’s loyalty. Never so much as on a night five years ago, when a frantic phone call led Frankie to the scene of a car accident—and a drunk and disoriented Izzy who couldn’t remember a thing.

Though six friends partied on the outskirts of town that night, one girl was never seen again . . .

Now, an AMBER alert puts Frankie in the sights of the local police. Her truck has been described as the one used in the abduction of a girl from a neighboring town. And the only other person with access to Frankie’s truck is Izzy.

This time around, Frankie will have to decide what lengths she’s willing to go to in order to protect Izzy—what lies she’s willing to tell, and what secrets she’s willing to keep—because the dangerous game that six friends once played on a warm summer night isn’t over yet . . .

I liked this book, I really did.

The short chapters are mainly told from Frankie (Francisca) Barrera’s point of view. There’s suspense and secrets. When drugs and alcohol are involved, it’s bound to impair one’s memory, right? There’s a very strong family support system. I enjoyed the author’s writing style which made for an easy read. There were several plot twists that I didn’t see coming. The dual timeline that explained just enough of what happened the night Rachel went missing to keep me interested. The story had a good ending that explained everything.

I can say that Frankie is a compassionate, and unselfish woman with more than expected mechanical skills. I’d say she’s also courageous, but I don’t necessarily see her as a strong woman that I can relate to. Frankie and her younger sister Izzy come from a two-parent home that seemingly had a happy environment, conducive to a favorable upbringing. I truly understand the need for Frankie to help her younger sister and the desire to protect her. However, Frankie’s overbearing investigative sister skills overshadow Izzy and enables her.

An AMBER alert puts Frankie in a questionable position with the local police. Her truck has been described as the one used in the abduction of Marina Wagner, and the only other person with access to Frankie’s truck is her sister, Izzy. Frankie is a middle school teacher, and since it’s summer I guess she has time to clear her and her sister’s name. As Frankie investigates Marina’s kidnapping, she also gets closer to finding out what happened five years ago when Rachel disappeared. Parts of the story were bogged down and almost made it difficult to stick with. Izzy seemed to be a spoiled woman child who was confident in her sister’s loyalty to her. Maybe I overlooked it, but I don’t recall what Izzy did for a living.

There are several things that I didn’t like about the story–things that I noticed and tried to tune out so that I could focus on the main parts. Marina went to grief camp at the age of 12, when her sister went missing. Her sister was recently found, Marina is now 17. I found the relationship between Marina and her mother strange, and to send her daughter to grief camp when there was no proof her older daughter was deceased. Lastly, the local police or FBI did little investigating into Marina’s kidnapping, but Frankie found two people and solved the case in a week.

Three hundred pages in Izzy finds her voice and tells Frankie that she’s been taking responsibility by volunteering, getting a job, her own place and she even went to talk to the police and yet Frankie still treats her as a child. In my opinion, this sister duo definitely is dysfunctional and should seek counseling. Frankie needs to get a life and apply with the local police force as a detective. As the saying goes, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, I think after the heart pounding action scene and big reveal at the end, the sisters may have stumbled their way towards an evolving adult relationship.

Even though I had some minor issues with the story, overall it was a good and entertaining read for me. I would definitely read more from this author because I do like her talent for telling a story and not only that, this was a creative plot with many unforeseen twists.

As the Wicked Watch by Tamron Hall
Jordan Manning series Book 1
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 3 stars
Reviewed by Ginger

When crime reporter Jordan Manning leaves her hometown in Texas to take a job at a television station in Chicago, she’s one step closer to her dream: a coveted anchor chair on a national network.

Jordan is smart and aggressive, with unabashed star-power, and often the only woman of color in the newsroom. Her signature? Arriving first on the scene—in impractical designer stilettos. Armed with a master’s degree in forensic science and impeccable instincts, Jordan has been able to balance her dueling motivations: breaking every big story—and giving a voice to the voiceless.

From her time in Texas, she’s covered the vilest of human behaviors but nothing has prepared her for Chicago. Jordan is that rare breed of a journalist who can navigate a crime scene as well as she can a newsroom—often noticing what others tend to miss. Again and again, she is called to cover the murders of Black women, many of them sexually assaulted, most brutalized, and all of them quickly forgotten.

All until Masey James—the story that Jordan just can’t shake, despite all efforts. A 15-year-old girl whose body was found in an abandoned lot, Masey has come to represent for Jordan all of the frustration and anger that her job often forces her to repress. Putting the rest of her work and her fraying personal life aside, Jordan does everything she can to give the story the coverage it desperately requires, and that a missing Black child would so rarely get.

There’s a serial killer on the loose, Jordan believes, and he’s hiding in plain sight.

The story follows Texas native Jordan Manning. Jordan’s an ambitious TV journalist who is compassionate, driven and determined to help solve the murder of Massy James. Sadly, the story of Masey Jones, a black teenager who has been missing for a few weeks is the focus story for Jordan.

I enjoyed the crime mystery mixed with journalism. I liked seeing behind the scenes as the story follows Jordan’s investigative journalism. She is set on exposing the injustice for victims as well as for the black community. Many times, she is so focused on getting the story that she forgoes eating.

A few things that I didn’t like about the writing is the very detailed backstory for each character mentioned. There were times in the book that were over detailed on unimportant situations and characters. Jordan has a lot of friends and in their introductions the story goes on long-winded tangents which overwhelmed the storyline with details that were not needed.

I admired Jordan’s strength, creative tactics and realness. She has a great and close relationship with her mother. She has a good circle of sister friends and reliable work associates. She is single but well aware that her lifestyle isn’t conducive to maintaining a healthy relationship. A late suggestion, if this is going to be a series saving some of the details of her friendships and her relationship with Thomas for a later book might have been well advised. This first book revealed everything about Jordan. As a reader I would have liked for the first book to focus on the storyline and provide some details about Jordan but leave a little mystery about her that’ll make me want to read the next installment of the series.

Jordan has a sense that something more is going on than anyone else realized. Another characteristic that I liked about Jordan is that she is willing to put herself where needed and she’s open to asking the hard questions to get the details of the story to the public. I was impressed with Jordan’s unique qualifications in having a degree in forensic science but at times she seems to cross the line in doing a detective’s job. This led me to believe that no one on the police force is capable of solving the case. Originally, the police wrote Masey off as a runaway. As the story intensifies the police are now under pressure to solve the case which leads to a questionable arrest per Jordan.

I admit, I lost interest as the story went along. It started to dwindle after the questionable arrest. There were so many people being introduced that it was confusing, and I didn’t care who the killer was, I just wanted to be finished because I knew probably wouldn’t remember them in the crowd. There may be some emotional triggers for some readers as this story does center around a missing 15-year-old girl (not disclosing specific triggers due to spoiler for potential readers), along with the mistreatment of the falsely accused.

Overall, I enjoyed the storyline despite the drawbacks stated previously. This was still an entertaining read and I enjoyed watching Jordan as she went from scene to scene, following sources as she gathered details on the story while the wicked watched.