Member Reviews

A truly excellent book and one I would highly recommend. A real page turner with twists and turns throughout.

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Heather Chavez has quickly become a favorite. This was a great read, full of twists and turns. Not the most likeable characters, but I prefer it that way! Great writing and plot. Then you get to the end and it's terrific! Thank you o much!

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It's presumably during the school year, since the protagonist's son is going to school, but the protagonist, a teacher, never goes to work. Instead, she spends all her time trying to prove her sister's guilt or innocence in two separate possible crimes. And I just can't relate. I mean, my sister is not a spoiled womanchild who drags me into criminal messes, so there's that. Also, why IS Izzy such a hot mess? That's never elucidated.

And I have to disagree with the descriptions of this as fast-paced; it is very leisurely.

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I loved this author’s first book, No Bad Deeds and was so excited to read this one. It hooked me from the start. I could not put it down. However, I did not like the direction the book took in the end and I was not a fan of the plot twist.

Izzy and Frankie are sisters who despite their rocky relationship have always been close. Izzy was a bit of a rebel and got into her a fair amount of trouble. Frankie always bailed her out.

Five years prior, Izzy made a frantic phone call to Frankie. Frankie instinctively made her way to her sister, leading to the scene of a car accident. Drunk and drugged Izzy cannot remember what happened. Izzy and her friends partied hard that night, and one of them ended up dead.

Now, an Amber alert for a missing girl puts Frankie in the middle of a new problem; the girl who was abducted was seen being forced into Frankie’s truck. The only one who had access to her truck is her sister Izzy.

Frankie must decide how far she is willing to go for her sister. Will she bail Izzy out one more time?

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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*I received a copy of this in exchange for an honest review

Wowow that was a fun ride. I don’t want to give too much of this away because I genuinely had a fantastic time and think you should go in as blind as possible, but I feel like I need to share a little more than I normally would to really sell this to you.

This thriller was super fast paced and gripping the entire way through. I get super bored in thrillers if they are too predictable, and this one had the perfect amount of believability while also keeping me on my feet.

I loved the dual timelines in this. It’s one of my favorite story telling methods in thrillers. I don’t know why but I eat that shit up. I also loved the strong family tie our lead character has with her sister. She treats her like she is her kid because she helped raise her.

Pick this up if you love dual timelines, strong family ties, murder

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The writing isn't up to par, but the plot has a way of keeping you interested. I enjoyed it for the most part, the cover was my favorite.

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I really enjoyed this book, between all the twists and turns the plot took right up until the end and the strong female lead characters this was right up my alley. I can't even begin to say how much this story resonated with me, I truly loved how much Frankie and Izzy always stuck together and that eventually Frankie started to learn her sister was not her child and let her become more independent. Of course Frankie learned that lesson the hard way with plenty of collateral damage and this book definitely kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I loved the unexpected ending twist and hope there might be a sequel more focused on Izzy

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The premise of this book is definitely interesting however I struggled to get through it. There are a ton of multiple big things happening all at once. From Marks accident, to flashbacks of Izzys past incidents, to the missing girl, I would have liked to see one story develop a little more before jumping into another. Multiple large events being thrown at you all at once makes the story confusing and hard to follow. The chapters dragged on for me. It’s hard for me to write negative reviews because I know a lot of work goes into the book but I did agree to give my honest review. This book was just not for me.

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So good! Really enjoyed the back and forth plots and the ending was awesome. Definitely recommend. Great thriller! Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

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Frankie is a schoolteacher and single mom who has always been very protective of her younger sister, Izzy. Izzy has made some questionable choices in the past, and Frankie has always been there for her. Izzy’s latest call for help brings Frankie to the scene of a car accident and a drunk and disoriented Izzy who can’t recall anything about it. Now one of the girls has gone missing. How far will Frankie go to protect her sister?

BLOOD WILL TELL was an engaging read with a nice fast pace. Plenty of family drama thrown in with the relationship of these 2 sisters. It seems that Frankie will go to great lengths to help Izzy and Izzy doesn’t always appreciate or even want the help. I especially loved the ending and thought it wrapped up nicely!

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This review will be posted to my Instagram Blog (@coffee.break.book.reviews) in the near future.

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I liked the alternating timeline and the complicated sister relationship. I would have liked to hear more about Frankie and Izzy's parents, Mark and Izzy's relationship, etc. This felt a bit slow moving in the beginning but it picked up the pace at the end.


Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of Blood Will Tell.

I've never read the author's books before but the premise was intriguing so I was pleased my request was approved. I always look forward to a book by an author I'm not familiar with because I hope to find someone new to read.

Sadly, Blood Will Tell did not captivate me.

First, it was slow. Real slow. It took me nearly a week to finish this which is a bad sign.

Despite what was happening; Mark's accident, Rachel's death, Piper, there was a lack of urgency and suspense. It took so long to get to the point because most of the story was Frankie constantly monologuing about protecting Izzy.

Second, though I could relate to Frankie's desire to protect her wild, younger sister, Izzy, I found her behavior and personality annoying.

Frankie is constantly reminding herself that everything she was doing was to protect her sister and her family from her sister's mistakes yet she continually made bad decisions.

As a reviewer noted, Frankie is a middle school teacher who apparently doesn't have a job to get to because she spends a week playing Nancy Drew.

I couldn't connect with Frankie and Izzy, and I had a hard time understanding Izzy.

Why did she have a drug and alcohol problem? Frankie paints her as a wild child, a free spirit, but why?

Because she hung out with a bad crowd? Izzy was one dimensional; a caricature of a bratty, wild, younger sibling.

The writing was good, and though I guessed a few of the twists, there was one I didn't see coming but I didn't care because the story and characters did not interest me.

I may read another book by this author.

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I knew I had to read Blood Will Tell after reading and loving her first book, No Bad Deed, and it didn’t disappoint!
Frankie is once again being tested on how far she’ll go to protect her sister, Izzy. At a gas station, Frankie’s truck has been identified as one that was used in the kidnapping of a teenage girl. She has a gut feeling right from the beginning that this all has to do with Izzy. Five years ago was the first time Frankie lied to save her sister. And soon she has reasons to believe that this newest mess has something to do with the lies from five years ago.
The suspense, the lies, and the secrets all come together to create another great thriller by Heather Chavez. Pick this one up because it’s as good as it sounds.

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I recommend. Keep me engaged and interested, thank you for the advance chance to read this. I’ve already told family and friends about it

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Having loved the the writer’s previous novel, I was super excited to read her new work. The story of the two sisters sharing a tumultuous past had me on tenterhooks, as the shadow of that time moved into their present lives upon the disappearance of a child. A terrific yet scary read!

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One of the things that I enjoyed about this book was the way it made me think. When reading it, I was getting annoyed at how far one sister was going to protect the other. Then I started thinking - what about my family - how far would I go?

I thought the premise of the book was really good and I kept turning the pages to see what happened next. However, I don't know why, but I could not relate to the characters - I just didn't feel that connection. There was just something missing. That undefined "IT" that we can't define, but know it when we read it.

I want to thank the author, the publisher and #netgalley for the ARC which did not impact my review.

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What lengths would you go to to protect someone you loved--especially if that person was the little sister you helped raise when your beloved father got sick?

Frankie Barrera has always been overprotective of her younger sister, Izzy, even when Izzy's looking for a sibling and not a second mother. But Izzy doesn't always make the best choices, especially five years ago, when she calls Frankie from a party drunk out of her mind. A girl is missing and Izzy can't remember a thing.

And now an Amber Alert has been issued for a local teenager--last seen being forced into the truck Izzy borrowed from Frankie.

She doesn't want to believe the worst about her sister, but now Frankie's got to determine just how far she's willing to protect Izzy, or keep her secrets.

I loved No Bad Deed, so I was highly anticipating Heather Chavez's follow up. I thought it was just as fast-paced and engrossing and I loved the emotional dynamic between the two sisters. The pay off is definitely at the end with one final twist that changed everything about this story.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for proving me a copy of this ARC for review.

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I struggled to get into this book. For some reason I never could identify, the characters as well as their relationship as sisters, really rubbed me the wrong way. This just wasn't my cup of tea.

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I just... could not get into this. I felt no connection to any character and continued to be frustrated by both Frankie and Izzy as our leads. Izzy was evasive just for the sake of it; I didn't understand the relationship between the sisters and didn't find it believable why Frankie was so protective. Speaking of, why is Frankie not working? Granted, I skimmed a good amount of this because I was bored, but I feel that was never adequately addressed. I found Chavez's first book to be mediocre, but likely won't be tuning in for future books. Hope this works for others more than it did for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Frankie has always looked out for her younger sister Izzy. 5 years ago Frankie bailed her sister out of a situation and both of them have felt guilty about ever since. Present day, Frankie's truck is the subject of an Amber alert and Frankie knows she did not take her truck out that night. What did her sister do and what does it have to do with that night 5 years ago?
This was a slow read for me. There were a few twists at the end that I did not see coming. All in all I enjoyed it.

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