I always look forward to a Heather Chavez novel! This one had me hooked until a little more than half way through, loved learning about Leyna and her perspective, but as others started to be introduced, my mind wandered a little bit. Doesn’t mean it still wasn’t a great read! I loved the premise of this book. missing sister, finding a look a like and connections everywhere, painted as an unreliable character. Heather has a knack for getting me invested in certain characters and their outcomes. Both positive and negative outcomes! Can’t wait for her next book!

**3.5-stars**

I always look forward to new releases from Heather Chavez. After I finish one, I'm immediately on her author page, checking to see if there's info on the next release. What We'll Burn Last is her 2024-release and it follows a few different perspectives. It's set in California and is a Missing Persons-based Thriller. Our main perspectives are Leyna, Meredith and Olivia.

Leyna was my favorite. She had an older sister, Grace, who went missing years before. At the beginning of this story, she has an interaction with a young woman that stirs all sorts of memories about Grace. Shortly thereafter, she sees the news that this young lady, Ellie, has disappeared. Not only did Ellie greatly resemble Grace at the time of her disappearance, but she also went missing from the same spot that Grace did. This cannot be a coincidence, can it?

Leyna has been active on true crime forums since Grace disappeared and she uses those platforms to begin to dig into Ellie's case. This string of events eventually leads her back to the hometown she left years prior and back into the circle of people she's been trying to avoid.

Her Mom, Meredith, is a hard perspective to follow. She wasn't likable, but I never feel like I need to like a character in order to enjoy their perspective, but I will admit to finding Meredith's POV to be a real slog. We also follow a woman named Olivia. She is the Mom of Grace's boyfriend, Adam. Boyfriend, as in, they were a couple at the time that Grace went missing. By-the-by, Adam went missing at the same time. The two families have been at odds ever since.

You follow along with these three perspectives as the truth about the past, about what happened to Grace and Adam, as well as the current mystery of Ellie, and the drama between the two families is all worked out. Honestly, it was a lot to follow. I really enjoyed the first half. As mentioned above, I had a great time following Leyna's perspective. The beginning was so intriguing, as she met Ellie and then learned of her disappearance.

This stemmed her investigation into Ellie, and it also rekindled her interest in what happened to her sister. This brought her back to her hometown. The trope of an MC returning to a hometown after a long period of time away, to look into some old mystery, is one of my favorites.


Unfortunately for me, the other perspectives brought this story down for me. They weren't as interesting to me as Leyna and my mind began to wander during their sections. By the 60%-point, my interest was down. Whereas one would think my interest would only increase as the story went along, that really wasn't the case here. I still feel like this is a solid story and that first half was def a 4-star read for me, but I had to drop my rating a bit, as went my level of interest, in the later half.

With this being said, even though this wasn't my favorite of her books, I'm already chomping at the bit to see what Chavez is going to deliver us next. In comparison to her earlier books, I didn't find this one quite as pulse-pounding, but I still feel like it had a good plot and included strong character work. I did like the setting and the initial build-up of the mystery as well. It did bring to mind the real-life tragedy of Gabby Petito, and that case was mentioned briefly within this story. I'm not sure if that case inspired Chavez to write this or not, but the relationship between Grace and Adam did have a similar vibe.

At the end of the day, this is a solid Missing Persons Thriller and I would encourage others to pick it up. I think if you're able to connect in some way to all three perspectives, this could be a very intriguing read for you. Thank you to the publisher, Mulholland Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Chavez is a gifted writer and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

Big thanks to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for the ARC copy!

I really enjoyed the last Heather Chavez book I read. I wish I could say the same about this one. Unfortunately it was mediocre for me. It was quite difficult for me to follow along and stay engaged., as this one was much slower than her last book.
I found the ending to be quite confusing, and I am unsure of what exactly happened still.
I think maybe this one was just too slow and had way too much intertwining with stories/timelines for me to really enjoy it.

Missing Persons and Wildfires

What We’ll Burn Last by Heather Chavez is a gripping thriller centred around two intertwined families in a small Northern California community. The plot kicks off when Leyna Clarke, who witnessed her sister Grace disappear with her boyfriend Adam Duran 16 years ago, returns to her old neighbourhood. Leyna's life is upended once more when a teenage girl named Ellie goes missing, and she finds herself entangled in the mystery. As wildfires rage through the area, old secrets and new dangers come to light, forcing the characters into a race against time to uncover the truth.

What We’ll Burn Last by Heather Chavez is a captivating thriller that masterfully blends suspense with emotional depth. Its well-developed characters and gripping plot make it a must-read for fans of the genre. Chavez’s portrayal of the devastating wildfires adds a unique dimension to the story, making it both a thrilling and poignant read.

I had trouble connecting with this one - and I believe this fault is my own. I love this author, I love her writing style and her character building. The storyline was good and there were some surprises, but I just had a harder time with it.

An interesting mystery involving a missing sister that turns out to be more complicated than it initially seems.. The pacing was a bit slow and that did make it harder to finish despite the many POVs and imminent danger of the wildfire.

This thriller takes off in the midst of a 16-year old investigation into the disappearance of Ellie Byrd, a case that may be linked to the vanishing of two young teenagers, Grace Clarke & Adam Duran. Leyna, Grace's sister, watched her walk away from their Sierra Nevada foothills home with her boyfriend, Adam, only to never be seen again. Leyna is now 28 and working odd jobs just to make ends meet. Olivia Duran, Adam & Dominic's mother, is still holding out hope that her son will come home, alive. Meredith Clarke, Grace & Leyna's mom is a professional art forger & has the worst time coming to terms with her oldest daughter's disappearance while also being estranged from Leyna.
Leyna's random encounter at her job on the patio one day with Ellie Byrd sparks memories of her missing sister and raises suspicions about Adam Duran's involvement. When Ellie herself goes missing, Leyna is returns to her hometown and join forces with Dominic, Adam's brother to figure out the truth about what happened with her sister & Adam's brother.
The ending is where the action, tension, and suspense finally come into play. However, the ending left me with way more questions than answers, unfortunately. I loved the multiple POV's, cliffhanger chapters, domestic drama and of course the F I R E!!!!
Thank you to Heather Chavez & Mulholland Books for my ARC! :)

Heather Chavez is one of those authors who characters are rich and come alive on the page. I loved that aspect of this book. At once a slow burn mystery and a fast paced thriller (how she pulled it off I don't know) WHAT WE'LL BURN LAST knocks it out of the park.

Heather Chavez has quickly become a favorite author. If you pick up one of her books, you are guaranteed a suspenseful, fun ride with great characters. Before She Finds Me, her previous story, was an excellent thriller, right up there with the best of them! This one, What We'll Burn Last is not quite as break-neck paced as that, but it's still quite a stellar follow-up. Leyna Clerk has never stopped searching for her missing sister in a town riddled with missing kids and teenagers. We also have wildfires, power outages and all sorts of shady characters. Great twist! Do yourself a favor and discover this author!

Thank you to #NetGalley, Heather Chavez and Mulholland Books for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Set in the foothills of the Sierras, Leyna has never stopped searching for her sister, Grace, after her disappearance with her boyfriend, Adam, many years ago. Every girl she sees reminds her of Grace. Especially Ellie Byrd, who behaves strangely when Leyna approaches her. Next thing she knows, Ellie has been reported missing. Leyna is obsessed with Ellie’s disappearance and feels compelled to find her. As Leyna starts asking questions in her small rural town, she is digging up painful memories for her mother and Adam’s family. There are secrets people have no interest in sharing but Leyna is determined to find Ellie… all as an ember has sparked a wildfire that threatens to destroy their little community.

This is a slow burn domestic suspense set in my home state of California, close to where another wildfire is currently burning. The story captivated me instantly as the backstories were revealed slowly. I do believe it could have been a little faster paced though. I loved how the fire had its own chapters, almost as if it were also a character in the book with its own POV.

Thank you to @mulhollandbooks and @netgalley for a #gifted digital review copy of this novel.

This highly atmospheric book will linger in your mind long after you've finished it. Slow-burns can be hit or miss for me, but this one was an immediate success. The deliberate pacing amplifies the suspense and instills a sense of dread.

“What We’ll Burn Last” offers everything: a uniquely crafted plot, intense multiple perspectives, and thought-provoking characters. I highly recommend it!

A community marred by the 16-year-old disappearance of two teens, Grace and Adam, is now faced with a similar disappearance of a young girl in the present. Neighbors are pointing fingers at neighbors, all the while the earth is burning. A wildfire is slowly crawling closer and closer to Plumas County. Grace’s little sister Leyna is still haunted her sister’s disappearance and can’t help but draw connections to this recent tragedy. What We’ll Burn last read like a slow simmering family suspense. I struggled with the pacing a bit, but I enjoyed following Leyna try to solve the mystery of the missing teens of Plumas Country. This is my third book by Heather Chavez and I will continue to pick up anything she writes!

Thank you Mulholland Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

Although this one is very much a slow burn, the secrets were interesting and I enjoyed the way the ending left off.

An interesting yet drawn out story. The setting was interesting. I was not at all invested in the story though so it made the book really drawn out for me. I needed more from the characters in the beginning to really become invested in their story. Ultimately, this was a fine book but one that was missing an emotional component for me. My thanks to the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

"What We'll Burn Last" by Heather Chavez is a gripping and suspenseful thriller that will keep readers on the edge of their seats. The story follows a mother's desperate search for her missing daughter, leading to shocking revelations and unexpected twists along the way. Chavez's writing is taut and atmospheric, drawing readers into a dark and tense world where nothing is as it seems. Fans of psychological thrillers and complex family dramas will find this novel to be a compelling and riveting read.

What We’ll Burn Last had potential but just didn’t follow through. Heather Chavez is a great writer but her latest novel fell short in character development and while there were plenty of twists and turns in the plot, they suffered from the overall lack of narrative depth. For example, we get a sense of what motivates Olivia but almost nothing to explain the motivations of Rocky, Richard and Meredith. At minimum, we should have a better sense of Meredith’s motivation and while Olivia’s motivation is the most fully developed, it remains fairly surface level. Leyna’s motivation is clear but the novel largely deals with the continuing impact of past trauma that occurred when Leyna was twelve. Failing to develop both of the antagonist mothers and the family members makes for an okay enough airplane or beach read but nothing to put on your shelf to keep.

Overall, I found that to be disappointing because the use of the wildfire as a thematic character could have made this a brilliant novel. Chavez’s description of the wildfire was well wrought and compelling. Her writing style is descriptive and evocative with sensory content that ignites (no pun intended) the reader’s imagination. In personifying the wildfire and describing its effects, she seems like truly capture the experience of a wildfire from beginning to end and that is a significant talent.

Based on all my criteria, if you are a fan of Chavez, definitely read. If you’ve never read one of her books, I wouldn’t start here. However, if you’re intrigued by the description, it’s a good read. Unless you’re really into fires, I’d probably recommend buying it on sale or checking it out from the library. Remember that you can always download a sample on an ebook platform and decide if you want to read more. Happy reading!

[Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced review copy of this novel in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.]

Many small things combine to cause unfathomable pain and loss.

In a small community in Plumas County in Northern California one night, two teenagers disappeared, Grace Clarke and her boyfriend Adam Duran. The families left behind don’t know where there loved ones are, why they left, or even if they are still alive….but they have their theories. Leyna, Grace’s younger sister, has reason to believe that Adam was controlling and abusive towards Grace, and that he killed her and went on the run. Meredith, Leyna and Grace’s mother, a divorcee who earns a living painting high end replicas of famous paintings (not illegal, exactly, but teetering on the edge of sketchy), insists that the two were in love and ran off together. Olivia, Adam’s mother, is convinced that her son was sweet and gentle, that Grace is the cause of whatever happened….and that Meredith knows more than she’s saying. Sixteen years later, both families still live in the same houses, but the animosity between the Durans and the Clarkes is strong….awkward to say the least, in a community where there are only five houses. Leyna who moved to Reno ten years ago and has never stopped looking for her sister, supports herself waiting tables at a restaurant. One day sixteen year old Ellie Byrd walks into the restaurant, looking almost exactly like Grace….Leyna is convinced that her presence is no accident, and gets a little aggressive with Ellie as she asks questions. When Ellie goes missing soon thereafter, having been seen back in Plumas County asking questions about Leyna, Grace, Adam, and Adam’s brother Dominic, things start getting weird. Dominic (with whom Leyna had had a relationship that collapsed after the disappearance of their siblings) convinces Leyna to come back and help him look into Ellie’s disappearance. Estranged from Meredith and knowing that Olivia Duran will want nothing to do with her, its the last place she wants to be…but her need to find answers about the past compels her to go anyway. As the secrets and lies from that night long ago are uncovered, a raging wildfire is bearing down on the community as well. Devastation is sure to follow….but will it be from the fire, the search for Ellie and the truth of the earlier disappearances, or a perfect storm of them all?
In this novel from author Heather Chavez, the slow build of a wildfire which ends up as a conflagration that will whip through forests, fields and homes is an apt metaphor for the pain and grief experienced by families who have lost a loved one under mysterious circumstances without knowing what happened to them. Is it better to have hope that Grace and/or Adam are still alive in the world but have chosen to leave them behind, or to have proof that either or both are dead? The families were once close but now are the embodiment of one another’s pain, yet neither moves away from the suffocatingly close community….why? There is plenty of dysfunction to go around, guilt about things said or left unsaid, blame directed outward and resentments that build over time. As details are unveiled about what was happening amongst these people all those years ago, the characters become more defined even as the mystery remains. Possible suspects and theories of the disappearances new and old are woven throughout the story, and I found myself arriving at and discarding my own theories along the way. This is a thriller that, like a wildfire, catches the reader’s attention early and builds the tension slowly. A wonderful sense of place, and compelling scenes within the fire….this is a story that readers of Peter Swanson, K. T. Nguyen, and Liane Moriarty might well enjoy. Many thanks to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for allowing me access to a copy of What We’ll Burn Last, an engrossing thriller that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Little Brown & Company Mulholland Books for gifting me a digital ARC of the new thriller by Heather Chavez. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4 stars!

Leyna Clarke watched her older sister, Grace, walk away from their home with her boyfriend, Adam, never to be seen again. Sixteen years later, a stranger who looks like Grace shows up at the restaurant where Leyna works, and then disappears as well. Leyna is desperate to find the missing girl, Ellie, with hopes that it will lead her to answers about Grace. She returns home to the house where her mother still lives, and Adam's family just a couple doors down. And a wildfire is looming.

This was a slow burn but I liked how the story was told in the voices of three women - Leyna, her mother, Meredith, and Adam's mother, Olivia, in both past and present timelines. In between, The Fire slowly grows, adding yet another intensity to the story. I liked the atmospheric feel, from the impending wildfire, to the all but deserted housing development. Everyone is keeping secrets and no one is trustworthy or very likable. I was glued to the pages to figure out what happened to Grace and Ellie.

Thank you to NetGalley and Mulholland books for the eARC.

Multi POV - every single time this is my favorite. I really loved that there were three POVs that we got to learn the story from and get their perspectives. Unfortunately this book was too slow of a slow burn for me. I needed a faster pace to fully enjoy.

I have mixed feelings about What We’ll Burn Last by Heather Chavez (out today). I liked the multiple points of view, the complicated family dynamics, the missing girl mystery, and the approaching wildfire that added tension and complication to what was happening in the story.

What I did not like was that this book was very slow. Truthfully, I am not a fan of slow burns. I like action, or at least little crumbs dropped as the story develops, but I felt like this story did not fulfill what I wanted in a thriller. Also, most of the characters were so unlikeable that I did not care for any of them.

Despite not totally enjoying this one, I would still recommend Chavez if you haven’t read her books, especially Before She Finds Me, which is my favorite.