I’m glad I grabbed this one because I ended up really enjoying it. The blood had great pacing, well done characters and an intriguing mystery. I also really enjoyed learning more about indigenous people. Great read.

From Perfectionistwannabe.com (11.07.2023) (as part of the book tour)

In this story, Syd Walker is an archeologist working for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). She's uncovered a skull of an Indian woman in Rhode Island. Finding that skull is just the beginning of a much bigger story.

Another skull is unearthed in her hometown in Oklahoma, but this one has her old badge inside of it, like a calling card asking her to come home.

Find me.

The BIA sends her home to Oklahoma, where she has to face her own demons. Haunted by a friend who was killed when they were kids, she suffers from ongoing psychological trauma from that incident. She killed their attacker, but it was too late to save her friend and her parents.

Going home isn't what she expected. She's not an archeologist on this return, she's an investigator, but what she's investigating is more than just the skull with her badge in it. There is so much more to what is calling her back home.

She arrives to find out her sister, Emma Lou, has gone missing. The land is poisoned and caving in, thanks to mining and energy companies polluting the land. People are being forced to take a pittance for their poisoned homes and nothing for the land. Drugs are becoming a way of life for their community so much that even Syd's mother is making drug deliveries.

Bad people are taking advantage of this dying community. Whites are encroaching on the land and taking it as their own without reprimand. The government...don't get me started. Underneath all of this are the Indigenous women who have gone missing. Their bones are littering the earth, completely undiscovered. But there are people looking for them, hoping they are still alive.

Lillie incorporates a lot of the issues plaguing Native Americans. The story takes place in 2008, but the problems are still relevant today (if not worse).

Lillie is a white-facing Cherokee. I didn't start crying until I read the Author's Note at the end of Blood Sisters. [#ad] Her note reminded me of why it is so difficult for me to write Book Project #1. I've cried so many times already, because to tell what is happening to Native Americans over these last hundred years all the way up until today has been so difficult, because it hurts me to know how much evil has been wrought against an entire race, all in an effort to exterminate them.

For this book, I will say that the ending surprised me. The twists kept coming and they didn't stop. There's redemption, surprise, intrigue, and just pure evil slamming up against you. She even threw a tornado in there (which actually did happen on May 10, 2008). There is more involved in this return to home than just investigating a skull with her badge in it. Ends up, everything is far worse than you can imagine.

This is a fantastic read for those who love thrillers and want to understand a little more about the terrors facing everyday Indigenous lives. If it's not the white man trying to poison Native Americans, it's people trying to murder them and steal the land out from underneath them, and people flooding their communities with drugs. This book goes into a very dark place, so tread lightly.

Thank you Berkley Pub and PRHAudio for sending Blood Sisters my way. I think it frightened me more than I let on, because a lot of the topics Lillie touched upon are elements that appear in my Book Project #1 (and that's the horror book). It reminded me a bit of the psychological terror in the Hannibal Lecter books and the evil the FBI are chasing down (which is far worse than the cannibal). In this case, Syd had no idea what she was searching for when she arrived home, until it stumbled out of a cave. That was when everything changed.

I loved the look into modern tribal politics, the focus on MMIW, and the plot of an investigator going back to her hometown to work on a case that involves her own sister. I especially enjoyed learning about Indigenous history from my neighbor state, Oklahoma. However, I felt the characters fell a bit flat. Syd, call your wife, gosh darnit!

Thank you to NetGalley for the review copy.

This is a pretty good tale. I enjoyed the learning about the indigenous culture. But it moves a bit slow. I expected a bit more in places.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing this e-ARC. I am anticipating reading this soon and reviewing on my socials.

I completely forgot to give feedback on this book so it's been awhile....

I remember liking the author's writing, but thinking the pacing was too slow. Not as much of a thriller and more of a mystery

Syd is a Cherokee archeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She is haunted by events that happened 15 years ago. She is required to return to her hometown when a skull is found. That short synopsis was enough to grab my attention. Unfortunately, about 1/3 – ½ way through the book, I was starting to get a bit bored. I switched to the audiobook since, y'all know, I'm behind on reading and reviewing books. The audio helped, but I still struggled to stay focused on the story. It felt as if the author was trying to fill pages to meet a length or word count.

The ending was much faster paced, and it held my attention. I couldn't have dreamed it up if I tried. I'm glad I read the book, but it wouldn't be a re-read. I'll put this one in the earBUD category.

If you like slower paced books, this will be one you want to look into reading.

Blood Sisters dives head first into a hard subject, the missing women from Indigenous cultures. Syd is trying to focus but finds herself returning home to face the present and the past. Author Vanessa Lillie does bring a strong voice to represent the missing women. I felt the suspense was just right in this mystery.

This is not my usual preferred genre, but I wanted to give something different a try. Blood Sisters had the potential to be very compelling, but the pacing didn’t work for me and really felt like it dragged out. I also felt like there were too many plot points the author tried to weave together, and the villain of the story did not feel well fleshed out to me. The story was engaging enough ti keep me reading, but it did take me a long time to get through. I did really like the setting; as an okie, I was really able to picture what the author was describing, and it was neat to read about so many places I’ve been.

Didn't finish this one. While I found it compelling, it didn't hold my attention so I didn't get it read quickly enough to finish. I'm not sure why, since I love indigenous storytellers, especially telling a story with a lesbian as the protagonist. I suspect this was a right book/wrong time moment.

This is a slow burn more than a thriller, but the crime aspects were really appealing to me. The sad reality of the number of missing and presumed dead Indigenous women always hits me with such force and this book doesn't shy away from that.

I loved that Syd worked for the Bureau of Indian Affairs and as an archaeologist rather than a normal FBI agent like most authors would have chosen. She was an interesting and complex character, though not always likeable. In fact, there are quite a few unlikeable characters here. This was a bit repetitive, but I'm glad I read it. I would give another book by this author a shot for sure!

Thank you to Berkley for the arc! All thoughts are my own.

Blood Sisters is about Syd, an archeologist currently employed at the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She is called home to Oklahoma to help with investigating the disappearance of indigenous women, one of which is her own sister.

No one ever talks about the horrifying statistics of how many indigenous people (specifically women) go missing or are killed in North America and I’m so glad this book brought to light this issue. It’s disappointing that this book isn’t getting the attention it deserves. It had the perfect mix of suspense, mystery and rough family dynamics that I was intrigued by for most of the book. I look forward to seeing future releases by this author.

A visceral and compelling mystery about a Cherokee archeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs who is summoned to rural Oklahoma to investigate the disappearance of two women…one of them her sister.

 

Syd Walker has not been home to Oklahoma in many years but is suddenly called upon to help investigate the disappearance of two women. Her sister, Emma Lou, is one of those women. Many people try to silence Syd but she's not having it. The past and the present intertwine with one another in Blood Sisters. The story instantly grabs and pulls you in. I really enjoyed this book, and it was so hard to put down! I am still thinking about it!

I had been hearing a lot about "Blood Sisters" for awhile before its release, and it definitely lived up to the hype! I was not familiar with author Vanessa Lillie prior to reading it, but now that she's on my radar I'm looking forward to reading more from her! "Blood Sisters" is the story of Syd Walker, a Native American who works for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Rhode Island as an archaeologist. However, she gets called back to her native land in Oklahoma when a skull is found there. Coincidentally, her younger sister, Emma Lou. has also just disappeared again, and though Syd had sworn she would never return to her native land, she finds herself being pulled back, both by the investigation, and her sister. Having been the victim of a brutal crime that took the life of her best friend while they were teens, Oklahoma holds traumatic memories for Syd. Upon her return, she exposes many secrets, going back decades, that will affect the entire town of her childhood.

"Blood Sisters" deals with many heart-wrenching topics- substance abuse; poverty; violence against women, especially those who are Native American; the effects of mining on the land and the towns surrounding it; tumultuous family relationships. It is not always an easy read, but it was a fast and engaging book with numerous twists and turns that made it hard to put down. Having now been introduced to the writing of Vanessa Lillie, I am looking forward to reading more by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the Berkley Besties program for providing me with and advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Blood Sisters is a powerful thriller that speaks the truth. Yes it is a thriller, and has a good mystery aspect to it. But, what I took from the book was more of the message the author was trying to convey. It’s a spotlight shined on the missing Indigenous women, who are overlooked, and the violence they experience every day. It’s heartbreaking. Vanessa Lillie may have made a fictional thriller, but it has truth at its core. Please read the authors note, at the end of the book. Lillie talks about her personal experience as a white presenting Cherokee woman.
I am hopeful that this is the first book of a series. I loved Syd, and her family. Vanessa Lillie created a strong female protagonist, with determination and justice in her heart.

Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lillie is a hard hitting book about indigenous girls being kidnapped and murdered. This is such a strong subject and even though this is a book of fiction, this happens more often then not in these communities. The author did a great job of making the reader take a step back and think while reading. Our main character Syd rescues her sister but her friend dies. When Syd is sent back to Oklahoma to investigate a body, she learns her sister is missing. With the help of her friend's ghost, she goes on a quest to find her sister and seek justice. I understand why this book was a top read of 2023.

In this book, Cherokee archeologist Syd Walker works out of Rhode Island for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She’s plagued by a night of violence fifteen years earlier: her best friend Luna and Luna’s parents were killed while Syd and Emma Lou narrowly survived. Since then, Emma Lou has struggled with abusive boyfriends and addictions. The last time Syd visited her Oklahoma hometown, she resolved not to return because Emma Lou’s self-destruction was too difficult to bear.

However, when Emma Lou goes missing and a skull is found near the site of Luna and her parents’ murder, Syd is sent to assist the BIA investigate. The depressed town is polluted from a shuttered mining facility and jobs are hard to come by. Much of the impoverished population is addicted to opiates. Syd’s family swears, though, that Emma Lou was clean for the sake of her daughter.

Syd can’t abide the rash of missing Native women, nor can she bear the thought the skull might belong to her sister. She is sure someone knows information that can break the case open, but the more she asks questions, she disturbs the community‘s equilibrium and makes herself vulnerable to retaliation.

As you may know, I’m from Oklahoma and always enjoy reading books set in the state. While the book started slow for me, the plot picked up about halfway through and brought important attention to the plight of missing Native women, land rights, and drug use.

Although sympathetic, Syd is a frustrating and pedantic character, isolating herself and rushing impulsively into dangerous situations. Her career as an archeologist makes her an interesting series lead, but I expected it to play a larger role in the story.

Syd’s cousin, Rayna, is a delightful and effervescent secondary character, and the book is given texture through Cherokee myths.

A great new release for Native American Heritage Month!

I loved this indigenous mystery and the way our author brought us into her personal story. I felt it did have a lot of similarities to another book I had recently read (The Witch of Wild Things), so that clouded this experience the slightest bit for me, but I loved the way this one brought the mystery together for us as readers and heartily recommend it.

Syd Walker is an archeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Rhode Island. She left her home in Oklahoma over a decade ago after a night of violence changed her life forever. Now her sister has disappeared, and Syd has been called home to investigate human remains found near the location of the earlier tragedy.

This was a dark and gritty mystery that I was invested in right away, though around the halfway point I started losing interest. Syd was a difficult, guilt-ridden character throughout most of the book, and her questionable actions endangered herself and others. The pacing was sluggish until the end when we're thrown some wild twists. BLOOD SISTERS was an ok read for me, but I struggled with the pacing and melodrama.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book. Opinions are my own.

“Blood Sisters” is for readers who can settle into a slow burn, small-town mystery that crosses into multiple genres: crime fiction, indigenous fiction, family drama

“Blood Sisters” is about Syd Walker, an archaeologist with the Bureau of Indian Affairs who gets assigned a case in her small hometown in Northeast Oklahoma. She escaped a horrific crime there 15 years ago, and she’s been called in to investigate a skull found near that crime scene. Meanwhile, she learns upon arrival that her sister is missing.

What I loved most about “Blood Sisters” is how well it captured the hopelessness of small rural towns where drug use is rampant. The general vibe in Picher, Oklahoma, is very similar to the vibe in my hometown in western Pennsylvania. I also loved learning about the politics of the BIA. I realized I’ve read no other indigenous fiction, but it’s now a genre that’s on my radar.