I requested this book simply based off of the Minnesota connection. However, this book was SO much more than I was expecting! This book did a fabulous job tackling the generational trauma and realities of living on a reservation. I LOVED the strong female aspect of the main character and the townspeople. I really struggled with some of the main characters decisions and the ending was kind of a disappointment, but this was a strong book and I found it to be very impactful.

A glimpse into life of the Native people of Northern Minnesota and how hard life can be on the reservation. And, then women begin to disappear. How far will they go to bring them back alive - and at what cost? Thanks to NetGalley for this gem.

good romance and loved how they found love and each other. They survived their trials and found their way back to each other. another great romance.

Quill's life on the Red Pine Reservation changes forever when she hears a bloodcurdling scream while out for a run in the woods. When another woman disappears, Quill believes that the disappearances cannot be coincidences and decides to investigate on her own, as the tribal police have not been able to uncover the mystery.

I really enjoyed the plot of this book and the fact that it brought to life the horrors that indigenous women often face. These are stories that need to be told. I loved the strong woman characters. However, I feel that the execution was lacking. Even though this book covered some very heavy subjects, I felt like the writing style was a bit juvenile and simplistic. There was too much telling and not enough showing, as my college writing professor would say (except when it came to the descriptions of the running suits-goodness gracious do we really need to know that much detail about them?). At times, the writing felt unorganized, which made the story feel a bit disjointed and chaotic. It was also a bit predictable and I figured out the major twist fairly early on.

All that said, however, I am glad I read this book and it kept me interested. I'm thankful that NetGalley, the author, and the publisher gave me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

Such a compelling read to figure out the mystery. The author did a great job to weave the mystery with issues of reservation life, the criminal justice system, racism, gender, and settler colonialism thru pipelines. The book highlights MMIW in a thoughtful way. Def recommend!

This is a haunting novel about how Native American women can disappear and no one seems to notice and/or care. I would categorize this as more of a mystery than a thriller, since the bulk of the book is a bit of a slow burn as our protagonist hunts down clues to find out who screamed in the woods, why, and what happened to them. Overall, a good mystery and an interesting insight into a Native American community.

This book was so incredibly impactful to me. It's easily one of my favorite books of the year. It felt like Firekeeper's Daughter for adults. There is such a lack of support when it comes to missing and murdered Indigenous women and this really highlighted the issue and how insidious men can be.

This book is a story about missing and murdered indigenous women. And I have goosebumps at how powerful and moving this book was.

Where They Last Saw Her is one of the bigger literary surprises of my life. I did not anticipate loving this book as much as I did. I did not expect to feel so profoundly affected by the words, the writing, the descriptions of our main character, Quill’s, delicious, dedicated love for her people and her children. And how sometimes that powerful and profound love gave her tunnel vision, because there was not one without the other. She cared about what happened to her people because she cares about her children.

It was a stamp on my heart. I was fortunate to step into this world of culture, history, generational trauma, resilience, sentimentality, and complexity. It was humbling. And that is what I seek most from reading. I want to know. I want to walk a mile in someone’s shoes, because empathy is the greatest strength. And boy, did this book give me a heavy dose of empathy. Of melancholy, of anger, of resentment, of feminine rage.

I won’t stop thinking about this book for a long while.

I’ve just finished this and I’m still processing. I really enjoyed the story line and the awareness it brings to MMIW. It was painful to read at parts, and I found myself frustrated with how headstrong Quill could be - while also relating to her desire to see justice.

I wish the final 5 or so chapters had been stretched out and paced a little slower. A LOT happened and I felt like I got whiplash. That final chapter felt extremely rushed given the closure I wanted to find for a particular character (no spoilers).

Overall, I really enjoyed this and would recommend it! Thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Marcie R. Rendon's book Where They Last Saw Her is a call to action. Her protagonist, Quill, along with her husband and friends, calls for all - including readers - to make a noise about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and engage in raising awareness about the disparity of response and support experienced by the indigenous peoples when it comes to crimes committed upon them.

This call to action is woven into the challenges faced by the Red Pine Reservation community that had women and girls fading out of daily life and little to nothing being done to investigate why, how and where they'd gone. Some would turn up abused, some would be found dead, and some would never be seen again. Quill and her friends were careful to never be alone, an often fatal condition, but there are times in life when one must be, and having a sense of security while on daily tasks to feed or serve one's family is something these women couldn't take for granted. . . .and hadn't been able to for centuries.

There's a mystery wrapped in all of it, and it kept me leaning in, but honestly what caught my attention the most in this read was the earnest and urgent message to anyone who will receive it - help is needed, and now rather than later. Listen up and act, Sisters, and Brothers and all who hear this call. We all owe each other the right to feel safe in each other's company. Anything less is a trespass and breach against us all.

This was my first read by this author, but it won't be the last! Am looking forward to finding more of Marcie Rendon's work.

*A sincere thank you to Marcie R. Rendon, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.* #WhereTheyLastSawHer #NetGalley

I'd hand this to readers who enjoyed Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley and William Kent Krueger's Cork O'Connor series.

This is an incredibly important read on MMIW (often neglected in conversations) I did struggle with how reckless the main character was in her decisions on how to navigate the missing woman they were trying to find

Do not sleep on this Marcie Rendon book, just because it strays from the Cash Blackbear series! Such a great stand-alone read. MMIW/P issues are always so nuanced it can be hard to quantify and generalize, but reading books like this and “Looking for Smoke” can really help readers gain a fuller understanding of how these issues present themselves in real life. A great future book club pick, in my opinion!

Marcie R. Rendon's "Where They Last Saw Her" takes off strong with a gripping premise: Quill, a Native woman from the Red Pine reservation, has spent her whole life running from the pain in her community. But when she hears a scream during her marathon training and finds evidence of another disappearance, she decides it's time to stop running.

The story really nails the small details — Quill's fierce determination, her ride-or-die friends Punk and Gaylyn, and her loving family, who keeps her grounded. You can feel Rendon's care for the community she's writing about, which adds a lot of depth to the book. Plus, the cultural elements sprinkled throughout give it a genuine, lived-in feel that makes the story real.

But let's be honest — the pacing could use some work. The mystery is there, but it's often overshadowed by Quill's personal reflections, and I wished the plot could pick up the pace and match her energy.

All that said, "Where They Last Saw Her" is a good story with a lead you can't help but root for, even if the journey gets a little long at times. It's not a sprint, but if you're into character-driven stories with a side of mystery, it's a book worth reading.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an advanced readers copy. My thoughts and opinions are all my own.

This was a very powerful story! The main character Quill is a Native American woman who is determined to track down a missing woman from her community. To add to this, there have been other Indigenous women who have gone missing due to being kidnapped or trafficked. Quill isn't just curious about what's going on in her small community, she's downright angry and determined to get to the bottom of it by any means necessary.

This book had me on the edge of my seat! It was so suspenseful, and I was completely captivated by Quill and the other people in her life as she and her friends went on the hunt for the missing woman. The plot is full of Native American history, and the descriptive writing made me feel as though I was in the setting right along with the characters. I love the woman and Person that Quill was! She was such a strong and fierce lead character. It made me sad knowing that this happens in this community in real life. Kudos to the author for writing a book that shines a light on these issues in our country. This was a great book that I highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Quill didn’t have a lot of sense or empathy or curiosity for someone who’s the main character in a thriller charged with the task of finding missing women. Crow was the thinker but also wanted to follow rules, so where Quill was randomly impulsive but also apathetic, Crow was sequential and also apathetic. It was aggravating all around, which I imagine is close to how anyone feels when their women goes missing and no one does anything that makes any sense to find them.

A must read that I had to buy a physical copy of when it published. This story dives into the ongoing plague that is Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (and Men, etc). Sometimes the women are found, be it dead or alive, but often times they never are. It's sad and makes me angry, but people need to be aware this is going on in Indigenous communities everywhere,

The author’s series has been on my list for a while and I think I need to bump it up now.

The story is fictionalized but it touches on real issues that are happening, that I admittedly up until now have been ignorant of, at least to the scale. What a f-ing world we live in.

This book will make you sad and angry but there’s a hope in it too. The narrator, the community, you can feel the power there. I think I’d like to read more about Quill and her life and her friends.

It's so prevalent, it even has a hashtag..#mmiw murdered missing indigenous women. Out for a run, Quill is certain she hears a woman's scream. That opens the book. After that, Quill, married with two children, agrees to no longer run by herself even in broad daylight. As the pipeline comes to Minnesota, so do the men. And women start going missing. Quill is a true heroine and refuses to stop looking for these women, at a peril to herself. Truly immersive and harrowing. This is one you won't easily forget with characters you won't forget.

This was so good. Ok the history, the suspense, the details. Wow the author wrote these characters like they are people that I’ve known for a while. I think this is a very important read and I highly recommend