The Fair-Weather Friend by Jessie Garcia is a briskly paced mystery centered on the death of a beloved Detroit news anchor, told through multiple points of view. The narrative structure—offering insight into every key character’s mind, including all the suspects—adds an engaging layer, allowing readers to play detective, reshuffling theories as new secrets emerge. It’s a format more thrillers should embrace, turning the reader into an active investigator rather than a passive observer.

While the central mystery and premise are compelling, the novel occasionally loses momentum under the weight of excessive exposition. Background details are important, but at times they detract from the pacing and tension. Similarly, though the multi-POV approach enriches the plot, it comes at the cost of emotional connection. With so many perspectives, no single character stands out enough to root for—or against—making the ending feel more clever than impactful.

Though some twists are predictable and the ending feels slightly rushed, this is still an entertaining, accessible read. If you enjoyed The Business Trip, you’ll likely find this one similarly appealing. However, those looking for a thriller with deeper emotional stakes or a standout twist may find it falls a bit short.

Final verdict: A solid, fast-paced mystery with an inventive structure, but lacking the emotional depth or originality to make it truly unforgettable.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Jessie Garcia for the ARC.

A very quick, fast paced and entertaining read. Short chapters, multiple view points, lots of suspicious characters, many different motives for murder - what's not to like!?

I'm not going to give away too much about this one. I definitely had a lot of theories while reading and I felt like the way things played out was pretty clever. I think it's best to just go into this one and try to figure it all out! I really liked it!

A fun and unique thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat the entire ride. This was one where I really didn’t know what was going to happen next!

The Fair Weather Friend took me by surprise in all the right ways. I picked it up thinking it’d be a light read about friendship and drama, but it turned out to be so much more than that. Jessie Garcia really digs into the messy, complicated layers of relationships—both romantic and platonic—and I was hooked from the start.

It’s emotional, a little sassy, and full of truth bombs that sneak up on you. If you’re into character-driven stories with heart, sass, and just the right amount of drama, The Fair Weather Friend is totally worth the read.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this ARC!

Oh Fair-Weathered Friend....I do not know what to say about this book.

The book follows Faith, a local meteorologist with a huge social media following and a stalker. One day she leaves for dinner break and doesn't return. She is found strangled in her car.

The book then introduces multiple POVs with different timelines/suspects. Some of these POVS are not likeable from the get-go which is why I am so conflicted on a review for this book. I hated Carol from the start and almost DNF this because she was so unlikeable. Her niece seems much more likeable and I wonder if maybe they should just get rid of Carol altogether.

The other character I did not like at all was Elliott. I feel like a lot of time was wasted on him as well and building his story. This person could also be dropped from the story along with his wife/fiance/baby mama or whatever she was.

The book does redeem itself toward the end, it gets really fast paced and I found myself needing to get to the bottom of everything. I needed to see how it ended. It did end kind of flat though.

Sadly, I did not enjoy this as much as the Business Trip, please don't hunt me down and kill me for this mediocre review!

As a big fan of The Business Trip, I was delighted to get the opportunity to read an advance copy of this book. At the beginning of the book, I found it difficult to relate to the main characters’ lack of sophistication, for lack of a better word. The author over-explained the basic workings of life in a newsroom, but later gave me new insights into some of its dynamics. The book improved for me as it progressed. I found it interesting that the “villains” of the book seemed much more clever than the amateur detectives. I enjoyed the story being told by several characters. I had to suspend belief about several factors in how the crime was committed, but my interest was piqued to see how things evolved. I was a little disappointed in the way the book ended, but I enjoyed the ride. I look forward to reading more from the author.

I loved the authors debut The Business Trip so I was excited for this one, but it did not hit the same or hit the mark as I wanted. The ending was a little disappointing and just left me feeling underwhelmed.

I liked this book overall, it pulled me in quick and I enjoyed it, though I did figure out the twist pretty early but it was good. My only complaint is the ending, there was no real sense of closure and felt like it was just done.

This is “I can’t put it down” book - and I didn’t. I read it in a day. This is a great thriller with twists and turns that keep you guessing. Faith Richards is the beloved meteorologist at a Detroit TV station. One night she disappears and a few days later it’s reported she was found strangled to death in her car. A cryptic note given by an intern, Olivia, to Tom, one of anchors, forms the basis for possible suspects. No spoilers - get the book and read it you won’t be disappointed. I would like to thank NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me to read this ARC.

This wasn’t my favorite read, not saying it was a bad read,just not my normal style! I am still trying to figure out how to do reviews please be patient

The Fair-Weather Friend by Jessie Garcia follows the mystery of a beloved Detroit news anchor who is found dead, told through multiple points of view that are easy to follow. The story moves at a brisk pace and keeps you guessing in classic whodunnit fashion.

I enjoyed the central mystery and the premise overall, though at times the narrative felt weighed down by more exposition than I thought was necessary. While background details are essential in any story, some passages here seemed to slow the momentum.

One element I found unintentionally amusing was how starstruck characters were over a local meteorologist. This could have worked even better if the focus had been on a different type of local celebrity. Since the book is set in Detroit, I also would have loved to see more of the city’s character woven in, beyond a few nods to sports teams, so the setting felt more alive.

Despite these points, it’s an engaging, relatively quick read, though for me it was more “easy to put down” than “unputdownable.” If you enjoyed The Business Trip, you’ll likely enjoy this as well. If you felt lukewarm about that one, you may feel similarly here.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Jessie Garcia for the ARC, all opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC to review!

What clicked: Jessie Garcia’s plot is the kind that pulls you in—small-town buzz, a TV meteorologist mysteriously vanishing, and secrets bubbling under Detroit’s sunny facade? Count me in. The quick pace and multi-POV structure keep things moving and make it hard to put the ARC down.

What didn’t quite gel: Too many POVs scattered focus instead of building real connection with any one character. It felt a touch gimmicky—the fan-club setup for the meteorologist veers into cheesy territory. And some of those twists? Call me seasoned, but I called them before they arrived. The ending? Rushed—left me wanting a little more closure.

Final take: Solid entertainment—slick and breezy—but missing that emotional punch or fresh twist that would elevate it. A dependable thriller, just not one that blew me away.

This is a fantastic book. First of all, the setting is unusual - how often does a news station (specifically, a meteorologist) become the center of a novel? Not often enough, since that is part of what intrigued me to look into this book (the fact that I wanted to be a meteorologist AND played one in a school performance might make me a bit more the target here than the average reader, but that's neither here nor there ◡̈).

The alternating POVs were interesting, served the plot well, and at times were frustrating (in a good way) because I was impatient and hoping for a different POV *right now* than the one I getting! The plot was engaging and mostly realistic, but a few things here or there were lined up too easily - always an issue in suspense novels so it didn't really bog down the story.

I enjoyed the twist, but there was a but too much dependence on the guilt for everything to work. A few chapters at the end were too cheesy, including the final pages with thoughts and revelations and all that jazz, and I could do without all that and still accept the closure of the book. I LOVED the "shocking" point near the end - it's one of those things that we all were thinking in the back of our heads was going to happen but told ourselves wouldn't...they would never do that! But yeah...they did...silly us.

This was another interesting and engaging read from Jessie Garcia. It definitely kept my attention throughout the story. While some of the twists were a bit predictable, the story was still enjoyable. Bring a Michigan girl myself, I loved that it was set in Detroit, and the way Jessie incorporated Michigan-related details. Definitely one I’d recommend to friends.

Faith Richards is a popular meteorologist who when leaving work on a dinner break one night never returns. Her body is found the next day. Told in Multiple POVs, lots of secrets, and lots of suspects. This was a fun mystery to read with some good twists and turns. This book was fast paced and I thought the characters were interesting. This story will have you turning the pages to see what happens next.

The Fair Weather Friend by Jessie Garcia is a mystery about a weather woman who is murdered near the TV station where she works.

There are several characters, and multiple points of view.

The characters were one dimensional, at best. I found the story to be quite predictable.

This one just wasn't for me.

⭐⭐⭐☆☆

If I had a dollar for every time Faith Richards predicted “clear skies ahead,” I could’ve funded my own local news station—and maybe even hired a meteorologist who wouldn’t end up murdered. The Fair-Weather Friend proves that even the sunniest forecaster can’t see the storm coming when the clouds are full of secrets.

Faith, Detroit’s sweetheart of the weather world, vanishes on a dinner break and reappears the next morning… well, let’s just say she’s not giving the seven-day forecast anymore. From there, we dive into a small, tightly knit suspect pool—bless you, Jessie Garcia, for sparing me the 47 side characters and 12 fake leads I usually have to chart on a whiteboard in these kinds of mysteries. Every single person here mattered, and I loved that.

The cherry on top? We get multiple POVs, including all the suspects. It’s like being handed a backstage pass to everyone’s secrets and lies. I got to hop between minds, sift through alibis, and constantly reshuffle my mental suspect list. Honestly, more thrillers should use this format—it turns the reader into an active investigator instead of a passive bystander.

But here’s the rub: because I was in everyone’s head, I never fully connected with anyone. I had no emotional favorite, no villain to despise, no one I was rooting for to get away with murder. They were all sitting at the same “meh” table in my mind. Maybe that was intentional—level the playing field and keep the suspense sharp—but for me, having at least one emotional stake makes the big reveal hit harder.

That said, this was a brisk, intentional, and neatly tied-up read. You can tell Garcia planned every twist and breadcrumb, and the intrigue never wavered. If you like mysteries with a compact cast and clean plotting, this will absolutely scratch that itch.

Thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press, and Jessie Garcia for the ARC, all opinions are my own.

This was great loved the story I will recommend this read stayed up all night reading it it was a page tuner wow this was a great one

The Fair Weather Friend
I really wanted to love this book. (I really liked The Business Trip) The idea of it sounded like it could really work but it just didn’t with me. I just didn’t feel like I was ‘in’ the story plus it seemed quite far fetched. Maybe more for young adults?
Faith is an immensely popular meteorologist in Detroit. Her fans absolutely love her but basically no one else does. She stole from her now estranged college roommate, she has a love/hate relationship with her sister, her co workers despise her and let’s throw in her horrible childhood growing up. One afternoon she never returns to work after her dinner break. The next day she’s found ‘murdered’.
There is alot of characters to keep track of and I struggled to see why they kept popping up in the story. Even in the end when each character’s involvement was explained (actually explained word for word) I struggled to believe how this could ever really happen even in a psychological thriller world.
Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t for me.

Perfect for anyone with the intellectual maturity of an elementary school student who doesn't stand out too much.