I loved "The Business Trip" by Jessie Garcia and was very excited to be offered an opportunity to read her newest one early! Thank you to Negalley for allowing me this advanced copy!

Faith Richards, Detroit-based meteorologist on a local TV station, seems to have it all. She is definitely the most popular newscaster at the station and has her own fan club and thousands upon thousands of social media followers who hang on her every word. She even has a stalker! Without knowing Faith's background, her coworkers are consumed with jealousy and irritation over her seeming entitlement, arrogance, and narcissistic behavior. After she hands a folded note to an intern to deliver to another news anchor, she never returns from her dinner break. The note contained a list of names, all of whom became immediate suspects.

Told from multiple points of view, the reader learns about the real Faith, and even though some sympathy is garnered, all the characters are very flawed, and it is plausible any of them could have killed her.

I felt the book had a fairly predictable ending - I was on the right track for most of the book. As I was reading and becoming more certain I was correctly predicting the ending, I began wondering if this was instead a genius writing on Garcia's part. Was the ending intended to be fairly obvious so the reader felt like shrieking "Noooooooo!" to the characters through most of the book? I kept turning the pages hoping they would change their minds about a certain action! Great read - I stayed up way too late to finish it, and now I'm sad for the wait until this author has her next book ready! The only thing I didn't like about the book was the ending.... but it was really and what would have likely happened if this were a real life story.

Kindle Copy for Review from NetGalley and St. Martin's Press.

I received a free, advance copy of this book and this is my unbiased and voluntary review.

A television meteorologist leaves for her dinner break and never returns. Her body s found the next morning causing a sensation. The town is unsettled as various suspects come to light. What motive did the killer have as secrets will unfold? t’s a mystery to figure out.

The Fair-Weather Friend by new to me author Jessie Garcia, published by St. Martin's Press is a full length, stand alone domestic suspense thriller.
Told in multiple povs with lots of characters, the story had me confused sometimes.
Faith is a weather person on tv, pretty famous when one day she vanishes it seems. What follows had me confused, there's Charity, Hope, Olivia the intern, Carol one of her super fans, Tom and Matthew co-workers with their own agenda.
All in all an ok read,3,75 stars.

Faith is the extremely popular weather woman at channel 9 in Detroit. She has inspired scores of admirers who adore her, join her fan club and wear earrings like hers. When she turns up dead after having given a letter intern to Olivia to pass on, the community comes out ready to mourn. Some are even inspired to try to solve her murder themselves.

Told from multiple POVs of those who knew or adored Faith, the plot of The Fair-Weather Friend was interesting, but I did feel that some of the characters could have been more fleshed out, coming across as caricatures instead of fully formed people. This didn't stop my enjoyment, I read this one quickly as it came across as a more of whodunnit mystery. 3.5 stars for this fair-weather thriller.

I received this advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Faith is a television weather presenter meteorologist. She is extremely popular, and she even has her own fan club. Channel 9 has cutesy sayings and gimmicks based on her popularity. But fame has its downside. She has a creepy stalker and can’t go anywhere without fans. Then one day she doesn’t return from her dinner break and she is found dead. Strangled.

What follows is a collection of various points of view. There is Matthew, the weekend weather reporter who thinks of Faith as his bitter enemy, the stalker Steve who is all kinds of creepy, Faith’s college roommate, Kelly, who has unsettled business with her, Olivia the intern, and Olivia’s aunt Carol.

Like Jessie Garcia’s first book, there is a ton of POV. I hope there are a million narrators when this is released in audio. It is not - AT ALL - hard to keep them straight because their place in the story is repeated often. The ending is a surprise and packs a punch.

My favorite character was Aunt Carol because she was so weird. Her internal dialogue was all about how much she was starstruck over Faith. Like- are there people that are THIS into a local weather reporter? Yes. Plenty of people. Carol doesn’t have a lot going on in her life and she really feels like she knows Faith since she sees her every day. It’s not like the stalker chapters, which are obviously unhinged, but you know? They’re in the same ball park.

Jessie Garcia has a lot of experience in TV reporting; and you can tell. The setting rings true.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC. Opinions are my own, I was not paid for this review.

I was a huge fan of The Business Trip. That is my excuse for reading The Fair-Weather Friend, before the many 2025 books that are sitting on my shelf. Sorry. Not sorry.
Faith is an extremely popular television weather person. The network loves her and her ratings, and she has so many fans that she even has her own fan club. When she doesn’t return to the station after her dinner break for the next broadcast, management is annoyed. When she is found dead the following day, they are horrified.
The story is told from multiple POVs. Coworkers, fans, her stalker, and well, just quite a few people who were not fans at all. As usual, I made quite a few incorrect guesses but never considered the way that the story would turn out. It was a fun treadmill read that kept me moving. As far as the ending, I still cannot decide if I thought it was 👍 or 👎. I suppose the best way that I could sum it up is to say it was indeed a bit of stormy weather.

I loved Jessie Garcia's debut, The Business Trip. I was eager to read this one as soon as I was offered an ARC. It did not disappoint!

Faith Richards is Detroit's favorite meteorologist. She has many admirers and a fan club. But not everyone is a fan of Faith's. When she is found dead, there is no shortage of suspects. The novel unfolds using multiple POVs.. I really enjoyed this one! The story was very detailed and had great character development.

A big thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review..

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞? 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭'𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬. 𝐀𝐧 𝐞𝐲𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐲𝐞.

THE BUSINESS TRIP was a fantastic debut from this author, so I snatched this one up before I even read the synopsis. This sophomore release had the same engaging plot, and I knew after the first chapter that I was in for a good time.

Told from alternating points of view, the title is a clever way to describe TV meteorologist icon Faith Richards, the star of Detroit's local news channel. Her fans are so enamored by her, they created an online fan club in her honor. Even though she doesn't have the credentials her co-workers do, she's the darling at the station as well. If only her fans knew just how well their moniker really fit her--because Faith is not as charming and endearing as she appears.

She leaves the station for her dinner break one night and doesn't return, much to the chagrin of the co-worker who must fill in for her. When her body is found the next morning, everyone is reeling from shock--but what begins as, "Who would want to hurt Faith?" quickly transforms into a long list of people she's wronged, all the way back to childhood.

Initially, I was worried the cast of characters would be too many to keep up with, but they're all so different and distinct, I had no problem. Yes, there are a few parts of the plot that require the reader to suspend disbelief, but as someone who reads a steady diet of thrillers and horror, I had no problem doing that. I flew through this book in just a few hours, and I know some readers are going to have something to say about the ending, but for me, it worked. I'll be thinking about this book for a long time!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this early copy. Look for this one January 20, 2026.