This one had the bones of a solid thriller, but it just didn’t fully land for me. The POV and time jumps in Bad Blood felt more distracting than dynamic, and the emotional depth was placed in all the wrong spots—heavy on the internal monologues, light on the character chemistry. I wanted more tension, more connection, and honestly, better dialogue. It wasn’t bad, just kind of dry—and while I think it might be the start of a new series, I’m not totally sold on coming back for more.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 stars
Rated 14+ for language, violence, and mature themes.

*ARC review*

Bad Blood is a twisty psychological thriller that hooked me from the very first chapter. The story slowly unravels and the payoff is worth the wait. Tension builds with each chapter as pieces of the puzzle fall into place. I loved the main character and the author’s writing. Well worth the read!

Thanks so much to Netgalley and the publisher for this ARC audiobook.
This is one of the very rare times the actual physical book would be better than the audio, for me.
Let me first say, the narrator has an absolutely exquisite voice. But the weird lack of pauses was very distracting. I finally got tired of trying to figure out if the chapter had ended and a new one had begun. She read it like the entire book was just a big run on sentence.
Sadly I couldn't finish. But I will definitely be purchasing the ebook so I can find out what happens in the story!!

Bad Blood is a gripping thriller that had me hooked from the very first page. The pacing was intense, the twists relentless, and just when you think you’ve got it all figured out—another piece of the puzzle drops in and shifts everything. The suspense kept building, and I couldn’t stop listening.

The narrator was superb! They brought the story to life - the tension, the emotion, the character dynamics—it all landed perfectly thanks to a standout narration.

As for the ending… I’ll admit, I had mixed feelings on a personal level. It wasn’t the resolution I wanted, but I have to give credit where it’s due—it made sense for the story and stayed true to its darker, twistier themes. In the end, it felt right, even if it didn’t feel good!!!

If you love thrillers that keep you guessing and characters that make you question everything, Bad Blood is a must-read (or listen).

Man oh man what a fun ride! Now this did a great job having some twists that added so much from the story! The author also did a great job at making such an unlikeable character that you can’t stop reading about and wanting to find out what the heck is going on! But gotta say as much as I was like what the heck is wrong with this person you realize oh they have definitely had such a rough past so then you are like I get it now. This one also packs an emotional punch so get ready for that!

Justine Stone is a criminal prosecutor. She's no stranger to grim headlines like double murders...... but when a case comes across and the accused murderer is her former boyfriend, Jake Reynolds, she's shaken. Justine knows she'll have to recuse herself from the case but decides to do a little digging under the guise of official business before she does. Is it possible that her first love is a murderer?

I have mixed feelings about this one, but I think it's largely due to the discrepancy between the little blurb and the actual story. Based on the blurb I thought it was going to be an awesome thriller about a lawyer (formally and then informally) investigating whether or not her first love is a murder and I thought 'wow, what a BRILLIANT way to combine my two favorite genres; murder mystery & second chance romance'. I was so eager to crack this one. Then I did and I realized the book is almost nothing like that. The actual story on this one is that her ex-boyfriend being accused of murder is simply the catalyst that forces Justine to return to her hometown. Once she's there the story morphs into what is squarely a domestic drama/mystery which is one of my least favorite genres so I struggled quite a bit to get into it.

The writing is good, the characters feel real, and once it got going it was a pretty quick read. .I just think the blurb needs to be tweaked a little bit so that it finds its target audience. Overall, I think it is a very solid small town/domestic drama. If you enjoy that genre, this one's for you!!!

I was all geared up and ready for a thriller that would also have legal elements. Ready to see out main character come to terms with her past and defend her guilty ex while trying to save herself in the process. What I got wasn't exactly that. Was the book well done and the writing engaging yes but it also wasn't what the synopsis said I would recieve. I thought this was going to be about Jake the man Justine loved and we don't see him until right before the end of the book she also turns his case down very quickly and doesn't more or less try to prove his innocence at all and the book goes in directions I liked hut wasn't prepared for. Justine is also a very frustrating dry character who has little depth or personality aside form the fact she has a trauma from her past and a lawyer. In every other aspect of her life she seems like a selfish sarcastic and self involved mess who seems to have no issue hurting others and never thinking past her own wants and needs or wrongs put upon her. I felt she was a mess of a character and that hurt the story watching her complain for the majority of the book and keep the big secret from the reader until the end. Also as someone who grew up with abuse i was very confused how she got hurt one time and blamed her mother as if this was prolonged when the mother was the one constantly getting assaulted it all came off on a bad tone of judgement and lacked a real depth of what abuse truly is from justines perspective. The mother I understood far better and felt her backstory and character Arc was well deserved and made more sense. Also the ending left me shocked but not in a good way more in a confused what the hell was the point of all of this way. This was a good book but one I felt was to dry with depth in the wrong places when it could have been better used in the characters and the connections and dilaogue with one another and less on pov changes that felt unnecessary and time changes that felt drawn out.

I really wanted to like this one more since it is such a great premise. Unfortunately, this one ended up just not being for me. I did not like the characters and found the pace to be too slow for my taste. I ended up stopping the audiobook at the 60% mark since I found my thoughts wandering while listening and not paying attention to the story since it was not keeping my attention.

Loved the premise, not the follow through and definitely not the ending. What do you do if you find out someone you loved is accused of murder? Justine goes back home to investigate, and of course we find out that there are Big Secrets. Except the way the secrets are handled and the resolution don't make sense, and the plot seemed designed just for shock value. This probably could have been at least more convincing if Justine wasn't so unlikeable. The narrator did a good job keeping things flowing even when it was slow, which it was a lot.
Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this audiobook

Good story line; just very slow. I kept losing interest in the story. I just couldn’t keep up with the characters and how everything meshed together:

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. The characters were relatable, and the audio was easy to follow. The book had a nice flow and pace jumping from present time to the main characters childhood, it was always preface with who and what time period making it very easy to follow. I did not find this an edge of my seat read, rather a slow burn listened to the story unfold.
While this is not the type of book I typically go for, I did enjoy this easy to listen book.

I cannot remember the last time I put a book down with my mouth hanging open and in just utter disbelief mumble the word wow. It may have never happened before. I just did not see that coming at all – not at all! Let’s back up a bit and I’ll tell you about this book. Bad Blood written by Sarah Hornsley is a debut novel narrated by Gemma Whelan. Gemma’s voice was perfect for this character. She went through every emotion, and she was just spot on leaving no doubt you were listening to Justine Stone, our main character. The story very strongly gives John Grisham and Lisa Jewell combined vibes.

The story sucks you in from the beginning as we follow criminal attorney (I am Americanizing her job because I always mess the title up), Justine Stone. We are given a flashback of a woman treating a burn and then we are in Court, where Justine uses the information from that memory to unhinge a criminal defendant who was trying to claim self defense. That night, Justine receives a call from her boss asking her if she wants to be the lead on a double homicide case. She jumps at it and that is where our story really starts. It’s an emotional and psychological roller coaster after that.

Justine recognizes the accused murderer in her case, and this leads her back to her hometown where everything is not as nice as it seems. There are secrets hiding in this town and she is going to rifle through all of them trying to determine if her old flame is the murderer or is someone else is setting him up.

I had myself convinced I had it all solved several times, and I still think I know what happened to the one unsolved murder, but I did not see the ending coming. I’m expecting a nice little wrap up at the end, maybe a change of circumstance and instead you get smashed over the head and stabbed in the gut all at the same time. My husband lost track of the audible gasps and exclamations and the inevitable shouts of are you kidding me?! (With an expletive after you, that I will not type here). This book will have you crying, laughing, cringing, shouting, and picking your jaw up off the floor! Please check trigger warnings. This book released on July 1, 2025, and is available on Audible.

I would like to thank Zando and Dreamscape Select for trusting me with this audiobook via NetGalley. As always, all opinions are my own and if I do not like a book, you will know it. I cannot wait to see what this author produces next!

Bad Blood by Sarah Hornsley was a chilling and captivating read.
This was a quick and entertaining read that I finished in a few hours.
A well written story that kept me hooked from the very beginning.
The characters draw you in and keeps you flipping the pages.
The characters were all realistic and very well developed.
I really enjoyed the writing style. I found myself hooked, turning the pages.
A great read.

Huge thanks to NetGalley, Dreamscape Select, and Sarah Hornsley for the chance to listen to this ALC early!

Bad Blood is a twisty, emotional debut that pulled me in right away. I love a good small-town mystery, especially when it’s layered with complicated family dynamics and buried secrets, and this one delivered. Justine Stone is a criminal lawyer finally stepping into the spotlight with her first murder trial... only to realize the man she’s supposed to prosecute is Jake, her first love who vanished from her life years ago. Talk about tension!

As Justine heads back to the hometown she never wanted to return to, the story really takes off. You can feel the weight of her past pressing down on her. The loss of her father, the expectations of a small town, and all the things left unsaid between her and Jake. When her brother goes missing, the stakes rise fast, and I couldn’t stop listening.

Gemma Whelan's narration was fantastic. She captured Justine’s inner strength and vulnerability so well, and her delivery made the story even more immersive.

There were a couple of twists I saw coming, but overall, this was a strong, absorbing listen. If you love legal thrillers with heart and suspense that builds steadily, definitely give Bad Blood a try.

The premise for this book was so intriguing and interesting, but unfortunately the book did not deliver at all. The storyline just didn't work, the reasonings behind it and just the overall feel of it. I had to DNF.

Justine is a barrister who is assigned to a double murder case. Soon she realizes the accused is her ex-boyfriend from decades before. When Justine returns to her hometown, secrets both past and present are brought to the forefront.

Overall this book falls right in the middle for me. I felt the pacing could've been tweaked and there could've been better character development. I wasn't bored but I wasn't pulled in either. It's definitely one I could take or leave.

I did find the narration to be pretty flat. It wasn't bad, but there just wasn't much inflection and the pauses felt weirdly elongated.

3 stars

This book started off incredibly strong. While it's not a courtroom thriller, I was thoroughly invested in the story and drawn in by the tension and unreliable characters. The author’s writing kept me hooked for the first three-quarters of the book. However, around the 75% mark, the plot started to stall. The suspense fizzled, and the momentum just didn’t carry through to the end. Unfortunately, the ending felt flat and unsatisfying, especially given the buildup. This was my first book by this author—while I appreciated the writing style, the disappointing conclusion left me a bit let down.

4.75 stars!!

*thank you so much to netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital advanced reader's copy of this book. i received this e-book in exchange of an honest review. all opinions are my own*

this book had a strong hold on me right from the start. i thought i had a handle on the mystery and that i cracked the case about halfway through, but oh was i wrong.

POINT OF VIEW: this book was told in a very unique duel point-of-view, separated into "before" and after. the main body of the chapter was told in the present, with most concluding with a "before" section involving a different character that lent more to the main story. i thoroughly enjoyed the integration of the "before" as it added pieces of information to the story that allowed the reader to begin to solve the puzzle.

CHARACTERS: i really enjoyed how complicated all the characters were. the concept introduced in the book of no one being entirely good or bad really reflected in every character we were introduced to. justine, the main character, was a great barrister but struggled with her past trauma and decisions. her mother, evelyn, knew that her role as a mother was more important than anything but still made poor choices when it came to protecting her children. max, the brother, protected his sister but had raging addiction issues and spiraling guilt that consumes him entirely. finally, jake, the first love, did what he could to save the people he cared most about but ended up hurting them all more than he could imagine. all of these contradictions made the story all the more believable and real.

PLOT: while the plot was slow-moving, it was also gripping. i was begging to learn more, to unravel the rest of the story, and to experience more of the fallout. just when i thought i knew what to expect, it changed course and took me for a whole different ride, and i loved it. the ending was especially captivating. the mirrored passage that diverged slightly from the path, changing the narrative completely, was riveting.

the book had my heart racing. i was enthralled by the entire mystery and thoroughly enjoyed my experience listening to it. this was my first ever audiobook and i am so glad that this was the one i experienced. the narrator was incredible, truly making the writing come to life.

sarah hornsley, you are a genius. i will be staying tuned for further released and highly anticipate reading more of your work.

This is not a courtroom thriller in the typical way so if you go in expecting that, you may be slightly disappointed. I absolutely loved the direction the book took, and this debut thriller completely shocked me in the best way! The pacing was spot on, the mystery kept me guessing, and the dual timelines between past and present were woven together so well. The secrets, the family drama, the twists all built up to an ending that delivered exactly what I love in a thriller.

I also have to mention the narration as Gemma Whalen absolutely nailed it!

Thank you NetGalley & Dreamscape Select for the ALC.

Family secrets, half truths, unreliable characters, this book really pulls you in. The narrator does a fantastic job at pulling you into the book and making it hard to put down. While I wasn’t on the edge of my seat throughout this book the ending had me in disbelief!