Justine Stone left her hometown nearly two decades ago in the wake of a series of devastating events that culminated in the loss of her father, and her first love, Jake.

She is taken by surprise when she suddenly finds herself leading the prosecution team in a case that turns out to involve Jake (who now uses a different name, which explains why she has never been able to track him down in the intervening years). He stands accused of two murders. But the man Justine once knew could not have committed such a crime. Or could he?

To get the answers that she desperately needs, Justine will have to revisit her hometown and the family home she abandoned, and face up to the difficult relationships she left behind when she married a man who adores her and built a life with him in the capital.

The story holds the reader's attention throughout, and this is a dark tale of complex family dynamics, obsessive first love, and the challenges of living with your past and the decisions that still haunt you. Worth checking out. I actually enjoyed the audio book more than I did when I initially read it.

It was just ok to me. Justine is a barrister and a man from her past shows up, with a new name, and has been charged with a crime. Why did he change his name? When did he change his name? As she delves into this, she finds out things about her family and past as well. It held my attention at the beginning, but then kind of lost it. It was just ok.

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬
A double murder. A toxic past. A secret that could destroy everything.
Twelve years after walking away from her hometown, barrister Justine Stone is forced to return to prosecute her ex-boyfriend, Jake, for a brutal double homicide.
As the case unfolds, Justine finds herself drawn back into the tangled web of her past. To build the prosecution, she must confront the truth about what happened when they were young, not just the version she’ll present in court, but the real, hidden story that could change everything.
But the deeper she digs, the more dangerous the secrets become, especially the ones her own family has kept buried.
Facing the truth could win her the case.
It could also cost her life.

𝐌𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
This wasn’t the courtroom thriller the blurb led me to expect, but surprisingly, I didn’t mind that. I found the shift in genre a bit refreshing. What I struggled with, though, was the main character, Justine. From the beginning, she came off as self-centered and difficult to connect with, and her lack of growth made it hard to root for her. The writing shows promise, and the narrator delivered a solid performance. Overall, it wasn’t a favorite, but I didn’t regret giving it a try.

Thank You @Netgalley and @ Dreamscape Select | Zando for allowing me to review this book.

This book was paced too slowly in my opinion. The plot took a lot of turns but it was hard to keep my attention on this one. The narration was great but none of the characters made me want to care a lot about them.

arah Hornsley has released her debut novel, Bad Blood, where Justine Hart is a barrister, and excited to be assigned a case that will put her in the spotlight; it’s a double murder case, and there is plenty of evidence against the suspect. However, once she starts to gather the evidence, she discovers that the suspect is her first love, Jake Reynolds, who left her 18 years ago and changed his name. She goes back to her hometown for the first time in those 18 years, tries to locate her brother, Max, who always protected her, and who she had kept in contact with, but only saw her mother who had sent her away after her father’s death. She knows her mother is keeping secrets, and that Jake’s disappearance, Max’s disappearance, her father’s death, and her mother’s secrecy are connected, but is trying to find out why. As the family secrets begin to emerge, suspense builds, and readers will find themselves on the edge.

Hornsley does an excellent job of telling the story, especially for her debut novel. There are a few places that are a bit hard to follow, but that’s partly because of the twists and turns that are unexpected. She also does a good job of developing her characters. Justine, the protagonist, is likeable, and is a woman who has had a difficult past. As the story progresses, more information comes out and things begin to be clear. The dénouement is definitely interesting and a surprise.

Anyone who chooses to listen to this novel as an audio book, will find that the narrator is excellent and with her British accent, makes readers feels they are actually in the UK.

All told, this is a unique kind of suspense novel and is quite enjoyable.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

𝗤𝗨𝗜𝗖𝗞 𝗣𝗟𝗢𝗧 𝗣𝗘𝗘𝗞
Prosecutor Justine Stone, about to lead a high‑stakes murder trial, recognizes the defendant as her first love, Jake. After 18 years away, she returns to her UK hometown to confront buried trauma and uncover the truth.

𝗛𝗢𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗧 𝗢𝗣𝗜𝗡𝗜𝗢𝗡
With a legal drama backdrop, this domestic thriller packed a punch. It felt grown up but not gritty - gripping and perfectly paced.

I love characters who aren’t simply “good” or “bad,” “weak” or “strong.” Justine is all of those things. I liked that she was reserved yet soft, fought for justice but could justify lying.

This is really her journey, but the flashbacks added depth to the people around her. The structure reminded me of a procedural TV show with the headings: The Boyfriend, The Brother, The Mother etc - so good!

I appreciated the simplicity of the storyline. There weren’t too many characters or tangled subplots to confuse things. I was fully engrossed and loved the reveals and twists - every single one.

The audiobook narrator was exactly the vibe and a total pleasure to listen to. This is the second of hers I’ve heard, and she’s quickly becoming a favorite.

𝗪𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗?
I hate to say it, but I was so close to not reading this book because of the generic book cover. It does absolutely nothing to represent this fantastic debut.

So please look past it - this British thriller deserves a spot on any thriller reader’s TBR. 4.5⭐️

Thanks to Dreamscape Select and @Netgalley for access to this advance readers copy

Well, this “Bad Blood” certainly ran deep. This well paced thriller held my attention, as I was anxious to see how the story unfolded, & determine who was guilty and who was not. It is evident from the very beginning that there is much more going on beneath the surface than the readers think.

Justine is a successful lawyer, on the brink of a wonderful career. Anxious to begin her first murder trial, she is taken aback when she opens a folder to review the case and realizes it is the face of her first love, with a new identity. When she returns to her hometown to investigate this case, her world is turned upside down as family secrets, deeply rooted traumas, and lies are revealed leaving her in a mental whirlwind.

Overall, a solid read that I would recommend for fans of family/domestic thrillers, with mind churning twists! The narrator did a terrific job in the audiobook. She brought the perfect amount of personality to Justine’s character. Thank you Dreamscape Select and NetGalley for this advanced listening copy. All opinions are my own.

A slow anxiety building read with plenty of secrets and twists until the very end.
Intriguing from the start I really enjoyed the setting style and felt thoroughly immersed.
This felt more like a slow throttle rather than a heart thumping fast paced thriller but still very enjoyable.

Fabulous narrator

AHHHHH! I really liked this book until the end. But I can't be mad about the ending either. Bad Blood definitely flows through ALL the members of the Stone family. The plot is twisty, the characters are complex, and the ending left me shocked. This is a fantastic debut novel by Ashley Hornsley and I can't wait to see what else she writes.

Justine stone is a criminal lawyer whose high school sweetheart is accused of murder. It is up to her to decide if he is guilty. This was slow and there was a lot of buildup to get to what the answers were. Justine has to go back in the past and there was secrets of course. I was not big on the ending either. This was middle of the road for me. You might like it more.

Thank you Netgalley, Dreamscape Connect, and Zando for the Advanced Listeners Copy!

This was a fantastic debut! I cannot wait to see more from this author. Fans of Alice Feeney will eat this up!

The pacing is not fast but had me at the edge of my seat. I wanted to speed up the audiobook to find out what happened but also wanted to enjoy the ride. I loved the jump between first and third person. The different point of view added so much depth

Justine’s character was well written and real. I mean, who doesn’t occasionally check up on their first love? I loved her need to search down the truth but I was suspicious of her throughout the novel.

The narrator, Gemma Whelan, did a fantastic job of drawing me in!

The blurb on this one is very misleading. This is not a legal thriller in any way. Justine just happens to be a prosecutor and her high school boyfriend is accused of murder. That is far into legal territory as it gets- her career and his predicament.

This is instead about Justine returning to her home town to dig up some facts about what really happened the night Jake left for good.

I didn't dislike this. I just had completely different expectations due to the blurb. Maybe I'd have enjoyed it more if I knew what I was getting into.

Oh, and I hate Justine. So much. And the ending just makes me angry.

Gemma Whelan narrates the audiobook.

I received an advance audio copy in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, this audiobook did a good job of drawing me with the mystery and intrigue surrounding the death of a couple, with Jake being blamed for their murders and how it might relate to the awful thing that happened 18 years ago that lead to Justine's dad's death, her leaving, and then Jake's disappearance. And while Justine is a barrister, she also has secrets and a darkness in her past and the way she uses her power as a barrister to find out all she could about the reappearance of her ex-boyfriend made me doubt her reliability as a narrator. That definitely kept me listening to see what would be revealed next. And there are a few twists that I did not see coming and while those were good, I ultimately was a bit disappointed by the ending which kinda fell flat for me after all the bombshells of who was a the murderer, who will take the blame, and who will survive the blowout.

So, while I did not enjoy the ending, I found no fault with the narrator who did a great job in bringing Justine and the other characters to life in this twisted story with a dark past and an uncertain future. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to listen to this audiobook.

I found this a bit slow with a letdown of an ending.

When I read the description, I was excited to start this one. It opens strong, but it started to drag pretty quickly. I listened to the audiobook, and at one point I checked and realized I was about 60% through and we still really didn’t have much information.

Justine is a prosecutor (or the UK equivalent) who gets her first big case, only to realize the defendant is her ex-boyfriend. The one she’s still hung up on, 18 years later despite being married.

There’s a lot of buildup and hinting around Justine’s past, but it takes so long to get answers that I found myself losing interest.
The narrator was fine, nothing standout for me, but nothing that pulled me out of the story either.

There are a few twists I didn’t see coming, and for a bit I was pulled back in, but ultimately, I didn’t love the ending.

I hate to give a completely negative review (I might be in the minority here), so if the premise interests you, it might still be worth a shot. It just wasn’t really for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Select, and Zando for the advanced listening copy.

I really enjoyed Bad Blood, while the pacing isn’t necessarily fast, it is gripping. Justine is a successful barrister, has a lovely husband, a lovely home and it seems that her career is about to take another turn for the better when she’s selected for a new double murder prosecution case. There’s just one issue, when she opens the file the face looking back at her is that of her ex boyfriend. Her first love, and a face she hasn’t seen for many years.

Justine is quite literally dragged back to her past, a place she doesn’t really want to be in and people she doesn’t want to see, and of course, where secrets are plenty.

Can Justine prove her ex’s innocence and can she finally get to the truth of the past and let it rest.

I didn’t quite guess the twist!

I wish I could credit the narrator by name, she done a fantastic job and played a big part in reeling me in.

Huge thanks to Dreamscape Select and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ELC 🎧