Book Review: The Fair Weather Friend by Jessie Garcia

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Jessie Garcia's Sophomore Novel, The Fair Weather Friend
The Fair Weather Friend by Jessie Garcia opens with Faith Richards, a popular meteorologist in Detroit, never returning back to the news station after her dinner break. The next day, her news station releases a story that she's been found, strangled to death not far from the station. The Fair Weather Friend, as Richards is referred to by adoring fans, had some deep, dark secrets. As those skeletons come to light, other peoples' lives start to unravel, and things are not what they seem.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for approving my request for an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of Jessie Garcia's The Fair Weather Friend. A digital copy was provided to me for free in exchange for my honest review. All opinions of the novel are my own.

There were many things I absolutely enjoyed about Jessie Garcia's sophomore novel including multiple point of views, the character development, and numerous red herrings. Overall, the story being told from a variety of characters helped reveal the personality of Faith Richards, and she was a very unlikable person who burned every single friendship. The multiple points of views was done reasonably well and wasn't too confusing. At first, I did have trouble keeping the characters straight, but once I settled into the story, I didn't have any issue with that. It also helped with really getting to know all the key players in the story and knowing their background. 

Additionally, the multiple perspectives helped with providing several red herrings, and I love a story that tries to trip me up. I absolutely fell in love with Carol, Jim, Olivia, and Kelly but despised Matthew, Tara, Elliott, and Hope. There was one character that I felt was super likable at the beginning but ended up disliking. You'll have to read the book to figure out who it was.

As for things I didn't care for ... I figured out the big twist relatively early on but wasn't sure how it was accomplished. It also gave off vibes similar to Gone Girl. If you've read that book, you'll know what I mean. There was one other twist at the end that I didn't really see coming, and I was hoping that the person involved with that twist would have changed. 

In the end, I felt like Faith was a troubled soul and could have, and would have, been a better person in her life had certain things hadn't happened. I did feel like she had some redemption, but not completely. Did I feel sorry for Faith? When it was all done and said, yes, I felt sorry for her and understood her a little more.

Entertaining, hard to put down, heart stopping, and fast paced are all things I would say about The Fair Weather Friend by Jessie Garcia. It’s the kind of book that plays like a movie in your head, and even when I had to put it down and return to real life, I kept thinking about it. So far, this is one of my top picks for 2026 and highly recommend you read it. A solid four out of five stars is what I rated Jessie Garcia's The Fair Weather Friend.

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