Review: The Fair Weather Friend by Jessie Garcia

                                                            

Print Length: 320 pages

Publisher: St. Martin's Press (January 20, 2026)

From Goodreads.com: It's always sunny in Detroit for Faith Richards. The popular TV meteorologist, endearingly referred to as "The Fair Weather Friend" by her viewers, has the world by the tail. But one night, Faith leaves work on a dinner break and never returns. Her body is found the next morning.

The town is reeling, suspects emerge, and long-buried secrets are uncovered. While her allies rally, her list of adversaries also grows. Little does anyone know that only the deepest secrets will expose the truth.

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My Rating: 2 stars out of 5

Let me be clear: I don’t hate stories told from multiple points of view. What I do start to question is authors who seem incapable of telling a story without giving the microphone to everyone who has ever crossed paths with the victim. For me, anything over three POVs (and that’s me being generous) starts to feel unnecessary. This book showcases SEVEN different points of view, which, to be fair, is an improvement over this author’s last novel that somehow managed to juggle ELEVEN different ones, but it still felt like overkill. Not every character needs a turn in the spotlight to move the story forward.

Because this was an advanced reader copy, I also feel obligated to mention the number of spelling errors scattered throughout. Yes, I understand ARCs may still undergo additional edits, and yes, some of these issues may be corrected before publication. But if they aren’t, it would be remiss of me not to point them out to my followers (and anyone else who happens to stumble across this review). 

As for the plot itself, I called the first major storyline well before it actually came into play, it was just that obvious. What confused me more was how that same character was supposedly held accountable for an entirely different issue, when any real police investigation would have uncovered the truth fairly quickly. This was one of those moments where suspension of disbelief was clearly required, though I’m not sure it earned it.

The secondary plotline didn’t fare much better. In fact, it was nearly identical to another book by this same author that I’ve already read. Because of that, nothing about it surprised me, and there was zero sense of tension or intrigue. And then, just when I thought the book was wrapping up neatly… it kept going. More chapters, more last-minute twists, more turns clearly meant to shock the reader. Instead, they just annoyed me. The ending in particular felt unfinished, but unfortunately I can’t go into detail without spoiling something major. Suffice it to say, I closed the book feeling less satisfied and more irritated than anything else.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel from the publisher. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.