I hadn't realised this was part of a series so I think I'd prefer to have read it all with that background information. DNA and family history is so interesting and thus provides a really intriguing element to this mystery book that's well written, entertaining and charismatic.

I'm a keen family historian and have used DNA testing to try and break down a very large brick wall (with recent success) so I was keen to read this book, though I haven't read any of the others in the series.
I quite enjoyed it the book but thought that, in my opinion, Hannah got answers far too quickly and this spoilt it a little for me. There are lots of mysteries to be found in any family history so in my opinion the introduction of a sperm donor's murder wasn't necessary.
I think my own experience and research led me to find flaws in this novel which is a shame as I believe if I read some of Marcia Talley's other novels I'd find them easy to read and quite enjoyable.

Tapping into society’s current obsession with tracing lineage via DNA analysis, Marcia Talley releases another satisfying entry in her Hannah Ives series. The murder mystery in the novel hits close to home for Hannah, but honestly, it’s the detailed information about DNA that proves the most compelling element here. That larger concept is cleverly used by Talley to give the multiple threads within Twisted Roots a unifying theme.

Is it always wise to find your genealogical ancestry?

In an America governed by Trump, Hannah receives a phone call from her younger sister, prompting her to take a DNA test. According to Gen-Tree, her sister, who spat into a tube, is 25% Native American. This puzzles all the siblings as they can’t remember their grandparents having Native American features. All those who may know their story have passed on. Hannah decides to investigate and is drawn into her genealogical history, which subsequently leads to a reservation in the heart of Sioux Indian territory. Here she meets a 102-year-old woman who provides clues to a fascinating discovery and a sad story. But as Hannah starts to untangle the roots of her ancestry, there is a family murder. Hannah is faced with the knowledge that her genealogical research could possibly have led to the brutal deed.

I am uncertain about this read as I don’t enjoy a colloquial style, but the novel presents the possibilities and dangers around DNA testing, which I found quite fascinating. For me the book lacked fluidity - one becomes engrossed in the protagonist’s discovery of her genealogical roots, suddenly a murder takes place, and the plot veers off into a whodunnit. Although Talley does tie it all together in the end, I felt that the plot was divided. What I enjoyed most was her incorporation of Native American culture and customs. Their legends are beautiful and worth discovering.

Ange

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

Even though the book is well written I couldn't connect to the characters and the book fell flat.
Not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to Severn House and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Hannah Ives’s younger sister Georgina has taken a DNA test and is shocked to learn that she is 25% Native American. She convinces Hannah to take the test and weeks later, Hannah’s DNA test has similar results but who in their family was Native American? Hannah dives into constructing her family tree online and DNA matching turns up second cousins, Mai and Nicholas Johnson in South Dakota. Hannah and her niece Julie are eager to embrace their new relatives and learn about their surprising ancestry, but Georgina’s accountant husband Scott isn’t so keen.

Hannah's ancestral sleuthing is halted when Scott is found murdered in his backyard. A neighbour's security camera seems to capture one of Scott's sons having a discussion with him on that fateful afternoon but that's impossible since the boys were away on a summer vacation. So who was the doppelganger that visited Scott? Hannah gets an email that reveals that Scott had been a sperm donor during his student days in Chicago and that his daughter Julie has 15 half-siblings that she had not known about! The relations are getting together in Illinois for a reunion and Hannah and Julie go to find the doppelganger and some answers.

A lame kind of motive and clues leads Julie to help Hannah identify Scott's killer.

Finally at the end of the book, Hannah and sister Ruth search their father's storage container and find their late grandmother Charlotte's scrapbook that provides the answer to their Native American ancestor's identity.

I received an eARC via Netgalley and Severn House with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book and provided this review.

This is a quick read could have easily been longer- and thus more rewarding. An impulsive DNA test opens up a lot of questions for Hannah and her sister Georgina. There's clearly a family secret because they had no idea that they are 25 percent Native American, which means someone fairly close to them in time. Georgina's husband is murdered and well, of course, Hannah investigates. Thanks to net galley for the ARC. I read this more or less as a standalone (I've read one previous Ives book). Talley has picked a topical issue to focus on and it deserved more.

I recently read the first book in the Hannah Ives series (Sing It To Her Bones), and was immediately hooked on this character. When the opportunity came from NetGalley to read the most recent entry, I jumped on it even though I hadn't read the rest of the series. Unlike some series, where it feels like you're the newcomer in an old group of friends with a shared history, I was able to jump from the first book to the latest without any sense that I was lost. While characters overlap between books and time passes, I was able to enjoy Tangled Roots without feeling that I'd missed the backstory. Hannah is an appealing amateur sleuth, prone to jumping in with both feet without looking first (but if she didn't, there wouldn't be a story, would there?). Highly recommended, especially if you're looking for new series for a book-binge!

Hannah Ives is spurred to investigate her family tree. Her sister Georgina has received some surprising results from her DNA test and wants some answers.

The main problem with this book is that it should have been 2 books. We have two main stories – Hannah tracing her family tree and discovering native American blood in her DNA. There is a complete story in this thread – the meeting of the distant relatives, finding their history and the mysteries of the past. It could have been dealt with in considerable depth with plenty of detail of the Native American way of life in the past and present.

Tenuously linked to this is the murder of Hannah’s brother-in-law & Georgina’s husband, Scott. There are DNA issues within this story but they are totally separate to the ancestors of Hannah, Georgina & their other sister, Ruth. There is a murder mystery here which was interesting and deserved more depth and a book of its own.

The consequence of having these two large stories in one book is that neither is given enough time and depth. There are plenty of themes to be explored but none is done in much depth. The characters are quite shallow and cardboard as none is given enough time to develop as a person. This made it hard to get involved with this book as I wasn’t able to be sufficiently interested in the characters.

I really don’t feel that the author has done justice to the stories she has created in this book. I wish that I could have read two in depth, well researched and well constructed books. What I actually read was a shallow and undeveloped book with too much crammed into it and nothing developed properly.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

I was immediately interested in this book because of the title.
I just knew I was going to be excited with the story.
I was not disappointed. This book was filled with twists and turns and kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

#TangledRoots #NetGalley I was interested in this book as it tackled a completely new and very topical subject. I was also intrigued as I have recently undertaken my own DNA Ancestry tracing! The storyline was interesting with different subplots that were interwoven into the main story. Early on in the book, I did think there was too much narrative relating to the complexities of DNA testing and I did skim read a bit of it. There were a lot of abbreviations/acronyms that weren't explained as well - they may have been familiar to an Amercian audience but not for me. Also I found that the ease in which Hannah delved into tracing elements of her family tree, were not, in reality, my own experience!! The second half of the book focused more on the action and really picked up the pace and kept me reading until I finished it. Overall, a very interesting read.