I unfortunately could t get into this one. It was okay.

Thanks you for the advanced audio copy to listen to for my honest review.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an audio-ARC of Killing Time by Brenna Ehrlich, narrated by Laura Knight Keating
Killing Time is a well-written, fast-paced mystery that is perfect for YA readers. Brenna Ehrlich hooks the reader right away and keeps the you engaged. Great book to recommend to true crime lovers! Keating was a perfect narrator for this book. the sound of her voice matches the age of Natalie.

I found this book more frustrating that compelling. There are these thinly veiled references to real podcasts that are heavily judgemental. Certain types are lifted up as "real" journalism, everything else dismissed as sensationalized and predatory. If it were just that, I could dismiss my displeasure as a difference of opinion. But the murder mystery here really stretches my willing suspension of disbelief. The motivation and evidence goes too far. It won't hold up to repetition.

This story is pretty good. I’d say it’s a tad slow for the most part but still has good characters and is a solid story.
In Ferrry, Connecticut summer is here and it’s known to be filled with long lazy days at the beach and parties in an abandon mansion or two at night. However, all that is about to change.
Natalie Temple who isn’t much of a party girl nor does she spend a ton of time at the beach has found out her favorite teacher has been murdered. She already has a true crime obsession so she decides she’s not going to put up with all the rumors that are spinning out of control, lie after lie, and decides to conduct her own investigation. Her mother isn’t thrilled but Natalie teams up with the new boy in town and does it anyway. She begins to find out that some secrets should really stay secret.
This was good. It’s interesting and it’s fun to try to figure it all out along with the characters. The only thing I would say is that it is quite slow a lot of the time but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. When it’s slow it gives you time to take in everything you’ve read and try to solve it all for yourself.
This book has good well written characters and takes place over two different times. One when her mother was younger and the current time.

An engaging addition to YA crime with an excellent audio version. A recommended purchase for YA and HS collections.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* 3.5, this wasn't a bad read but i do wish it was just a little, more? i would reread it though

This is a dual timeline mystery following a mother and daughter as they each investigate a mystery in their hometowns. Natalie is a true crime buff and when her favorite teacher is killed, she ropes her best friend Katie into looking for clues and making a podcast about the crime. Helen is in her first year of college and is assigned by the school paper to look into a classmate's disappearance. Both girls are navigating growing up, relationships with their parents, and deciding how far to go in their pursuit of the truth.

The back and forth narration was a bit difficult to follow on the audiobook. I think if there were two narrators it would have helped differentiate between the girls. We also didn't get as much of Helen as Natalie and Helen's investigation wasn't as interesting. I felt like her story was more about why she's so protective of Natalie and hates her true crim obsession.

When there aren't many characters introduced, it's kind of easy to see who the killer is. I hoped it would be a more exciting plot, but it focused too much on Natalie fighting with Helen and being interested in Kurt. I would have liked more mystery and more exciting or intense moments to make it a thriller.

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All opinions are my own. Thank you to RB Media and NetGalley for the audiobook copy

For me, “Killing Time” seemed like a good story for fans of mystery, investigations, and true crime for YA audience.

The book follows the story of Natalie and her mother Helen, whose local community is shocked by the murder of Natalie’s favourite teacher. Being a fan of true crime, and having her own podcast on the topic, Natalie sets out to identify the murderer and put her detective skills into practice. In parallel, Helen tells a story from her college days, set 19 years in the past, which ties in with the event happening in the current time of the story.

Natalie’s personality is shaped to fit her age. She is curious, has teenage emotions, and likes to follow her passions. Unfortunately for her, Helen is a helicopter-mom who is always showing her overprotective side too much, on top of her controlling attitude, which often comes in contrast with Natalie’s free spirit.

When it comes in the story, there were times when time seemed to be progressing either too slow or either too fast, which made the pace uneven. This, combined with the shifting between the two timelines got me confused at times, but it all makes sense in the last chapters.

Overall, it was a good story to listen to. I liked the theme of the book and the way in which it combines the feelings of uncertainty with curiosity and it’s something I would love to see more in the writings of the author.

Special thanks to NetGalley, RB Media, and the editorial team for giving me the opportunity to review the ARC in audiobook format and to you, my reader, for taking the time to read this honest personal book review.

If you are interested in other of my book reviews, make sure to follow me on GoodReads!

#LifeLongLearning #KillingTime #NetGalley

I did not really enjoy this book. I respect that the narrator seemed new to the industry, but her speech was too slow and stiff. The characters stayed primarily one dimensional throughout, and every single romantic relationship felt forced and unnatural. The friendship/romantic dynamic between the main character and the golden retriever newspaper boy seemed highly unrealistic and unlikely given high school social politics, and the mother/daughter evolution seemed too drastic going from completely distant to understanding and loving. This is better than anything I could write, but both the writing and and narrating felt like it were their first times.

Reviewing
Killing time
By Breanna Erhlich

Author Breanna Erhlich pens a fun and inquisitive murder mystery for
young adults interest in this genre but not quite ready for all the graphic
details that are often found in adult counterparts. Duel points of
view give great depth of knowledge and keep readers on their toes while most twists and turns were predicable Erhlich is sure to surprise readers with her grand finally

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 3.5 stars for a well written young adult mystery with a PG rating

I enjoyed the audio - though at times I was lost as to which character was speaking. The timeframe for the "then" character was confusing to me as well. Likely due to listening and performing other tasks.
Natalie's favorite teacher dies - and appears to be a suspicious death. Natalie is beyond devastated - the summer before college looming ahead. Natalie befriends Kurt, a roommate of a friend; with the promise of a reward, they work together to chase leads.
Helen's friend in a class disappears - Helen begins her own investigation. Her college newspaper assigns Helen the article - she finds herself at the mom's house, listening to stories. Though Helen and school have seemed to move on, Helen refuses to her friend's death disappear from the spotlight.
Great twists. Some slow areas but overall a good story.

Natalie has always been fascinated with true crime. She even has her own podcast with her best friend, Katie. When her favorite teacher is found murdered, she decides that she needs to investigate herself for an "as it happens" type investigation podcast. The more Natalie uncovers, the more she realizes some secrets should have stayed secret.

I enjoyed this book, but not as much as I would have hoped. There were some interesting twists and turns, some of which I figured out and others which I didn't. I did like that there were little flashbacks to Natalie's mother's past. That was a fun added mystery. I liked that those flashbacks actually had a purpose that was all tied up at the end. I liked Natalie for the most part but some of the things she did made me question her sanity.

audiobook specific: I liked the narrator. I thought she was a good pick for this story.

Narration/Audio: 4.5 out of 5: Nothing wrong with the narration. Really enjoyed the narrator's pace and voice. No audio issues when playing at 1.5 to 2.0 speeds.
Story: 3.5 out of 5: Some parts, to me where predictable, but overall a good story.
Cover: 5 out of 5: Simple styling with mysterious element.
Overall: 4.5 out of 5

Thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars

Killing time, is told in two POVs and it alternating timelines.
I enjoyed listening to Natalie’s story. I really enjoyed how she would reflect back to how she met Mrs. Halsey and how the teacher helped her on school. It made me connect and sympathize with Natalie. However, I struggled to connect with Natalie’s mother, Helen storyline. I had a very hard time connecting with Helen. It stemmed with how she treated her daughter about certain things. The narrator, was great and it was easy for me to distinguish who was speaking.
Overall, the story was a engaging and I would recommend this book to YA mystery lovers.

Killing Time
Brenna Erhlich
It is the summer after Natalie Temple’s senior year in high school. She is shocked at the murder of her favorite teacher. Natalie has long been interested in true crime and has her own podcast where she discusses true crimes. It is only natural that she begin her own investigation of the murder. Most girls her age enjoy dating and partying, but Natalie’s spends her time helping her mother at the diner, interning at the local paper, and hosting her podcast.
. The setting moves from the current time in Ferry, Connecticut to nineteen years ago in Evanston, Illinois when Helen, Natalie’s mother was in college. Natalie sees her mother as too stern, calculating and over-protective.
While we get a look into Helen’s personality during the flash back 19 years, we actually get a deeper look through Natalie and her relationship with her mother. I know this book was written for Young Adults and Natalie feels her mother is overprotective, but you really can’t fault Helen for being protective of her daughter. I found the flashbacks useless, they served very little purpose. While the podcast is mentioned several times, we don’t really get any information about it; the podcast could have be left out for it had little effect on the story. I usually enjoy Young Adult books but I found this one disappointing.

With thanks to the publisher for access to this eARC audiobook!

I really enjoyed this book, so much more than anticipated. There was such good character development and the narrator did an excellent job with each of the characters. The plot was easy to follow, even with dual POVs and I loved the way this story explored mother/daughter relationships and also humanising victims of true crime and giving another perspective to journalism and true crime podcasts.

I really think this was written excellently, and the characters were such accurate portrayals of friendships, familial relationships and teenagers! I will definitely be reading more from this author.

I got this book at such a great time as I was in need of a good mystery story to cleanse my palate. Overall I really enjoyed this book and found myself missing it a couple of days after I finished it. There were some aspects of the book I felt Ehrlich did very well and some that I wished would’ve been different, but all in all, I’d recommend this as a good read and here’s why:

The Good:
-Realistic MC- Natalie is a fresh high school grad trying to solve the mystery of her teacher’s murder for her podcast. Throughout the book, she expresses herself somewhat immaturely and sometimes with sense of entitlement, which frankly was a bit annoying but probably very similar to how a teenager on the cusp of adulthood thinks. What I love that Ehrlich did though, was that when Natalie acted impulsively and unwisely, there were usually consequences for her actions rather than having everything work out perfectly. It taught Natalie to evaluate her actions moving forward.
-Great Character Development- I feel like Natalie grew a lot by the end of this book and I was SO PROUD of her. She made dumb mistakes and some pretty bad decisions but she learned from them and learned some hard lessons along the way.
-Friendship- Katie Lugo, I love you!! Natalie’s best friend is the coolest, chillest, sassiest friend for life and I just loved hearing about the history between them and their dynamic through this whole story. I want Katie Lugo to animate and be a real person so that I can be her friend.
-Unexpected Twists- The story definitely did not end how I was expecting it too and I was really surprised (and perhaps a little confused) at the end.
-Good Moral- This book harps a lot on true crime as a form of entertainment. Some characters find it repulsing that people would enjoy hearing about others’ misfortunes, some characters have an unnatural obsession with it and a lot more fall somewhere in between. I personally love listening to true crime podcasts, which was why I was drawn to this book in the first place. But the book reminds us that these are real tragedies that happen to real people and they should be given the proper respect. I think Natalie was a bit hypocritical with this principle at first, but by the end of the book, she communicates the message in a great way.

The Could Be Better:
-Horror Chick Syndrome- Natalie made a lot of dumb choices. Blame it on her being so young or on her wanting to be a “real reporter.” Either way, it was frustrating to follow, especially when she even admits that she is acting like a girl in a horror movie while the audience is screaming at her to stop and turn back. She eventually learned but it took A LOT of trial and error.
-Underwhelming Ending- I was not expecting the ending at all but it also kind of fell short. It’s like it built up to this big climax and then left you like, “Oh really? That’s it? That’s what happened?”

** spoiler alert ** This book was great! I loved the development and maturing that Natalie does throughout the book. I thought the caring and loving tribute to her teacher, allowing all those that cared about her to have their say, instead of a salacious podcast was an awesome choice for her and shows how much she learned and grew from her experiences. I also loved the comeuppance of her HS rival that always took credit for others' work, she just could not imagine that Natalie would turn HER down!

I wish that Natalie's mom had been truthful with her from the beginning about her experiences in the past. I don't think Natalie would have been so fascinated with true crime and reporting/investigating if she had been truthful with her past. I did love that the truth came and that they were able to come together more closely afterward.

#KillingTime
#NetGalley

"Killing Time" by Brenna Ehrlich is a YA true crime novel that takes place in Ferry, Connecticut. The story follows to alternate timelines, one of our main character, eighteen year old Natalie Temple, in present day, and the other of her mother, Helen Temple, during her college days. Both ladies are following the path of investigating true crime that has hit too close to their personal lives. In modern day, Natalie's favorite teacher has been tragically murdered, and she finds that it is her responsibility to pay homage to her teacher by giving her case the "respect" it deserves.

This story was entertaining, and it did leave me shocked a few times. I was actually wrong about who the murderer was (Natalie's timeline), and that rarely happens with me. This book got major props for that great plot twist! However, I found myself more entranced by Helen's story and was yearning for more. I wish the readers got to receive the conclusion to her story in a more personable way instead of briefly mentioning it at the end. I think it would have made her overprotectiveness as a mother more relatable to the readers.

I also really struggled with Natalie. She is definitely a main character that you will struggle to like, which is a good thing! However, I think she didn't develop much as a character -- or at least, we didn't get to see much of it. She is consistently making very dangerous decisions, and I felt like the only voice of reason I could hear throughout the whole book was her best friend Katie. Natalie felt like an undercover brat to me.

I give this book three starts because despite the complications I had with Natalie, I could NOT stop listening. It was very addictive.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ehrlich for letting me have early access to this story.

A great read for true crime fans! I found the flashback scene's with Helen to be a little confusing at first, but once I got further into the story their purpose began to make sense. Hand this title to fans of the A Good Girl's Guide to Murder series.