Ten years ago, Phoebe Dean lay dying on a bridge in the small town of West Wilmer. For years her death was quietly talked about, with most people asking why it too Phoebe's brother Grant twenty-seven minutes to call for help. Yet Grant wasn't alone on the bridge that night. Becca knows what happened but she remains silent, keeping Grant's secret...or is it her own. Grant and Becca are used to keeping secrets and what happened that night is just one more shared between them. But there are other mysteries happening in West Wilmer. As Phoebe lay dying, June's brother Wyatt disappears without a trace. Did he have something to do with Phoebe's death or did he, after yet another fight with his father, make good on his threat to get out of the cloying, claustrophobic dead end town?
As the ten year anniversary of Phoebe's death nears, the town readies to hold a memorial, June holds a funeral for her mother, to which no one attends. Once again, Phoebe's death overshadow the loss of someone June loves. As June prepares to grieve alone, Wyatt returns to explain why he left. In doing so, he will unearth the secret of what happened that fateful night on the bridge.

Ashley Tate's debut novel, Twenty-Seven Minutes, is tells a powerful story of life in a small town where many have secrets just waiting to be discovered. The story is well written and well plotted, although the end feels a bit rushed considering that the reveal is relatively short in comparison the the lead up to it. I really wanted short chapter or even an epilogue to find out what happened after the reveal. Despite this, I enjoyed the read. I feel that anyone who enjoys small town mysteries with some psychological twistiness. will happily while away a few hours on this read.

First, I want to thank NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for allowing me to read this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion of the book!

This dual timeline story takes place in a small town that has been grieving the death of a brilliant young lady for ten years. I would say the main characters in this story are a bit unreliable and their mental health questionable. I would call this a psychological thriller because the way the story builds in slow burn that will keep the reader guessing and trying to figure out what really happened the rainy night of the accident that took Phoebe's life.

Grant, Phoebe's brother who was driving that night, and Becca, who was also in the truck the night of the accident have been traumatized and have suffered from keeping secrets for ten years. They have also listened to the whole town mourn Phoebe, but at the same time they feel like the town has forgotten about their injuries and traumatic experience.

During the whole story the town in gearing up for a memorial on the tenth anniversary of Phoebe's death and a vote that will determine the fate of the bridge where the accident happened.

June is my favorite character in the book. Her brother Wyatt disappeared the same night that the accident happened and no one in the town has cared or asked about him all these years. No one seems to care about the Delroy family at all.

Twenty-seven minutes by Ashley Tate was a page turner! I could not put this book down, I finished it in 2 days!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this early and give an honest review.

3.5 stars

I would really like it if in the future when authors are writing a book with a twist ending...they refrain from using a stereotypical supernatural twist.

Besides that, while the plot was interesting, I couldn't stand the characters. They were all so unlikable and I wasn't rooting for any of them or even rooting for the mystery to be resolved. I also felt like there were some plot holes (but that may be because I skimmed most of the book lol).

Pub date: Today

This eARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

A bunch of super unlikable characters, all of them so gloomy and depressing. But I guess that’s understandable considering their circumstances! I did have trouble keeping all the names and relationships straight, especially at the start but even throughout, as each chapter is from one of four perspectives. .

Bottom line is this book was a little too slow paced for me, but I enjoyed the writing style in general and will give this author another chance.

A town's golden girl dies and another boy runs away.
The town is full of gossip and sugar coating. Do they actually know what these kids were really up to? Or do they just continue to assume? ...

This story is a dual timeline. Present day and flashbacks to when they were in high school. So because of that some of it did read YA. Even the maturity levels of the present day as well. I did feel like part of it was kinda slow, but I still enjoyed the story and was very curious where it was headed.

The twist towards the end got me! That's what definitely pushed me to a 4. I thought of many scenarios but not that one. Lol

A fantastic debut novel for sure. If this is where Ashley Tate is starting I can't wait to see what else she releases in the future.

Thank you @netgalley @ashleytateauthor @poisonedpenpress for allowing me to read and review this ARC.

Well, this book was a wild ride! Ten years after the tragic death of Phoebe Dean, the town’s most popular teen, everyone is still grappling with her death and struggling with why it took her brother twenty-seven minutes to call for help. ⁣
⁣⁣
⁣Twenty-Seven Minutes was quite the soap opera drama full of unreliable narrators and confusion. It was over-the-top ridiculous but also very slow moving with not a lot of action. All in all, this one was fine— but I won’t remember it in a week. Three stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⁣
⁣⁣
⁣This book published today— January 30, 2024. Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an ARC in return for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ashley Tate for an ARC for this debut novel!
I love a multi POV read and I was hooked at the start.
The building of suspense had me reeling, but it was hard to push through to the end.
The final twist was great and I loved the idea more than the actual story.

Twenty-Seven Minutes
by Ashley Tate
Pub Date: 30 Jan 2024

What an amazing read! Twenty-Seven Minutes is a tale of regrets, grief, loss and fear among other things.

The story tells you what trauma and secrets can do to someone over time.

I feel this is more of a Literary Suspense versus a Thriller. A great debut novel!

Many thanks to #twentysevenminutes #NetGalley and #Twenty-SevenMinutes for providing me with an E-ARC of this wonderful book!

Set in the small town of West Wilmer approaching the 10 year anniversary of a fatal car accident that claimed the life of well loved teen Phoebe Dean, Twenty-Seven Minutes is a page turner. Told from multiple points of view, and from the past as well as present tense, Ashley Tate does a fantastic job transporting you as the reader into the emotions of each of the characters we meet. From displaying very accurately in my opinion, how a small town tragedy creates an untouchable legacy for the deceased, while also portraying very raw grief and trauma for several characters and for several reasons. The title of the book is reflective of the time span that occurred between the time of the accident and the time help was called for, and finding the truth behind what actually happened that night, kept me interested through the entire book. A personal favorite character of mine was June. I felt her pain in losing the family she had desperately hoped would someday be reunited, and I felt the author did an excellent job in describing the raw grief she felt. Twenty-Seven Minutes is a book I would highly recommend for fans of suspense, mystery, short chapters, and a well told story from multiple points of view. Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this advanced copy, all opinions are my own.

Excellent debut. Why did it take Grant 27 minutes to call 911 the night his sister died in a car accident? The small town of West Wilmer has been unable to let go of the mystery surrounding Phoebe's death. West Wilmer, a small, suffocating town, is almost a character itself in this tense mystery. Grief and memory, self-preservation and loss, all tied up and threatening to be revealed in the 3 days leading up to the 10 year memorial for Phoebe Dean.

"Phoebe Dean was the most popular girl alive and dead.

For the last ten years, the small, claustrophobic town of West Wilmer has been struggling to understand one thing: Why did it take young Grant Dean twenty-seven minutes to call for help on the fateful night of the car accident that took the life of his beloved sister, Phoebe?

Someone knows what really happened the night Phoebe died. Someone who is ready to tell the truth.

With Phoebe's memorial in just three days, grief, delusion, ambition, and regret tornado together with biting gossip in a town full of people obsessed with a long-gone tragedy with four people at its heart—the caretaker, the secret girlfriend, the missing bad boy, and a former football star. Just kids back then, are forever tied together the fateful rainy night Phoebe died."

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

First of all, props to the publisher for marketing this as a literary suspense because that is exactly what it was. I found Twenty Seven Minutes to be a well written, slow burn, character driven small town drama mystery that kept me interested and engaged as a reader. It was also an interesting look at grief, loss and effects traumatic events can have on individuals and communities!

Phoebe Dean’s tragic death changed the course of a number of lives and even a decade later it seems to affect dynamics in her home town. Why did her brother Grant wait 27 minutes to call an ambulance? And what about a young man who disappeared that same night? As the anniversary of Phoebe’s death approaches, secrets and truths are threatening to come to the surface.

I went through this one really quickly despite it being more character than action/plot driven. Some of the characters were quite unlikable but I think that makes for more interesting storytelling. I definitely recommend checking this one out!

A big thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada & Poisoned Pen Press for gifting me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

In "Twenty-Seven Minutes," Ashley Tate skillfully unravels the mysteries shrouding a tragic event in West Wilmer. The town's intricate web of secrets, grief, and regret captivates, as Tate weaves a compelling narrative around unforgettable characters. The countdown to Phoebe's memorial adds a poignant urgency to this gripping tale, earning it a solid four stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this advanced copy

A mystery with lots of characters (none of which I loved or connected with) and plenty of backstory to explain why it took 27 minutes to call for help after a crash. Why did it take so long when it could have saved me he life of Phoebe. I struggled with the multiple viewpoints from multiple time periods especially when I couldn’t connect with the characters. I feel like the story has plenty of potential, but needs more to tidy it up into something that is phenomenal. Thanks to NetGalley for the early read.

This book had such an intense start and a really good buildup to the big reveal of what happened that night. I always love multiple POVs, and I liked how the story was slowly being pieces together. The characters were all so complicated and flawed; I was suspicious of all of them, and I was dying to know what happened by the end. The story was so mysterious and as hard as I tried, I did not guess that ending!

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read and review this book!

This. was. so, GOOD!! I am truly blown away by how much I loved this! This is best described, I feel, as a very character driven literary suspense novel. This book is not incredibly fast paced, or a typical “popcorn read”, but the small town drama is juicy and the characters in this book are so flawed and complex. This book to me is one that lingers - I will be thinking about this story for a while. It’s a beautifully tragic story about regret and loss, and it was so well written and captivating that I read this so quickly. Such a strong debut and I cannot wait to read more from this author.

I really wanted to like this book, but the characters were just too pitiful and nuts for me. The writing in developing the story about what happened that night 10 years ago was so slow, I kept losing interest. June and Becca were just plain crazy. No real likable characters in this story. The ending took forever and was pretty predictable. So much more could have been done with this story. I do appreciate the author trying to show how people can struggle with the loss of a loved one. Just took some of it too far.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC (Advance Reader Copy) of Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate. This was a strange book. It would interest me for a while, then slow down, and then perk up again. I do have to admit that I gave a sigh of relief once I had finished it. Many people however have liked this book more than I did. It was hard to follow so many points of view. I was not drawn to any of the characters so that also made it difficult to enjoy the book more. Not one that I would be recommending to my friends. Two stars from me.

Twenty-Seven Minutes
Ashley Tate

The burning question of the town of West Wilmer for the last ten years all boils down to what happened in the twenty seven minutes prior to Grant Dean calling for help on the night of the tragic accident that took the life of his beloved sister. Now, leading up to the 10 year anniversary of that night, the secrets that have long been buried are about to surface.

I made it approximately 30% of the way into this book when I started to consider not finishing; there just didn’t feel like much drive other than the allusion to this twenty seven unaccounted for minutes but, even then, there just wasn’t enough suspense to have me on the edge of my seat. I started flipping through some reviews that kept mentioning the last 10% of the book contains the twist and the resolution. I flipped towards the end and read the last few chapters and was able to completely understand the ending which to me, means I missed little to nothing in the middle. Too many characters, and plot lines and flipping from past to present without much value or progression of the storyline

I think this book is best suited for folks who really love multiple POV and a super slow burn but just didn’t land for me.

Special thanks to @netgalley and @poisonedpen press for the advance e-copy in exchange for an honest review. Twenty-Seven Minutes is now available today!

BEVERAGE REC: Your favorite Winter beer 🍻

RATING:
👻👻/5

For the last decade, the residents of West Wilmer have been struggling to come to terms with the mystery surrounding the tragic death of young Phoebe Dean. And in such a small, claustrophobic town the gossip and hearsay breeds angry questions. Why did it take Grant Dean twenty-seven minutes to call for help the night of the car accident? Why wait so long when his precious little sister could have been saved? What is he hiding?

And Grant Dean is hiding something about the night his sister died. Something that is quickly threatening to unravel as Phoebe's ten year anniversary inches closer.

Atmospheric and well paced, Ashley Tate does an excellent job of showcasing how grief, especially grief that is tangled up in lies, can drive those involved with keeping the secrets to madness.