📚: Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate
⭐️: 3.5/5 (rounding down on #goodreads)

Are you into co-dependent relationships? Unreliable narrators? Gaslighting? Obsessive sibling dynamics? Small town secrets? If so, this book may be for you.

Ashley Tate's debut novel, Twenty-Seven Minutes, starts out with a bang (literally) - and out the gate, I thought we may have a dark horse five-star read on our hands. I was hooked from the prologue and excited to read ahead. Unfortunately, pacing issues started pretty quickly thereafter, bringing this could-be-unputdownable premise to a bit of a lag. The core characters felt somewhat interchangeable, and even with the reveal at the end, questions still linger, leaving larger plot gaps than preferred.

Thanks to @poisonedpenpress via @netgalley for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. Twenty-Seven Minutes is out later this month on January 30th!

This book started out really strong and hooked me right away but then it just didn't go anywhere for the longest time and I felt like nothing was really happening until the end. The pacing was really off and it slowed down way too much and I found myself just wanting to see how it would end. I didn't care about any of the characters and wasn't expecting so much grief throughout the story. It just wasn't for me.

To start out with I'm giving this 3.5 stars. I'm confused as to round down to 3 or up to 4 tho. The premise of this book was fire; why did it take Grant twenty seven minutes to call for help for his sister Phoebe after an auto accident? What really happened in that time? Could Phoebe have been saved if help had come sooner?
Where my doubt comes from is the execution of this story. It was alot of fluff in the middle. This could've shortened the book by 1/3 and been so much more suspenseful and thrilling! I couldn't stand any of these characters! Luckily I don't have to enjoy the characters to enjoy the story. Unlikable characters can be a real draw for me. I think we were supposed to have liked June and towards to the end I did, but I would have appreciated her role more in the story had I the opportunity to relate to her sooner. So like I said before, great story line, just too slow in the middle.
Decided to round down to 3 stars.

I feel like this book was trying too hard to be suspenseful and surprising. It took me a lot longer than I care to admit to get through.

Thank you to @netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC.

𝐌𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
Unfortunately I pretty much dnfed this around 250 pages in. I skimmed the last few pages to get a sense of the ending, but it didn’t hold my attention. It’s actually put me in a bit of a reading slump because I found it very hard to finish.

This is a multi POV story of 4 characters which is set 10 years after a horrific road accident where one of the character’s (Grant) sister (Phoebe) died. There is a lot of back and forth in the timeline, flash backs to the days leading up to the accident. But it was just too much of a slow burn for me.

I didn’t like any of the characters, most of them were super annoying and nothing really happened. I kept expecting it to take off and get good, but it didn’t. It was more mystery than thriller. I did read the twist at the end, it was unexpected but not enough to turn it around.

I am not sure I've ever read another book where I disliked so many characters.
As the 10 year anniversary of a tragic accident approaches for the tiny town of West Wilmer, we meet 4 people who are doing their best to cope, in very different ways. We get flashbacks of the terrible night from long ago and 4 different perspectives of what happens now. As we get closer to the truth, it's hard to feel sorry for anyone in the town because only 2 people know what happened that night and one of them is lying. None of the characters have much credibility because they all have various mental conditions and altered states of reality.

It was a pretty good story for a debut! The ending took me by surprise! I really loved June.

I just wish there was more action, there wasn't much happening for the first half of the book.

Twenty is even minutes? Why did it take so long to contact authorities after they're accident? Did Phoebe have to die? Grant and Becca know more than they are saying, but each for their own reasons. This is a thrilling tale of secrets and life changes due to twenty a seven minutes.

Imagine driving the car that crashed and killed your younger sister. That is what happened 10 years ago to Grant. Phoebe was considered the perfect child by their mother, who has always treated Grant as a second-class citizen.
Even all these years later, somehow, they still live together, though every interaction is torturous at best. The biggest mystery is why Grant took 27 minutes to call for help for his dying sister. As the chapters unfold, we learn about Grant, Phoebe, Becca, June, and Wyatt in the then and the now.
For the most part, I was immersed in these characters lives. Honestly, none of them were particularly likable, though I felt the most for June. When the truth about the night of Phoebe’s death came out, well, let’s just say, I was surprised. While I didn’t wind up really changing my opinions about these characters, they did become more fleshed out, and I could see how the past had shaped their futures.

Twenty-Seven Minutes....
A lot can happen in twenty-seven minutes. A car can wreck, a life can be lost, a family can change... anything can happen.
The question is, what really happened in these 27 minutes?
I loved the craft of this novel. I loved getting small pieces and slowly putting them together to figure it all out. It was a little too predictable for my taste and there was rougher language than I prefer. There were moments it seemed slow, but overall was a quick, mildly suspenseful read.
Rating:
Thank you NetGalley, Ashley Tate, and Poisoned Pen Press for this Advanced Readers Copy in exchange for my honest review.

Everyone idolizes Phoebe Dean. Smart, funny, charming, beautiful, precocious, destined to be.., homecoming queen, and everybody's friend. She was the best thing about West Wilmer, and  was going to put this town on the map.
Until her precious life was snuffed out at age 18 in a tragic car accident. The car was being driven by her brother Grant, the high school football star, who may or may not have hit a deer or just been black out drunk. 27 minutes passed between the accident and when the ambulance was called. What happened during this time? If it was called earlier, Phoebe could have been saved. But no one is talking.
Fast forward to 10 years later when the Dean family is hosting a memorial for Phoebe and some folks want the real truth to come out.
The book goes back and forth between present day and the night of the party 10 years ago, when the accident happened. We hear the perspective from 4 different characters: Phoebe, Dean's sister, who haunts him, and only wants the best for him, no matter the risk to others and herself.'crazy' Becca, who was obsessed with Dean, even though he was seeing someone else, and is convinced to lie for him in exchange for the promise of a relationship.Wyatt-June's brother who was also there that night, but disappears the day of the accidentJune-a friend of Becca's who just wants to know what happened to her brother and if anyone saw him that nightThis book is definitely a slow burn and takes a while to build up to the conclusion, which is indeed a surprising twist. That part is well done. But there are a few unlikeable characters along the way, especially Becca. How anyone could be so naive as to be convinced they have a 'secret relationship' in order to hide Grant's secret was ridiculous. She reminded me of the Glenn Close character in 'Fatal Attraction'. So she's quite a bit annoying. And Phoebe is so invested in Grants' success, to keep the pact they made as kids to leave West Wilmer together. Under pressure from her and his school mates, he starts drinking heavily. He doesn't meet up to Phoebe's perfect standards, and she won't have that. It was as if she was acting like his mother. Their relationship was very strange.
There are other ancillary characters throughout but these 4 make up the crux of the plotline, and when the big showdown happens at the end, all the secrets are revealed. June finally finds out what happened to her brother and what secrets everyone has been hiding. I felt that she was the only character that had any redeeming value. So a good twist, if you have the patience and time it takes to get there.

3.5 stars, actually.

Honestly, I don't think I've ever found so many unsavory characters in one book - much less in the same small town. They come in both sexes as well as different ages, sizes and backgrounds, but they share one thing in common: not a single one is a person I'd ever want to hang out with (even the official description calls the town "claustrophobic"). That they all have hung around this long is a mystery in and of itself. Add that to the constant chapter shuffles between time periods and character perspectives - many of which seemed more repetitive than revealing - and a rather abrupt ending, and the result was less than totally satisfying.

That said, what was happening was well-written enough to keep me flipping the pages of my e-reader and even taking it to bed to finish (an important point since that rarely happens). It begins interestingly enough; ten years earlier, a beautiful, talented and seemingly "perfect" young woman named Phoebe Dean met her death when the truck her older brother Grant was driving smashed into the guardrail of a dangerous bridge in the town. Now, 10 years down the road (so to speak), Phoebe's mother is holding a memorial ceremony for her daughter, and the townspeople soon will vote on whether or not to remove the bridge (why they waited so long to do that is beyond me, but hey).

At issue over the decade, too, is why Grant, who was seriously injured in the crash, waited so long to seek help; the 27-minute gap between the crash and his call meant the difference between life and death for Phoebe - for which many folks in the community still blame him. Another truck passenger, Grant's friend Becca Hoyt, was injured as well; but while she claims to have no memories of the accident beyond the initial crash, she knows Grant has a secret - one that she's been keeping all this time. The events of 10 years ago impacted other families as well, including that of June Delroy; her brother Wyatt, a friend of Grant's, left home the night of the crash and never returned. At the epicenter is a decade-old wild party and the unhealthy liaisons that were present even then that resurface as everyone comes together for Phoebe's memorial service.

All told, it's an intriguing read with a number of twists. I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review a pre-release copy.

✨Book Review - Twenty-Seven Minutes✨

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌑

*I was provided this book free of charge by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Lately I have been reading a lot of thriller and fantasy books. Can someone please write me a thriller fantasy book? Not sure what that would look like but I would devour it!

For some reason the last two books I’ve read have had some element of stalker-adjacent character so that’s an odd coincidence.

I think this book was really well written. I absolutely did not see the ending coming and I always appreciate a surprise ending.

I don’t know if Ashley Tate intended it, but I absolutely despised Grant and Becca. But I down know who I hated more- Grant for how he treated Becca or Becca for just being insufferable. I enjoyed the multiple points of view and while I say I hated Becca, I enjoyed all the of her Points of view because I felt like she was at least honest with the reader with what she knew- she was trying to figure out what happened as much as the reader. She really was only dishonest to herself and I felt bad for her.

I loved the characters of June and Wyatt and I do wish we could have seen a little more into their relationship but I love how Wyatt was portrayed and the similarities between him and their mom.

Overall, I would purchase this book. I think this would make a great Book of the Month!

Much thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press/Sourcebooks for the ARC of "Twenty-Seven Minutes" in exchange for an honest review.
Even though these four terribly damaged souls aren't people I'd ever want to hang out with, their stories and fates gripped me for the entire length of this book.
The story unfolds through the POVs of Dean, Becca, June and her brother Wyatt. While high school seniors, their futures all ahead of them, a tragic accident upends their lives, and thwarts their dreams, leaving some of them keepers of dark secrets.
Grant, a high school golden boy football star drove home from a fateful drunken party with his sister Phoebe, an equally admired scholastic overachiever. In the backseat of his truck sat Becca, whose passionate love of Dean, if revealed would enrage the all-controlling Phoebe. A fatal swerve of the truck on a dangerous bridge kills Phoebe, severely injures Becca. and cripples Dean, After ten years, he's still forever suspected for the mysterious 27 minutes it took him to finally call for an ambulance.
Also deeply affected by the accident were the painfully introverted June and her beloved brother Wyatt, a notorious town bad boy who apparently fled their small town that very night
Ten years later, Dean, Becca, June and Wyatt's already shattered lives careen toward a planned memorial for the late lamented Phoebe, whom the town adored as their shining star and role model. And right on time, author Ashley Tate lets loose with everything you'd ever want in a thriller like this...... gut punching revelations combined with a double-beef whopper of a twist.
Without a doubt, I found "Twenty Seven Minutes" as one of those can't-stop-reading, up-all-nighters that just won't let you go until every last secret gets laid bare. (But you'll never want an invite to these characters' high school reunion parties.....)

Thank you Netgalley, Ashley Tate, and Poison Pen Press for this ARC.

This one drew me in immediately and kept me hooked right until the end. There were so many secrets, and lies, and betrayals between all the characters. The ending threw me and I honestly had no idea what was coming. It was a fantastic twist and I loved every page of this book.

2.5 stars. Phoebe Dean, a vibrant teenager in a small town, was killed in a car accident ten years ago. The premise of this novel rests on a single question: Why did it take her brother, Grant Dean — who was driving when the accident occurred — twenty-seven minutes to call an ambulance or for help? Not even Becca, another passenger in the car, knows why Grant delayed so long. However, now that Phoebe’s mother is planning a memorial for Phoebe marking ten years since her death, this question (along with others) surfaces and plagues many of the townspeople.

Despite its interesting premise, this novel has a LOT of repetition and is truly a slow burn. Suspense is thus extremely slow to build, and hints as to the events of that night ten years ago only dribble out here and there. I did keep reading because I was intrigued to find out the answer to the main question underlying the plot, but I was very disappointed in how slow-moving the facts giving rise to that answer were doled out to the reader.

What happened the night Phoebe died? Where is Wyatt? Grant didn't call for help that night for 27 minutes and Becca, who was also in the car, knows why but she's not talking. June knows something but she really wants to know what happened to her brother Wyatt. All the tensions and secrets boil up on the 10th anniversary of that terrible night. This is told from multiple POVS, common in the genre and that works. This didn't keep the tension up for me in part because I realized early on what happened. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

I really wanted to love this book, but I just couldn't. So much drama. I didn't feel connected to the characters. Some were just annoying. I waited for a shocking plot twist but it just didn't happen.

Thanks to netgalley for a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.
I was very excited to get into this based on the other reviews & synopsis.
Unfortunately I did not like this book at all. There were far too many POVs for this storyline. I can handle unlikeable characters but every single one in this story is so badly written. They're almost straight out of a 'writing workshop' where you start to build your characters with bullet points. No depth, personality, or flavour. They were all boring except for Becca because she was 'crazy'... but even she was boring in her repetitive-ness.

There's no story or character development throughout and nothing happens in the chapters other than the characters constantly ending each chapter with "no one can know about what happened" like I actually did not care at all when everything was revealed in the last chapter. I think the readers should've been given SOMETHING throughout each chapter. It would've actually improved the suspense aspect.

The ending was also exactly what each person has once written in their writing assignment in 6th grade. I couldn't believe what I was reading, and not in a good way.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

Unfortunately the ending did nothing to make the beginning or middle of this book worth my time. This book was to long and drawn out and felt so slow I almost couldn’t finish it. This was not a “slow burn” but more like agony to me. The plot had great potential as a thriller, the writing is good, but there are several POV’s which became confusing and seemed unimportant. There were so many that I couldn’t always tell why they mattered in the story. The biggest issue for me was there was nothing happening most of the book and I became bored until the last 10-15%. Sorry it was just an okay book for me because of all these issues. I’m sure some will enjoy it but just wasn’t a fit for me. Rounded up from 2.5 stars.
Thank you NetGalley for the advanced opportunity to read.