A small town drama with lots of secrets. The book was okay, but overall I was pretty bored with it. The writing was good, I just felt like the story was pretty drawn out.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I was really struggling to get through this one. As I was telling my partner all about it and how it had great potential but nothing was happening even though I was 48% through it already. I came here and decided to see what others were thinking about it. After a few reviews that spoke of an amazing twist on the last 10% or so of the book, I decided instead of DNF-ing the book entirely I would just skip through it stopping at all of the “ten years ago” chapters until the last 30 or so pages. I do not feel like I missed anything at all by doing that. The twist is ok. But I was so bored and didn’t care about a single character by the time I got there it just didn’t do it for me. Thanks to NetGalley for the arc to read and review for free.

This one was not my favorite but it was okay because I had my hopes adjusted before picking it up. It was well executed but the story was just not for me unfortunately.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

* small town drama
* loaded secrets
* multiple points of view
* slow start
* plot twist ending
* more drama/suspense than thriller

An overall great read, although it was a lot to keep up with with the dual time frames and multiple character POV. I love a good small town drama read! There’s always a bit of truth in small town rumors and gossip, and always way more details than anyone knows! I will definitely keep an eye out for further work from this writer and would recommend 27 Minutes to anyone who enjoys dual time lines and multiple POV!

I found this one was a bit of a slow start for me. I wasn’t a huge fan of the characters, but their unlikability made sense as the plot went on. The characters wove together creating a suspenseful wild gritty tale that sucks you in. You keep reading because while you suspect some truths you can’t possibly see what’s coming.
A dark dark tale.
Creepy and twisted!

Over the past decade, residents of West Wilmer have grappled with a haunting question: Why did it take Grant Dean twenty-seven minutes to call for help on the night of the tragic car accident that claimed his sister's life? If only he had dialed sooner, Phoebe might have had a chance to survive.

As the anniversary of Phoebe's passing draws near, Grant finds himself overwhelmed by the weight of his memories and a long-held secret that has been eating away at him. However, Grant and Phoebe were not the only ones present in the car on that fateful night. Becca was also there, and she is the sole other individual who knows the truth about what truly transpired. Or does she?

Phoebe's memory is etched into the minds of everyone in West Wilmer, but June holds an additional, often forgotten, recollection of that tragic night: the disappearance of her brother, Wyatt, a decade ago. With her mother's passing, June finds herself utterly alone, devoid of both family and friends. That is until an unexpected visitor arrives at her doorstep.

The decision to begin the story from Phoebe's perspective was a fantastic choice, and it immediately drew me into the narrative. I was captivated from the very beginning.

The pacing of the plot is skillfully handled, maintaining a steady rhythm as the story progresses toward the anniversary of the accident. The author effectively generates suspense by skillfully weaving between past and present, gradually unveiling the events leading up to the fateful night. Although there are occasional instances where the pacing feels slightly uneven, with some sections moving slower than others, the overall momentum of the narrative remains strong and engaging. The novel accurately portrays the stifling nature of small-town life.

This book had me hooked and on the edge of my seat. It was hard to put down and easy to read. The multiple points of view kept things unpredictable, and it was fascinating to see how each character dealt with the aftermath of the accident. The dual timeline worked perfectly for the story, and the well-developed characters kept me guessing. Overall, it's a great book that I highly recommend.


Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing the ARC, Ashley Tate's debut novel releases on January 30th, 2024.

4.5/5 stars! One of my most anticipated thrillers of 2024 and I could not put it down. I paused the other book I was currently reading and tore through this in one sitting. With each chapter you get more and more invested.

Tragedy hit the small town of West Wilmer a decade ago involving three teenagers, one who didn't make it out alive. Now, we are alternating between past and present and different people involved in the event POVs to get the truth about that fateful night.

WHY DID IT TAKE HER BROTHER 27 minutes to call for help? It likely would have saved her life.

I bet this an excellent audiobook, but I just couldn't wait to devour every single last page. I can't wait to read more books by Ashley Tate!

Thank you #AshleyTate #NetGalley and #PoisonedPenPress for proving me with an #ARC of this book!

Ten years ago Phoebe, a high school student, died in a tragic car accident. The details of this accident have never been fully determined. Her brother Grant was driving and he was likely drunk. The accepted version of the accident is that he hit a deer. A passenger in the car, Becca, upholds Grant's version of the story. On the same day of the accident, a man disappears. The story is told in two timelines - the present and ten years ago. The narrative is divided between four primary narrators - Grant, Becca, June, and Wyatt.

Grant was the driver of the car that night that Phoebe died. The community wonders why he waited twenty-seven minutes to dial 911. He had been a star football player, scouted by universities but he lost his chance to leave his small town on the night of the accident because his leg was badly injured. He is filled with remorse and guilt, drowning his sorrows in sex and alcohol.

I enjoyed this thriller and read it quickly. I didn't appreciate that so much of the story was repeated, as if I couldn't remember what transpired. It is well-written, twisty, and the ending is a shock.

•Dual Timeline
•Alternating POV
•Small town Mystery
•Psychological Thriller
•Mystery and suspense

Such a gripping narrative and the book is mysterious, reminiscing, and unputdownable. It has dual timeline and three pov. The ending was so unpredictable. There are some twists in book. Author has created such a mysterious and secretive characters. The backstories of characters are so poignant. So Phoene Dean died in an accident and Wyatt is missing since ten years. While June is trying to find him. There are many unanswered questions, unsolved mysteries, suspense and revelations.

Phoebe Dean died in an accident but no one knows anything about how it happened. And another mysterious character is Wyatt. The story has been narrated in dual timeline; ten years later and ten years before. June is living her life in delusion and grieving the loss of her mother and trying to figure out her brother. While Grant and Becca are harbouring a secret and when secrets unveils, it not only breaks the delusions but also brings out the truth. The book was so unpredictable and twists and revelations kept me at edge of my seat. The mystery is grave, secret is deep and truth is twisted. It’s a multilayered story.

Thank you Netgalley, Author and Publisher

After reading the description I was so excited to check out Twenty-Seven Minutes. I’m a huge fan of thrillers and I knew there would be a twist at the end! Unfortunately, while the storyline had a lot of promise and I wanted to love this book so much, it was just okay. It was a bit confusing in the beginning, even though I’m used to reading books with alternating POV’s and timelines. Once it got going it was much better, but I just found every character so unlikeable. I thought the writing was well done, but there just seemed to be something missing. However, the twist was interesting and I didn’t really see it coming!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me an ARC in exchange for my honest review. While Twenty-Seven Minutes wasn’t my favorite book, if you like twisty thrillers, it might just be yours!

Written from the perspective of 5 different individuals, Twenty-Seven Minutes flips between present day and a decade prior. This book sounded like so much promise, but I was underwhelmed and just wanted to put the book down. Even with the ONE plot twist at the very end, this book was a complete flop for me. I will withhold from sharing this review elsewhere, as this is my personal opinion, and I HOPE not one of the masses, for the books' sake.

The author should consider making it a bit less creepy between Grant and Pheobe. it seemed like a very Freudian love between them (GROSS!) and not relatable at all to anyone that has ever had a sibling. Not to mention, June and Wyatt's weird dynamic. What is with the weird sibling love?!?! I think this book needs a lot of work before it goes to publish, I guarantee none of my friends would be reading and recommending this.

✨ARC Review ✨

Twenty - Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate
Releases 01/30/2024

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Town grieves the loss of a young girl - but some fight to keep the truth about her dearth a secret. Many question why her brother waited 27 minutes to call for help?

A gripping story that will keep you guessing with every twist & turn as information people are trying to keep hidden comes to light!

My mind is still over here like what?! 🤯

Thank you NetGalley and Ashley Tate for the opportunity to receive an early copy!

“𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐮𝐭. 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐝; 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐥 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐭𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐞. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞—𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐝𝐞, 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐦, 𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭. 𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧.”

𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐛
Twenty-seven minutes follows the death of Phoebe Dean. For the past ten years, the town has grieved the death of Phoebe but there is only one question that needs to be answered.. “why did it take Grant Dean twenty-seven minutes to call for help?”

𝐌𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬
See this started out good and the prologue was intense and grotesque, and I loved the vivid images of death and gore it made me see.

It was a pretty fast-paced book with a captivating plot and writing that keeps you hooked. This was the reason I couldn’t DNF it because the curiosity was still intact even though nothing was happening..

With multiple POVs, it took me a while just to get to know different characters. The plot gave each and every single character a back story, grief and trauma that made things very complicated and profound.

There were timeline jumps to fill in the gaps, which didn’t bother me. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝-𝐮𝐩 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡! How come nothing happens for the whole 90% of the book and in the last 10% only one thing happens?

Even though that twist at the end was unpredictable and amazing, I had lost the zeal for anything at that point. So it was not that impactful but it was well-thought and unpredictable, at least by me!

And the plot was very grief heavy! Each character was dealing with grief and trauma, and the instances were very well-written, and for that, I want to applaud the author.

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧
Overall, even though the plot was captivating, the end was unpredictable and the characters were written with depth, the slow build-up of suspense dragged the story and nothing happens till the very end.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲, 𝐏𝐨𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐧 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫, 𝐀𝐬𝐡𝐥𝐞𝐲 𝐓𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞-𝐜𝐨𝐩𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰.

Twenty-Seven Minutes is the name of the novel. It is the amount of time it took Grant to call for help on the night of a car accident ten years ago. It is what probably cost his younger sister Phoebe her life. As the ten-year anniversary of Phoebe's death approaches, pressure builds on Grant to come clean about those lost twenty-seven minutes and on Becca who was in the car that night too. It also builds on June. Her mother has just died, and June has nobody left as her brother Wyatt went missing the night of the car accident. The truth about what happened that night is about to come out…
Twenty-Seven Minutes is narrated in multiple points of view and timelines, making it a very slow burn with a reliance on the continual hook: soon, soon, all will be revealed... But overall, its themes of secrets and grief and its intriguing premise will appeal to many readers of the psychological suspense sub-genre.
3.5-4.0 stars

This book hooked me from the very beginning starting out with the ‘incident’ that the book revolves around. I did find, though, after that moment, things moved a bit slower. Written from multiple perspectives made it an intriguing read and I am so glad that I saw it through to the end. Ashley’s debut novel was a success and I will be looking out for any of her following books!

This book started out strong with an intense start with a person dying on a bridge from a motor vehicle accident and of course dying after 27 minutes.

The story continued with tough to relate to characters that made you want to punch them in the face. I was not a fan of grant and how helpless Becca was. The characters were irritating but the story was interesting and it kept my attention. The characters were bizarre.
This book was tough to follow with bouncing back from present to 10 years prior. Thanks to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

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

Thank you NetGalley, Poisoned Pen Press & the author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I obsessed with this book! This book was small town mysterious page turner with twists and thrilling adventure that has you bracing for what is going to happen next.

Each character in this book was well developed and played their own part/a perfectly. I love a ‘who-did-it’ that holds me on the edge of my seat and this fulfilled that for me. The storyline was fabulous and kept your attention and kept you guessing and turning pages until the very last page. 🤯

I love Ashley Tates writing and will continue to watch for her releases. I need more! I can’t wait to recommend this book for my book friends who love this kind of genre 🤌🏻.

A town has been grappling with the death of a young girl years ago, and has always wondered why it took so long for her brother, Grant, to call for help. Years later, Grant is still haunted by the car accident that took his sister, but no one knows that another person was in the car; this person is Becca, who is the only other person who knows the truth of what happens. Or so they think. Then we are introduced to June, who has a brother named Wyatt who has been missing for ten years, and someone then appears at her door who knows what really happened to Wyatt.

There were a lot of characters and it kind of got to be too much, even if it did provide a lot of surprising twists. There were so many surprises that at times it felt difficult to weave together, but that also allowed me to enjoy not knowing what was coming next; it just seemed to need a little better execution in writing. I also did not really like any of the characters, so it was hard to connect with the overall story.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press in exchange for an honest review.

I received this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion and review.

The town is still reeling after the tragic death of Phoebe Dean who was killed in a tragic accident. Secrets are now being stirred up because of the ten-year anniversary. I loved how we got multiple POVs from Grant, Wyatt, June and Becca. It helps tell the story and get readers the answers to their questions. I loved the ending, I thought it was well written and just the right amount of shock. I just felt like the book was a little too slow to begin with and I had a hard time getting into the story.

Twenty-seven minutes. That's how long grant waited to call for help for his sister, Phoebe, when he'd had a wreck in his truck with three passengers - Phoebe, Grant, and Becca.
The same night as the wreck on Wilber Bridge June Delroy's brother, Wyatt, disappeared after a fight with his father.
Twenty-seven minutes tells the stories of June, Wyatt, Grant, Phoebe, and Becca from two points in time - 10 years ago at the time of the wreck and today - a few days before the 10-year memorial for Phoebe.
What really happened on the bridge that night? Where has Wyatt been for the last 10 years?
The answers to these questions and more are beautifully answered throughout the rest of the book with lots of twists and turns that keep you guessing until the end!
This was a debut book for Ashley Tate, and I hope it will not be her last! I highly recommend it!