Small town reliving old and painful memories, secrets, in a dramatic and well paced thriller.
The author Ashley Tate did a really
good job while telling the story about a traumatized community that experienced tragedy, in the search for the truth.

Thank you NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Coming 01/30/2024

Somewhat compelling but oddly written mystery by Tate about the ten-year memorial being held for the death of a teenager, Phoebe, killed in an auto accident on a bridge, where recently an elderly woman also died, and talk stirs up about removing the bridge. The title refers to the amount of time it took Grant, Phoebe's brother and the driver of the car, to call in about the accident, where it's alleged Phoebe could have survived the accident if he had called earlier (which is debatable considering the extent of her injuries). The mystery surrounds what really happened that night and why Grant waited so long. The problem with the book is that the dialogue and most of the characters are written in really weird, bizarre ways. Characters say things out of the blue without any context and talk about the accident as if it happened yesterday, not ten years ago. Dialogue is very clunky and drags the book down, preventing any real tension from building. Several of the characters, notably Becca and June, are very annoying and border on just plain crazy, which makes it hard to care about their plight. The ending contains a nice twist, but it feels too little too late, plus the book doesn't explain the extent of Phoebe's injuries in light of the details of the accident revealed at the end. It's not a bad book, and there is a pretty good story here, but it just feels like it needed a more skilled author to get it over the finish line. 2.5 stars. Thanks to Netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The ten year anniversary of Phoebe's death in a terrible accident propels the small community to uncover terrible secrets. First is why did her brother Grant wait 27 minutes to call for help?

Grant and Phoebe had plans to get out of their small town to fulfill bigger dreams. Ten years later, Grant is still there and Phoebe is dead. Who knows the truth from that night? June - who's brother Wyatt went missing the same night? The police or town never investigated when he left or why. Becca - who kept the secrets from that night for Grant - the man she loved. Hannah - Phoebe's best friend or her husband AJ - Grant's rival.

Very twisty with dysfunctional characters and multiple viewpoints until the truth.

Thank you NetGalley and Ashley Tate for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The writer’s gift is description and prose. I loved how visual this book was-at times it felt like a movie playing across my screen as I read.

Ten years ago Grant was driving his sister Phoebe and Becca, a girl who had a crush on him home from a party. It was dark and raining and the car hit the guardrail on a bridge. Phoebe died that night between the accident and the gap of time before the police were called to the scene. Becca cannot remember. But someone in town knows what happened and wants the truth.

The book is told between “now” and ten years ago when the accident happened. It’s seamless and the time periods are well-identified so the reader doesn’t question when this is happening. The story is well plotted and paced appropriately so it keeps you interested throughout the book.

The only negative to this book was that I didn’t identify with any of the characters so it was hard to feel for them. But because the book was more plot driven it worked anyways.

Overall a good first book!

Twenty-Seven Minutes is packed full of secrets. The story alternates between the present and the dreadful night 10 years ago when high schooler Phoebe died in a car accident. As the story unravels more secrets are unveiled. The story is a little slow-paced and takes awhile to progress. I feel it kind of got stuck on the same things for awhile. I was going to rate this 3 stars, but the ending redeemed the book. I did not see that ending coming from a mile away, what a great twist!

Thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for a digital ARC.

My favorite thing about this book was how different each character was. Ashley Tate chose to switch POV every chapter, which can get confusing. However, she gave each character such a clear and unique voice that it was never confusing. The story was fast paced and the characters were interesting.

This was such a take your breath away kind of book! Fast paced and leaves you guessing up to the very end. It was such a fun read!

This is one of those books that I could say take it or leave it. I found the premise interesting, but the story was lacking for me. I didn’t connect with any of the characters, or find any redeeming personality points so I struggled. Many of the characters were so full of self pity it was hard to relate. The book also felt really predictable. I found the ending to be weak and an overall let down, it just wasn’t what I wanted, but it did wrap up loose ends.

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

West Wilmer is still reeling after an accident ten years ago left star student Phoebe Dean dead. They still don't know why her brother and driver of the car, Grant, waited 27 minutes to call 911. While everyone suspected he was under the influence, it couldn't be proven, but he still lives under the judgmental eyes of the small town. Now that the town is voting to remove the bridge after another death and the ten-year memorial is coming up, wounds reopen and guilty consciences take over as the truth finally comes out.

This one was a mixture of emotions and a mixture of opinions. None of the characters were likeable, and I'm sure that was intentional. It was a small town, a lot of secrets, and a looooott of judgy mcjudgefaces that had no business judging. I suspected the ending, but still found myself thinking back to the signs and acknowledging that the puzzle pieces all fit in nicely at the end.

Powerful, excellent thriller. I couldn't stop reading this one. The characters were fascinating and the story surprised me so many times. Highly recommended.

Overall I liked this Twenty-Seven Minutes but didn’t love it. I felt like I knew pretty early on what the ending was going to be and I as pleasantly fooled for a little bit. I didn’t fall in love with any of the characters and didn’t feel like they were relatable. I often felt annoyed and the self pity they all felt and projected on everyone else but didn’t do anything to help themselves or better their own situations. I thought the ending could have been a little stronger, but I did like resolution. Overall I would still recommend!

Thank you NetGalley, the publishers and Ashley Tate for this ARC.

I really wanted to enjoy this book so much more than I did. The premise sounds so interesting and an exploration into what happened over the last ten years in the lives of the people involved when a teenage girl is killed in a car accident is such an interesting take. I'm also a big fan of books with alternating timelines and points of view so this one seemed promising. Unfortunately, this just wasn't a hit for me.

I've seen a lot of reviews mentioning that the characters are all unpleasant and miserable and that this impacted their ability to enjoy the story. I agree, the characters are not at all likable and there was so little character growth. I don't feel like I know anything about them other than the fact that they are all unlikeable and I wouldn't want to be in a room with any of them for any length of time. That did make it difficult to get into the book and made it a very slow read for me.

The author also spends a lot of time telling us things that are either meaningless or never amount to much that left me with so many questions.
~Why do we need to be told how thin June over and over again? Is this her defining characteristic?
~Is there a reason no one came to her mother's funeral? Why was this so important?
~What happened between Becca and AJ (I think). It seemed to be important enough to be mentioned several times but if it was ever explored it was so brief that it didn't make an impact.
~How exactly did Phoebe fit into this world? And what was going on with her that made her so unhinged?
~What exactly was going on with Grant and Phoebe's mother? What made her so awful that they needed to get away?
~What is the backstory about June and Wyatt's father?
~How did no one care about or notice so many missing people?
~The way the author describes Grant and Phoebe's relationship made me fully expect something shady was happening there. Who is that obsessed with their sibling?

The entire time I read this book, I felt like the author wanted to tell one story but was stuck writing another one. To me, the real story here was the stuff happening between the characters before the accident. They just stagnate afterwards.

This book kept me hooked from the very beginning. The book took me through the story very well and I was sucked into the story. The story telling was incredible and it was easy to follow and understand.

Thank you to NetGalley for this Arc.

This book was not for me. The book had an overall sense of sadness from the very start. All the characters seemed miserable and I found myself not liking any of them. While I assumed the storyline would be all about the last 27 minutes of a life, that wasn’t the case. We never really heard about those minutes until the last chapter. I was disappointed in what sounded like a very interesting storyline.

This story was a great concept, however I found that it progressed too slowly for me personally! We were still learning and talking about the "event" until the last 20%ish, when we finally came to the solution and twist.

I found the narrative of Becca, June and Wyatt all sharing the same sentement, that nobody cared about there situations because of the "event" that occured a little bit far fetched - I felt as though Becca was the only one who truly should've felt that way.

I also wasn't a huge fan of the paranormal aspects in this book (just a personal opinion!) and wished it has a bit of a stronger ending and a few more twists!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

This was a story that I really enjoyed and I'm excited to recommend!

It's the 10 year anniversary of town golden girl Phoebe's death. As the story unfolds, the cast of characters struggles with their current lives as the flashbacks of who they were in high school come hard and fast. The relatability of a small town life, stereotypes that can't be broken, the struggle to move forward when your roots are planted deeper than you realize, the maze of emotions that bind families together, and the secrets we all keep create plot points that propel the reader through the story at a breakneck pace--because why DID it take Phoebe's brother Grant 27 minutes to call for help after their crash?

A few obvious twists, but overall still an engaging, read that uses multiple POV to make you race through this story.

Overall: 5 stars

I'll tell my students about: language, sex, death, mental health/trauma, alcohol, drugs, theft, gore

**Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the free DRC. All opinions expressed are my own.**

Thank you NetGalley, the publishers and Ashley Tate for this eARC.

The book overall was good. The book was well-written, the characters were well-developed. The ending for me was unexpected.

A small town full of gossip and secrets. What really happened the night of the party 10 years ago that changed everyone's lives? A story told from different points of view, everything is not as it seems. Great book from start to finish.

I just reviewed Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate. #twentysevenminutes #NetGalley

Thank you netgalley and publisher for the ARC of this novel :)
A tragedy occurs in a small town and those who survived are left to pick up the pieces. But the events of that night left questions unanswered. I loved this book, it kept me guessing the whole time. I was trying to keep track of what really happened that night and what role each character had in it, but in the end, I was all wrong. Becca is a crazy stalker and takes to Grant, Phoebe's brother. Phoebe wants to leave town with Grant but for most of the book, you have the impression that Grant was going to leave town with Becca, who he was secretly dating at the time. June also lost her brother on the night of the accident, believing him to have skipped town for ten years and mysteriously showing up near the ten year anniversary after their mom passed away. But, something is wrong with him too. Meanwhile, Grant is hallucinating his dead sister and Becca is telling everyone about their relationship. I kept notes on how each character was related and what happened to them on that night but I still was shocked at the end. Ashley Tate did an amazing job of weaving together this mystery and used unreliable narrators in a creative way. You could never follow who was unreliable until the big reveal at the end. The big question is: What was Grant really doing in those 27 minutes between the crash and when he called 911, those crucial minutes that cost his sister her life?

I would give this book a 3.5 stars (rounded up here). I did really enjoy the story line of this. However, it started a bit slow for me. I’m okay with a slow burn but I also didn’t find any of the characters likable. I did love the ending twist though! I knew there would be a twist and didn’t see it coming at all. Overall, I did enjoy the book and would recommend to those who like mystery books.