3.5 stars

A radio talk show host dies under suspicious circumstances and a multimedia journalist tries to figure it out and be the first to break the news. The mystery aspect was pretty good, with several plausible murderers, but Jolene was quite annoying and over the top in her drive to get the story, no matter what. The book almost seemed more like a feature on what TV journalism is like these days than an actual mystery. I'm glad I don't have her job or her boss! Anyway, it's hard for me to really like a book when I don't like many of the characters, including the main character.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.

DNF @ 45%

I do not think that this a badly written book. It is very thorough in the subject as the author is a reporter herself and knows the industry and area very well. I had a hard time with all the current political references.

The last few years I have been reading to escape everyday life and not worry about what is going on around us and being bombarded all the time. This book took me right back into it and not a place I want to be.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media for the ALC to review!

I’ve been enjoying cozy mysteries lately, and this was a debut for the author. It was an entertaining read, but missed the mark a bit for me with all the politics that were included in here. I don’t care to read it in hardly anything let alone cozies, so this was not quite for me but there were some things in here done well. I enjoyed the narrator also for the audio and was glad I listened to this one for sure.

Thank you @netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy of Off the Air by Christina Estes. This debut novel is about a local broadcaster who still believes in journalism, while her station is pushing her to use social media and sensationalism to “improve” the story. There is a murder as well, and the coverage of it becomes a big deal. This was okay for me, I was not that invested in the story or the characters. #offtheair #christinaestes #netgalley #debutnovel #advancedreadercopy #bookstagram #takeapagefrommybook #readersofinstagram #bookloversofinstagram #lovetoread #fictionreader

An good story about how cutthroat broadcast TV can be. There have been a lot of stories about broadcast TV but this added the twist of the changes needed to include millenials and social media.

It was hard to decide whether to like the main character, Jolene. In some cases, she maintained her personal integrity but at other times, she's kind of seedy (and her co-workers agreed).

It was a good mystery that kept you guessing until the end.

I ended up DNFing this read about half way through. There was just a lot of information and behind the scenes about journalism and the negative aspects of it and not enough about the actual plot and mystery.

This one was a DNF. I’m not usually one to not finish a book (I like to power through so I can give it an honest try but I’m 54% through and I’d just rather read something I might enjoy).
I liked the premise of this story - investigating a murder from a reporter viewpoint - but I found I just couldn’t get into it. I wasn’t able to connect with the characters and I didn’t find any of them particularly likeable/memorable. New information would come to light and I just found I wasn’t excited or intrigued by it. The story seems to follow a ‘get information, can’t use it, boss gets annoyed’ formula over and over so it became a bit predictable in that sense. As far as cozy mystery’s go, there are so many out there that kept my interest more than this one seemed to.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced electronic version of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is an inside look into investigative journalism, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I enjoyed following the whodunnit but the trail at times got lost in the history of journalism and Arizona. I was entertained when Jolene interviewed suspects making me feel like I was witnessing a true crime documentary. Overall this was an informative and mostly entertaining story. Thank you, NetGalley for my copy.

Off the Air gives readers an inside look of the evolving world of reporting written by Christina Estes who has over 20 years of journalism experience. With that said of course it's well written.

I thought the story would have been more focused on the murder but, I found it more so on the reporting aspect and the downsides, etc. While I enjoyed the story, it just dragged a bit as I would have preferred the focus to be more on the murder and investigation. The last few chapters the suspense and excitement pick up. I just feel like it was a bit late to redeem the story for me.

2.5 stars

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC.

Jolene Garcia is a local TV reporter in Phoenix, Arizona, splitting her time between covering general assignments―anything from a monsoon storm to a newborn giraffe at the zoo―and special projects. Stories that take more time to research and produce, but stories that your average everyday person is intrigued by and interested to learn about. Think Good Morning America meets Newsroom or News at Night!
Whenever there is a mysterious death of a not-so-popular talk show host, Larry Lemmon, Jolene is more determined than ever to figure out who killed him and to get the Emmy she has worked so hard for all these years.
I love how much action there is from the get-go, along with character-development as well as truths about how cutthroat journalism really is. This pressure-building intense mystery kept me on my seat the entire time, as I'm sure it will other readers too. This debut was amazing and truly captivated me from the beginning.
Thanks to NetGalley & St. Martin's Press for providing me with this book in exchange for my review. Also to Christina Estes, I cannot to read more written by you!

DNF @ 17%

This book had a good premise but I think it was marketed incorrectly. I was expecting more of an investigation rather than a journalistic view of a murder.

This book would be perfect for the reader who wants that specific insight.

2.5 ⭐️ rounded

Yeah, the overall GR rating of 3.14 is not a good start, but I won’t let that influence my rating.

The mystery was pretty interesting and I do love a shorter mystery book since I find that those ones, while still having all the twists, get to the point. I wanted to know what happened to Larry. I love how Estes was so knowledgeable on the world of journalism, albeit because she is a journalist. This book does touch on a lot of current and political events/references them, which I personally don’t like in books (especially in fiction), but if you’re into that, then there’s a lot here.

However, there was something flat about this book. I felt like nothing happened for a good chunk of the book and suddenly I was halfway through.

Thank you, Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press & Minotaur, for the ARC!

This one is a cozy murder mystery revolving around talk radio show host who
The FMC is a tv reporter trying to make a name for herself, especially since she's the last person who officially interviewed the suspected dead talk show host.
She keeps getting weird clues dropped off as to "who the murderer" is , but can't quite pin point who it could be.

This book revolved around A LOT of political stand points and I did not love that. I understand it's part of the story and alot of radio personalities have strong political opinions but I just didn't think the story needed that, in my opinion.

I also felt like the chase for the murderer was too long, this could've been figured out sooner despite some of the background explanations given. The dialog is what really helped the story move along. All the extra was just plain extra.

Also some of the characters don't even have names they just go by descriptions like woman hater or snail which may be to bring in the "real feel", but it seemed to dehumanized the characters.

Overall I think the original storyline had potential, but the ball was dropped in the early start of the book.

QOTD ❓️⁉️❓️ Do you listen to talk radio? Is it even still a thing?
I know my dad used to....
If not, what are you currently reading?

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#cozymystery #offtheairbook #netgalley #talkshowhost #murderintheheadlines
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This was an interesting perspective for a murder mystery where you get to see what it’s like for a news reporter. Jolene is a local tv reporter who has been stuck with basic assignments, and nothing too news worthy. When a local radio host suddenly dies, she just so happened to be the last reporter to interview him. Now is her opportunity to report hot tips and get exclusives to go along with her interview. The only problem is all the networks—local and network—are trying to break exclusive information first. In Jolene’s race to report new information, she discovers the suspect may not be who everyone thinks it is.

I really enjoyed this debut, and felt that the author did a great job showing what murder investigations look like behind the scenes. Story was interesting, and definitely held my attention. I wish the author had developed Jolene a little more, and also reduced how many characters were introduced. Most had little significance to the story and they were hard to keep up with. Occasionally I felt the story jumped and I had to refocus on what was currently happening in the story. I wish some of the news jargon was explained a little better—I didn’t know what a “code 900” was, for example. Overall I thought it was a great debut and a fun perspective!

Thank you to the author and publisher for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review. It is greatly appreciated!

This was a new one for me. Set in the dog eat dog world of television journalism, our main character Jolene Garcia, a tv reporter, is working tirelessly trying not to get out scooped by her rival. When a well known radio host, Larry Lemon, drops dead, the race is on to cover the story, and get the best coverage before her competition. But Jolene soon figures out that the only way not to get upstaged might be to solve the crime herself. Was he murdered and if so, by whom?
Trying not to piss off her off-the-record source in law enforcement, and her trusty cameraman, she might have bitten off more than she can chew. Can she solve the crime without getting knocked off in the process? Plus to complicate matters, the powers that be at the network are obsessed with making sure the reporters are constantly updating their social media pages. No pressure! I have a new appreciation for TV journalists.
The mystery was entertaining, but the best part for me was getting a first hand look at how journalists operate. I guess I never thought about how cut throat the business could be. This was an informative and interesting look at how the business works from the inside.
Very entertaining.

This novel is more of a deep dive into the world of a television reporter than it is a mystery. While there is a bit of suspense near the end, it is not a suspenseful thriller. The plot pace is slow and I have to admit I skimmed some parts as I sought engaging action. While Jolene, the amateur sleuth, does solve the mystery in the end, the narrative by far centers around getting the breaking news report that results in high viewership. Jolene is much more concerned about getting the story than she is solving a mystery. I did not find her character really engaging.

This is a good novel for readers who would like to know more about the pressure for news sources to get top ratings as well as the role of social media in that pursuit. This is a decent fiction debut effort.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

This was a DNF for me. It was so slow and unfortunately I just wasn't interested enough in the characters, story, or media aspect of it to continue,

This book was just "OK" for me, unfortunately. While I did appreciate learning more about the day-to-day lifestyle of an investigative journalist, as well as how the industry landscape itself has changed over the last few years/decade, it felt a bit too bloated and overshadowed the plot at times. I think if it had a more even balance between the two I would have enjoyed this more, because the story itself was compelling in its own right, but alas.

This book leaned heavily on the increased popularity of the Cozy Mystery genre, but didn't quite hit the mark.

I think that the characters were fine, the plot was fine, the political mentions were fine, but the story was pretty repetitive. At one point I wasn't sure if the author was being dramatic for the story or if they actually hated journalists and thought that media was an over reach.

If I hadn't been reading via audio, I know I would have DNF'd this one.

This was an interesting book, and a great inside peek at the interworking of the world of news. A great twist on a common sub-genre.