Was this a bad book? No

Was this a mystery? Also no (at least not the first 80% of the book)

As stated in another review that I saw, I believe this book is way more of a nod to journalism than it is a true mystery. There is a murder and a mysterious situation and maybe this could be classified as a cozy mystery (I’m not really sure since I don’t read those) but it really didn’t feel at all like the main character was actively trying to solve the mystery as much as she was trying to excel in her career. If there would’ve been more focused on the mystery, I probably would have bumped this to four stars. I thought the crime-solving part of the novel was very intriguing, I’m just not interested in what the main plotline is about — journalism.


Thank you to Christina Estes, Dreamscape Media, and NetGalley for a copy of this novel.

Plucky TV reporter Jolene Garcia is having lunch with cameraman Nate when they get an urgent call to report to duty. A prominent radio personality has been found dead and Jolene and Nate rush to the scene.

Off The Air follows Jolene's investigation as she follows leads, puts herself in danger, wanders into political commentary (the radio host was a Rush Limbaugh like character), traverses Phoenix, and solves the mystery.

It's cute, nothing deep or lasting. Jolene gives everybody nicknames: Sexy, Woman Hater, Leather Boots and she has quips like "Ceavage can't compete with deadlines". If cozy mysteries are your bag and the above sounds interesting, you'll enjoy Off The Air.

The audiobook was easy to follow and the narrator captures Jolene's pluck.

My thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audiobook.

This one fell a little flat for me. For a cozy mystery, it had a whole lot about journalism and not much about anything else. There was also a lot of political undertones. Sometimes it felt like there was so much detail without anything really happening. I do appreciate the knowledge about journalism that was brought into this story and how competitive it is in that profession. That being said the FMC constantly complaining about getting scooped became grating. I think the author has promise and am intrigued to see what she comes up with in the future. This one just left me wanting with the execution.

Cw: Death, misogyny, animal cruelty/death, child abuse, drug use.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narration.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the ALC. All opinions are my own.

this was super fun. I enjoyed the fact that i felt like i just went to work with out MC. I feel like we don’t realize the length that reporters truly have to go through to get a story & this particular reporter went farther than most probably should, including herself.

As a fiction book, i liked that it felt almost like non fiction as if we just were truly trying to find out who killed him.

I really enjoyed the narration. It kept me engaged and wanting to continue on the journey. I flew through it and will definitely be returning to this author and her future work.

Off The Air by Christina Estes
Publication Date: March 26, 2024

A cozy mystery that I am realizing is not my top genre. I said this before I received this book, but I think I only have a small space for cozy mysteries in my heart and that space is full.

Much more political than I thought it would be.

I did like the look into the journalism career. The author, Christina Estes, is an Emmy Award winning reporter so the behind the scenes felt real.

This was like an ad for Pepsi, why? For real can someone answer this question for me.

If cozy mysteries are your thing, you might enjoy Off the Air way more than I did.

Jolene Garcia is a journalist and reporter for a local station in Phoenix Arizona, she has big ambitions of hard hitting and big impact stories that take time and care. Her latest projects however end up being of more fluff variety.
When a death is reported at a popular radio station and the victim is controversial and incredibly popular Larry Lemon. Jolene finds herself pushing every boundary and even crossing a couple in her pursuit to be the first person to break the story. This could be the story that breaks her career wide open, if it doesn’t break her first!

I went into this book knowing it was going to be a race for the truth kind of mystery, and I enjoyed the premise.
Jolene is a person that knows what she wants, and while I do find myself saying more that once that she may be going too far or making some silly risks. Then in the same moment it’s framed in a way that I can see what led her to do that, what motivates her, and what keeps her going. We’re also able to hear her deal with the result of her actions and what effect it has on the people around you.

The narrator had a very lovely cadence to her voice and really was smooth the whole way through, I will definitely being listening to more of her works.
The only reason why I wouldn’t give it 5 is that it was a bit dragged, I do feel like even though it added to her journey I think there were things that could have been omitted and not changed the overall feel of the story and made it slightly better for me! However as a debut book I have high hopes about the authors future works and look forward to seeing what she has in store for us next!

I was fortunate to receive this book as an ARC thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media! I consumed this as an audiobook which was 8h30m long but, it is also available as an e-book coming in at 295 pages and a physical book coming in at 320 pages!

Thank you so much to Dreamscape media for the audiobook.

I was so excited for this one and was initially sold because of the adorable cover and synopsis.

I'm a huge fan of fun and cozy mysteries but this didn't quite meet met my expectations. I had to force myself to want to pick it up even after stopping and starting a few times.

The narrator was amazing though and if I was just rating audiobook performance it would be 5 stars!

This one is out now!

This was an okay book. I really liked that it was written by an actual former reporter, so we got to read a behind-the-scene type story. The mystery itself was a little lacking- something you’d find on a crime show drama, not necessarily a real whodunnit. Jolene, the main character, kind of annoyed me, but I think I was annoyed with journalism today as a whole, and what it’s forced journalists to become. Two minor things I did like about this book was how she watched Wheel of Fortune every night, and that there’s a brief, smallest of small mention of a cat named Wrigley. (Named so for the same reason my Wrigley is: a husband with an overzealous love of the Chicago Cubs.) Anyway, this was a fast read, and the audio wasn’t half bad, so I’m giving a flat 3 🐾 / 5.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape media for an audiobook arc of this book! It was a fun murder mystery and I enjoyed the “behind the scenes” look at local news. It was a quick listen and the narrator did a fantastic job! That being said, I did find myself losing interest at times, but if there are more books in the series I will definitely pick them up 🤗

I unfortunately struggled getting through this, if it wasn't an audiobook I wouldn't have made it through. I just never felt invested in the story or characters.

Thank you to DreamScape and the Publishers for review copies of Off the Air, a debut from reporter Christina Estes. This is well produced and nicely narrated by Marcella Black.
This is an interesting book to read/listen to, a lot of expert behind the scenes insight from a reporter to develop the main character and ground the mystery in a sense of why reporting matters. But it's also a lot of why this matters... and it's a lot for a reader, even a detail loving let's get this right reader like me. I also admit that I found the main character not super likable and while women and likability is one of those things that irks me, it's also hard to get into a story when I find it hard to connect with a character.

That being said, it's a good debut, finding a balanced way to establish a possible series is hard, to get the writer tone in place and characters developed might mean waiting for book #2, which I would give a try!

ℝ𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘: ⭐⭐⭐ | 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕞𝕒𝕥: 𝐸-𝐵𝑜𝑜𝓀 & 𝒜𝓊𝒹𝒾𝑜𝒷𝑜𝑜𝓀

𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐬 “𝐰𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭” 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝. 𝐈 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝’𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐟 𝐈’𝐝 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐭. 𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐧𝐨 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬! 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐜𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝, 𝐈 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐚 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬.

𝐈 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝’𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞. 𝐔𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲, 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫, 𝐉𝐨𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐆𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐚, 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐚𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐫 (𝐢.𝐞., 𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐦𝐦𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝).

𝐈 𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧 𝐞-𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧! 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐚𝐭 𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫’𝐬 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧.

𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓴 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓸 𝓝𝓮𝓽𝓖𝓪𝓵𝓵𝓮𝔂, 𝓒𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓪 𝓔𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓼, 𝓜𝓲𝓷𝓸𝓽𝓪𝓾𝓻 𝓑𝓸𝓸𝓴𝓼, & 𝓓𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓶𝓼𝓬𝓪𝓹𝓮 𝓜𝓮𝓭𝓲𝓪 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓐𝓡𝓒! 𝓐𝓵𝓵 𝓸𝓹𝓲𝓷𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝔂 𝓸𝔀𝓷.

This is marketed as a cozy mystery about a journalist reporting on a high profile murder of a controversial radio talk show host. One thing is for sure, this author knows the ins and outs of journalism and it's obvious she loves the profession. However, it reads more like a commentary/documentary-type on the cut-throat and corrupt behind-the-scenes of journalism and how it's changing with the times. I found myself struggling to get into the ebook which led me to requested the audiobook, and although it was definitely a better choice for me as I thought the narrator did a good job with it, I still didn't exactly love it. Also, a cozy mystery is supposed to provide a brief escape from the troubles of the real world, so did not anticipate how heavily imbedded in politics this story would be, which I did not love. Thanks to Dreamscape Media and St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books for the early review copies of the e-book and audiobook via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Jolene Garcia is a local TV reporter in Phoenix, Arizona doing her part to report real news despite her producers constantly pitching her silly stories about things like manicures and the best dry cleaners. She has slowly built community and credibility at her station.

When news comes in that “America’s true conservative voice” Larry Lemmon has suddenly died Jolene and her favorite photographer Nate Thompson head to the scene to report the facts first. As the last person to have interviewed Lemmon, Jolene is thrilled to be ahead in a constant media race, but that lead quickly disappears as she investigates the suspicious circumstances regarding Lemmon’s death. Off the Air follows Jolene has she tries to outpace her media rival JJ and get the scoop first.

As a journalism major in college, I can appreciate the level of detail Christina Estes puts in to explaining the ins and outs of television reporter Jolene’s job, but I would wager most people would be annoyed by the level of information presented. Jolene as a character wasn’t particularly likable, but in this era of media, I’m not sure many reporters are beloved anymore.

The plot is quick paced, and the mystery won’t be shocking, but the reasoning behind the murder certainly is gruesome. Most of the red herrings didn’t sway me as I read, in particular the character Oliver, who I believe should have been left out. Also, this book doesn’t shy from politics, and it’s obvious the author is not a conservative should that matter to you as a reader.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, Minotaur Books, and the author Christina Estes for the advanced copy of the book. Off the Air is out now. All opinions are my own.

Im giving this book 3 stars. I was interested in it thinking it would be something like Finlay Donovan series, but sadly, it wasn't. I could connect to the characters. I disliked the narrator she really didn't show any emotion when voicr the book i believe. The book was just average. Nothing was exciting. Didnt jump out at me

Jolene Garcia is a local TV reporter in Phoenix Arizona. She is young, 28 years old, and has made a few mistakes. She covers general interest stories and special projects. She recently interviewed a local radio host who is rather controversial. He has been very vocal about his beliefs on “boarder walls”. He thinks of himself as “America’s True Conservative Voice”. Jolene and her photographer, Nate get work that there has been a death at the radio station. The victim is non other than Larry Lemmon himself. Jolene thinks this could make her career epecially since he gave her his last interview. As she goes after the story she seems to always be one step behind her rival JJ. Jolene interviews, ex coworkers, Larry’s friend and family trying to figure this all out but as she gets closer to the answer she starts to get threats. Will she be able to figure it out and get the scope before her rival JJ does? There are many hot, current topics and even cultural debates in this book. There are lots of suspects and twist and turns are involved in the nice cozy story.

I started listening as soon as I got the email I got this book because I love a good murder mystery. And there were parts I really love but also parts that fell flat for me.

For a debut novel it was really good and I think if I read it instead of listening to it, I would have enjoyed it more. I wasn’t a huge fan of the narrator but overall the book wasn’t bad

📚 #BOOKREVIEW 📚
Off the Air by Christina Estes
⭐️⭐️⭐️ / Pages: 295 / Genre: Cozy Mystery
Audiobook Narrator: Marcella Black / Duration: 8 hours 30 minutes

Jolene is an ambitious TV reporter anxious to take on bigger, juicier stories. So when controversial talk show host Larry Lemmon dies under suspicious circumstances, she’s determined to be the first to break the story.

I wanted to like Jolene but her singleminded mentality to break the case no matter the cost to those around her who are trying to help her, did not endear me to her at all. This was an OK mystery but I wanted it to be cuter and funnier with more likeable characters.

Marcella Black did a great job narrating.

Thank you, @NetGalley and @Dreamscape_Media for gifted copy of this audiobook.

3.5 stars rounded up.

This was a cozy mystery about a talk show host dying onset, and then it appears like maybe he was murdered. We follow a news reporter who is trying to find out what happened to our talk. Show host while also trying to respect the people that she talks to that says not to use their names, or that what they’re telling her is off the record.

Every time our FMC, Jolene, talked to someone knew she gives you a tidbit of history on something that happened. As I am writing this review, I cannot think of one example lol. But I knew a few of the things that happened so I know that they were true pieces of information.

This book is for you if you enjoy:
🎙️ following a story as it unfolds
☠️ trying to catch a murderer
🧠 learning new pieces of history
💔 a story with no romance, all about a woman and her career.

Audiobook:
DURATION 8 Hours, 31 Minutes
NARRATOR Marcella Black
Audio-Specific Review: Marcella did a wonderful job at narrating. I believed that she was Jolene and I enjoyed listening to her tell me the story of the murder and quest to find the killer. I definitely recommend her as a narrator and I will for sure read more books that she narrates in the future.

Thanks NetGalley for the ARC of this audiobook. I few things about this audiobook that didn’t mesh well with me. The narrator sounds nothing like a “news anchor”. The voice doesn’t match the female character The storyline is fairly slow for an investigation type story. Maybe if I read the book verses listened to it my thoughts might have been different. The author did a lot of research in writing this book which shows. Even though this is a made up story there is a lot of real facts in the story and politics.