Thank you Poisoned Pen Press for my Netgalley copy of TWENTY-SEVEN MINUTES by Ashley Tate, out today - 1/30/24!

This thrilling debut involves a small town grieving the loss of a teenage girl named Phoebe, ten years after she died in a car accident with her brother Grant as the driver, who waited twenty-seven minutes to call 911. If he would have called sooner, she would be alive. So what happened that fateful night?

This was a very unique premise with a wild case of characters - the problem was you really couldn’t root for anyone. Many of the POV’s were downright insane and awful. Becca, who was also in the car accident that night, was UNBEARABLE. I hated her chapters. And Grant was incredibly mean and disgusting to everyone around him. June, a townsperson whose brother Wyatt went missing that same night, is really the only redeemable character and I think the story could have been amazing if it was solely from her perspective.

Everyone in this town has secrets that slowly get revealed as the story goes on. The problem is the story went on and on and on… it could definitely have been edited down quite a bit. Some of the side characters like Grant and Phoebe’s mother and one of the town’s jocks (Ashley I think?) could have been fleshed out more, because sometimes it felt like they weren’t important enough to be included.

All in all, this thriller is a fast read and the twist is pretty fun. I figured it out about halfway through which is probably why I wanted the author to speed it up a little, but it was still fun once it was unveiled. A fun read that also has some gut punches about the tragedy of grief and the holes secrets burn in you if you let them linger too long.

I really struggled with the character's in this, they were all so unlikeable, and it felt like it was all over the place.

I loved this book. I thought it was well written and creative. The spiritual ending was very enjoyable, although it surprised me! I thought I had the ending figured out! I found this book to be captivating, heartfelt, mysterious and had just the right amount of suspense at times. The realism of the emotions and reactions to grief are dead on. I believe it will make a great book club read. Well done!

I enjoyed this book! There were a lot of people/timeframes to keep track of but once you got the hang of that it was fine. My only thing I wish was different about the book was maybe a bigger plot twist. It felt like the big twist at the end was kind of hand fed to you.

Twenty-Seven Minutes started out strong. The prologue describes the death and vague circumstances around Phoebe Dean's death in a car accident and alludes to the 27 minute delay in calling for an ambulance.
From there the story started to drag a little. It was hard to finish. But I really wanted to understand the circumstances that caused the accident. While I don't know that the ending and answers make up for all of the pacing issues, I am glad that I finished. It was a solid conclusion.

3.5 stars

Twenty-Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate is a slow burn mystery that revolves around an event that took place 10 years previously and has forever shook the town it took place in. The premise of the book intrigued me as soon as I read the synopsis and I absolutely needed to know the answer posed in it; what exactly happened in the twenty-seven minutes between the accident that took place and the cops actually being called that resulted in a young girl dying.

There are a slew of people affected by the accident, both directly and indirectly, and a number of them tell this story from their different perspectives, showing both how it impacted their lives and how they were involved in the events of the night. This was both intriguing and overwhelming at times. When I first started reading the book it felt like there were far too many POVs going on, though once I got into the book more it did become easier and made sense as to why there were so many characters telling their sides of the story. They all had something to hide and had their lives turned upside down by the night of the accident and how this was the case was pieced together bit by bit through their perspectives, each of them unreliable in their secrets and their self involvement.

The victim of the accident, Phoebe, is mourned by the town even 10 years later and they prepare for a memorial for her as everyone’s lives start to unravel throughout the events of the book. There’s Grant, Phoebe’s brother, and the one driving the night of the accident, and the individual who waited a full twenty-seven minutes for unknown reasons before calling the police. There’s Becca, also in the accident though she remembers very little of the events and therefore has no answers about what happened. There’s June whose brother disappeared the same night though the rest of the town failed to notice as they were too caught up in Phoebe’s death. And finally there is Wyatt, June’s brother himself who mysteriously up and left with seemingly no reason and has finally come back 10 years later with answers he’s determined to share with his sister.

As previously stated, this book is sloooooow burn. It took a while for it to get anywhere close to where it was leading which I did struggle with initially. Now, it is very good at building the tension and leaving the reader begging for answers, it just takes a while to actually get around to revealing those answers. There is a lot of time spent hinting at something deeper that was going on prior to and leading up to the accident, and leaving breadcrumbs that don’t really give any solid information. Much of the book is spent delving into the characters and showing how much their lives have gone downhill since that night, with the odd flashback to the day of, revealing everything up to and including the accident itself from other random characters points of view.

Honestly not one of the characters was very likeable, though it worked with the story all things considered and if nothing else it definitely made them interesting. And honestly, likeable or not I did get hooked on the story and wanting to know what happened once I really got going with it and I had a hard time putting it down because I needed to know. I would keep telling myself “just one more chapter and then I’ll do something else”, but lo and behold I would keep going with another chapter because I felt like I was finally about to start getting some answers (mostly this was not the case as it just kept being hinted at or would switch to a different point of view). I, like the sucker I am, couldn’t stop until I got those answers.

So although it takes a bit to get into the flow of things and finally start getting some answers, I still got deeply invested in the story and very much need to know what had happened all those years ago. The conclusion was satisfying enough to make the wait worthwhile and I was glad I stuck with it. Twenty-Seven Minutes was a tense mystery perfect for lovers of this genre!

This is a tightly wound story alternating between today and the happenings of ten years ago. It is also the tale of what really happened that night told from the perspectives of at least five of the people who were part of the story. Who really knows what happened, and will the reader finally discover the truth? The story is full of well-developed, though not necessarily likable, characters who provide the framework upon which the story is hung. It is well crafted keeping the reader guessing from start to finish.

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing an advance copy for me to read and review.

The story opens up with a death. After that follows four POVs ten years after the fact, with grief being a big theme. Occasionally there is time jumps back in time the ten years around the death.
Each of the four POVs were very interesting. There was one character I didn't entirely care for, he just seemed like a jack wagon. But it was still interesting to have his POV as well.
In one way or another each character was connected, wether it was directly or in directly. For the twist at the end, I wasn't entirely expecting. I thought it was going one way, went it went another.

Twenty-seven Minutes by Ashley Tate is a thriller about Grant, Phoebe, and Becca who were in a late night car accident on a bridge following a high school party. What happened in the 27 minutes it took for Grant to call 911? The story branches off to June who recently lost her mother and whose brother and father disappeared around the same time as the car accident. The story is told flashing back to the night of the accident, and 10 years later as the classmates are still dealing with the aftermath. Even though much of the story takes place 10 years after high school, I feel like this would appeal to the YA audience. Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the ARC!

I received this as an advanced reader copy from NetGalley

Wow, so 10 years ago Phoebe died as the results of a car accident. It is getting close to the anniversary of the death. There are still questions about what happened that night and if the story that the survivors gave was true or not.

This book totally pulls you in for the ride. I could not put it down! YAWN the next day cause I stayed up tooo late to finish it!

Faced paced, multiple POV was good, so much build up throughout the entire book. It gave me some anxiety!
Thank you for the opportunity to read this!

What is your natural reaction after a car accident? Who do you call? What do you do? This story begins with a death, and jumps back and forth between time among four different POV's. There are some heavy topics here: grief, death: and a tragic accident. This was a gripping tale that I absolutely devoured!

So I loved this book I think a mystery surrounding missing time is amazing because it keeps you on your toes. I will say the characters didn’t do it for me there wasn’t one I was truly rooting for but at the same time I didn’t hate anyone so that works as well. Overall fun storyline and a pretty straight forward style book

This is Ashley Tate’s first novel and my first ARC! I’m really excited and thankful to be given the chance to read it.

For a first novel, it was okay. I’m not mad that I read it, but I’m not completely impressed with it. I would say it’s a slow burn and it didn’t really grasp me until around 50-60% in. One of the main characters simply was not needed in the story at all. Since they were a main character, though, I wish I could’ve seen more of their ending. The ending was good but I needed a little more suspense throughout the book. It felt like it was dragging a little. But once you got to around 60%, it picked up and had a good follow through to the end of the story.

Parts of the book were confusing to me, mainly how they talked to one another.

Again, for her first novel, I think she did a decent job! I look forward to more from this author.

I liked this one. It definitely kept me guessing right up to the very end. I was sure I had it all figured out, and then it would change again. It wasn’t an author I had heard of before, but I will definitely be checking out any of her other titles!
I love a good mystery. The writing was good, and I liked the characters and descriptions.
Thank you to the author, Netgalley, and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read this title.

Wow-what a debut! Why did Grant wait twenty-seven long minutes to report the car accident on the bridge that injured or killed everyone in his world. His perfect sister, Phoebe, who dreamed of leaving the small town behind, is now dead and her loss has devastated the town. His secret girlfriend, Becca, who is faithful to a fault and still pines for him a decade after the accident cannot move past her trauma, and Grant forever altered his own future-his injuries ending his athletic career, forcing him into the small town life he hoped to avoid and leaving the entire town guessing what really happened that fateful night. Only one person outside the car knows what happened, the town delinquent, Wyatt. now he's back and willing to expose the secrets after all this time.

I really wanted to like this one! I really did....but ultimately almost DNF....It was super dark, attempted to be more than it was and ultimately was a bit predictable. That said, I stuck it out and finished but felt unsatisfied by the ending. When I read the author's note at the end, it made a bit more sense to me. This book is THICK with grief and that's what Ashley Tate was experiencing. So if you are looking for a book that gets the darkness of human experience, what people will do to survive (but not thrive) - give this a try! The writing is strong (despite the predictability) and I really liked the different POVs which allowed me to easily piece things together.

Twenty-Seven Minutes started a bit slow (for me). Multiple POV's and timelines can bother some readers, but I tend to like them.

I also like books with an unlikable character or two. After all, real life isn't full of wonderful and amazing people. This is where Twenty-Seven Minutes fella bit flat for me. ALL the characters were unlikeable, IMHO.

Didn't see the end coming, which is always a plus.

Not a bad book, at all. Not an OMG, AMAZING book either. But it was interesting, albeit a tad slow to develop, and was well-written. I'll be on the lookout for the next book by Ashley Tate.

Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for this ARC. Appreciate it!

I am very split about how to rate this book because it kept my interest but wasn’t really that good. I thought that the book dragged a little bit too much, it wasn’t until the last 80% that it picked up the pace and the plot developed. I was still curious about how the story was going to end so I wanted to finish the whole book even through I thought it was going a bit slow and at points didn’t have my full interest. I also found it difficult at times to tell the characters a part because there were a lot of them.
There were a lot of twists and turns that I liked and it had me guessing till the end. I still didn’t guess the end because wow what a great twist!! I love a who dunnit book with a small gossipy town where the secrets spread fast and it was done so good in this book.
I’m so sad that I didn’t like this more…

*4 Stars*

ARC kindly received via NetGalley for an honest review.

An interesting read and interesting characters. Lots of small town rumours and secrets. Enjoyed this book and felt for the characters, would recommend.