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squintyfarmer's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Stalking, Car accident, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
astoriareader's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.0
SYNOPSIS
-Ten years ago, Phoebe Dean, a highschooler, was killed in a car accident on the way home from a party. Her brother, Grant Dean, was driving the car, and Becca was in the backseat. Grant waited 27 minutes to call the police.
-Now, the small town is still remembering Phoebe, and lots of people are still wondering what happened to her. A memorial is scheduled to remember her, and it brings a lot of questions.
MY THOUGHTS
-This was a major snooze fest. Truly, nothing actually happens in this book.
-The writing is not good, and I'm not sure why exactly this needed to be written.
-None of the characters are likeable, which is fine, but they also are not developed.
-The same thoughts are repeated over and over again.
-The ending was not satisfying, and it felt really cheap to me.
-I read so many books in this genre, and this is not one I would recommend. It isn’t even a thriller or suspense.
-Even when we find out what happened to Phoebe, it is not satisfying.
TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️There’s too many books out there. I wouldn’t recommend this one. It isn’t even a thriller or suspense.
Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book is out now.
-Ten years ago, Phoebe Dean, a highschooler, was killed in a car accident on the way home from a party. Her brother, Grant Dean, was driving the car, and Becca was in the backseat. Grant waited 27 minutes to call the police.
-Now, the small town is still remembering Phoebe, and lots of people are still wondering what happened to her. A memorial is scheduled to remember her, and it brings a lot of questions.
MY THOUGHTS
-This was a major snooze fest. Truly, nothing actually happens in this book.
-The writing is not good, and I'm not sure why exactly this needed to be written.
-None of the characters are likeable, which is fine, but they also are not developed.
-The same thoughts are repeated over and over again.
-The ending was not satisfying, and it felt really cheap to me.
-I read so many books in this genre, and this is not one I would recommend. It isn’t even a thriller or suspense.
-Even when we find out what happened to Phoebe, it is not satisfying.
TL;DR: ⭐️⭐️There’s too many books out there. I wouldn’t recommend this one. It isn’t even a thriller or suspense.
Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book is out now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Stalking and Gaslighting
Moderate: Cancer, Car accident, and Death of parent
maggiespages's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death and Car accident
Moderate: Stalking
avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
It took Phoebe's brother Grant 27 minutes to call 911 after a car crash on the bridge. On the same night, June's brother Wyatt goes missing. now 10 years later the truth about what happened that night will finally come to light.
If I hadn't been so overwhelmed by the CRAZY of everyone in the book (I say that as a person with multiple mental health diagnoses and an almost complete psychology degree), I would have seen the truth sooner. I did not guess the truth since Wyatt was supposedly there. And it seemed like everyone whose POV it was from had some level of mental illness or was suffering from severe grief. I mean talk about unreliable narrators!
None of the characters were very likable, June, but the rest ugh! The book was okay but not great.
Narrator Rating: 3.5 stars
The narrator did a decent job, but at 2.05x speed she pronounced some words very oddly, not sure if that was supposed to be a regional accent or if it was the speed at which I was listening. She did not do many tonal shifts for different characters. Though she was not too boring either.
If I hadn't been so overwhelmed by the CRAZY of everyone in the book (I say that as a person with multiple mental health diagnoses and an almost complete psychology degree), I would have seen the truth sooner.
None of the characters were very likable, June, but the rest ugh! The book was okay but not great.
Narrator Rating: 3.5 stars
The narrator did a decent job, but at 2.05x speed she pronounced some words very oddly, not sure if that was supposed to be a regional accent or if it was the speed at which I was listening. She did not do many tonal shifts for different characters. Though she was not too boring either.
Elemental Levels: Heartfelt-5/5 Helpful-1/5 Mystery-2/5 Predictability-4/5 Suspense-3/5 Tear- 3.5/5 Thrill-4/5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Death of parent
Minor: Addiction
The child death is that of a 17-year-old, not a young child.stephs_cozycorner's review against another edition
3.5
(3.5 Stars)
I will admit I was a bit nervous going into this one because it had quite the mix of reviews. But I always like to make my own opinions, and I am glad I did!
I was pleasantly surprised and was kept engaged from the first to last page. This book kept me guessing with every turn of the page wondering what would happen next.
For the last ten years, the small town of West Wilmer has been wondering why it took Dean Grant twenty-seven minutes to call 911 the night of his sister Pheobe’s death. Someone knows what happened that night, someone who might finally be ready to tell the truth.
𝙏𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙮 𝙎𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙨 is told over multiple POV’s with flashback chapters to give us glimpses of that fateful night.
It took me a bit to get a grasp on who was who, but once I did it was not hard to follow along with the story. Every single person is unreliable and I didn’t know who or what to believe.
I did have a bit of a hard time with all the characters because if I’m being honest, I hated every single one of them. The only one I kind of liked and felt sorry for was June.
And I felt like some aspects were very repetitive which made the middle drag on a little bit.
But it was because of these unreliable characters that we had some very engaging conversations in our @tandemcollectiveglobal readalong group.
All in all I enjoyed this one and look forward to what Tate writes next.
Pick this up If you like small town thrillers with unreliable narrators.
Thank you @penguinrandomca and @tandemcollectiveglobal for a #gifted copy of the book.
I will admit I was a bit nervous going into this one because it had quite the mix of reviews. But I always like to make my own opinions, and I am glad I did!
I was pleasantly surprised and was kept engaged from the first to last page. This book kept me guessing with every turn of the page wondering what would happen next.
For the last ten years, the small town of West Wilmer has been wondering why it took Dean Grant twenty-seven minutes to call 911 the night of his sister Pheobe’s death. Someone knows what happened that night, someone who might finally be ready to tell the truth.
𝙏𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙮 𝙎𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣 𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙨 is told over multiple POV’s with flashback chapters to give us glimpses of that fateful night.
It took me a bit to get a grasp on who was who, but once I did it was not hard to follow along with the story. Every single person is unreliable and I didn’t know who or what to believe.
I did have a bit of a hard time with all the characters because if I’m being honest, I hated every single one of them. The only one I kind of liked and felt sorry for was June.
And I felt like some aspects were very repetitive which made the middle drag on a little bit.
But it was because of these unreliable characters that we had some very engaging conversations in our @tandemcollectiveglobal readalong group.
All in all I enjoyed this one and look forward to what Tate writes next.
Pick this up If you like small town thrillers with unreliable narrators.
Thank you @penguinrandomca and @tandemcollectiveglobal for a #gifted copy of the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Drug abuse, Stalking, Car accident, and Gaslighting
kitstonglade's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
thank you netgalley, ashley tate & poisoned pen press for providing me with the arc for twenty-seven minutes
—
the description of the book really peaked my interest. the prologue and epilogue were both beautifully written. the prologue really grabbed my attention and pulled me in. the plot twist at the end was something i hadn’t been expecting at all, i sat in my bed shocked at how i hadn’t pieced the twist together in my own mind. i think it was a very unique idea (or maybe i haven’t read as many crime thrillers as i think i have) & i thought it was executed flawlessly, i just wish that it had been revealed a little bit earlier on in the book to keep it interesting.
the pacing was quite slow. like i mentioned before, the prologue really drew me in, but after about 10-15% in, it draggeddddd until the last 10%. not sure if this was done to build suspense or what but i was skimming certain people’s povs/chapters and that’s probably the reason i finished this book so quickly, otherwise it would’ve definitely dragged out longer.
i liked the time jumps going back ten years to the night of the accident for backstory but i didn’t like that in the present day, the characters were still living & acting like they were teenagers when they were actually like thirty. they also kinda acted and spoke like phoebe’s death was like a week ago & still fresh rather than ten years ago.
i wouldn’t say the cast was stale but they were unlikeable as fuck. grant gave like major fuck boy energy but double the manipulation/gaslighting & anger issues. but the WORST one had to be fucking becca. the pick me girl vibes that i got from her was enough to make me want to skip her chapters completely, but i also love drama so i sat through it. “i have trauma too i was there why is no one feeling bad for me 🥺🥺🥺” girl. by far the most unlikeable character for me. i didn’t really connect with any of the characters but by the end of the book, june was the character i had the least amount of complaints about. also..is it just me or were grant & phoebe very ….. incesty??? like the way she was so possessive of him & how other characters described grant’s love for her, i was like.. oh! okay then.
i liked the time jumps going back ten years to the night of the accident for backstory but i didn’t like that in the present day, the characters were still living & acting like they were teenagers when they were actually like thirty. they also kinda acted and spoke like phoebe’s death was like a week ago & still fresh rather than ten years ago.
i wouldn’t say the cast was stale but they were unlikeable as fuck. grant gave like major fuck boy energy but double the manipulation/gaslighting & anger issues. but the WORST one had to be fucking becca. the pick me girl vibes that i got from her was enough to make me want to skip her chapters completely, but i also love drama so i sat through it. “i have trauma too i was there why is no one feeling bad for me 🥺🥺🥺” girl. by far the most unlikeable character for me. i didn’t really connect with any of the characters but by the end of the book, june was the character i had the least amount of complaints about. also..is it just me or were grant & phoebe very ….. incesty??? like the way she was so possessive of him & how other characters described grant’s love for her, i was like.. oh! okay then.
anyway to wrap up since i just be yapping at this point, thank you again to netgalley, ashley tate and poisoned pen press for providing me with the arc for this book
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
hanniee's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Blood, Vomit, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail