Reviews

Twenty Seven Minutes by Ashley Tate
★★★ 3/5 stars

✦ Synopsis
A small town is still reeling from a car accident that killed star student Phoebe Dean. Her brother, Grant, was driving.
27 minutes to call for help. A secret kept for 10 years. Only 3 days until everyone knows.
He could & have saved her life. So why did he wait?

✦ My Thoughts
This was our February book club pick! The blurb for this one really grabbed my attention, but it wasn’t as great as I hoped. There was lots of small town drama, high school baggage, & a bit of a supernatural element that I didn’t expect (or enjoy very much🙈) I just struggled to really get into it.
Lots of characters, POVs, & timeline jumps were hard for me to keep straight.

✦ Read if you like :
-Slow burn mysteries
-Cold cases
-Small town secrets
-Unlikeable & unreliable characters
-Only if You’re Lucky by Stacey Willingham
-Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
-The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf

thank you to Netgalley + Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read this ARC ◡̈

krstncrly's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

liseyp's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Thank you to the author, publisher Headline, and online book club The Pigeonhole for the chance to read this. This is an honest and voluntary review.

As the 10 year anniversary of Phoebe Dean’s death approaches the truth surrounding the night she died and the legacy it has left in the town begins to unravel.

A dark, complex story. The tone reminded me of both We Begin at the End and Tall Bones. Sins of the past revisited on the young who are let down by the adults who should be supporting them.

It’s always difficult to read a book where the characters are largely unlikable. June, who loses her mother at the start of the book, and is reunited with her older brother who went missing around the time Phoebe died, is the closest thing to a sympathetic character. But, I didn’t really feel that I got to know her as she remained confused and conflicted.

I wonder if it may have worked better if we had seen life for the group of main characters before things fell apart. There are references to rifts between families in generations before that added to conflict, but no explanation is given of this nor do we see its impact in anything but a third hand reference.

The reader is expected to do quite a lot of the work in providing the context for this small town life. If I hadn’t read other books or watched TV shows that talked about the importance of sports and the idolatry of high school sports stars in American small towns the book would have made even less sense to me.

In saying all of that the writing style is beautiful. I’d just like to see a bit more time spent on character development and plot.

thestoryshire's review against another edition

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dark emotional slow-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

2.75

debs_shelves's review against another edition

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mysterious sad tense

4.0

This book starts off with a shocking scene. Then it backs us up. It's a dual timeline between then and now and that builds the suspense for me. Multiple POV, which is a favorite for me because you see the story for many angles, and it makes it more twisty.

Most of these characters were pretty unlikeable, but I'm good with that too. It fit the storyline.

The big secret is finally revealed, and I maybe would have wanted a little more in the end, but overall a solid read and kept me engaged throughout.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

renreads28's review against another edition

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tense slow-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

1.0

This book was not good. Slow, tedious, and the 'twist' made no sense. If you are telling the story from the perspective of the character but oops actually that character has been dead the whole time - that's not witty or creative. It's cheap and dumb.

bookcloud's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-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

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