It was so easy to fly through this one. Every chapter, you get closer and closer to the answer, but also with more questions than you had before. It was a very fun guessing game. Written in interview style, four teenagers on a camping trip are being interviewed by the police after they come back claiming their friend is missing. Each one has a unique relationship with the missing Maylee and each one has something (or a few things) to hide. Of the four POVs, John and Abigail were my favorites. Petra, a cop’s daughter, was sooooooo snarky and for the most part, it was funny, but it got to be a little much at times. Nolan, the conspiracy theorist, was absolutely bizarre, which was frustrating on occasion, but he was a really unique character. It did feel a little repetitive at times since you have four characters going over the same parts one after the other, but I thought each POV was different enough to really show their own perspective. The ending was not one I saw coming, but I was hoping for something a little more jaw dropping. It certainly wasn’t a bad ending by any means. Overall, this was a quick, intriguing read that I think fans of YA mysteries and unreliable narrators will get a kick out of!
TW: teenage drinking, mentions of car accidents, racism, gun violence, bullying, death

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for an advanced digital reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

What happened to Maylee out there in the woods?

I loved the format of this book. Each chapter tells you the question the police are asking, and then the responses given by each of the teens who was in the woods with her. As you piece the story together, you discover that the story is really simple. However, the fun is in figuring it out because everyone has different perceptions of what was going on. There are some attempts at addressing diversity and police treatment told through the viewpoint of a Black character, but it felt superficial to me. I struggled with finding Maylee sympathetic and as the book went on, the back and forth of it all started to drag. Overall, I was disappointed by the time I got to the end.

Still, if you Iiked books like A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, you may enjoy this one.


A huge thank you to the author and the publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

I received an ARC of this book from Sourcebooks Fire via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. The first thing I can say is this book is unique! I read a lot of mysteries and thrillers, but I have never read one in this format. Written in the form of interviews with the main characters, the pace is fast and exciting. Personally I loved the repeated details from each person as you can see exactly how differently people can interpret the same situation.I did not find it unnecessarily repetitive but just the opposite. These characters made me think of the cast of The Breakfast Club camping instead of in detention. We have the popular girl, the social outcast, the overachiever, etc. Although this is actually a YA novel, I think it offers great insight and nuance into issues facing most people these days - social media, exploring sexual orientation, cliques, cancel culture. The exact occurrence that solved the mystery, so to speak, was a little anticlimactic, but the circumstances surrounding it were anything but. I would have liked the book to continue further into the characters' reactions after they all learn "what really happened." Sequel, perhaps?

Having enjoyed Chelsea Sedoti’s other books and also having taught As You Wish in my novel studies high school class, I was excited to read her next book, Tell Me What Really Happened. Right from the start this book did not disappoint. The structure immediately grabs the reader’s attention as it is told from the unique perspective of law enforcement interrogation interviews of a group of teens who went on a camping trip that led to the disappearance in the woods of one of their friends.
One of the highlights of the novel is the meticulous development of the different characters as the teens slowly reveal more of their hidden personalities and agendas throughout the interrogation process. . When it is revealed that not all characters went on the camping trip for the reasons readers were first led to believe, some great plot twists developed and compelled me to fly through the chapters.
The abrupt ending is the only thing making this a four star rather than five star book. It felt rushed after such careful build up. While the ending made sense and certainly contained some surprises, there was more that could have been done to provide closure to the issues demonstrated in each character’s personality and the way they each related to what “really happened.”
Overall, this was a fast paced read that kept me wanting more until the end.

BOOK: Tell Me What Really Happened
AUTHOR: @chelseasedoti
RATING: 2/5 stars
GENRE: Fiction/Thriller/Suspense
PUBLISHER: @sourcebooksfire
PUB DATE: 4/4/23
THANK YOU @netgalley and @sourcebooksfire for gifting me an ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) of this book in exchange for my honest review.
HOWEVER, I’m RAGING right now…..Can someone tell me what happened? That’s what I want to know.
SYNOPSIS: “I started thinking I should have just stayed home and read all weekend. Though, I’d just finished a book I really loved, and you know how sometimes you don’t want to start a new book because you’re still stuck in the world of the last one? No? Never? Gosh, you’re missing out.”
^^This story is told from an 8-person point of view that gives a nice feel in understanding the entire tale.
WHO. DONE. IT?!!! Four teenagers plan a last-minute camping trip to Salvation Creek, hours away from home...all on their own. Maylee, Abigail, Petra, John and Nolan decide to spend a weekend, camping in nature, completely away from civilization and cell phone service. Maylee disappears…then she winds up dead.
REVIEW: This thriller is told in an 8-character interview style. I never expected to be one to like this style, but discovered with Daisy Jones & the Six and this book that I absolutely LOVE IT. For me, you get to know the character’s behaviors and personalities very well this way.
Maylee has gone missing and each of her other 4 teen friends in the group are being interrogated by police following their short camping trip. Their relationships interweave and you discover how close (or unclose) they are. After arriving and pitching their tents at the campsite, things begin to unravel, and friendships and connections aren’t what they seem on the outside. This was a gripping story, and the interview style had my eyes racing from beginning to end with each page. And I’m not giving away any spoilers, but with as entranced as I was in this story, I was VERY much upset with how it ended in the last few pages. This went from a 5-star to a 2 star for me right up until the very end. I’m SOO disappointed.
#TellMeWhatReallyHappened
#netgalley
#goodreads #fiction
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#newbook
#booksofig #bookedup
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#bookrecommendations #bookaddict

Tell Me What Really Happened by Chelsea Sedoti is different. Maylee, a senior in high school has gone missing from a camping trip. She requested that her best friend, Petra, join in on the impromptu trip to Salvation Creek. She also invited her boyfriend, John and another friend, Abigail. Petra talks her stepbrother Nolan into coming along on the adventure too.
Each of the campers are being interviewed by police officers separately and their answers are the story. It's an interesting technique and I like it. The story develops along the way as the different characters take turns recollecting what they have been through in the past hours. I'm being very careful to comment as I don't want to ruin the story for readers.
The author actually touches on several topics including biracial and a bisexual relationship, racial prejudice and profiling, law officer's children, social media, conspiracy theories, poor self-esteem and more. All issues for adolescents and teens. It's a bundle of things but it works. (There is raunchy language.) I feel personally that this book could lead to healthy discussions with peers or parents, teachers, etc.
I received the advanced reader's copy of this book from the publisher. This is my own unsolicited opinion of it. It is certainly conversation worthy. If you are an adult and want a look at what some teens around you may be dealing with in part, take a look at this book. I feel it is representative of the voices of some teens.

I had to put this book down several times while I was reading it. I had such a hard time putting it down that I needed to take mandated breaks. I loved that the story is told through interviews, it felt like, as the reader, we were trying to solve the case alongside the characters. I'm a sucker for an unreliable narrator and I truly had no idea where this book was going until the end. I was suspicious of everyone, even myself, and I wasn't even there. Highly recommend if you need a quick read to suck you in!

Five friends go camping for a weekend, only one doesn't return. Which friend is to blame? Tell Me What Really Happened, by Chelsea Sedoti, is a YA Thriller/Mystery that will keep you engaged through the entire read.

It took me a bit to get used to the writing format, I've never read anything like interrogation logs before, but once I did, I couldn't put the book down. It was so interesting to read the different interrogations and seeing how people interpret things differently, and really made you wonder if anyone was lying or trying to mislead the police.

Tell Me What Really Happened is a teenage thriller following the plot lines of a group leaves but one doesn’t return alive. Five friends go camping but now one of them is dead. The story is easy to follow as the police question the teenagers and each answer is given within the same chapter and not just outlined in each teen’s narrative. The suspense runs true and the mystery is not completely unpredictable but makes for an interesting story. The characters are varied and compelling in their telling of the events of the night for a page turning YA read that I didn’t want to put down. My voluntary, unbiased review is based upon a review copy from NetGalley.

This book was different, but so, so good. It didn't take long before I was hooked.

Told through the interviews of four witnesses, we get some questions that are being asked, but miss what is said, or left to silence, during the pauses. This drove the OCD part of my brain crazy, because I have a thing for needing to know all the details. I want both sides of the story. Even though I craved to know what was being said on the other end of the conversation, the story lacked nothing for not having that.

5 teenagers go camping, and during the night one of them goes missing. Now they're being questioned by the police, trying to piece together what happened that night.

Maylee, the missing girl, is the one who planned the camping trip in the first place.

Petra, Maylee's best friend, is a planner. She organized all the details, and made sure they had everything they'd need.

Nolan, Petra's stepbrother, went along just hoping to keep Petra out of trouble.

John, Maylee's boyfriend.

Abigail, once a friend of Maylee's, though they've been estranged for awhile. No one really knows much about her.

Piece by piece, they go over the events of the night before. Each character's personality shines through so much, and even though they each have unlikeable things about them, you can't help but be drawn into their story. Their different points of view.

I feel like I can't say too much more without giving a lot of the story away, but this was such a great read. I highly recommend it!

The concept of the story being an interrogation was really new to me, points for creativity! Also the chapters were really short, so it was a really easy read as well. The setting and atmosphere of a creepy forest was written nicely, I could feel myself getting a bit creeped out by the descriptions. The pacing was perfect imo, not too not too fast but the arrangement was confusing at times (but that’s how interrogations are)

The characters were interesting, their different personalities made the interrogation more fun and more unreliable (?) Each one of their backstory/traits made them more suspicious, especially with how some of their answer didn’t line up with each other. Nolan with his bigfoot theory, Petra with her best friend title, John with his lawyer thing and Abigail with her family background thing.

What I didn’t like was the motive and actual cause of death but everything that happened was just unfortunate circumstances and how with the lack of knowledge of the wilderness, lack of equipment and just nature in general is really dangerous. Wish there was more in the ending though.

Three Stars

I will preface this by saying that I personally I find it difficult to describe any first person narrative as very well written. You just don’t get the little details and the rich descriptions you find in third person narratives. So while I don’t think this was considered well written, it was still very engaging. The police interview format with short chapters made it a quick read. Overall I liked it, but didn’t love it.

Unfortunately, this was DNF at 20% for me.

I liked the idea of this book being written in first person police interviews but I just couldn’t connect with the characters and the story.

Thank you NetGalley, Sourcebook Fire and the author for ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Every now and then a good YA murder mystery comes along and captivates my attention. This is that. I loved how I was sucked in, it never felt *too young* even though it was meant for YA.

this was really good, addicting and entertaining.

If you're a fan of Karen McManus this book is for you. These characters were people you went to school with which made it relatable- we've all had a Nolan in our circles. I don't know how to feel about the formatting because it would've been helpful to have a dialogue with the detectives but the author masterfully skipped between the interview room and the campsite which made it easier to follow. I love the premise because it isn't a motive you see often and I never would've seen it coming. It adds a social commentary piece that teens all around the world face and the prejudice against John and Abigails dad is a good lesson about you can't judge a book by it's cover.

I received a digital copy of Tell Me What Really Happened by Chelsea Sedoti via NetGalley to read and review.

4 teenagers are each being questioned by the police. They were all camping with a fifth person, Maylee who’s missing. As we get testimony from four different sides of the story we’re left wondering, what really happened to Maylee and who or what is responsible?

Although the target audience for Tell Me What Really Happened is high school I still found that I had no idea what really happened. I was able to guess bits and pieces of the end story but there was still plenty for me to nod and think “that makes sense”. On the flip side since this is meant for teens there was obvious “teen logic” that made me roll my eyes BUT that’s the point since the whole story is told from multiple teenagers. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

The story is told from four perspectives as the MCs are being interrogated at a police station. Sometimes answers overlap, sometimes they backtrack. It does a good job shedding light on unreliable memories, multiple perspectives, and the investigation itself. The story moves quickly and the bouncing between characters becomes much easier to follow after about 50 pages in. This is one that kept me pretty intrigued throughout, and it wasn't easy to figure out exactly how everything would shake out in the end. Strong story!

Overall: 4 stars

I'll tell my students about: sex, language, physical violence, LGBTQIA+, child death, mental health issues, trauma

**Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the free ARC.. All opinions expressed are my own.**

Thank you Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Five friends go into the woods alive, but only four come out. Tell Me What Really Happened is a mystery told in first person from the viewpoint of the four survivors as they are being interrogated while a search party is looking for their friend.

As the mother of three, ages 6, 11, and 19, I have to tell you that I enjoyed this. My middle son is wanting to get into the young adult novel world, so I was excited to give this a read before he is able to read it. I would laugh and tell him about the characters and which of character reminded me of him and which reminded me of his two brothers and which friends could be different characters. This was an enjoyable read even for an adult. As a parent, I felt for the detectives having to sit through each teens' response to their questions. Highly recommend! I would have no problem with my 11 year old reading this one.

A great YA mystery that you won't figure out until a very surprising ending. I'll be honest, this is told in a police interview style where each character tells their answer to the same question. At first the format bugged me but once I was hooked, I no longer cared. Complete with a crew of stereotypical characters, the boyfriend, the best friend, the oddball and the stepbrother, you hear the tale of a missing girl. Fun and fast read.

This was such an entertaining book!

Maylee is an extroverted teenager that dreams about being an influencer. After being apart for some time, she decides to organize a camping trip with her best friend, Petra, and 4 other people: Maylee’s boyfriend (John), Petra’s brother (Nolan) and Abigail, a nice girl nobody knows much about.
In the middle of the night, Maylee disappears and the police is called to investigate. Is everyone a suspect or are they being interrogated just to get a clear picture of what happened? Did any of them have a motive to kill Maylee? Is she even dead in the first place?

This book is told in the form of a police interview, with each character telling their story in their own unique way. I was afraid the format might get tiresome but that was not the case at all: I was interested until the very end and I had such a great time reading! I will absolutely read more by this author.

[Thank you Netgalley, for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review!]