I read this book fairly quickly. When I first started I wasn’t sure how I was feeling about the way it was going from character to character. However I ended up really enjoying it. It was like you were the police interrogating them and being told what was happening.

It was actually quite clever way to tell the story. I will say I thought I had it figured out until the very end. Then I realized the twist. I realized why. I realized the tragic moral.

It’s hard for me to write a too in-depth review because of the set up I don’t want to give anything away but if you like suspense, a good mystery, plot twist, and trying to figure out what the hell happened in the woods that night this book is for you!

Thank you NetGalley for the Arc!

3.5 ⭐️

I really enjoyed the style of this book and how easy it made to read. It felt like you got to know the characters and their personalities well without having to go really deep into who they were. This books showed what real people are like in scary, stressful situations and how not everything is how you see it. Along with the memory what exactly happens in those circumstances stances. It was a different take on a thriller that I enjoyed

Wow what a great read this was…had no idea what actually happened to Maylee right up till the end…kept me guessing and on the edge of my seat the whole time!! A real page turner with fleshed out characters and realistic locations…felt like I knew the characters and that I had been at the campsite…very vivid descriptions…not going to lie I hope there can somehow be a sequel…I want more of these characters!!

The idea of this books was great. I think the chapters should have been one perspective at a time, it did read more like the author wanted this to become a movie at some point. What I didn't understand is why bring in the bigfoot element and the other missing people element if in the end they had nothing to do with this particular girl's story. It didn't feel like well fleshed out side stories. Good, had potential to be great.

This book was good. I loved how the story is told by the 4 friends with their interrogations at the police station. It was all cohesive and didn't throw me off. The book is a bit of a slow burn. While there are great parts that make you want to keep reading (i.e. when you find out who brought a gun on a camping trip, who owns the cabin they "randomly" come upon) there were also times that I felt were dragged on a bit (everyone talking about Nolan and his thoughts on Bigfoot.) Some stories that the kids spoke about could've been condensed a bit. All in all a solid book. If you’re still debating on reading this one, this of it as a cross between Pretty Little Liars meets I Know What You Did Last Summer. The first half of the book really hooked me in then the second half way okay.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
A suspenseful young adult novel about 5 teenage friends who go on a camping trip told immediately after something awful happens. It took me a chapter or two to get into the unreliable narrator format but by the end of the book this was one of my favorite parts of the story. The storytelling sets you as one of the questioning police detectives listening to the eyewitness accounts. The reader gets to piece the story together like the officers are to figure out what really happened. Once I got the flow of the writing changing characters so frequently the story was very easy to follow and I could picture the change in characters easily. Much like all of the crime shows on tv this story was wrapped up much nicer by the end than it would be in reality but that’s the closure we always want as a viewer/reader!

Thank you, NetGalley and Sourcebooks, for the ARC of Tell Me What Really Happened. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Five friends go into the woods, and only four come out. What happened in those woods? Do the five that went in really know each other at all?

This book is a creepy, page turning thriller of a mystery!

I had the pleasure of reading an ARC copy of Tell Me What Really Happened by Chelsea Sedoti. Tell Me What Really Happened centers around five teenagers who go for a weekend camping trip out in the woods. But when one of them goes missing, each of the remaining four friends has a different piece of the puzzle.

This book is truly unique, as the entire story is told at the police station through the witness statements of the four friends. And since their testimonies happen after the events have transpired, little tid bits and tangents serve as foreshadows to drive the plot forward. And it’s especially interesting when the four testimonies don’t line up! It’s such a creative way to tell the story, and it left me wondering “what really happened” up until the end!

I love when stories are told from multiple viewpoints. Tell Me What Really Happened took that to another level. Writing this particular story as a police interrogation was so, so smart. It makes the reader feel like part of the investigation process. I absolutely loved the frustration I felt when a character would let something slip, but them retrace and refuse to answer the question in the way the investigators wanted it answered. I also loved feeling one way about a character and changing my mind several times mid-story because of what they or someone else reveal. Great read!

Sadly, this book had potential, but it missed the mark for me. Things get off to an interesting start, and very dramatic, but it doesn't stay that way. While the book was fast paced and the unreliable narrator angle was well done, thing fell short aside from that. The interview format was very jarring as it bounced from character to character, even within the same chapter. The format also made it feel like there was info missing, and this caused a lack of depth overall. Perhaps due to the structure, I never felt a connection with any of the characters, which made it hard for me to care about the outcome.

Thank you NetGalley, Sourcebooks Fire, and Chelsea Sedoti for the advanced copy of Tell Me What Really Happened in exchange for my honest review.

3.5 stars rounded up.

The fact that this story is told entirely through a police interview is what made me request it in the first place, and I absolutely *loved* that format. It made it really easy to fly through chapters but I also thoroughly enjoyed getting to be inside each character's head while they told their version of different events.

I didn't love the ending, but ultimately it was so well-written and interesting that I'm not too hung up on that factor. I will for sure be reading this author again in the future!

Tell Me What Really Happened will be on US bookshelves April 4!

I enjoyed the interview format of this book. In my opinion, it really helped with the pacing and kept the story interesting. It was a great way to really show that you can have multiple unreliable narrators. (Or can you? Spoilers.) I was certain I had the whole thing figured out by the halfway point, which I think is the point because I was wrong. Happily.

I gave this book 4 stars because I was eager to read it and figure out where the story was going. It had a good blend of love them/hate them characters and planted a lot of theories in my head as I read. I also hadn't solved the mystery early on, which is always a plus in a story like this.

Wow! Tell Me What Really Happened by Chelsea Sedoti is an absolutely brilliant book that goes beyond the YA categorization and is sure to be found riveting by adult readers as well.
Using the unique setting of interrogation rooms at a police station as its basis, Sedoti crafts a fascinating look at the events leading up to the disappearance of one of five teenagers who goes missing during a camping trip. But the mystery of what really happened that night, as told through first-person police interviews, shines a light on so many of the issues facing teenagers today.
Throughout the book we get a close-up look at the effects of social media, race relations, sexual identity, bullying, isolation, and relationships within families on young people; and we see the varied ways those young people respond.
Every conversation in the book carries weight, providing insight into how things at the campsite got so out of control. In the end, the truth of all of the various points in time where one small action could have changed the entire outcome hits home and leaves the reader pondering the book long after the story has concluded.
At times fun, at other times tragic, and throughout relatable, Sedoti's novel is a non-stop thriller that keeps you turning the pages until the very end.
Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC of #TellMeWhatReallyHappened.

I love to pick up a YA novel now and then because they seem to be fast paced and quick to read. This book didn’t disappoint in that aspect, but it was even better than expected. I hardly wanted to put it down. The story was so engaging and I couldn’t wait to figure out, who did it…. What really happened. The authors way of writing out the kids reply’s to questions unseen was the best part for me. You don’t need to see the questions to understand what they were. Solid 4 Stars and can’t wait to read more for this author

3.75 What a ride! I love a good epistolary novel, they are honestly some of my favorite stories to read. In this story we are hearing from 4 high school students who went on a camping trip that went very very wrong and someone disappeared. I really enjoyed the back and forth of the different perspectives and how each character remembered things differently. I was genuinely scared at times and surprised by all the twists this took. This was a fast paced read and one I highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the Arc

I liked all the good different characters and that I wanted to keep on reading to find out what happened to Maylee. The ending felt a little anticlimactic and I wanted more suspense or more drama? It was good, I’ll recommend it to others.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC! I was happily surprised to have enjoyed this book so much! At one point I thought it might even get a 5 star rating. The story is told in an interview style with a police interrogation of four teenagers who were all on a camping trip together when something went wrong, leading to one of their friends going missing. We are following the events that led to this, trying to figure out what happened to the fifth member of their group. Telling it in this style was so fun! And all of the characters were unique and interesting and even relatable. I enjoyed the social commentary aspects. I think I wanted a little more of a punch from the ending but overall I was very pleased by this. It was also rather funny.

Fun read and will be popular with my students who are fans of a good mystery and teen drama. This was written in a way that they will be captivated and I think it will be a good, quick read for a lot of them. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

The story is told in first person POVs of the four characters while each is getting interviewed by detectives in the disappearance of their friend, Maylee. The book is divided into two parts. The first part each character starts telling their version of the story as to how they ended up deciding and going camping. The second part discuss how Mayleen disappeared and what happened afterwards.
Each character had a unique perspective and personality and none of them blended together, which I liked. Also, you could tell they were high school students.
It’s interesting how at the beginning everyone liked Maylee and she was great. The more you read you start to uncover that not everything is what it seems with each character and their relationship with Maylee. Everyone is hiding information and motivates are revealed.
Overall, I thought this was a great ya mystery thriller. Is very well written and keeps you guessing what really happened. It has some unexpected turns of events.

This was just.. okay. I had very high expectations because the synopsis sounded so good! I love books that aren’t just a straight forward story.. there’s things that make it unique; for example, writing a book with excerpts from a podcast.

This book was entirely written through police interviews and that’s what piqued Ky interest. It’s different.

With that being said, the first 25% was really boring to me. We have 4 different POVs, all different personalities.

I may first, none of them were likeable. Petra really grew on me as well as Abigail. John was just okay. Maylee… there aren’t enough words for how much I wanted to throttle her.

So you have 5 teens that go into the “cursed” woods to go camping and only 4 come back.

What happened in those woods?

The events leading up to it, I did not predict so I can give kudos to the author for shocking me.

I did start to predict the whodunit aspect towards the end. The whole obsession Nolan had with Bigfoot kindof turned me off of the story to be honest.

Overall, it was just okay. It was a quick and easy read. Easy to follow. But was it exciting? Did I enjoy trying to figure out the mystery? The answer is no.

Do I recommend? Possibly. If you’re into Karen McManus books, you will most likely like this. But if you were like me, hoping for something similar to Holly Jackson’s AGGTM, you’ll be sadly mistaken.