I really enjoyed the formatting of this book, it’s told in a series of interviews between police and the friends of the missing. While we don’t get the police’s side of the questioning I don’t feel it’s needed. This had me hooked from the start and I read it almost in one sitting. I had some of the twits figured out early on but I still enjoyed it. Highly recommend.

I think the concept of this book was interesting, but the execution didn’t do it for me. I wish there was more back and forth between the characters and their interrogators. Hearing both sides would have added depth to the characters.

Nolan’s obsession played too big a role in the plot. To the point I thought he had gotten into hallucinogenics.

The twists and turns at the end had me scratching my head. I don’t think I’m the target audience for this one.

I found "Tell Me What Really Happened" by Chelsea Sedoti on NetGalley a few days after screenshotting it from another book blog, and I thought "why the hell not."

["There are stories about the woods around Salvation Creek, about the people who have gone missing. Now their friend is one of them. A riveting, fast-paced YA mystery told entirely through first person police interviews of four teens over the course of a few hours.

It was all her idea. They would get away from their parents and spend the weekend camping. Down by Salvation Creek, the five of them would make smores, steal kisses, share secrets.

But sometime around midnight, she vanished.

Now the four friends who came back are under suspicion―and they each have a very different story to tell about what happened in the woods.

The clock is ticking. What are they hiding? Who is lying? Dark truths must come to light if their friend is to be found..."]
This book was SOO creative. It's told solely in the form of police interviews. Each chapter is a new question, and each of the characters answer the question and bounce off of each other's answers (even though they're in separate interrogation rooms). It was fun and quirky and an easy read (and a quick one).

The characters are like the detention in "The Breakfast Club," all a little different and quirky and sus. Also, not going to lie, didn't really like a few of them (unreliable narrators always make reading--especially thrillers/mysteries--all the more interesting).

I just...I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. It's (obviously) a twist, and one no one will see coming, but holy fuck. Holy. Fuck. Like, it nailed the shock factor, FOR SURE. But am I satisfied? Maybe I need to sit on this for a while.

Purchase your copy of "Tell Me What Really Happened" on April 4, 2023.

#tellmewhatreallyhappened #chelseasedoti #netgalley #thriller #yathriller #murdermystery #yamurdermystery #books #bookstagram #bookphotography

Tell Me What Really Happened is such a fun YA thriller read and I flew through it. It’s got all the good stuff.

🏕️ Five teenage friends go camping for the night and only four come back. This is a fairly typical premise but the way it’s done here is really original. Told entirely from the police interviews with each chapter starting with a new question for each person, it’s utterly engrossing and so fun.

All of them have different stories (of course) and we have to figure out who’s telling the truth as they all seem to think they are.

I didn’t figure it out at all till the reveal and although it was a bit lackluster, I was surprised.

I really enjoyed this one and appreciate NetGalley and Sourcebooks for my early copy.

Oh -
If you like Bigfoot stories, this IS one for you also. It def added another interesting outrageous layer here. 😱

Thank you to NetGalley, Chelsea Sedoti & Sourcebooks Fire for an arc of Tell Me What Really Happened in exchange for an honest review. This review is wholly my own & may not be reproduced.

Fast paced & well written story that asks what really happened when Maylee gathers her 4 closest friends, Petra, Abigail, John & Nolan for a weekend camping trip only for Maylee to go missing. What happened to Maylee? This story is told in multiple POV from the friends & none of their stories match up.

Fabulous YA novel that will keep you guessing and keep you flipping the pages. I finished this in one sitting. I just couldn’t walk away from it until I was finished!

I’m 42, but I still love a good YA novel as long as it is not TOO juvenile. This novel was perfect. The characters were well-developed Sedoti was able to surprise me with the ending, which doesn’t usually happen, so kudos for that!

I would definitely recommend snagging a copy when it releases on April 4, 2023.

4/5 Stars

I thought it was really good! Well written, a bit repetitive at times due to getting each persons rundown of what happened, but I enjoyed it. I would definitely pick up another book of hers for sure!
The plot was well done, the characters were intriguing and not boring, and it was very atmospheric!

It's an easy read - read it in two days, only because work got in the way - ha ha!

Tell Me What Really Happened was such an interesting setup.. Five teens go on a weekend camping trip in some potentially haunted woods, and by sunrise, one of them is dead. This story is told entirely in police interviews, which was a really intriguing way to digest the story. I thought the author did a great job of giving each character a clearly defined personality, from Petra's controlling nature to Nolan's bigfoot conspiracies. Of course, each character has a different version of what happened that night, and the reader is brought along to untangle the mess. Overall, this was an easy YA read, and I definitely got sucked in.

Thank you to Chelsea Sedoti, Sourcebooks Fire, and NetGalley for the advanced digital copy in exchange for my honest review. This book is due to be published on April 4, 2023.

Main Characters:
--Maylee Hayes – pretty and popular high school girl, aspiring social media influencer, planned a camping trip to Salvation Creek and vanished sometime during the night
--Petra Whitfield – Maylee’s best friend, planned the camping trip with Maylee, Nolan’s stepsister, her father is a Lieutenant on the police force
--Nolan Anderson – Petra’s stepbrother, isn’t thrilled about going camping, conspiracy theorist, wholeheartedly believes in Bigfoot and knows a lot about people who have gone missing
--John Massey Jr. – Maylee’s boyfriend, believes he is being accused of a crime because he’s black
--Abigail Buckley – a friend of Maylee’s, kind of an outsider at school, Petra has no idea why Maylee invited her on the camping trip

When I review teen/young adult books, I give a little more leeway in the suspension of disbelief department. In this case, I had to keep reminding myself that it is not meant to be adult fiction. Teens will definitely gloss over a lot of the challenges I had with the structure of the story. Overall, I still felt it was just okay.

The books presents a diverse cast of characters. Petra is the know-it-all, super planner with a holier-than-thou attitude. Nolan, the conspiracy theorist, spends all his time researching Bigfoot and disappearances in the woods. John consistently refuses to answer questions on the advice of his lawyer. Abigail rambles and rambles and does not fit in with the group as a whole at all.

A lot of things come out over the course of the questioning. How much does everyone really know about Maylee? Even though they were all in the woods together, none of them recall things the same way. Each of them is unreliable as a narrator, and the reader has to try to piece everything together over the course of the book. In the end, it makes it impossible to guess what really happened, so the reader just needs to let everything play out.

The description of this book intrigued me. The fact that the entire story plays out as first-person police interviews means everything described is suspect. We don’t know who misheard, misunderstood, misspoke. And it’s clear from the start that all of the teens are asked the same questions in different rooms. There are multiple references to “is that what so-and-so said?” And none of them answer the questions the same.

Told from the perspectives of the four teens who make it out of the woods, each chapter starts with a question from the detectives. But the interviews are not dialogs. They’re narrations with “[pause]” written where there might have been a follow-up comment or question…259 of them to be precise. It doesn’t work. The story feels extremely disjointed, and you can’t always figure out what was stated or asked from the context clues in the answer.

Tone of voice is absent in the responses. Were the detectives’ questions pointed or angry or empathetic or belligerent? Without knowing the follow-up questions that were asked or how they were asked, you don’t always know the tone of the response. Are the teens worried, suspicious, scared? Sometimes you know, but there’s enough vagueness that it’s difficult to get lost in the suspense, which is what I want from a thriller.

And finally (before I get to the spoiler of the ending), when someone is answering a question, they’re not going to narrate and describe the scene. The author scatters several of these throughout, and they demonstrate clearly why the format doesn’t work. One from Petra, in particular, made me take a note about it.

“She shrugged and reached back to adjust her braid. The collar of her slouchy sweater slipped off her shoulder, and I considered pointing out that she’d clearly disregarded my advice on wilderness attire. Instead, I said, ‘Okay, I get it.’ I started moving toward the car, and Maylee was forced to follow, the cooler between us bumping against our knees.”

This was narration, which this book claims not to be. No one speaks like that when answering a question, especially not a teenager.

***SPOILERS*** SPOILERS***SPOILERS***

Now to the ending, which I found really disappointing. I knew it wasn’t going to be the boyfriend. Too obvious. And I didn’t think at the beginning that it would be Petra. But when Maylee disappears, Petra finds her in a cabin in the woods, which she then discovers belongs to Abigail’s father.

Throughout the book, both the reader and Petra discover that Petra doesn’t know Maylee as well as she thinks. Their “best friend” status is more one-sided, and Petra obsesses a bit over Maylee. When Petra discovers Maylee’s plan to get “lost” in the woods for a couple of weeks and then find her way out as a way to become Internet famous, Petra thinks it’s over the top. Then when she finds out that it’s Abigail’s dad’s cabin and about the secrets Abigail knows that Petra doesn’t, she’s angry. Angry enough to shoot Maylee? Not in the author’s view apparently, but I really felt that was how it should have played out. It would have been perfect because she was such a convincing liar.

Instead it’s Nolan…drunk, obsessed with Bigfoot, paranoid, convinced they’re being watched, only went on the camping trip to keep the girls safe. When he sees Maylee, he mistakes her for a Bigfoot and shoots her. Honestly, I would have rather had it be a murder that Petra spent her entire interrogation trying to cover up by talking about how close she and Maylee were. It would have been a more convincing and satisfying ending.

Well, one interrogation room: four teenage witnesses from a camp trip that goes wrong in Salvation Creek where a brutal crime occurs. This is absolutely exciting, riveting thriller keeping you in your toes!

Over achier- control freak Petra, her nerdy- Big Foot obsessed step brother Nolan, an outcast of school who lives in trailer park Abigail and person of interest- victim's boyfriend John! The events are told from their POVs. Their friend Maylee who is forced them to have a camping trip on weekend in Salvation Creek is MISSING and probably dead!

The other participants of the trip are these four unreliable witnesses who tell their subiective comments about the entire incident.

Petra gives snarky answers, trying to teach the officers to do their job because she knows a lot about criminal and investigation procedures about missing people thanks to her police officer daddy). Nolan keeps giving enough statistical information about natural habitats and special attributes of Big Foot and he also gives extra information about missing people in Salvation Creek since 1900s. Abigail gives long speeches and in the middle of them she forgets what was the entire question, constantly babbling, giving anecdotes from her dear Nana Abbie and poor John attends to the interrogation with his lawyer because this is his second round to get questioned for a crime. The first time he's blamed to drive under the influence and inure his friend ( thankfully he was acquitted. He wasn't even sitting in the driver seat. ) But two of his friends point their fingers at him (especially Abigail insists he's the murderer even though they are not sure vet that their friend Mavlee is dead)

So what happened that night?
Five teenagers: Maylee: influencer, magnet of the group who convinces her best friend/ super organizer Petra and Abigail; (Maylee and she have a complicated relationship) who knows a lot about the wilderness and her boy friend John to attend to the last minute camping! Petra's conspiracy theorist/ ultra weird step brother Nolan joins to the group because Petra's parents force him to keep an eye on his stepsister.

Instead of Maylee, none of them are volunteered to participate to this trip but Maylee is great manipulator. During their camping, Nolan brings his special gadget to search for the creatures lurking around. ( at least he insists some dangerous creatures took many lives of innocent campers in the past! ) He finds a cabin in the woods filled with hunting equipment ( lots of sharp knives!) throughout his search. The other members of the group get creeped out and they return back to their camping site without looking back!

But at the night time things get a little heated between them. The more alcohol, more slurry confessions later, they find out one of them brought a gun to their trip! At the end of the night, a gun shot bursts out and cuts the silence of the woods!

What happened to Maylee! Did one of them kill her? Did Bigfoot tear apart her body?

Four unreliable voices, one murder case, long interrogation process! Just continue to read and enjoy the gripping mystery!

It was easy to read and smart whodunnit thriller to read in one sitting! Highly recommend to YA thriller fans!

Many thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Fire for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.

I really enjoyed this book! It was not your typical YA who done it. It was about a couple and their group of friends decide to spend the night in the woods. I mean what could go wrong am I right! I thought it was really different that it was told after the fact at the police station while they were being questioned.

Thank you NetGalley, Chelsea Sedoti and SourcebooksFire for allowing me to read the advanced Ya thriller “Tell me what really happened.” This book is due to be published April 4th 2023.

Five friends decide to go on a camping trip to Salvation Creek. There’s super obsessed and controlling Petra , her nerdy Bigfoot believing stepbrother Nolan, trailer park/ ex Abigail , Maylee and her boyfriend John. Maylee ends up going missing during the night.
This story is told through police interviews told by each person. They can’t seem to get their stories straight at all.

This was definitely a hooking fast paced YA thriller and I couldn’t put it down till I finished.

Five teens go camping in the woods, and only four come out. This book is in the form of interviews the remaining four teens, recounting what happened.

I loved the structure of this book! I’m a big fan of different writing styles, and I think it was successful here. However, I feel like the resolution/ending did not live up to the suspense of the rest of the book. I think making it not a murder really in the end was disappointing because it could’ve been much creepier/suspenseful like the rest of the book.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Tell Me What Really Happened, by Chelsea Sedoti, is a fast-paced young adult mystery told in an innovative format. When teenager Maylee Hayes gets lost in the woods on a camping trip, her four friends come under immediate suspicion of foul play. The novel follows the police interrogation of Petra, Maylee's best friend, Nolan, Petra's step-brother, John, Maylee's boyfriend, and Abigail, their acquaintance. Each chapter begins with a question from the police followed by the answers of the teenagers, and readers are left to piece together what happened on the fateful night when Maylee disappeared.

The setting of the story is a campsite near Salvation Creek, an area of haunted woods in Bigfoot country. The land is ripe with stories of death and abduction, and the four teens all recount the folklore of the area, noting the poisoned waters and the long string of missing women who have disappeared from the area over the last one hundred years. These stories add tension and color to the novel, echoing the cries of the teens who want the police to stop questioning them and find their friend.

The voices of each character are distinct and reflect young adult language and impulses. This novel will appeal to reluctant readers who enjoy the pace of mystery and police shows, and the short bursts of answers clustered around each question will keep young adults reading.

The book lacks the nuance and emotion of adult mysteries but I would recommend it as an interesting read for a teen. Beyond the problem of finding Maylee, the characters recount campfires, roasting marshmallows, drinking alcohol, and playing spin-the-bottle, and all of this makes the book feel like a typical coming-of-age story drenched in tragedy. The format of the book was the most interesting part and it held my interest as I tried to deduce the events of the fateful night. A fun read for young adults who enjoy mystery.

This was so much FUN! I flew through this book--it was spooky and kept me turning pages late into the night. I think YA lovers will devour this! We follow a group of teens who are giving their oral history to the police of what happened the night before on a doomed camping trip. Five of them went to Salvation Creek, a remote area in a forest known for mysterious disappearances. Only four of them came home...what happened and where is Maylee? The teens all have a story to tell, and their stories aren't always quite matching up...

Seppy's 4-Star Review: 
 I choose this one because I love mysteries.  The plot was interesting and throughout the book, I was trying to figure out what really happened. But it is impossible until all characters were questioned. 
I felt that it did drag some because each of the characters gives their own view of every single detail which can be a little repetitive. It was a good book, I was surprised by the ending.
Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Tell Me What Really Happened by Chelsea Sedoti in exchange for an honest review.

This book could be an amazing audiobook! With all the characters, it would be fun hearing different voices.
First reading it, you feel like you’re thrown into the chaos of events (good thing) you’re hooked from the get go.
Who done it thing going on. I liked it, a lot happens, and makes you think! Great book!

Five teens go into the woods for an overnight camping trip, but only four come out. Aspiring influencer Maylee Hayes is missing, and only the friends who were with her during the drama filled evening leading up to her disappearance can reveal what happened to her. I finished this incredibly quick read in just one day. I loved the idea behind the structure of the narration. The format of telling the story through snippets of police interviews/interrogation is a fresh take on the frequently used dual narration POV.

As much as I appreciate the structure of the narrative, however, it did leave me feeling slightly disconnected from the characters. There were times that I felt I was getting a better description of Big Foot (which plays a major role in the story) than I got of Maylee and her diverse group of friends. Though the ending requires some suspension of disbelief, the story ties together nicely and was well worth the couple of hours it took me to read.

*A special thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Fire and NetGalley for an eArc of this novel in exchange for an honest review*

Chelsea Sedoti’s “Tell Me What Really Happened” is a gripping YA mystery about a five teens who go on a last-minute camping trip. But only four leave the woods because just after midnight, one of them disappeared.

The remaining four are taken into police custody and are interrogated separately to find out exactly what happened the night before. As the hours tick by, the teens’ lies and truths are slowly revealed. But is it too late?

“Tell Me What Really Happened” is told entirely through the first-person police interviews of the four high schoolers that made it out of the woods. The characters are separated and are sharing their side of the incident during their interrogation. We don’t see the detectives that interview the characters and the only dialogue we hear from them are at the very beginning of each chapter. Other than that, it’s only what the teenagers reference in their interviews.

The first-person interview format gives the book an interesting hook. It also increases the stakes by allowing the reader to intimately see what the other characters are feeling about their missing friend. As the story progresses, the reader has a chance to solve the mystery as the characters share their memories of the night before.

Each of the five characters represents a specific high school stereotype—an academic overachiever, a conspiracy theorist, a social outcast, a control freak, and a wannabe social media influencer—and those stereotypes really drive the plot. The characters were fairly diverse, which is so important in YA books.

“Tell Me What Really Happened” is a solid YA mystery that relies on tried-and-true tropes presented in a very unique way. The first-person police interviews heighten the tension of the story. It won’t be long before the reader is biting their nails to figure out what really happened in Salvation Creek that fateful camping trip.

I really liked how this book was written. The format was very unique. I think it’s one you either like or hate.

This was a good campy thriller. The plot was decently paced. The characters were very distinct. I didn’t love the ending but really enjoyed the buildup. Overall I did enjoy this book, and it was a quick read.

Thank you to Chelsea Sedoti, NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for an advanced eBook in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. I was hooked right away. I love the format of a story told through police interviews with four different characters. Sedoti does an excellent job of characterizing these teens through dialogue only. I feel like I know each one of them and could distinguish their voices even if they weren't labeled in the book anymore after the halfway point.
The plot is straightforward: five teens go on a weekend camping trip, and one of them goes missing, so the police are questioning the other four to find out what really happened. However, despite the straightforward storyline, the technique of telling the story solely through police interviews makes the book feel more complex with flashbacks and present moments and interesting twists and turns. The characters also make the story feel fresh. There are cliches, like the pretty blonde one having a "sparkle" that makes her stand out and her wanting to be an influencer just because she's pretty and the black kid having been accused of a crime before and now being wary of the cops, but there are also fresh takes on characters, like Abigail and her dad's relationship and Nolan's hobbies and interests, along with the dynamics between Petra and Nolan.
What kept me reading is the suspense. I wanted to know what happened, how, and why. I also wanted to know more about these characters and their lives. I loved the dynamics of all the relationships and that each of them had backstories that made them more sympathetic but also more layered and complex as characters. I love Sedoti's writing, how descriptive she is, and the characters are funny and also interesting.
For me, the ending was a bit disappointing. I was expecting something more dramatic and felt it was anticlimactic after everything. There are big reveals, but they come before the novel's ending, so they weren't as shocking as they could've been, and the ending itself was then rendered a bit flat in my opinion.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book! I couldn't stop reading because I loved the voices, the plot line, and the suspense. I strongly recommend this book to YA lovers, people who enjoy suspense, and people who like a good in-the-woods thriller.
Thanks to Net Galley and the publishers for providing a free digital copy of the book for review.