Thank you to NetGalley, Sourebooks Fire, and Chelsea Sedoti for an ARC of Tell Me What Really Happened.

I wish I had more positive points to make about this book, but it looks like I will be the outlier.

First, what worked best is the way the story is told. Teens, one of whom is obsessed with finding a Bigfoot in the woods, set out on a camping trip. Someone ends up dead, and the police separate them into interrogation rooms. The story is told through police interviews with each of the teens, and all of them seem to have a different story. As the mystery of Maylee missing unfolds, readers are left asking themselves, but who is telling the truth?

First, the age group categorization -- 14-18 -- seems like a stretch. I'd say 13-15. The teenage problems floating around the book do not seem like the kind that 17-18 year olds would face. I cannot see any 18 year old I know reading this and feeling even remotely related to what's happening aside from the points about choosing a college major. Everything else seems a bit...juvenile for someone that age.

Some of the minor details are incorrect. Petra, the girl who organized the camping trip, makes it a point to say that she had to buy "special keto hotdogs" for one of her friends who tagged along. Keto is a fat heavy diet; hotdogs are a keto-friendly food. From what I understand, "keto hotdogs" aren't a thing. Hotdogs are, by default, keto. I know what you're thinking -- does it really matter? The answer is yes. When you read a book, you expect it to be fact-checked when appropriate, even when it's fiction.

Finally, and I don't want to give too much away because I don't want spoil it for anyone who might read this book...Sasquatch plays way too much of a role here. If you are someone who is dabbled in the hunt for a Bigfoot in the woods, or if that's ever remotely interested you, I recommend it. Otherwise, you'll probably be just as disappointed as I was when I closed this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Chelsea Sedoti, and Sourcebooks Fire for providing this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I felt that this book was very fast paced. I was able to glide through it very quickly. It was a very wild and unique story. I was on the edge of my seat a lot while reading this book. You are definitely going to want to check this book out when it is published.

This review will be posted to my Goodreads and Amazon accounts immediately and also to my instagram account (@ginganinja333), and to my newly created bookstagram (@paulas.book.nook).

It was an engaging and fast paced read. It was interesting to see how the four different characters being questions had overlapping yet at times conflicting stories - that element was well done. The characters were all interesting but most of them also seemed a bit like exaggerated caricatures. It was unique to read a book where the person who was missing seemed like a terrible person but that everyone perceived different. I wish there had been a part to hear from Maylee at the end but perhaps it’s better that way.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This story was wild. It hooked me from the beginning and had a very unique storyline to it. I actually liked it more than I thought I would and a few times I actually felt my heart drop with the suspense. A girl goes missing in the woods while her friends were there with her. What could have happened? Who actually knows the whole story? Do you actually know who your friends really are?

Maylee is a pretty and popular teenage girl who randomly asks a group of her friends (including her boyfriend and her friends’s brother) to go camping for just one night in a place where girls seem to disappear. After Maylee goes missing as well, the group is sent to give interviews with the police about what really happened that night.

We have Petra: the judgy best friend who is obsessed with rules and order and has to have everything go her way, John: the boyfriend who has had trouble in the past after an “accident”, Abigail: a friend of Maylee’s who nobody knew was coming on the trip. She comes from a poor family and her father is known as a “right wing nut” around town, and Nolan: Petra’s stepbrother who is obsessed with cryptid creatures and is sure Bigfoot is in the woods.

The mystery here actually had me engaged. I wanted to try to notice every little lie or slip up to see what was actually happening. The big twist near the end actually had me shocked. I did not see that coming at all, even though it made perfect sense.

The whole Bigfoot plot line threw me for a loop. I was really over here waiting for Bigfoot to pop out and start terrorizing a group of teenagers. I also can’t ignore the parts where John was making it known that it was obvious he was going to be made to be the bad guy because he was the only black person there. And he was right. I appreciate the author putting light on this issue.

This was a fun and fast read with interesting characters from different backgrounds and perspectives and a plot that was completely bonkers. It comes out in April so check it out when it debuts.

I really enjoyed this take on a survival in the woods mystery and the unique take on how the story is told. The device of having each of the characters in their police interrogation was great, with all of them having distinct voices and points of view that it never felt repetitive or confusing to read. Their perspectives were also deepened by what each character was grappling with and how they react to the police.

The mystery is also well handled with multiple twists and turns that left me wondering at the outcome until the very end. The final beat in particular is very well done. Petra is a very interesting character who represents the toxicity of female friendships sometimes at the point in life that they are in, and it was tragic to see her somewhat rationalize in real time what her relationship with Maylee actually was like.

The same is true for a variety of the characters, especially because Maylee is far from a perfect victim. Each of them had a reason to want her gone, but they likewise had compelling reasons not to. Maylee is portrayed as a gravitational force that most of them (Nolan excluded) can't help but revolve around and that comes through in their interviews.

ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was just not for me. I wanted to like it I really did but to me nothing was really solved and there was to many open plot holes that just didn't get answered.

I wanted to like this book more I really did.
It reads pretty quick for having 53 chapters and an epilogue, but since it switches between characters it reads like a conversation. Also some of the chapters are two pages, so that part wasn't that bad.
I just didn't mesh with this one.

This was such a fascinating read. By using only the replies to police questions, the author was able to develop very complex characters and a very suspenseful plot.
The characters were so interesting and multi-faceted. I loved each one. They had their idiosyncracies but that just made them that much more interesting.
The format of the story was so unique and worked so well. I just felt like I was in the interrogation rooms with the teens. And the dialogue was so well done. I knew exactly who was speaking just by the words they spoke. That is truly incredible when I think of all the times I had to reread something to figure out who was speaking.
I really loved this book and I'm looking forward to more books from this author.

When high schooler Maylee goes missing in the woods whilst she and her friends are out there one night, the police start to investigate. Tell Me What Really Happened uses the police interviews of Maylee's four friends to tell the story,

This is a really interesting concept and it worked really well to demonstrate different recollections of the same events. However, it got a bit hard to follow at times and the ending didn't have as much impact as I would have liked. Not a bad easy mystery though.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

I love the idea of a novel told entirely through police interviews with different characters, and this was really well done. Each character seemed very real and I enjoyed comparing their different perspectives.

Fast paced mystery told from four unique first person points of view. I really enjoyed the authors writing style and being able to see how the characters viewed one another and how the events unfolded. Page turner that moved quickly, perfect for YA suspense fans! I really enjoyed this story. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy!

this book has a four POV in which the four teenagers are interviewed and with most books, having so much POV is really difficult and I tend to like less POV, but this book really pulled it off and I was deep into the book before I realized it! I give this a 4 star!

Welcome Back!

Recently I was looking for a new mystery book to read. Something that would hold my attention and be unique. I decided to look through my bookshelves (which are mostly packed up as we are moving)! Then I started looking through the ebooks on my Kindle. One book I came across was an E-ARC called Tell Me What Really Happened, after looking at the Goodreads page, I decided this was the new read I was going to be jumping into!

SPOILERS AHEAD

A group of high school students who are not exactly friends, some of them barely even know each other are going camping for one night! They have all decided to go on this trip willingly but it’s going to be kind of weird. We have Petra, who is always prepared and the overachiever of the group. Nolan, who is Petra’s stepbrother and kind of obsessed with the idea that bigfoot is real and maybe he can find one on this trip! Abigail, who most people are confused why she is on this trip, but she was invited by Maylee, who kind of was the one who decided they were going on this trip at all. Then there is John, Maylee’s boyfriend. Maylee is the one who wanted to go on this trip at all, so here they all are, headed to the woods for one night. But what none of them know on the way there is that Maylee, has a reason for wanting to go camping tonight, right now. Is Maylee’s reason, just to spend time with her boyfriend or is there something much bigger going on?

Before I jump into characters, plot, etc.. I want to talk about the format of the book. The book was written from the idea that the group of teens in the book have already been at the police station. They are each in an individual questioning room. Each chapter is a question that they are asked by the police. Then we get to see each character answer these questions. I loved this style, it helped us not only to get to know each character and possible motivations but also it helps us to get more information about the crime, the locations, and more! Outside of the format of the book, each character was very unique and I think it made it a bit harder to figure out the answer to the crime. Overall, I enjoyed my time with this story! This book comes out in April of 2023, be sure to be on the lookout for it!

Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars

**Thank you so much to the publisher for the E-ARC in exchange for my honest opinions.

“Tell Me What Really Happened” follows the story of 4 teenagers invited on an overnight camping trip by their mutual friend Maylee. The group dynamics are odd because they’re not all friends with each other. Maylee has invited her boyfriend John and her best friend Petra along with Abigail. Abigail hasn’t been friends with Maylee for a long time and isn’t friends with the others on the trip so she’s confused as to why she’s there. Petra’s step brother Nolan is also on the trip on behest of Petra’s dad and like Abigail is questioning his place in the group. Everyone has different personalities and interests that tend to clash and then in the middle of the night Maylee goes missing.

The writing style is really creative. It’s told from everyone’s first person perspective (except for Maylee) during their police interviews. Each chapter begins with an investigator leading the questioning. It keeps the book flow quick and paints a real descriptive look at each character and how their perceptions of each other don’t match reality. Petra is insufferable throughout and I never want to read about Bigfoot ever again. That’s all to say that the author does an incredible job of writing 5 distinct teenage personalities that are fresh. What the characters are engaged in and how they react to the situations they’ve been placed in feels very current within the social climate of the times. The story was engaging from start to finish but there wasn’t anything I felt pushed it over the top to be a great or bad read. The reveal was anticlimactic. I felt that there was a lot more promise to the story than what was delivered. Still, it’s different from what’s out there to read right now and it’s something you can pick up easily for a day’s distraction.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for this ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Did you like Pretty Little Liars? Then you'll probably like this.

If you're a fan of YA mystery then add this to your TBR right now. You can even head on over to Amazon and get your preorder in!

This story was told in a really cool way and I'd love to read more books in this format. All told through first person police interviews.

Five teenage friends go camping and only four return. Maylee, John, Petra, Abigail and Nolan all head out on a weekend camping trip. Some want to go for various reasons (Maylee, Petra and Abigail) and some don't think the woods are the place for them (John and Nolan) but end up going anyway. It's a mess from the start, they're bickering and complaining and it really doesn't seem like they're having a good time. Finally they decide to go on a little nature hike during which Nolan is on about finding a Bigfoot annoying almost everyone else in the group. Some who are nicer about it than others. After they get back to camp and eat dinner Maylee starts passing out the alcohol. They drink way too much. After an incident Maylee and John have a bit of an argument and everyone goes to bed. Fast forward a couple hours and Maylee has disappeared. What follows is hashed out in half truths over the course of several interrogation hours.


I enjoyed this book a lot and will be purchasing a copy for my daughter to read when it is released this coming April.

#TellMeWhatReallyHappened # ChelseaSedoti
#YAThriller #YAMystery #YAMustRead #YAFiveStars
#NetGalley #ARCRead #SourcebooksFire

Tell Me What Really Happened is Chelsea Sedoti’s fourth novel and the first I have read and is more of a dark thriller than horror novel, but you might have to keep your eyes peeled for Bigfoot (or not!) depending on which of the four narratives you believe. The novel has a clever premise, with four teenagers being interviewed by the police after the disappearance of a mutual friend on a camping trip. The police officers do not play a part in the story, but at the start ask a question which is then answered in the first person by the four (probably unreliable) teenager narrators. When you get beyond the fact that all the characters are incredibly shallow and self-serving they deliver a very readable page-turner, which keeps the reader guessing, has decent reveals, an LGBTQIA+ story, twists and a dollop of teen angst. Whilst the big question remains, what actually happened to Maylee and is she alive or dead?

Through the police interviews we are taken back to the woods around Salvation Creek, where other teens had disappeared and there was a myth that Bigfoot wandered the area. The four narratives were very different and part of the fun is deciding what to believe. Right from page one Nolan is certain Maylee was killed by Bigfoot and tells the police he saw the creature eating her. The other three no not verify this claim and as the interviews continue their stories change and they turn on each other. Petra is the uber-confident best friend of Maylee and daughter of a policeman, with Nolan being obsessed with Cryptozoology, John was her supposed boyfriend and Abigail a friend with history. This was a very fast paced story where all four friends come under suspicion, hide lies, whilst the police try to uncover what really happened in the woods. Considering the book was leading up to the big reveal of what actually happened to Maylee I found the ending rather underwhelming, sure it made sense, but was not worth the build-up. A very solid thriller. AGE RANGE 13/14+

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this novel. I encourage you to check this one out!

An interesting format for this YA thriller. Each chapter is headed by a question--a question that is being posed by the police--and we are treated to a look into how each character answers the prompt. Through the questioning, we learn more about the camping trip, the gun, and the missing (or murdered?) young woman.

Thank you to NetGalley for this digital advanced copy.

Thank you yo the publisher and NetGalley for the digital ARC!

Unfortunately this one really didn’t hit the mark for me. The characters all bothered me, the plot was insane and it just didn’t come together.

3⭐️

It was a fun fast paced read. Told in a unique format,

This story is told 100% in a police interview format. Where each chapter is a new question from the police and the four teens give their answers. Mallie is missing from a camping trip with her friends, police are trying to determine where she is and if foul play is involved.

The interviewees are Petra, Mallies bff high strung type A personality. John, Mallies boyfriend and sidestepper of questions. Nolan, Petra's brother and crypto's enthusiast. Lastly Abigail the new friend.

Overall i really enjoyed the format of this book. I thought it was really unique and fun. It made the chapters and story fly by. For the most part this is pretty fast paced, there were some spots in the middle that dragged on a bit for me.

I liked the majority of the story, except the ending of the book for me fell a bit flat. It didn't quite make a lot of sense and just wasn't as satisfying as I hoped.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Source Books for this advanced reader copy. My review is voluntarily my own.

I will post my review at retail sites on publication.

I thought that this was a different take on having several accounts of what happened with a missing person situation. The way that Chelsea Sedoti wrote this with everyone telling their account of what happened on a camping trip when 5 teens go but only 4 come back.

This story is told in the way of an interview/interrogation. I thought it was very interesting to hear each teens account of what happened when they were all in the same area. I thought that each character was very likable and they seemed that they could all be trusted. So, what happened out there? You will have to read to find out! I was shocked to find out what really happened. (LOL)

I voluntarily read and reviewed this book and all opinions are my own. Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for a copy of this book. I recommend it for any avid YA reader!