In this YA thriller, 5 very different teens end up on a camping trip together. This is one of the things I really liked about this book. These teens are all VERY different with different cliques and interests and through various means all end up on the trip together. We know from the beginning that one of them doesn't make it back. The story is told through the police interviews that each teen has. Each perspective is a tad different (as it should be) which keeps the tale going and keeps everyone a suspect. I was guessing right up until the end!

I did not enjoy this book. I will purchase for my school library because there are many kids that might like it, but I was not a fan.

"Tell Me What Really Happened" by Chelsea Sedoti is a compelling exploration of truth, perspective, and the complex web of human experiences. This novel takes readers on a journey of unraveling mysteries and delving into the intricacies of memory, perception, and the impact of secrets.

Sedoti's writing style is thought-provoking and immersive, immersing readers in a world of shifting perspectives and hidden truths. The characters in the novel are intricately developed, each with their own version of events that contribute to the depth of the narrative.

At the heart of the story is a poignant exploration of identity, perception, and the way different people remember and interpret the same events. The author skillfully weaves together elements of mystery and psychological intrigue, creating a narrative that keeps the reader engaged and eager to uncover the truth.

"Tell Me What Really Happened" successfully balances the layers of perspectives with moments of emotional resonance, resulting in a narrative that is both captivating and thought-provoking. The themes of memory, the complexities of human relationships, and the search for authenticity add depth to the plot.

In conclusion, "Tell Me What Really Happened" is a thought-provoking and introspective novel that invites readers to contemplate the nature of truth and the intricacies of human experiences. If you're seeking a book that challenges your perception of reality and the way we remember events, this novel provides a compelling and engaging narrative that will leave you questioning and reflecting long after the final page.

I did not finish this title in advance of the publication day, but do intend to finish reading later down the line.

I haven't read a ton of thrillers in the past, so I went into this book with no expectations. The premise doesn't sound super original at first, but the story became more elaborate and complex as the book went on. One thing that I actually liked about this book was that all of the characters felt unlikable to some degree. Teenagers can be nasty to one another at times, but it's easy to forget about that once you leave those years behind. The voices in this book felt authentic to me. The pacing of this book was okay, but it would occasionally lose my interest at times, since it's not a very thrilling book. While I thought that the interview narrative was unique, I think it sucked out some of the story's intensity at times. The twist at the end with the missing girl wasn't my favorite either. The build up to the reveal wasn't that intense, so when it finally landed without much energy, I was disappointed. The book was pretty lengthy as well. I feel like the story inside didn't require it. I'm curious to pick up the author's backlist to see if this author is for me or not.

Unique format with the story being told through police interviews. Characters were sometimes unlikeable at times. I did not care much for the ending though...to the point it sort of ruined the whole story for me.

This was a decent YA mystery, but I didn’t love the ending- it felt like a book I’ve read before and the ending was underwhelming. Would recommend for high school students, but doesn’t bridge the gap as entertaining for adults.

This book was so intriguing. I have never read a book that is entirely made up of interviews. I found this really cool. I did find it a little bit confusing, but that happens frequently with multiple POV stories for me. The idea that there is always two sides to a story was true with this story, but instead there were four. It was a good mystery thriller. This was a well written whodonit. It wasn't super predictable.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks, and Chelsea Sedoti for an advance copy of Tell Me What Really Happened in exchange for an honest review. This was a fun, suspenseful, and quick YA read! We see many different perspectives of the crime while trying to figure out what actually happened. This would be a great Segway for younger readers to check out if thrillers would be for them! This is available now! P

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the e-arc of this book. I didn't know much going into this one other than it was going to be a YA thriller. I enjoyed getting the perspectives of each character (and since I waited, listening to the audiobook definitely helped keep them straight), but overall I thought this story lacked any major plot. Although I didn't predict "who did it" I felt like the whole process was drawn out too much. And there was way to much mentioning of Sasquatch. Overall I just didn't enjoy the read.

📚 BOOK REVIEW ✨

Tell Me What Really Happened by Chelsea Sedoti

⭐️ rating: 3
📖 genre: YA mystery
🖨 publisher: Sourcebooks
📍setting: Salvation Creek

🔲 REVIEW:

This was a fast read due to the unique writing style of the book. The story is told entirely though first-person police interviews of each of the four friends. By hearing all four points of view, you quickly realize that one (or more) of them is an unreliable narrator. The book ended with a twist I didn’t see coming.

I enjoyed:
-the quick pace and twists & turns
-the writing style of the first-person interviews

Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for the E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

🔎 SUMMARY:

“There are stories about the woods around Salvation Creek and 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…

Told entirely through first-person police interviews, this riveting mystery asks: what really happened that night?”

💬 Have you read this book? What did you think?

Aspiring influencer Maylee convinces four of her friends to go on a camping trip into an area of the woods known for people going missing. But while the friends get out and to the police, Maylee is missing in the woods.

I liked the theory of the way it's constructed. First person responses to police questions is such a neat idea. In practice, the narrative jumped back and forth between different characters, sometimes a paragraph at a time, which was distracting. I also didn't like that a character would sometimes obviously be responding to another question that was asked to them without the question being explicitly asked. It felt like telling instead of showing. The story was engaging enough for me to finish it but I predicted the ending about halfway through. I was hoping there'd be a twist and it'd go a different way but that didn't happen. The characters were pretty interesting, although several of them annoyed me to the point where I almost put the book down.

In this book, five friends (Maylee, the blogger, Nolan, the conspiracist, John, the popular, Petra, the controller, and Abigail, the girl-next-door) go to a weekend camp because Maylee had the idea. Something happens around midnight, and Maylee disappears, leaving the other four to look for her.
The whole book is about them telling the story to the police after they called to find his body.
I could resist getting the arc when I read about the story, and I didn't get disappointed with this choice.

The book is all narrated by the four characters telling their views of what happened and also about the person that is Maylee with everything that happened in the past and present revolves around her and her ideas.
It was an interesting idea and one that I would have liked to read more in style for having embarked on the pace of the mystery, or maybe it was the way the author wrote that made me like it so much.

Maylee is the only character that we don't have the pov but she is the main character because everything revolves around her and how everyone moves because of her actions.
Petra is a character with a difficult personality but who cares a lot about the people she cares about and is the one who gives us more information about Maylee and certain events of the night.
John is a good young man and I wondered why he was dating Maylee and how complicated everything is for him on the police force because of his past.
Petra's brother Nolan goes on the trip at the insistence of their parents and a conspiracist bigfoot conspiracy theories, and it was interesting to learn more about how this obsession started.
Abigal is a nice girl and at first, we don't understand what she's doing on the trip, and end up becoming very important to give more information about the event.

I recommend this read for the mystery experience, I won't consider it my favorite mystery of the year, but it came close.

Sedoti did something I have not read in YA before and that's tell the story from four perspectives as a police interview. You get limited interaction from the police, mostly off screen interactions with the characters and questions that in a way act as chapter titles. You follow along as each character tells their story, adapts to new information, and slowly creep towards the truth. The inclusion of Nolan as a cryptozoologist adds a mystery of whether this book has supernatural elements or not. It honestly had me guessing for a while. Each character has a distinct voice, though they are each standard archetypes found in YA. What happened to Maylee was a bit of a disappointment, but the revelation, told through the police interrogation format, was pretty solid. This is a standard story told in a new and fascinating format.

I really liked the first-person police interviews. It's an interesting format that I've never read before. The story is a little scattered and confusing. It went in too many directions and then wrapped up so quickly. Overall, not a bad read.

4 stars. This is my favorite book by this author. All of her previous books have been 3 star reads, engaging enough but always missing something for me, but I keep picking her books up because they are fun, and I like her writing. This one was definitely better for me. I loved the interview medium used for the entire book; it made things go by so quickly, and soon, I found myself reading the acknowledgments. Such a wide cast of characters with a lot of eye-opening backgrounds. Really enjoyed this murder story.

This is one of those books that when you aren't reading about it, you're thinking about it. It has a really interesting premise with the story being told from varying POVs while the teens that are still alive are in an interrogation room.

I wanted so badly to know what really happened that I found myself skipping along quickly, needing answers. I just felt like there were secrets and lies and that something really scary was going on.

Unfortunately, this book was great up until the landing. It made me think of the TV show <i>Saint X</I>, where I was with it until the very end and it just failed to stick the landing. It's still a great read, and maybe you'll like the ending better than I did.

I thought this was GREAT. Got the ARC from NetGalley and the publishers (thanks!) and so glad I did. Not sure I would’ve picked it up otherwise, which would’ve been a mistake.

The format of each chapter was really unique and an interesting, engaging way to tell the story. Each of the characters’ voices was distinct, made sense, and gave more insight to them. There were a couple of great twists, and I appreciate that the ending didn’t come out of nowhere (listen, I was fully expecting it to be like “oh Abigail’s father came into the woods and MURDERED Maylee!” which would’ve been outlandish and disappointing lol).

This was a really great YA book, highly recommend.

This is a young adult book. I dont usually read many book in this genre. I loved the idea of the young teens going away for the camping holiday. Unfortunately there was too much repetition in the book which turned me off.

As is usual with YA thrillers, this book is a bit over the top. That said, the format in which the four main characters slowly reveal the story of what happened to their missing friend through police interviews keeps up the suspense and makes it compulsively readable. I enjoyed it, and teens likely will too.