A recent rainy Sunday activated my 'sloth mode'. Which is comprised of lazy day, a comfy couch, sweat pants and a YA novel.

I've been looking forward to Chelsea Sedoti's new book - Tell Me What Really Happened. One of my favorite styles of storytelling is epistolary. In this case it's a series of police interviews with each member of a group of teens.

Five teens who went camping:
- on a rainy night
- in an area where young women have died or gone missing
- one of the group does go missing
- and every police interview with the remaining four points the finger of blame on someone else

Who is telling the truth? Can you ferret out the whodunit before the last chapters? I have to say that I didn't see Sedoti's ending coming - it's nice to be surprised.

The cast of campers are well defined, giving us six very different personalities. Sedoti captures the joys of high school angst. She also throw in a number of horror movie tropes that add to the overall feel of the book. Seriously- what's the first rule? Uh huh, don't go into the woods

Tell Me What Really Happened is just plain fun to read. ( )

I liked the setting - the woods, especially at nighttime were creepy. I thought I would like the fact that it was set up as police interviews of the four teenagers answering questions about their missing friend but I didn't like it that much; it just seemed to be lacking. The characters were okay. It never held my interest enough to look forward to picking it back up but it wasn't bad enough to abandon.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Fire for an ARC. ( )

Interesting and unique format for this YA book. Teenagers go camping in the woods the night their friend dies. The book is narrated by them as they answer questions in the police station which is a very interesting reveal as the different perspectives and plot twists are uncovered. Unfortunately the ending is rather anti-climatic - even though it is foreshadowed in the book and is entirely plausible.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Fire for the opportunity to read this ARC. ( )

Review of eBook

When Maylee Hayes convinces her best friend, Petra Whitfield, and her boyfriend, John Massey to go to Salvation Creek for a camping trip with her, it isn’t long before things get a bit out of hand. Maylee’s friend, Abigail Buckley, and Petra’s stepbrother, Nolan Anderson, are also along for the weekend and end up adding to the tension.

But when Maylee disappears, can the group figure out what happened to her?

Petra, the organizer, sets out to search the woods, but Nolan is convinced that, with his thermal imager, he’s seen Bigfoot there. John is reluctant to wander in the woods; Abigail is strangely silent. Did Maylee return to the hunting cabin the teens discovered earlier in the day? Or, as Nolan insists, has Bigfoot grabbed her?

What really happened to Maylee?

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Secrets, deceptions, alcohol, and a gun all play a part in the unfolding story, spinning out in a series of interrogation questions asked by the detectives investigating the girl’s disappearance. As each person responds to the question, the teens’ responses reveal bits and pieces of information; through these responses, readers learn more about each of the characters and the events that took place during the camping trip.

Although well-defined, the characters weren’t always likable; sadly, John seemed to be in the story solely to provide a token Black character. Petra’s bossiness is a bit over the top at times, while Nolan’s Bigfoot obsession provides an eeriness to the setting in the woods. Maylee’s manipulative nature strains friendships, but the constantly-building suspense adds to the telling of the tale.

Young adult readers are sure to find the mystery of what happened to Maylee intriguing, but the ending of this suspenseful tale is rather disappointing.

Recommended.

I received a free copy of this eBook from SOURCEBOOKS Fire and NetGalley
#TellMeWhatReallyHappened #NetGalley ( )