Clara carries the guilt that what her sister did tore their town apart, and that it was her fault. After Emily kills Griffin, Clara is convinced that it was in retaliation for what he did. But when Aniston forces her way into Clara's life and recruits her to assist with a piece for the school newspaper, Clara begins to notice that the pieces don't fit together quite as easily as she thought.
Ashamed of what Emily did, Clara becomes withdrawn, distancing herself from her friends further than she already had, convinced everyone is judging her for just being Emily's younger sister. As she tries to move on with her life and figure out why Emily did it, she becomes fully immersed in a nightmare she had no idea existed around her. She doesn't want to be seen as the sister of the girl who killed the Golden Boy, Griffin Tomlin. But Clara knows there was a storm lurking in Griffin's eyes that the rest of the town refuses to admit was there.
Told in an alternating Before and Now sequence from Clara's perspective, I thought this was going to be a pretty predictable story of murder and deceit. And while it partially was, it was also quite a bit darker than I expected it to be. Cameron's telling of the story is terrifyingly real, conveying Clara's emotions well, forcing the reader to feel them as Clara does. We all remember the confusion and naivety of the first time our crush acknowledged us, of teenage lust, and the lack of understanding of exactly what was happening around us. Clara's character is relatable in the way that she's painted as the theater girl who, while standing out on-stage, blends into the background otherwise. The girl the popular kids don't really acknowledge exists.
As she's forced to navigate the waters that are high school, I couldn't help but feel for her, and hope that she'd be able to come out stronger on the other side. Clara is a little bit of the underdog, and one can't help but appreciate the way Cameron has written her character, and shown the growth she so much deserved.
I really enjoyed What Happened That Night, and liked how everything came full-circle with the conclusion of the story. In today's reality, it's a good reminder that just because someone is good to you, doesn't mean they don't have a secret side to them, a dark side that you may have never seen. That everything they are could all be an illusion.

I don't really have any words for this book other than it was like an episode of Criminal Minds, only instead of the BAU being involved, we have a high school reporter, a hurt friend and a girl not willing to see the truth, solving the case.

This book was so good and I am so good I had the chance to read this early. Deanna Cameron is a great writer and this was an awesome debut novel. I can't wait to read more from her.

Clara was a great main character. It was a little annoying that she didn't change her mindset until the last like 10 pages, but I think that is what made the story. She was in denial for so long that I don't think it is fair to make her change throughout the whole story.

First off, this book comes with a trigger warning. No, that’s not me adding a trigger warning to my review. The actual book has a preface by the author warning that it depicts sexual assault.

So while the blurb doesn’t directly state it, I don’t think it’s a spoiler to write that the “other story” referenced by the blurb is rape. It’s also easy to guess who was raped and who was the rapist. But be forewarned that the depiction of the rape is fairly detailed and graphic, and that’s not the only scene that contains graphic details of sexual assault.

There were things I liked and disliked about the book.

I was sympathetic toward Clara. Not only is her sister in jail for murder, but she is estranged from Bex, her BFF, and her parents, who disagree over Emily’s guilt, constantly put Clara in the middle of their adult problems.

But the rape dominates her personality. Other than her theatrical abilities and her childhood crush on the late Griffin Tomlin, she’s not given a lot of development: the rape overshadows her. It’s hard to see who Clara is apart from it.

Certain supporting cast members were more vivid in my mind. Aniston is a classmate who wants to become a crime reporter. As you can imagine, she’s obsessed with Griffin’s murder. She talks a mile a minute, wears pink and only pink, and takes the school newspaper seriously–too seriously. She also wants to track down the killer of another teen girl because, you know, the police aren’t capable of making connections on their own. Even so, she’s immensely likable.

Kolby, Griffin’s best friend; Bex, Clara’s ex-best friend; Wilson Westbrooke, Emily’s loser ex-boyfriend. They all came alive for me. I only wish Clara was as vividly portrayed.

The book alternates between the events leading up to Emily’s arrest and the events after her arrest. This is mostly effective, though the formatting of the book confused things a bit. (The chapter breaks happened midway through a page and the “after” chapters weren’t labelled like the “before” chapters were.)

For me, it’s obvious that we need to read both timelines. Unless we understand what happened at a certain party, we won’t really get the full horror of what Clara is dealing with. And it is horrible.

Cameron is good at showing how we, as a society, want killers, rapists, etc. to be the “other”: different from the rest of us and for that difference to be obvious. She shows how our collective fascination with violence and our “need” to know all the details of a crime can lead to secondary victims.

She’s also good at exploring the Porterfield family’s reactions to Emily’s arrest. Disbelief. Misplaced guilt. Shame and embarrassment. Other people’s reactions show up, too: fingers point at parents, questions are asked, all privacy ripped apart. The victim is placed on a pedestal; the killer is tried, convicted, and sentenced in the court of public opinion before a single word is spoken in a courtroom.

Unfortunately, Cameron falters a bit. Rather than make the guilty party a normal human, she makes him a psychopath. (This isn’t really a spoiler, as it’s obvious from Clara’s reactions and thoughts in the early “after” sections that she’s seen behind his good boy facade.)

The rape scene clearly shows this psychopathy. It’s graphic, as I’ve said, but it’s also on the melodramatic side. This cheapens it. It comes across as exploiting rape and Clara’s reaction for dramatic purposes, rather than truly exploring how she deals with it.

In Cameron’s defense, I doubt that was her intention. From her preface, it’s obvious that she’s concerned for sexual assault victims. Other things in the book point toward this, too. She’s obviously thought about this issue, but maybe not with as much nuance and depth as necessary.

The book kept me reading. While the writing might not have been as strong as it could’ve been, there were some lovely passages. For a debut novel, it’s good. This young writer shows promise.

3 1/2 stars, rounded up to 4.

Thanks again to Netgalley and Wattpad for a copy of What Happened that Night in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. I just don’t know where to start with this book. This was without doubt one of the most mind blogging YA novels I’ve ever read. Please take to notice me saying YA novels. I did not expect such a story at all. And let me say the twist. Did not see that coming. Oh how I’m glad I picked this one up.

First and foremost, I want to thank NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this advanced readers copy.

The book is written in first person and follows main character Clara. The premise of the book is that Clara's neighbor and long time crush, Griffin, is murdered by her sister, Emily. Not much of a spoiler since it's stated in the description of the book. The rest of the book unfurls with the aftermath of Griffin's murder and what led up to it. Just like the author's note in the beginning of the book, there are some triggering subjects, such as rape and violence. It's not too graphic, but can definitely be disturbing nonetheless. The pacing wasn't awful, a bit slow at the beginning but picks up about midway through the book. The characters and their motives are written well. The book did a great job of making me wonder why Emily did it, since the most obvious reason comes early in the book. I kept wondering if there was something more to it, because it couldn't just be that obvious, and it didn't disappoint. Overall, I would recommend this book. It never drags and doesn't throw in random shock value for the sake of it.

*********spoilers ahead********

Clara thinks she knows the reason why her sister, Emily, killed Griffin. She believes that it's because she told Emily that Griffin had raped her. The book's chapters go back in forth from present day to before the murder, describing the events that led up to that night. While reading the book, I was curious to know what other past events could be brought up since the actual rape comes pretty early in the book.

Cameron did a good job of painting Griffin as this disturbed individual in those "before" chapters. I thought his character was written well, since he was obviously unhinged. I enjoyed Clara as a main character. Her flaws made sense and it was nice to see her character develop throughout the book. The side characters didn't detract from the overall story and helped move the story along well. Sure, the fact that a budding kid journalist (Aniston) solved a crime the police didn't seem to be able to do (until the end) was a little far-fetched, but she also knew that the two people involved were disturbed individuals to begin with, so I guess that's why she had a leg up?

I enjoyed how the book presented Emily. At first, you believe she murdered Griffin to protect her sister. You don't get much about her until later in the book, and it was a bit shocking to find out that she's just as messed up as Griffin was. She literally helped him torture her own sister to get closer to him. I was just a little disappointed at this turn of events, since it's rare to find books with a strong sister bond. I think I was rooting for that so it made the reveal of how twisted Emily truly was a little more shocking to me. I was a little disappointed to find out that her sister was a psychopath and I that I wouldn't get a strong bond between sisters book like I had hoped. I liked how the book had Clara deal with the fact that her long time crush and sister were these two people she truly didn't know and the aftermath of finding out and how to deal and process with that information.

My only gripe was that the formatting was a little jarring. I understand that is not the authors fault (no points were taken off for this) since I received an ARC copy. It made reading the book a bit difficult at times since paragraphs were chopped at random places and made for some awkward and confusing breaks in the book. I would have to reread a few lines to understand there was supposed to have been a break in-between scenes and that it wasn't just randomly jumping from one scene to the next in the same paragraph. Once again, I know this is no one's fault since I received an ARC copy and I would be happy to own the book in its final format.

I really loved What Happened That Night. The plot was so crazy and wild (in a VERY GOOD WAY) that I couldn’t put it down and I couldn’t stop talking about it! I rarely have the time to dedicate to reading a book in a super short time frame, but I blew through this one in 2 nights because I could NOT put it down! What a wild ride! I don’t want to say much because I don’t want to give anything away, but this is a great read. It does deal with very triggering topics, but it teaches a valuable lesson about personality disordered individuals in a world where that desperately needs to be brought to light as much as possible. I highly recommend this although it is geared toward teen readers, I feel that it would take a very mature teen to read it.

Deanna Cameron sinks her literary claws into her readers with this gripping novel.

"Can we go somewhere; Anywhere but here?"
This was the typical line spoken between two sisters when a secret was needed to be shared they didn't want anyone else to hear.

Clara Porterfield's sister Emily is awaiting trial for murdering their neighbor, and town golden boy, Griffin Tomlin. No one knows why Emily killed Griffin; that is except Clara. While awaiting trial Emily wants Clara to finally speak up, and hopefully help release Emily from prison.
So many little moments in life always seem lead up to this big moment; and one wonders when they can pinpoint exactly where everything went wrong. For Clara that moment was a Super Bowl after party she attended with her long time crush, and neighbor Griffin.
What happened that night inevitably led to Clara's sisters arrest, as well as the unexpected death of Griffin.
With most books not all is as it seems. As this story continued to unravel my jaw continued to drop to the floor wondering what else could be unearthed during the time leading up to the trial.

Deanna Cameron has some hard hitting and uneasy topics as the main point in this novel. It shows what happens when you stay silent and what could happen when you finally speak out.

I didn't realize this was a YA book when I first requested it, but as it quickly turned into a mystery, I got caught up in the story. Right away we know Clara's sister Emily killed Clara's crush, Griffin. A female murderer is already a twist. What follows is even more intriguing as we hear Clara's inner dialogue and reasons for keeping secrets about her relationship with Griffin, her sister, Griffin's friend Cody, and her new friend Aniston. Chapters alternate between then and now (pre-murder/post-murder), but there are also some sudden scene transitions within chapters that are a little jolting. However, the writing is lyrical and the plot twists are interesting and well played.

I'm sorry to say that this book didn't work for me at all.

It started out so promising for the first 15% but then it just went completely off the rails.

Eye roll after eye roll after eye roll. I didn't find one thing about this story plausible. It took a very serious subject matter and turned it into something silly which I can not forgive.

Also it came across as very Scooby-Doo-esque in the sense that two teenage girls can outwit police detectives and solve murders all on their hunches. Ruh Roh!

The writing was another issue I had. There are before and after chapters which didn't bother me at all but the time jumps within the chapters were confusing.

The ending was beyond ridiculous. 1.5 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Wattpad Books for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Part of the reason why I picked up this book is because it's from Wattpad's new publishing company, and I'm interested in the books that they chose. I wound up enjoying it a lot. It read to me like a deep dive true crime podcast, with a twisting, engrossing plotline. It's long, but the pacing moves quickly. I will say that I think that this book is miscategorized as YA. The content is challenging, and it is at best a crossover, but I would sell this in an adult mystery or crime fiction section. I would recommend this book to mature fans of Courtney Summers or readers of Steig Larsson. CW for murder, sexual assault including rape on the page, physical torture, stalking, emotional manipulation and abuse, physical violence, substance use including date rape drugs, alcoholism.

Rounding to 3.5 stars.
This book certainly has the un-put-downable quality that I look for in any good thriller. I found myself thinking about it when I was at work! I just wanted to get home to read it!
The book was mostly a mystery, although I do believe it was categorized as a YA horror. It wasn’t horrifying AT ALL. I would categorize it a YA mystery. Scooby doo meets 13 reasons why.
The story was so predictable. There was no guessing. I kept hoping for a curveball that never came. You knew the ending of the book at the very beginning. I was anticipating a build-up that never came... so that was rather disappointing.
There are some triggering scenes, so this read is most certainly not for everyone! Triggers include violence and rape.
Keep in mind that I am a thriller and horror junkie and I am hard to please in these categories! So, don’t take this review to heart and certainly give it a shot yourself!

So, I haven't yet completed this book. However, nine chapters in and I feel like I already know what happened that night. Lol. I love the approach and backstory tho. I feel like there is going to be a huge plot twist soon and in the hopes there is, I'm prepared if not that may be disappointing because we'll, nobody wants to know they're right so early im the book. *Fingers crossed for a plot twist* Based on what I've read so far tho, clearly enjoying the book amd storyline. Can't wait to finish it.

This was one of those stories that with a few more rounds of editing could easily be four or five stars. The story was interesting enough, although I believe the synopsis should come with a trigger warning and not just the forward once you begin reading.

Part of the problem with this story is that it jumps not only from place to place but also between what is happening and what happened before. While the "now" and "before" passages are clearly marked, it's the going from place to place that got to me. One minute they are in school, and the next they are somewhere else entirely.

Then you get into characters. None of them felt as fleshed out as they could be. Clara understandably has issues. There were parts of her that felt real. And then there were parts that had me going REALLY? She seemed to want people to believe her without question when she finally told the truth, but couldn't give them the same courtesy.

I wanted to like Aniston. Her over the top personality coupled with the fact that she was like a dog with a bone was intriguing. However, the fact that she somehow managed to solve a crime that didn't even happen near where she lived? It was a bit out there. The same could be said for the fact that Kolby. Griffin's BEST FRIEND, couldn't when it counted, recognize not only that is wasn't Gryffin's brother he saw, but that the girl he was with was the girl that Kolby claimed to have been in love with?

Overall, there is a lot of potential in this story. And I do think that it will appeal to people who enjoy novels that don't pull any punches when it comes to describing things most people find unappealing, however, for me, this one just fell short of where I think the author was trying to go.

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

The story is really compelling and quite dark which I liked. But the bad formatting made the reading a bit hard, which is why I couldn't enjoy this one at all. I guess the final version makes it a better reading experience. The transitions between time and location were abrupt. You coudnl't tell from the formatting that such a jump is happening. Therefore I had to re-read several pages at least twice. The writing isn't the best, too, but I don't expect much from a wattpad-book but I guess people should keep that in mind. All in all it is a compelling and enjoyable story if you don't mind sometimes quite awkward dialogues or some typical cliche sentences.

This book wasn’t at all what I expected, and I’m placing the blame for that on the publisher’s marketing. Although a barn does come into play about halfway through the book, the mood the cover image evokes isn’t even slightly representative of the story. Also, the description made it sound like this would be a good murder mystery, but that wasn’t really the focal point of the book.

The murder mystery (which wasn’t much of a mystery) started wrapping up really early. Then we were left with countless long-winded passages about the main character’s feelings and experiences. Some of this was interesting, but the momentum of the book really stalled after the murderer was revealed.

Also, the marketing in no way indicates that this is a book that needs a serious trigger warning. Two characters in the book are sexually assaulted, and that’s what the vast majority of the plot is actually about. While I believe it’s important for YA readers to take in the lessons shared here, I was really shocked by how brutally descriptive one of the assaults was.

As someone who has been sexually abused, I felt really uncomfortable with the descriptions and the almost constant references to what happened. Readers without a history of sexual abuse may learn a lot about the reality of it by reading this, but I can’t in good conscience recommend this book to any survivors.

I kept reading because I hoped there would be a final twist in the murder mystery. I won’t give away any spoilers, but I will say that I wish I’d walked away from this book early on. The author has skill, but the story really needed to be trimmed in several places for a better flow. It felt like watching a movie that’s 30 minutes too long and becomes a tiring exercise in patience.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an ARC. This review contains my honest, unbiased opinion.

This book didn’t really hit me extremely positively or extremely negatively. It just kind of rose right in the middle. Characters were ok, plot was ok, and the overall writing was ok.

An interesting book which explores the horror of female & male sexual abuse. Great thriller and keeps the reader riveted to the end.

This is a young adult mystery book is full of twist that will keep all readers young and old at the edge of their seats just waiting to see what really happened. It starts off with a bang and only goes up from there. The book it told through two different time periods, the present where a young boy Griffin is found dead and much to everyone's surprise and confusion his neighbor and friend Emily is arrested for his murder. With only Emily's sister Clara knowing the real reason why Emily did what she did the town is in an uproar. Then the book jumps to the past where we see what happened leading up to Griffin's death and what really went through the minds of the girls and why Emily did what she did. It was very sad to see what caused the girls' anger as well as how everyone was so accepting of what happened and not angry with the girls. With the book told through Clara's point of view you got to see the sadness as well as the fierce loyalty that she had for her sister. It made both the sisters seem very realistic and I could really picture it happening. This book while it was listed as a YA novel it had great messages for the reader that you don't often seen in books of this kind. I liked how I was unsure about the truth of the story that our narrator and main character Clara, it made for a read that really
kept me on my toes. This creepy read pulled me in and I couldn't wait to see what happened next. I'm glad I got the chance to check this book out it was very well done. This was the first book I've ever read by Deanna Cameron however after the roller coaster that was this novel it for sure won't be my last. This book is good for YA's as well as adults and no one will want to miss it. The best part had to be the ending it was not what I was expecting at all. I was very surprised and I love that in books. Great job.

This is one of those books where you get to a certain point and can not continue because it just feels like too much at a time. But it's also one of those books where no matter how much you feel you should put it down for a bit you won't.
It's captivating, heartbreaking, and amazing in every possible way.

WOW. That’s the first thing I have to say about this book. I started out reading this book thinking that Clara’s sister Emily is this grand hero, just to turn around and be cursing her by the end. This is an excellent piece of fiction and I definitely will be purchasing this book as a gift once it’s published. Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for the chance to read this book.