What Happened That Night by Deanna Cameron was disturbing in a good way. The story was twisted and evil. I didn’t know this was a YA book when I started reading but it appeals to adults also. The depictions of sexual violence and stalking were so realistic. I will be looking for more books by this author. This one had me creeped out late into the night. Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Clara is in love with her neighbor. Her neighbor ends up dead. Clara’s sister was arrested for the murder of the town’s golden boy. Clara and her friends Aniston and Kolby start digging to find the truth about what happened. Tons of sexually explicit subject matter, so be cautious if you are triggered. Easy read without too much fluff or filler.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

So, I was looking forward to this one, and was sorely disappointed. The cover invokes nostalgia, and sentiment, and is nothing like the content of this YA mystery. I found the writing choppy, the mystery was "solved" quickly which left a long piece of rambling and filler - in my opinion. I was not held by the content, nothing in it gripped me and compelled me to keep reading. I actually gave up at 60%, which for me is unheard of. I am thankful for the ARC, but I would not personally recommend this one in the YA or mystery genre.

A 16 yo has had a crush on her neighbor for years. He finally notices her- but he assaults her.
This story is done as before and after. The buildup of Clara's sister for the murder of Griffen while Clara tells us about before. Excellent demonstration of possible reactions to assualt. Controversial topic done well.

I thought, based on the title, that this would be a thriller. Although it may have had some elements of a thriller, it didn't have the pacing, suspense, build or ticking clock one would find in a thriller, which was confusing. The mystery was there only to a point. I'd be careful how you market this, as you may wind up frustrating fans of the thriller/mystery genre.

Overall, I wanted more writing craft. While the bones of the story were intriguing, and I could see a one-page summary being interesting, the prose doesn't seem like it's there yet.

In addition, the formatting was bad, which made the read quite confusing. I'd suggest fixing this for others who dedicate time to reading this.

Thank you to Wattpad and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is the story of Clara who is going through something horrific - her sister is on trial for murder. Her classmates and people around her want to talk to her and ask her questions but she remains silent. But we soon find out that she has secrets of her own. Clara might know what happened the night of the murder and her sister is beginning for her help, leaving her confused and wondering what the right thing to do is.

This was an intriguing mystery and I greatly enjoyed the writing and the story. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good mystery with very sharp writing.

Disclaimer: Any quotes I’ve used come from an unpublished eARC.

What Happened That Night will likely give you nightmares. It’s one of those stories that creeps under your skin and doesn’t let go easily. The book begins with a focus on Clara, the sister of a young woman accused of murder. It’s a smaller town, where evidently the only person in recent memory to be accused of murder is Clara’s sister, Emily.

It’s hard to describe this book without spoilers, and I think it’s really important to read this book without spoilers in order to really enjoy it. However, something I do want to say is it’s not for everyone. The book has rape, violence, murder—all things that are depicted fairly graphicly and could be triggering or at the very least uncomfortable. I think the author treats the subject matter respectively, but I’m one person with one opinion.

The book has a dark sort of humor, which I definitely appreciated. Some exchanges are rather deadpan, like this one between Clara and one of her friends. “Admiring Black Beauty?” she asks. “‘The car’s red,’ he said, his voice flat.”

Overall, the book kept me guessing, until almost the very last page, which is really what I want out of a murder mystery like that. I would 100% recommend it.

"Griffin Tomlin is dead. And Clara’s sister killed him . . . "

The story starts off a mere four months after the murder of local legend Griffin Tomlin is murdered, and since nothing ever happens in the small town of Shiloh everyone knows who the Porterfields are. As Clara's sister (Emily) awaits her trial, Clara finds that her life is going in a downwards spiral, and is worried that her biggest secret will finally be revealed.

What Happened That Night flips between the present and the events that lead up to the death of Griffin. Clara's life has not been the same, instead of being Emily's little sister, she's now known as the sister of the girl who murdered the boy next door. What everyone doesn't know is why she murdered him, Clara thinks she has an idea but everything she thought she knew was wrong. With the help of a few friends, Clara embarks on a journey to really get to the bottom of what happened that fateful night.

This book comes with a big trigger warning: there is a graphic rape scene, and deals a lot with the aftermath of the events but it plays a large part of this book. I really appreciate that the author included a trigger warning before starting off the book, since it allowed the readers to be prepared for what was to happen.

I really liked the character development, it was really nice to see some of them overcome their demons and work together to form a nice support group. I really appreciated that Clara had a few close friends to help, although near the end it seems like things aren't going her way I love how all lose ends are tied up in the end. This book kept me guessing until the end, I felt a little discouraged as I believed that I had everything figured out but I was thrown into a loop that proved I had no clue what was going on.

I wish we had seen more from Emily in the novel, it seemed like she was just an afterthought, she appears in one scene and that's about it. She's supposed to be this teen killer, this girl that no one really knows. I think it would have been interesting if the author had included some chapters from her POV. Maybe she could have explained her thought process of why she did it (in the end we find out, but it's during the trial) and although it makes sense as they explain it still seems a little odd.

*I would like to thank NetGalley and publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

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.