Thank you for offering me a copy of this What Happened That Night. I gave it a fair shot to hook me and it didn't hold my interest. That being said, I DNF'd the book after chapter five.

I'm not sure if the down load was messed up on my end, but the format of the draft had all the chapters smushed together, without page breaks for new chapters.

I don't think it would be fair of me to go and review this book on Amazon and Goodreads since books I DNF get 1 star. I don't want to bring the author's rating down.

I originally was really interested in the book because it made me think of the book Speak, where something terrible happened and the character refuses to tell people what happened. I may give this book another shot in the future and if that happens and I finish the book then I will go ahead and rate it on all platforms.

You can find this review and all of my others over at www.readbookrepeat.wordpress.com

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Wattpad Books, and the author via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

THIS REVIEW POSSIBLY CONTAINS SPOILERS SO READ AHEAD AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION

Griffin Tomlin is dead. That's what the cop cars were doing at the Tomlin's house that morning. And Clara's sister killed him. Months after Emily Porterfield has been arrested and is in jail awaiting the murder trial, Clara is trying to get back to some semblance of normal life. However, she finds this difficult, as she believes that SHE is the reason Emily killed Griffin Tomlin. The guilt and the unstable reality that Clara finds herself in makes normality an impossibility, until Aniston, a girl at Clara's school who writes for the school newspaper, comes to Clara asking questions about Emily and what happened. Clara begins to worry that her secret will be exposed, and she can't have that. Pulling away from those that try and reach out to her, trying to deal with the fact that her father is in denial and still hasn't forgiven her for being responsible for Emily's arrest, and her mother's inability to function in life as she digs away at a dead, frozen garden while she tries to pretend that everything is okay, she relives the past wondering what she did wrong. However, there's more to the story than meets the eye, and the truth is terrifying. Will Clara be able to handle it?

Trigger Warnings: Rape, Abuse, Spousal Abuse, Murder, Mention of animal deaths.

I've had this book sitting on my Netgalley TBR pile for SO long. I'm not going to lie, I originally requested it because the premise sounded super interesting, then kept pushing it back further and further down my TBR pile because I was thinking that it was going to be a court room procedural type of story. I was super wrong. The story follows Clara as she tries to disappear into the ether after her sisters arrest. Griffin Tomlin was the town's golden boy, she knows that, it's possibly what attracted her to him so much. She was in love with him from the age of six years old, and her sister killed him. What she hasn't told anyone, is that she knows WHY Emily killed Griffin. Her guilt over her feeling responsible for his death, as well as the fact that she feels like her sister stole him away from the town and his family and friends, is slowly but surely pushing her further down into a black pit of despair.

The narration jumps between the present to 'before' which is the events leading up to Griffin's death. The reason why is slowly revealed to us as the past is told and begins to take shape very quickly. I already had a very strong feeling what the why was as I read a review for this book that spoke about the main theme of the novel, I'm not sure if I wish that I hadn't read it and that the slow reveal was left to do it's job, or if knowing didn't really phase me. It's a tough one. I want to put trigger warnings in this review because I feel like it is definitely needed, I just hope that they don't take anything away from the story for anyone. I'm going to try and talk about stuff while trying to be as vague about it as possible.

I really felt for the character of Clara, though I will admit that she annoyed me at times. My annoyance was unprecedented though. Her reason of 'why' was a good one. I feel that the author really captured the feelings, thoughts and emotions of someone going through something like this ( I can only imagine as it hasn't happened to me, and I feel so lucky for this). Her character really hit home. She was so naive, trusting and full of hope and it really reminded me of myself when I was younger. I look back at some instances and think how easily things could have gone wrong for me, but I feel like I had something watching over me, making sure that I was protected. I put myself into some stupid situations when I was younger, and I'm so glad that I cam out of them unscathed. They're honestly nothing super outrageous, just situations that could have gone a different direction, hence changing my life forever, but they didn't, and I'm here reminiscing about them and thinking about how lucky I was. I know some people who weren't so lucky. And the guilt and fear and self loathing that the author portrayed through the character of Clara really illustrated that.

The story was well written though the narration at times seems a little juvenile, though I can understand why as the characters are around the 17 year old mark. The story itself, I felt, couldn't surprise me, but it really did. There's another story that is happening within the main plot, and I did not see it coming until just before the big reveal. This was an absolute page turner for me, I read it in a day pretty much. I stayed up WAY past my bed time, when I had work the next morning, just so I could finish it and see what happened next. It wasn't just the big reveals and finding out the overall "why" in this story, for me, it was also wanting to see the reactions of the characters when they found out Clara's why. I wanted to see how they handled the truth and what they did with it afterwards. And I was not disappointed.

I read another review that said the reader gave up quite early on in the story as they found it to be a little bit scooby-esque with the protagonist and her friends seemingly uncovering things that the police hadn't. This isn't entirely true, yes they found themselves following a line of thought and seemingly uncovering things the police had missed, but it wasn't so.

I'm actually so annoyed that I waited so long to read this one. I was just thinking recently how I felt like I was in a bit of a book slump and that all my reads seemed to be 3 star or less at the moment. Then I finally decided to bite the bullet and get cracking on this one and I really enjoyed it.

If you want a book that deals with some hard issues, is a bit dark, stays true to the reality of the situation, has a mystery within a mystery and is just an enjoyable read, give it a go, you won't be disappointed.

Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgally for review purposes.

This book deals with a lot of tough topics and situations but handles them SO well. I feel like this is the first book I've read relating to rape that painted the abuser in a true light. It can be someone you'd never expect. It can be someone you love and trust. It doesn't matter the age, gender, or relation to you and I feel like this processed all of this delicate information so well and it didn't hold back - it packed a punch.

The story was strong and at times a little wild but overall I really enjoyed it. Again, the subject matters it dealt with were all just handled so well imo and I feel like reading this book at a young age would have really comforted me - in a weird way, but still.

Would absolutely recommend.

What Happened That Night is a murder mystery. Griffin Tomlin, Clara’s next door neighbor, was murdered by Clara’s sister, Emily.

This story was a hot mess. The jumps between past and present in the alternating chapters was confusing. The fact that two teenagers are solving a murder that they think the detectives didn’t solve drove me bananas! There was also a pretty graphic rape scene that, despite the trigger warning in the beginning, I was not ready for. This murder mystery didn’t really have much mystery, and I was left feeling disappointed.

This book was so promising in the very beginning! The cover was intriguing, the synopsis had me hooked. But the book dropped off a quarter of the way through and I found myself skimming to get to the end.

This book is so unbelievable...for the first half of the book, the things that were happening were too out there. It was not a book I could finish.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of the book for an honest review.

This one truly shook me. So many plot twists and shifts around the corner of every plot-point! It was a good exercise and an even better lesson for me because I am an ''I saw that coming person''. Serves me right!

I really enjoyed this book, it had a back and forth narrative which I always find keeps me wanting to find out more. This book dealt with sexual assault, tragedy, consequences and healing. It was an exciting and suspenseful. It constantly made need question what will happen next, it also made me question where the story was going to and and i really appreciate that in the book, i hate a predictable ending.

A thrilling story about family, friendships, relationships, and protecting the ones that you love. Told from Clara's point of view, the details of one fateful night slowly begin to unfold and the story evolves piece at a time. Told from alternating timelines - 4 months later and before that night, we find out what truly happened to Griffin Tomlin and just who is responsible.

I enjoyed the suspense and thrill of the story and not quite knowing who for sure was to blame and often times suspected different people at different times. It was entertaining as well to read from the alternate timelines, as it builds up the suspense of the story and leaves you wanting to know more.

What Happened That Night Review
Thank you to Netgalley and Wattpad Books for this title in exchange for an honest review.

Trigger warning, this book deals with sexual assault. Now I will say that I really enjoyed this book. It was exciting and suspenseful and constant questions of what will happen next. I wasn’t sure where the story was going to end and I really love that. I like the back and forth narrative as it kept my attention span.

Griffin Tomlin is dead. And Clara's sister killed him . . .

Four months after the murder, the entire town of Shiloh is still in shock. For Clara Porterfield, the normal world has crumbled around her in a million chaotic pieces. Now Clara lives in a new reality, where her sister awaits trial for murder, her mother obsessively digs in a dead, frozen garden, and her father lives and breathes denial. At school, Clara is haunted by her classmates' morbid curiosity - and all of the unspoken questions they won't ask.

But none of them knows what she knows . . .

Now Clara's sister wants something from her - the one thing in all of this that Clara isn't ready to face: the truth about what really happened that night. Because this story didn't die with Griffin Tomlin. There's another story that needs to be told. And sometimes, the lies we're told are nowhere near as deadly as the lies we tell ourselves . . ..

There's some heavy content in here, but it's so well-written. I don't have words to describe this book. Everything feels so real and that's the scary part - stuff like this happens all the time. Lots of emotions and tension, and great character development throughout the book.

I had many thoughts throughout this book. It started out well but soon afterwards I began to wonder at how predictable it was, thankfully to be proven wrong time and time again. The story was entertaining if murder can be allowed to nestle under that umbrella. I though a couple of the underlying storylines were a little higgeldy piggeldy and I thought others could have be dealt with in more depth. Griffin had a photo of the girl who looked liked Clara on his computer yet no mention was ever made of that important fact again. I also wondered why it too so long for us to learn the main protagonist’s and her sister’s names. I found that strange. It was an enjoyable read. I give it 3 stars.

I expected this to be a suspenseful thriller from the synopsis, but found it really was more a drama or romance story. The story dealt with rape and there were some sesons that were a little hard to read, but overall The writing was well-done and the story was easy to follow.

Wow, wow, wow! Such an amazing read, kept on reading it until it was done! Very thrilling and creepy which was awesome! Great read!

4.5 stars
I couldn't put this down!! Trigger warning for rape and a stalker.

I was frustrated because of the narrator's unwillingness to go to the police to report her rape in the first place, but then that's what she focused on throughout the rest of the story.

I think it's a great read and I highly recommend it!

this book surprised me! this book turned out to be SO MUCH MORE than what i had in mind. i'm a very sensitive person, and this was incredibly emotional and hard to read at times but i couldn't put this down. deanna did such an amazing job in her debut novel, and i just can't congratulate her enough!

*3.5 stars*
This book really surprised me, in more ways than one. Obviously it's a thriller, so it was filled with plenty of twists and turns, but I also ended up enjoying it a lot more than I honestly expected to. There can definitely be a bit of a stigma surrounding Wattpad books and, after a few lackluster experiences, I didn't know if I would make it through this one. However, I was very impressed. The plot was complex and included lots of great characters and plotlines. It didn't necessarily feel entirely realistic, but it was believable enough to capture my attention. It did surprise me quite a bit with how dark it was, making me question the target audience. The characters and plot weren't necessarily sophisticated enough to appeal to a lot of older readers, but the violence seemed a bit much for younger fans. The trigger warnings are definitely worth looking into if you're considering picking it up.
There were times that the plot did seem to drag a little bit, but I felt that we got an exciting reveal just as my attention began to wander. It also felt like there was excessive detail at some points, which was one of my main problems with the writing style. There were so many long sentences with multiple unnecessary clauses providing innocuous details. I'm sure it was done as an attempt to engage the reader in the story more, but it was distracting to the point that it took me out of the story.
All in all, this was honestly more than I expected from a YA thriller. It was fun to read a couple chapters every night before bed and slowly figure out what was going on. It also tackled some really tough subjects - some of which I've never seen in any book - and I think it did so well. Would definitely recommend if you're interested.

I received a free e-copy of What Happened That Night by Deanna Cameron from NetGalley for my honest review.

Griffin is dead. Emily killed him. But why? -

This book had a brilliant premise and the beginning really hooked me in, but I felt that in the delivery there were some things that I didn't enjoy or felt were too rushed during the middle and end, our main character really deserved to be more fleshed out.

There is also a ton of things that were described in detail like rape, abuse, murder and general violence, that were not only graphic but that the tone of the story did not warrant or that I felt did not suit a young adult book. I do realize that the author does have a note regarding this, but nothing could prepare me for that kind of detail. The way this book is described, marketed and the cover did not lead me to believe it was going to play out this way, I did remove half a star for this.

Otherwise there was a lot to like and I was surprised to read this so quickly as I've been struggling with sitting down and reading, it captured my attention and I did read it in one sitting. I would be curious to read more from this author.

First of all ---- trigger warning x100. This book's plot soley deals with sexual violence against men and women, and it can be hard to read. I'm glad that the author put a foreword in, I really loved that. It's such a tricky topic but important. All that said though, I didn't love the plot. It felt a bit forced and unrealistic, and I was mostly just bored.

This book was brutal, but it was so worth it. It was a rollercoaster, and had me guessing until the end with a twist I never saw coming. I was satisfied with the ending, and love how the author wrote this story. I felt for the main character throughout the entire story, she was so believable and real. The side characters were great and added to the story in the best way. I loved the Before and After parts, it was so intriguing seeing everything come together. I loved it.