Pretty Dead Queens was a delight to read from start to finish. The setting, the backstory, the town with a haunting history of murder...what's not to like? When Cecelia Ellis' mom dies, she is sent to live with her grandmother Maura who just so happens to be a famous murder mystery author. Her grandmother's notoriety in town gives Cecelia access to an exclusive group of friends packed with their own drama and secrets. When one of her new friends is found murdered, Cecelia takes it upon herself to solve the crime. This is one of the more engaging and entertaining YA reads I've picked up in a minute. Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read it in exchange for my honest review!

This was a solid mystery book. It had plot twists, relateable characters, and while it started off a little slow - I found myself not being able to put it down. Cecelia is a 17-year-old who has to live with her grandmother after her mother dies. Her grandmother is famous for writing of thriller books based on events that have taken place in the town. Cecelia starts school right before homecoming and is the one that finds one of the girls running for homecoming queen dead in the pool. Like I said, there are lots of twists and turns, leaving you guessing "who dunnit" until the very end.

5/5 stars

Thank you to Netgalley, the publishers, and Alexa Donne for allowing me to read and review this book.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I could not put it down. I think I read it in like 2 sittings. I did not see the ending coming.
I would highly recommend this book to just about anyone. Especially readers new to the thriller genre. This is a fast paced and well written story. And is very easy to follow, without being obvious.

Pretty Dead Queens is my second Alexa Donne book (the other was The Ivies), and she is quickly becoming a favorite of mine when it comes to YA Thrillers.

Donne has the perfect balance of mystery in her book, and she is truly talented when it comes to creating characters. Cecelia had the complexities of a real 5 didn't have the annoying characteristics teenagers often possess in similar styled books.

I will say the ending did feel a little rushed. I easily figured out the first twist, but the second did surprise me. A lot of the times with thrillers, the twist is not foreshadowed well enough. This was not the case for this book. The twist I didn't figure out made sense.

Pretty Dead Queens by Alexa Donne
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

After losing her mother, Cecelia moves to a small California town to live with her famous author Grandmother. Her grandmother, Maura, wrote a fiction book based on a murder in the city. After another murder, Cecilia sets out to discover whether it is a copycat of the actual murder or the book's murder.

This YA mystery balances good character development, mystery, and intrigue splendidly. Typically my critique of YA mysteries is that they can be surface-level. The mystery and suspense were there throughout. Joining Cecilia on the investigation was fun; with the writing, there was always a question of who it could be and no clear answers. Pretty Dead Queens was an incredibly written book in the plot line, depth, pacing, and character development. Highly recommend this book.

I sped through this juicy YA thriller! It’s fast paced and full of unlikeable characters! You won’t know who to trust and it will keep you guessing until the end! Definitely recommend!

I'm not completely sure why I picked up Pretty Dead Queens but I'm so glad that I did. The story is fast paced and the main character was written very well. Alexa does a great job making you really feel what the main character feels and I loved it. I also didn't expect the ending as well. I can't wait to read more by Alexa!

This was a quick and easy read.
One POV from a teen girl and it had Good Girl’s Guide to Murder vibes!
Ultimately, this teen girl is trying to solve a current day murder that parallels a historical murder in town. It is a different format to GGGTM though. I liked the homecoming element and that there was a decent amount of characters. However, I did peg the outcome of this relatively early, but still enjoyed the novel.
It didn’t reinvent anything in the YA mystery genre, but will still good!
As a true crime fan, I laughed out loud when she mentioned that she needs to sit up straighter in the police interview room because she imagines it showing up on the ID channel someday,

Thank You to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ebook for review!
I was really excited to read this book because of the popularity of her book the Ivies and I heard other reviewers rave about it. Unfortunately this book was just okay. I liked the hints to Agatha christie with the protagonist grandma being a famous mystery writer. I found that the way that she was able to get in with all the cool kids from the get go seem a little too good to be true, specially when it came to the love interests. I thought the overall story was okay. The beginning drag quite a bit. The actual mystery started around 30% of the book. I think some young adults have the potential to be amazing reads for me, this one did not quite get there. I do think it reads very mature compared to other ya books. If you are looking for a ya that has lots of characters and is full of mysteries, then this one would be a good time. I read it all in one day, it will grab your attention.

Thank you NetGalley and to the publishers for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

DNF at 30%

I think YA thrillers are just not my thing, they always seem super cringey and this was no exception.

This was just ok. It read too young adult for my liking but it was ok for what it was. I predicted most of the plot twists.

After the death of her mother, Cecelia moves in with her grandmother in a town famous for the murder of a beauty queen and the book written about the murder. When a second teen girl is murdered in almost the exact same way, Cecelia takes it upon herself to find out if the original killer is still out there, or if it's just a copycat.

A slow burn mystery novel, Donne focused a lot of the characters and setting. I got a really good feel for the world being built. I'm slow with mysteries so I did not piece it together until a third of the way through, but the last twist hit me the same moment it hit Cecelia and that revelation was just so good. A great read for mystery lovers.

This book had great characterization, excellent story telling, and made me want to keep reading. I will continue to read from this author and look out for their new releases.

Alexa Donne has become one of my go-to YA authors and I will always request her latest on NetGalley. Unfortunately I am way behind on reviews and this book came out last year, but it is still a fantastic read and I highly recommend it.

We meet seventeen year old Cecelia as she arrives to live with her grandmother after the death of her mom. Seaview is a typical coastal California town and she settles into life in the creepy Victorian home where her grandmother writes her equally creepy murder mystery novels as a well-known author.

The normality is blasted to smithereens when the Homecoming queen is murdered...and she's not the first pretty dead queen the town has had.

Cecelia begins investigating when it becomes clear there is a copycat on the loose. She digs into the history of the town, looks into everyone she knows to find connections, motives, etc. But the closer she gets to the answer, the more her own life is in danger.

This was such an engrossing read that I plowed through it in one sitting. The clues, false starts, and red herrings were well-placed and felt authentic.

Something else the author does well is creating characters who also feel authentic. The characters feel like actual teenagers, and not just adults with adult feelings/ideas crammed into teenage-shaped bodies. It is hard to do this well, but Donne especially excels in this area.

Everyone has secrets, Cecelia finds out quickly. After finding her friend dead exactly the way the previous murder occurred, Cecelia begins uncovering a lot of those secrets, even ones the queen herself had. There are several characters who are given ample motive and this was done in a realistic way as well. Nothing seemed manufactured or forced, simply to confuse the reader. The clues are there, if you are paying attention.

I am happy to say that even with paying attention, I had it narrowed down to two suspects before the reveal, and I am not even mad that I couldn't do better than that, because it could have easily gone either way.

I was very impressed with this one and think it is probably my favorite of the author's so far - though I really loved The Ivies a lot.

Highly recommended.

Back when I was still writing, I followed Alexa's social media closely for advice on writing and navigating the querying process. While I haven't watched any of her videos in years now, I thought it would be fun to pick up one of her books. This was a fun, soapy YA thriller and had the authorial voice I'd expect after consuming so much of her content.

Alexa Donne is the next Karen McManus! This is an incredible YA thriller! Just when I thought I had things figured out I’d be left with my mouth hanging open by another plot twist. Expertly crafted. Such a good book!! I loved how the author interwove the two murders - decades apart - to make the book interesting but not unrealistic. I really enjoyed that I couldn’t predict who did it or the ending! Thank you so much NetGalley for the opportunity to read this and provide my honest opinion.

When two dead homecoming queens turn up in the same place and the same way decades apart, the whole town goes into a frenzy.

Cecilia is living with her grandmother, who happens to be a crime fiction author, and based one of her novels on the death of her high school's homecoming queen -the novel that shot her to fame. So when another homecoming queen turns up in identical fashion, there has to be a copycat killer on the loose, right?

This book was more intense than I expected. Granted it is YA, so it wasn't quite as mind-blowing as other thriller books that I've read, but for what it's worth, I felt my heart racing at times. I had a pretty good idea of the direction the book was headed and who was to blame for the murders, but it still didn't really take away the surprise factor for me. I've learned that I can sometimes figure out the who, but never figure out the why.

Overall I devoured this book and enjoyed every minute. 5 stars, I can't wait to read mor from this author.

I really admire Alexa Donne. I'm a huge fan of hers and I'm always wary when it comes to read a booktuber's novel, but this one really surprised me. She just writes beautiful sentences and descriptions. You can see she took the time to flesh out her characters; they were very complex and likeable. I didn't see coming most of the twists and turns, which is one of my biggest fears when I'm about to pick up a thriller. In conclusion, I highly recommend it, especially if you're a fan of Kara Thomas or Holly Jackson's work.

I loved this book it was a fun page turning thriller that I could not put down. This book follows Cecelia after her mothers death from cancer she moves in with her estranged grandmother a famous mystery author. Cecelia starts out just fine fitting with the popular kids at school that is till the queen bee ends up dead at homecoming. Secrets and lies abound as Cecelia try’s to figure out what happened that night as well as what happened many years ago during a similar crime. This book was so much fun it was quick paced easy to follow and really entertaining. I would recommend this to any YA thriller fan and look forward to picking up more from this author in the future. I would like to thank net galley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

If you love YA mystery then this is a must-read! It was engaging and entertaining. This is a great book for both teens and adults. The teen detective felt believable and there was a good list of suspects. The book kept me guessing until the end.

The ending is so twisty and amazing! You don't see it coming. This story definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat.

This book is great if you're a fan of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder or Pretty Little Liars.

Thank you to Netgalley for this book in exchange for an honest review.