Pretty entertaining read. I loved the small town atmosphere and the history of the murder that happened.
There were parts that didn't flow well and left me confused about the plot, like it jumped around a bit and there were a few scenes that had way too many characters involved to keep track of what everyone was doing.
I hope some of that clears up by final printing because I really think a lot of younger readers getting into thrillers will enjoy this one !

The killer or killers (as there is two different murders) was very obvious from the beginning. The author did a good job at leaving hints and clues.

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy!

Thank you to Netgalley for selecting me to pre-read and review this ARC. All opinions are my own upon reading this book.

eh... This was pretty predictable. I guessed the major plot twist early on.

With that being said, it was a fun read. The plot is fast paced and it reads fast if you need a quick book to go towards your yearly reading goal.

The main character was insufferable. Typical teenage girl. I didn't find her intelligent at all rather she was incredibly naïve. I think the ending might be set up for more books in the future? If that is the case, I do not know that I will be reading them for the pure fact that I can't stand Cecelia.

2.5

I love a good mystery, and those set in small towns where everyone knows everyone can be brutal because everyone is a suspect. In this book, a teenager is orphaned and goes to live with her very rich aunt who is a reknowned mystery writer who got her start writing about the true story of the murder of the homecoming queen at her hogh school. Years later when her granddaughter comes to live with her, the front runner for homecoming queen is murdered in much the same way as the first? Since there is a man serving time for the earlier murder, is this a copy cat or has the wrong man been in prison for all of these years?

What a great, twisty book.

When her mother dies, Cecelia moves in with her rich novelist grandmother in a small beach town in northern California. She's barely settled when a copycat murder appears, and Cecelia is drawn to investigating.

I really enjoyed this twisty, engaging book, and I think it's perfect for high school students.

This book has many different motives and will keep you guessing until the end. There are so many plot twists and the characters are amazing

Pretty Dead Queens is a mystery fans dream. The cast of characters are well planned out and the twists keep you guessing up until the last moment. The complexity of the book is perfect, not too much that I couldn't keep the details straight but enough that it kept my attention and had me guessing through every page turn.

It seems that history is repeating itself when Seaview’s newest homecoming queen is found dead in the exact same way as the murder that put the town on the map. Cecelia is new to the town after her mothers death forces her to relocate live with her estranged grandmother. Maybe it’s her fear of dealing with her mothers death, or feeling a deep connection to this town, but Cecelia feels like she has to investigate this newest murder. What follows is a twist on the classic who done it as all the characters, and members of the town, have secrets and a history to hide. The ending is a twofold surprise and one that keeps the pages turning. A fun, engaging and mysterious read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

What I loved:

So this might be my third ever murder mystery book, and I have previously read ‘The Ivies’ also by Alexa Donne and that one was a very enjoyable one. I definitely did not guess the ‘who’ in the Ivies and while I did guess part of the ending for PDQ I definitely did NOT see that ending coming!

I think Alexa is very skillful in offering up a completely surprising ending while making it believable. And that ending?! WOW! My heart was racing! I can’t lie, I am a sucker for high school settings especially with mean girls and guys. I do love the entire setting of the book and I did kind of chuckle in the beginning with the nod towards Twilight because thats exactly where my mind had gone.

What I didn’t:

There were a lot of characters to follow that a lot of it felt kind of like a whirlwind, but I can imagine Cecilia felt that way too lol. I do feel like the writing in this book had more tell than show than The Ivies, and there were a lot of references made that didn’t feel too realistic for teenagers to make, but the story had a very classic YA feel to it which I’ve truly missed over the years.

Overall, this book was full of lots of secrets that really kept my pointer finger switching to different characters with every chapter. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wishes to read a murder mystery with murdered homecoming queens, a love triangle, and a town fully of twisted and juicy dark secrets!

Thank you so much Alexa, Crown, and Netgalley for the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this access to this digital ARC in return for an honest review.

This book has the makings of everything my students who love a moody teenager domestic thriller to have. Something has gone terribly wrong once again at Seaview High: a homecoming queen dramatically found dead, and she's not the first, and it seems, she won't be the last. With a copycat killer loose in this seaside town full of creepy manors, closed-door secrets, and just so many potential suspects with so many motives, I was really kept on the edge of my seat, and the big reveal didn't disappoint me.

A great read, while it was somewhat predictable it certainly didn't make it any the less entertaining.. Great cast of characters, I loved Ceccilia and Ben and the imagery for the location was fantastic. Throughly enjoyable and reminiscent of those 90's thrillers I loved as a teen.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!! Alexa did such a good job with Pretty Dead Queens. The characters and plot twists were so well done!

If there’s one thing to say about this book, it’s that it was a wild ride.
It took a while to actually get into it, and start getting ramping up - but that’s okay.
There was some stuff I liked about this book, and some stuff I didn’t.
The whole idea for the book was really mapped out, and well thought out. There wasn’t any loose strings and we weren’t left with any questions at the end. There was though, A LOT to keep up with. You were essentially solving two cases from one p.o.v and one time line. I think maybe it could have been better if it was told in a dual timeline between Caroline and Natalie.
I think the ending was shocking, but I knew what was coming. I didn’t think it was going to that far, but I definitely knew who killed Caroline.
On the basis of it being well thought out, it still left no room for surprise. I feel like finding out the truth was honestly really easy, and I think the author fleshed it out TOO much.
I did like the small town thriller author aspect. I liked the town history, and everyone knowing everything. It did keep me intrigued, but I found myself skimming toward the end.
Overall, with The Ivies being one of my favorite reads of 2021, this was a let down. I did enjoy it, but not as much as i thought I would.

Thanks NetGalley and Crown Books for Young Readers for this eARC, these opinions are my own. I did end up calling the whodunnit in this one but only after second guessing myself multiple times! Which for me is one of the great things about mysteries! Cecelia moves in with her grandma after her mom passes, her grandma who see hasn’t seen in years and who is a famous author. She soon finds that Seaview has a lot of secrets and has had its share of murders. Including the murder of the Homecoming Queen in the 70’s… the one that her grandmothers first book is based on. She makes friends but are they really the people they claim to be and when one of them, also in the running for Homecoming Queen, ends up dead, can she trust any of them? Is it a copycat? Is the murder from the passed truly solved? She’s determined to find out what everyone’s hiding and what really happened with both murders. I loved Cecelia’s determination to solve things and how she kept going even though she was in danger herself! And while I did see the whodunnit I loved the journey of getting there and that Alexa Donne does such a great job of keeping you guessing and questioning what you think you know! Plus the twist at the end I did not see coming! I would highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy a good mystery! Can’t wait to add it to my collection!

I have to be honest—while I really appreciate Alexa Donne’s writing, I had a hard time with this one! I think fans of Truly Devious might love it though—with some caveats.

From the summary, I was expecting upper YA, but it definitely read like much younger YA. Insta-love, very petty drama, love triangle, predictable killer, a very nosy Nancy Drew-type sleuth, and all of the characters were extreme with their emotions. With that in mind, I could’ve given it a higher rating as a younger YA book, except…

…I can’t classify it as young YA because there’s a lot of swearing, some teen drinking/light drug use, one instance of teen sex, quite a bit of political commentary, and the last fifty pages were pretty over the top.

I’m so sad not to give PDQ a higher rating! I really thought I’d love it from everything I read about it. I think older teen fans of Truly Devious will enjoy it. But sadly, it wasn’t the book for me.

Heartfelt thanks to Alexa Donne, NetGalley, and the publisher for giving me this arc!

-A

*Thanks to Alexa Donne and netgalley for the arc*

oh my. This book was spectacular!
it had everything I like. Plot twists, amazing characters, plot twists, copycat killer vibes, did I mention plot twists? this book has A LOT of them.
This book felt like a cozy read-infront-of-a-fire-in-a-cabin mystery. Because of that, the start felt slow paced, but I didn't mind as the last quarter of the book is literally perfection.
I did predict one of the biggest twists, but it was a wild guess, so I was really excited when it actually happened. It was literally genius.
I loved the whole living in a victorianesque mansion with your grandma that writes murder mystery books. It was such a cool vibe!
overall I really loved this book so much! The plot, The idea, The characters, urgh it was all so good!!

I'd recommend Pretty Dead Queens to anyone and everyone. 8/10.

I like the idea of this book, but found the execution...loose. Examples: At one point a character tells another that the toilets only flush once because there is no electricity. The MC goes to read a text that she describes as sans serif, followed by an image of a text that very much has serifs. Etc.

Pretty Dead Queens, at first glance, seems like a darker narrative, but, although this is subjective, reads a bit more on the cozy mystery side. Donne creates an engaging mystery that does resolve in a satisfactory manner.

Pretty Dead Queens is everything you can which for in a small town murder mystery! It has an intricate plot, twists for days and an amazing setting. I loved the town and how it was described, being able to actually immerse myself in Seaview. I loved the characters and how the plot is constructed so you are always guessing what's coming next. The murder is captivating and the writing style makes it easy yet thrilling to follow the plot. Even though I did figure out most things that went down, I couldn't keep myself from annotating the book through out my reading experience so I could keep track of every theory I had. It is more than a 5 star read, definitely already a top contender for my top reads of 2022!

This was a perfectly fine YA mystery! I didn't love anything about it, but I didn't have any major complaints either. I though the culprits were pretty obviously, but still thought they were a fun solution to the murders. I think teens who are just getting into mysteries and would be more surprised by who the killers are would really enjoy this. I would be interested in reading a book about her tracking down Maura's crimes!

I really enjoyed The Ivies, so I was extremely excited to get an eARC of Pretty Dead Queens. Although it begins slowly, the last third of the book is a whirlwind of action. After her mother’s death, Cecelia moves in with her grandmother Maura, a novelist who writes thrillers. Cecelia falls in with a great group of kids, including her grandmother’s intern Ben. The group joins forces to determine who really murdered Caroline, homecoming Queen from the 70’s. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my review.