I’m on the street team and I got an early copy of this book!! Pretty Dead Queens is an edge of your seat thriller novel!! It’s perfect for Halloween and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ll do a reread closer to the date to give my complete thoughts on it.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of Pretty Dead Queens. Right away I was intrigued by the idea of a teen moving in with her Jessica Fletcher-esque grandmother. As someone who devoured the whodunits of Mary Higgins Clark and the cozies of Diane Mott Davidson as a teen, I knew this would be right up my alley. Perhaps because I've been so immersed for so many years in this type of story, I had a rough idea of who the killer was very early in the rising action, but I was still invested enough to want to know the true motive and whether that character had help. By the end, I suspected some of the details, but the way it played out was surprising. I don't hold the fact that I was able to predict certain elements against the book; I chalk it up to my age and reading habits. While I think some of my more mystery-savvy students will pick up on who the killer is fairly early, I think they'll be more impressed by the novel's final act. Overall, a quick read that filled that Murder She Wrote vibe that's always good for a stormy day. I will purchase this for my library.

This was a slightly predictable, nostalgic thriller that made me feel like a teenager collecting my RLStine books from the book fair. Even though it was easily predictable, that did not detract from this read in the slightest. I loved the author aspect to it. Celia has gone through quite a bit already, soo why she decides to take on this murder like she is the number one detective .. I do not know. The far-fetched and unlikely circumstances that this book entails are what makes it soo loveable to me. While that may sound strange… it is so reminiscent of 80’s slasher films and all of the ya books I read in high school. It still makes me terrified for my kids to become teenagers though.

I would say I’d you don’t like those kinds of predictable stories you will not enjoy this. However, if slasher films and slasher books are something to enjoy you will love this book.

What an amazing and fast-paced mystery by YA thriller queen, Alexa Donne, author of another favorite, The Ivies. After the death of her mother, high school senior Cecelia is sent to live with her famous authoress grandmother, Maura Weston, in the tiny town of Seaview. Cecelia hardly has time to settle in before a homecoming queen nominee is murdered, echoing an identical event 52 years ago. Maura’s first book just happens to be about that very same 1970s murder, so of course her granddaughter would feel drawn to find the killer. The only question is… which of her new friends is guilty?!