A solid YA thriller from Alexa Donne just in time for Halloween! Following her mother's death, Celia moves to the small California town of Seaview to live with her grandmother, the famous murder mystery writer Maura Weston. Maura's career began years ago following the real-life murder of homecoming queen Caroline Quinn. Now many years later, Celia finds herself investigating the copycat murder of homecoming queen Natalie Bergen...and she suspects the cases intertwine in more ways than one.

This was a good YA thriller for spooky season. I think it was long-winded but Donne's writing is mostly tight. Most of the pop culture references were more millennial than Gen Z, which didn't entirely make sense. Donne does a good job of building the suspense throughout, but I will say one of the major reveals was predictable. It's also pretty racy for a YA thriller and had some elements that left me uneasy rather than just spooked in a normal thriller context. Donne understands her genre, but this wasn't my favorite entry in the YA thriller space.

Thank you to Penguin Teen for providing me with an e-ARC of Pretty Dead Queens & PRH Audio for providing me with a complimentary audiobook!

I think my hopes were a bit too high with this one. It was a perfectly fine thriller, it did what it set out to do, but it's not something that really sticks out. As of writing this, I could only tell you the twist at the end (which, imo, best part) & none of the juicy parts that get us there.

In the end, I didn't dislike this but I also didn't care much about it.

This book kept me on the edge of my set wondering what was going to happen next. It was full of suspense, twist and turn and some had some surprising events along the way as well. A great read and I recommend it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the arc for review.

Pretty Dead Queens is a quick, "don't think too hard about it" YA thriller. I can't speak on to whether or not anything is predictable or it's easy to guess the twists, because I'm also a "don't think too hard about it" reader when it comes to YA, which made this book pretty fun. I'm easily able to suspend disbelief about a teen investigating a murder, sneaking around, breaking into places and making connections the police don't, because while that wouldn't happen in real life, it's exactly what this book is about.

The pace is good and the investigation doesn't drag. A varied number of potential culprits are offered as suspects, and a variety of believable motives. If you're just rolling with it as it comes, it's an easy and enjoyable enough read.

I did have some problems with the characterization, particularly the main character, Cecelia, and her grandmother. The author doesn't seem to really stick with a solid form of who Cecelia is. At one point, she talks about how cute she likes to dress when compared with what her grandmother wants her to wear, but at another point, she talks about feeling like a frumpy, greasy mess compared to her new rich friend. However, Cecelia is ALSO now living with her wealthy grandmother, and has no reason to feel lesser or self-conscious on either of these fronts. Additionally, there's a point where Cecelia gets in a fight with a male character who oversteps to protect her, some real righteous rage, only for a couple of chapters later to completely flip and swoon over, "oh, he was just trying to protect me!"

The villain monologue/back and forth in the climax of the book was super cheesy, and some of the reveals, including the final ones, felt a little cheap - Cecelia & co are following clues and hunches throughout the book, allowing for the reader to potentially piece things together along with them, only for most major points to hinge on small details that are randomly revealed late in the game without explanation, or to come completely out of nowhere. I understand there's a balance with a mystery/thriller to include enough to be intriguing but not so much as to give the game away, but still, it's not very fun to have the ending built on stuff the reader was not at all privy to.

Despite the fact that I've written more negative than positive, I overall feel pretty good about this one. It's fast, it's a bit twisty, it's pretty solid in terms of YA mysteries/thrillers. A couple things stand out as heavy handed or forced, but it's a fast and easy read that's fairly good fun, too.

Pretty Dead Queens by Alexa Donne

My rating: 3.5/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️

When Cecilia’s mom dies from cancer, she moves to her grandmother’s home, who is a successful author and small town royalty. While her grandmother Maura’s success was based on her best selling murder mystery books, Maura’s books were more non fiction than fiction. When a homecoming queen is murdered and Maura finds her, she uses this as inspiration for her first novel. When a copycat murder takes place when Cecilia moves to town, she wants to take on the case and try to figure out who did it, and she was also not so convinced that the killer from Maura’s high school days was the actual killer either.

I am struggling with what to rate this one! I think that overall it was a pretty good read, but felt like it’s been done before. I got A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder vibes while reading this one and sadly it fell short comparatively. This is a young adult novel with so many characters that it was hard for me to keep track. Obviously with a whodunit, you have to have lots of characters to keep everyone guessing but I felt myself getting a little bored with trying to remember all of the characters as well as learning all their back stories. I did enjoy some elements, especially towards the end where the action and suspense kicked up. That being said, it was a pretty obvious ending to me so I think that’s why I’m struggling with the rating.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House publishing for this ARC! You can read this one now because it was published this month!

** spoiler alert ** Okay so it’s been a hot minute since I actually read the book and it is STILL ON MY FUCKING MIND!!! This was probably my favorite book by Alexa Donne. I have the biggest and highest hopes for this to be turned into a movie or limited series because I would watch the hell out of it! Netflix??? Pick up the phone!!!

Below are some of my thoughts as I read this book (contains spoilers) and after thoughts. I love doing this for thrillers especially because it shows my thought process.



SPOILERS BELOW


I think Morgan did it (or is in on it) because yeah why DID she die her hair and look exactly like Natalie?? I think she planned trying to be the “victim”.

Lmao I don’t think the janitor did the OG murder either. (Gasp!!! What if it was Maura??)
*LMFAO OMG YALL IM A GENIUS I was like 30% way through the book when I wrote this part

“We should reschedule homecoming 🥺. It’s what Natalie would have wanted!” BRO I SURE SHE DOESNT GIVE A FLYING FUCK.

Yes amber!!! Stick up for my girl’

Yeah Luke said he would kill her but I HIGHLY doubt he did. He does not give me killer vibes. And can it FOR ONCE not be the ex/boyfriend
*in hindsight it was still the ex boyfriend 😔

I do not trust Suzanne. She gives me some icky feelings. More so that she is doing something to harm Maura’s reputation then being a murderer.
*Maura sent her to give Reama an ARC of her next book?? Why so sketchy then
** so I was actually kinda right in this one but imma take it back SUZANNE IS A LITERAL FUCKING SAINT

Bro please let Maura help with all the murder solving!!!

Idk I’m thinking it’s Morgan and Luke idkkkkkk

Only Luke, Brontë, and Morgan had master keys to the school? That’s SUS

MORGAN IS SLEEPING WITH HER BEST FRIEDS FATHER 🤮🤮 the mayor is a PEDO I-

GABe AND LIKE WERE TOTALLY HOOKING UO AND IF THEY WERNT ILL EAT MY FUCKING SHOE
*okay so it wasn’t Gabe he was with… but I was right that Luke is a little fruity

Ayo?? WHO sending the mayor messages?? The real question bro….
*really had to have this one spelled out to me 😔

Bro why in every crime novel can the main character just visit random ass people in jail. IT DOESN’T WORK LIKE THAT!!!!
*oh thank god someone asked if they were on a list. Still a little far fetched that they could just go talk to this guy but 🤷🏻‍♀️
**”the prisoner has to put you on a list” OH MY GODDDD SOMEONE FINALLY KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING!!

Why is Maura visiting Joe the Creep???

BRO I KNEW HE AINT DO IT!! I bet he was fucking covering for his sister (and Maura!!)
*id like to apologize to miss Grace bc I was susing her a lot when I really didn’t need too. Joe was literally just keeping her safe 😔

Is Ben apart of this somehow? Him and Gabe?? Because I keep getting some Billy and Stu from scream vibes RN
*also extending my apologies to Gabe but imma just be real. The evidence was convincing. Can’t believe I fell for the story myself.

BRO BEN WAS IN THE BATJROOM HE COULD HAVE SENT THE FUCKING TEXTS YO
*my sus of Ben came WAY TO LATE IN THE GAME 😭

“AND WHERE ARE WE FOING NOW??” BROOOOOOOO

“This is almost over”????? Whatchu mean my boi????

BRO SHE REALLY JUST SLEPT WITH HIM LIKE THAT.?? Bro??

BRO BRO BRO?? Had me fucking on LOCK !! I believed this motherfucker so much??? Bro? BRO???

I KNEW KT I KNEW IT I KNEW THE BUTCH DID IT!!! But to go after her own granddaughter m!??? BROO

Is this why Maura and her daughter where estranged??? Did mommy dearest figure it out too?

OH MY GOD??? SHE KILLED GRANDDAD TOO??? How many people DID she kill??

REAMA?!?!?!?!?

I think I'm a little obsessed with all these YA thrillers! They seem to have really made a resurgence this year. Or maybe I'm wrong and an idiot who hadn't noticed all of these before the good girls guide to murder series. This category is turning into my comfort category of books that I read in one sitting and can really do no wrong. Pretty Dead Queens is no exception to this rule. I'm excited to be writing this review for you guys!

Pretty Dead Queens is a YA thriller that came out on the 4th of October! It's been published by Random House and is 333 pages long. This is not Alexa Donne's first book, and most of you will know her as the author of The Ivies, which was out in May 2021.

Cecilia moves to live with her grandmother after her mom passes away. As a copycat killer strikes again, she has to find out who killed the homecoming queen this time and if the original killer caught was really the right one.

It took me under 2 hours to read Pretty Dead Queens. It's a fun read with a dead girl set in a small town. At least the small town is in California. I loved loved loved the references that the author made to another book that was set in a small town, which I can guarantee all of you have read, watched the movie of, or at least heard off. If you haven't, then I believe you live under a shockingly dense rock or are a child who has no business being on the internet.

It was exciting to see how poisonous people can be on the inside and how much people are willing to overlook when they're dead. Motives can also be strange; sometimes, you just need to watch how people look when they die.

To be fair, while I think the above was pretty spoilery, the twists in the book are so good. I suspected one of them, but really the last one, which was a tad over dramatic, was something I just couldn't see coming at all!

Oh my god that ENDING!!!

Okay, so I was enjoying Pretty Dead Queens. A very solid, interesting YA murder mystery with lots of small town secrets and a heroine grieving the death of her mother and adjusting to living with her grandmother who is a famous author of murder mysteries. Interesting characters, past and present murders of homecoming queens to solve, generally a good time and already something I would have rated pretty high.

But then the TWISTS at the end had me yelling at the book! And I mostly didn't expect them, but they were so good, and made sense! Sometimes you get a twist that comes out of left field which is annoying. This wasn't like that. The clues were seeded through it, but not in a way that made it super obvious. At least to me. I'm sure there's a seasoned mystery reader out there who saw things coming, but I was taken by surprise. Absolutely loved the way this wrapped up and found it so satisfying.

I also think this book makes really good use of technology, which isn't always done well! It feels naturally integrated, from cell phones to video surveillance and more. I always enjoy Alexa Donne's books, but this really feels like a step up in terms of complexity and weaving together narratives in a way that works. Loved it! Caveat that I am friends with Alexa, so I'm sure I'm more inclined to be positive, but I was genuinely a fan of this book. I received a copy for review via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

Although the premise was strong and the mystery intriguing, I got antsy and stopped liking the main character and then couldn’t finish this one. Too many improbable scenarios and I might be too old to keep up.

I'm a fan of Alexa Donne's writing, and Pretty Dead Queens did not disappoint. In this book we follow Cecelia, who just can't seem to escape the shroud of death. But while she can't do anything about her mom's death from cancer, she can solve a small-town murder mystery, with all the gusto that only a teenage wannabe detective can have. She's no Sherlock Holmes. She's not exceptionally brighter or cleverer than anyone around her. But that makes her one of the more relatable murder-solving teens out there. Cecelia feels her age and makes some of the dumb decisions that people make at her age, but it makes her very real. I also loved the way the mystery elements blended with an aspect of grief that also kept me engaged in the story. I will say, I wasn't completely surprised by the murderer reveal (then again, I probably read and watch too many mysteries/thrillers to be fully surprised as often). But I do think it was still a good and very dramatic reveal, and a good story overall.

All I can say is I love this book. I read it at the right time too because it's homecoming season, so perfect atmosphere for reading. If you like big plot twists in thillers I definitely recommend this book.
Spoiler section read with caution!!!
As I was reading I was thinking about the review I was going to write and how I love Ben and how adorable he is. Then I was like lol what if he's the killer and boom he was and now I can't be gushing about Ben cause he's a literal psychopath. 😢😢😭😭

Pretty Dead Queens had the potential to be an excellent murder mystery; however, I felt the build up to the plot was slow. I did not feel enough tension and or suspense existed until the end of the book when the big revealed occured. Parts of the story remained perdictable, but the reveal was great. I did not see that coming. Although, parts of the book were not for me I still had a fun time reading it.

Pretty Dead Queens is perfect for fans of Murder She Wrote and Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin.

I first found Alexa on YouTube when trying to find some advice on my own writing. Then I found her book The Ivies! And was a huge fan. This book is no different!

My favorite part was the character development! That was something that made the ivies such a strong read for me and I was happy to see that was no different with Pretty Dead Queens!

I’m going to sit with this a little longer (don’t want to give any spoilers) before I write a more in depth review!

I would def recommend this to fans of Karen M McManus and Diana Urban!

Two murders, both homecoming queens, but decades apart and eerily similar - both discovered in the school’s pool on homecoming night.

What I loved:
✨Dark academia - always a genre favorite for me but with strong Nancy Drew vibes as Cecelia (MC) plays detective to both the current murder and the decades-old murder.
✨Lots of suspects - literally everyone in town is a suspect! This town holds so many secrets, lies, blackmail, and cover-ups.
✨Plots twists - quite a few! I think a seasoned thriller read will foresee some of the twists because Donne offers breadcrumbs to the truth. But if you like to play Nancy Drew or Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury - RIP 💔), you'll enjoy the ride!
✨Grief plotline - most YA thrillers gloss over the effects of death, but here, grief is not an afterthought but is treated honestly and realistically as the characters experience tragedy.
✨Great HS representation - ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, social class

Who will like this?
✨Fans of Karen McManus, The Ivies (Alexa Donne’s debut novel), Nancy Drew Books, and Murder, She Wrote

A quick note regarding the reading format: I equally loved the audiobook and physical format. You can't go wrong with either, but you're in for a treat if you can pair them together. The book offers police reports and text strings, but Phoebe Strole superbly narrates the story! She emotionally captures the teenagers in Seaview - jocks, mean girls, nerds, supportive friends, and back-stabbing enemies. I literally could not stop listening.

This was a disappointing read for me. I had high hopes, especially given the premise of a murder mystery in a town with a famous murder mystery writer but Pretty Dead Queens just fell flat as a YA novel. The narrator's voice did not feel like a teen, either modern or in the past. She referenced things that didn't seem realistic for someone her age and then a page later mentions Kpop biases and other extremely on trend things that make the outdated references even more jarring. She was also extremely judgy of her new classmates despite only interacting with them for a few minutes and only changes her opinion after they are kind to her anyway. This was marketed as a thriller but the pace did not match up.

I am a thriller addict. I absolutely love the whodunnits and this book did not disappoint!

I liked the twist at the end and started to see it coming halfway through but then decided that it wasn’t going to happen. The way this author made me guess and then second guess myself so much that I ignored the rest of the signs was awesome!

This was a really well done YA thriller and it is perfect for the spooky season!

Thank you NetGalley and Crown for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.
I was pretty excited about this book. I really enjoyed THE IVIES last year, and it was one of my top reads of 2021. But PRETTY DEAD QUEENS just... didn't deliver for me.
There were definitely elements I liked. The story follows 17 year old Cecilia as she moves from LA to a small town where her grandmother is a bestselling thriller author and town legend. The town's messy past repeats itself when another homecoming queen dies 20 years after the first--and in the same way. So Cecilia throws herself headfirst into the investigation, determined to find out who the killer is.
But sadly, I really couldn't stand Cecilia. She annoyed me throughout the entire book and by the end, there wasn't a single character I actually liked. All seemed very shallow to me and I didn't care about any of them. I predicted the twists early in the book, including the identity of the killer, which took the fun out of the mystery. And even though the final twist turned out to be better than I expected, the execution was lackluster.
I still enjoyed Dunn's punchy writing style and vivid descriptions. Despite being annoyed by the main character, I was still able to get lost in the story during my lunch breaks, but this is definitely not a book I would read again.
I think some fans of YA thrillers will enjoy this, especially those who love the meddling amateur detective angle. I'm certain more readers will connect with Cecilia, but I just wasn't one of them.
3/5 stars.

This is a story about endings.

I enjoyed this generally, but really loved the concept that came up towards the end. I would love for the author to write that book! This is a good pick if you enjoy YA thrillers with a side Agatha Christie glam.

Thank you so much @prhaudio for the audiobook! & @netgalley, @randomhousechildrens for the eArc!

History, as it often does, repeats itself.

Cecelia moves, after her mother dies of cancer, to her mom’s hometown, where her grandmother Maeve is a literary God. Fifty years ago a murder happened, and Maeve sensationalized it into a book that launched her career. Now it’s happened again, another murder eerily the same. One murder put this town on the map, but a second is threatening to air all the town’s long buried secrets (and even quite a few fresh ones). The politics and the intimate connections of small towns really come into play. There’s much more going on in this seaside town than there looks like–small and sleepy towns are almost never really so.

Even after a few short week of moving here, chances are in a town this small that if Cecelia knows the victim then she also knows the murderer. Since her grandma writes mysteries, Cecelia feels she has a legacy to defend–solve the murder like her granmother’s sleuths and find out who killed her new friend.

This was an easy read to get absorbed in. The characters were easy to relate to. The themes of loneliness, dealing with death, and being an outsider are all addressed by the main character moving to a small town. When she’s close to another death-this time a murder, Cecelia decides to play sleuth and who can blame her? It’s something to relieve the mind from grief, and really, who wouldn’t want to try to solve it, especially when you’re in the middle of it?

I really enjoyed this book and I can say, though I guessed a thing or two, that the main crux of the story simply blew me away. It’s a book that will definitely leave you shocked.

This is a great YA mystery/thriller with a perfectly timed October debut! Just in time for the perfect Halloween season TREAT! Murder, a mansion, beauty queens, homecoming, and an amateur murder solving teen detective. All the ingredients for a chilling mystery read - just watch out for any tricks! Great addition to a HS classroom library shelf.