Cecilia has just recently lost her mother to cancer. Going to love with her grandmother, the infamous Maura Weston, was not in her plans, but the only choice she has. Cecilia’s mother had a falling out with her mystery/thriller author mom and Cecilia has never really had a relationship with her. Cecilia is immediately taken in by the popular kids in the class. They start filling her in on the legacy that is her grandmother. The most famous book written by her was based on a true murder in their town. When the murder is repeated current day, Cecilia finds herself playing detective to get the root of the dead queens.

This was an entertaining read. It contained a couple pretty good twists and I was truly engaged and invested with with characters! I will definitely recommend to my customers that like a good thriller!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of Pretty Dead Queens by Alexa Donne. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children's for this ARC.

Pretty Dead Queens was an enjoyable YA mystery and kept me engaged into the late hours of the night. Cecelia was a great character, and I was happy to come along as she bulldozed her way through the murder investigation. The intricate mix of the first and current murders was well paced. And while I suspected who the killer was, it still kept me gripped until the very end. There were moments when I felt the story was a bit long, but the plot would speed up, and I would be pulled back into the narrative. I give Pretty Dead Queens a solid 4/5 stars.

* I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley. Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for this book. All thoughts are my own.

I wasn’t overly impressed by this book. There are plenty of other better thrillers/YA thrillers out there that I would recommend over this one. I found Cecelia to be annoying most of the time and her friends weren’t much better. Her relationship with Benn felt odd and unnecessary.I wouldn’t say the ending was super predictable but it also makes sense. Stories had to look very well to be somebody older.Most of the book was pretty boring and I felt like there were a lot of lulls. It was not as exciting as the description makes it seem. The writing needs some more editing and refinement. It’s a good plot but needs to be worked through a little more.

It took me a while to get into this but it's a solid ya mystery! I did find it kind of predictable but then again I read a lot of books like this so it's getting very hard to surprise me! I liked the grandmother as a mystery writer aspect, that did make this a bit more unique.

Pretty Dead Queens by Alexa Donne is a murder mystery that brings both emotion and intrigue to the table.
Things I loved about this book
-Loss and mourning themes (in particular the main character seems to be distracting herself from her grief by going deeper into the mystery at hand)
-Copycat Killer (in this small town setting there is an air of intense discomfort and suspicion as an unsolved murder from years ago seems to have been recreated in the modern era.)
-Believable and relatable character behavior (The teens cuss, the main character has to come to information and conclusions in a natural way.)
-The Grandmother our main character goes to live with is a writer and her recent story was inspired by the murder years ago.

My only sadness regarding the book at current is that it seems to be a standalone and while it serves as a wonderful standalone I am not ready to be done with these characters just yet.

Pretty Dead Queens Review - Early Reader Review
Thanks to Alexa Donne and her Publishing team for gifting me an early copy for review and promotion. While I was given a free copy of this book, my thoughts on it are my own, and are well deserved.

Overall Thoughts: Pretty Dead Queen is the perfect thriller to read this homecoming season, or for fall in general. The setting is picturesque and stunning, characters hide secrets in plain sight, and I couldn’t stop reading.

The author’s note at the star of the book, along with the forward, are just as stunning as the rest of the book—possibly more so as they give you the starting emotions for the rest of the book. Mourning and looking for answers. Donne does an amazing job setting the tone for the reader. She promises a fun romp, but also an emotional journey from someone who has lost their mother (both the author and main character) and is looking for a way to find purpose in something, to find a reason why a life was taken when it feels like it shouldn’t have.

Main character Cecelia is plunged into a new life after the death of her mother. She moves in with her grandmother in a beautiful mansion (very much jealous) and starts life anew as her mother rests six feet under. The opening of the book is perfect for an emotional, possibly moody teenager. Cecelia feels like death has lingered around her her whole life, taking the things she holds dear and causing her to possibly become emotionally distant from things. An outsider looking in at her own life and the happenings about it. It fits with the slightly gothic feeling of the book (genre gothic, not aesthetic gothic). Gothic novels are usually dreary and involve a curse, and I would say Cecelia feels like a curse to people around her. Our girl is numb to the world for a while.

She comes to live with her grandmother and that’s where things could possibly take an upturn for her. She technically moves up the social and economic ladder as the family member she lives with is quite well off, another great note in some gothic novels, an estranged family member that is loaded. Cecelia’s grandmother, Maura, is a novelist. She writes murder mysteries/thrillers—her first and most popular based on a murder that happened in Seaview (the setting for the book). Cecelia makes friends, attempts to put off mourning a bit, and stumbles across a dead homecoming queen just as the murder her grandmother wrote about all those years ago.

From there we follow Cecelia as she looks at the world she was plunged into (I repeat this line because the dead queens were found in a pool and plunge involves water and I think this is funny to keep saying) and tries to solve everyone’s problems to avoid her own.

Cecelia’s motivations for solving the murder are clear and make sense. As a reader I believe the reasons that drive her to uncover this murder. She isn’t doing it for kicks or because it would be fun, she’s really trying to understand what’s going on in the world around her—why the things in her life keep dying, and maybe even why lives feel like they were cut far too short. Cecelia may do this to avoid her own grieving process, but I think she acts out the stages of grief as she investigates this new murder. She’s a wonderful character. I don’t always agree with her actions but that’s because I’m an outsider looking at her, with a fully developed adult brain and a degree from Criminal Minds University.

Every suspect in this novel had me guessing and double-guessing myself. Reasons and motives were strong for every red herring, I came across, and came across again and again. Donne did a magnificent job setting up every little twist and turn to have us guessing and reading on and on to figure out who killed this Seaview Homecoming Queen. It’s a habit the town needs to shake.

Again, motives were strong all around, twists were well performed, and I had a blast reading this book.

Pacing-wise, the opening was a bit of a slow burn, I really liked this as it built up the tension in a believable way. I was tricked a few times, had some good laughs, and almost forgot that something horrible was going to happen—and when it did it came as a shock! I was shocked that someone was killed in a thriller—almost embarrassing but it’s such a good setup! We see Cecelia getting comfortable in her new life, avoiding death, both of her mother and the seeming curse around her, and we see her happy. And then it’s gone because good things don’t last for her. It hits her hard and thrusts her into solving this mystery as I talked about previously. The slow-burn start was a wonderful idea for this novel and worked so well. I can see how some people wouldn’t like it, they want action right away, but this setup was perfect for me. I really enjoyed savoring every tense moment waiting for a body to drop.

Moving on to other characters for a moment, our ragtag group of friends all have secrets and enemies they keep close. Each character felt unique without being too unique—one thing I’ve found in books recently is that in an effort to make sure no characters sound/feel the same an author makes characters have nothing in common with each other. No one does anything that really indicates them as a group or friends. We need some common ground to believe that a friend group would be friends, right? I think this friend group had it, and they had their reasons for doing the things they do. Not saying too much here because I don’t want to ensuite or say spoilers about things. Vague is fun. The characters were all unique without being so crazy different it hurt to keep up with. They felt real. Rich bratty kids. Love them—and Donne does a great job at writing them in her books (The Ivies and this one).

The setting itself is befitting a thriller, and the gothic vibes I’m picking up. Seaview is crumbling into the sea due to land erosion and other problems. The small, but rich town, is shrinking both in size, and people because it’s a thriller and ya know, murder. The setting lends itself to each character in different ways and it’s so cool to look back at the book as a whole and see the little pieces being put together. That’s my favorite part of a thriller, looking back or rereading and seeing all the tiny clues that we readers glance over. We see how a setting shapes a character—a truly difficult thing to accomplish in writing. This setting is perfect for the gothic fall thriller.

Looking at the ending of this book, I didn’t super guess the killer right. I had suspicions, and I was leaning in the right direction this time (I didn’t guess the killer in The Ivies). I was torn between a few options, but by the end I had kinda guessed it. Don’t look in the street-team chat for proof though, I’m showing zero evidence that I actually guessed it right! Donne does a great job of giving her killer's motivations—believable, twisted motivations. Those are the best kinds. The ones that if you went circling with your thoughts would make sense to you too. Simple answers. I love them so much because they’re unsettling! Not saying this about this book solidly because maybe it’s a spoiler, maybe it’s not, but we as humans want big things to have big reasons behind them. We don’t like when something big happens and it’s because of a small simple thing. It drives us mad! It reminds me of this ending. Oh, I loved it, and I hated it because it was so good! (Not actual hate, the joking type of hate!)

Again, Donne did an amazing job with this YA Thriller and I highly encourage everyone and anyone to pick it up for a delightful read this fall season, and any fall season!

Minor content warning: this is a thriller, expect death and language to be present throughout the novel.

"The new homecoming queen is dead...and she's not the first unsolved murder at Seaview High. From the critically acclaimed author of The Ivies comes a nonstop YA thriller about a decades-old mystery, a copycat killer, and the teen who will stop at nothing to uncover the truth.

After the death of her mom (screw cancer), seventeen-year-old Cecelia Ellis goes to live with her estranged grandmother, a celebrated author whose Victorian mansion is as creepy as the murder mysteries she writes. On the surface, life is utterly ordinary in the California coastal town...until the homecoming queen is murdered. And she's not Seaview’s first pretty dead queen.

With a copycat killer on the loose, Cecelia throws herself into the investigation, determined to crack the case like the heroines in her grandmother's books. But the more Cecelia digs into the town’s secrets, the more she worries that her own mystery might not have a storybook ending."

It's like Nancy Drew and V.C. Andrews and Jessica Fletcher had a baby!

Thrilling, that's all I have to say about this book. If your looking for a good thriller to read this October, look no further. Pretty Dead Queens had me on the edge of my seat, gripping my kindle, wondering what was going to come next! It is full of suspense, and if you like copycat killers you will love this read!

The main character’s mom recently passed away and now Cecilia is moving into her grandmother’s house. Her grandmother, Maura, happens to be a famous author and lives in a large home with four floors. Maura has brought fame to the town after writing a fictionalized book about the murder of a classmate that occurred during homecoming when she was in high school. Maura continues to write mysteries and her fandom holds yearly conventions in town. Cecilia makes friends and ends up on the sidelines of their drama. Then she finds the body of another homecoming murder victim and it’s eerily similar to the murder all those years ago. She throws herself into trying to discover the killer as a way to distract herself from losing her mother. She ends up in the middle of trouble and has to fight for her life. A fun mystery, 4 stars!

Language: R for 139 swears and 101 f-bombs
Violence: PG-13 for Bodies found in school swimming pool. Strangulation mentioned. Serial killer in community. Premeditated murder. Punching.
Mature content: PG-13 for sex mentioned, no details, drug use mentioned.
LGBT content: bi mentioned, lesbian mentioned
Likes/dislikes: The swearing was too much. The main character, Cecilia, is wishy washy with her new friends. She expects them to immediately divulge their secrets to her because she wants to know but she’s completely disregarding their rights to privacy and gets upset if they ask her questions about her life. I was enthralled by the two mysteries, past and present, and wanted Cecilia to expose the twisted actions of the townspeople.
Ethnicity: white, brown, Filipino, Black

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Children's for the e-ARC. This book just didn't do it for ME. I felt that I could just not get into it and the ending felt just abrupt and then just stopped. The story overall was good I just wished it was handled a little differently

I found myself really enjoying Pretty Dead Queens despite this being YA rather than the general adult/thriller novels that I usually read.

And part of that is because Alexa Donne seems to know how to write from the perspective of an actual teenager. These sound like real kids, not a television version, fictionalized hyper over the top weird version of a teen.

The actual mystery behind the motive of the murders was fantastic. I really, really hope this becomes a series for the smarter teens out there, looking for something deeper.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity.

Pretty Dead Queens is a young adult mystery and thriller about two small town homecoming queens murdered fifty years apart and the teenage girl who tries to solve both cases.

Cecelia is the new girl in town after losing her mother and being forced to move in with her estranged grandmother, Maura. Maura is famous for her whodunnit mysteries with her first book being a retelling of a local murder of a homecoming queen over fifty years prior. Cecelia is immediately immersed into a new friend group, local rivalries of families that have known each other for generations and exciting romantic prospects. But the night of the homecoming game Cecelia finds another homecoming queen dead in an eerily similar way and she takes it on herself to solve the murder. But she’ll have to dig through fifty years of rumors, allegations and secrets to find out who in this small town could have killed both girls before they come after her or one of her new friends next.

Pretty Dead Queens is the perfect addition to the recent line up of young adult mysteries. It has the smart but fish-out-of-water main character and her group of new friends (and potential love interests) that may or may not be suspects. These aren’t your squeaky clean teens that some writers come up with and there is some drinking, marijuana use, reference to sexual hook-ups on the page but they (for most part) feel like realistic young people. The adults are equally scandalous with public outbursts, affairs, shady deals and old secrets. This makes for a fast paced and soapy mystery that is rarely dull. Despite all the juicy twists and turns there is also a heartfelt backstory of a girl who lost her mother and is still grieving.

Overall, this is a young adult mystery that has some entertaining twists and thrills. It’s not the most realistic or gritty of novels but I especially enjoyed the final chapters. I’m hoping this isn’t the end of Cecelia’s adventures and that there will be future books about her and her crime solving.

Book Review

Title: Pretty Dead Queens by Alexa Donne

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery, Thriller

Rating: 3.5 Stars

The opening to Pretty Dead Queens wasn’t that interesting but it does introduced you to what I assume is the main cast of characters. We are introduced to Cecelia Ellis who is moving from LA to California to live with her grandmother, Maura after the death of her mother since her father isn’t in the picture. Initially we are just following Cecelia as she tries to settle into this new place and her new school, Seaview High while dealing with her grief. It doesn’t help that Maura is a famous mystery author and the star of the town, but she does immediately fall in with the popular crowd by accident after being helped by Bronte and learns that one of her grandmother’s books is based on a real murder that happened in the town back when Maura would have been attending the school and that was the death of the prom queen. This seems like it is going to deal with murders in the present day a bit like One of Us is Lying but with more Nancy Drew elements rather than blackmail.

As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, we continue to follow Cecelia as she tries to settle and fit into this new town. There are several other characters like Bronte, Ben and Gabriel who have all lost a parent so Cecelia doesn’t feel so isolated since there are others who understand what she is going through. Nothing has really happened at this point other than at Cecelia’s welcome party thrown by her grandmother where she ends up having a moment with Gabriel after the constant reminders of her mother become too much for her and he ends up giving her some advice on how to cope with that loss at little better and even advising therapy if she needs it. Gabriel is a love interest alongside Ben and while Cecelia seems more focused on Ben right now I prefer Gabriel. Ben comes off as a little self-centred since he did lose his mother and his grandfather is suing the mayor because of it causing some tension between the friend group but Cecelia doesn’t really care about this. Honestly, I am nearly 100 pages in and nothing but teenage drama has happened and I am being reminded of the reason I don’t read many young adults novels anymore but I am hoping it picks up soon.

As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, things finally begin to happen when a murder occurs and this one is a copycat almost the same as the murder in Maura’s book and the one that happened in real life over fifty years ago. The victim this time is Natalie, the Mayor’s daughter and Cecelia’s friend and Cecelia is the one that finds her body, and one thing that stood out to me during these scenes was how off the pacing was. One moment we have Natalie’s murder but we don’t linger on it or the aftermath at all we just jump right to the next day where Cecelia doesn’t seem affected at all and jumps straight into being Nancy Drew and wanting to solve the murder. I also feel the fight with Morgan before Natalie’s death makes her way too obvious to be the actual killer so there isn’t even any tension surrounding Morgan at the moment despite her being desperate to speak with Cecelia. Ben seems more like a potential killer for me since he had issues with Natalie’s family and she treated him quite badly any time they were seen together and since her murder took place in the halftime of a football game, Ben wouldn’t have been on the pitch as the mascot at the time but honestly it could have been anyone since Natalie doesn’t come across as a nice or likable person at all.

As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Cecelia is really stepping up to be a Nancy Drew but not in a good way since the pacing is off and everything seems way too convenient for there to be any real stakes involved. I just can’t believe that Cecelia accidently fell in with the most popular crowd who happening to be related to people like the Major and the Sheriff plus there are other who can get her access to information that they really shouldn’t all because she has known them for less than two weeks it just doesn’t make any sense to me. However, the dynamic between Gabriel, Ben and Cecelia makes sense since they have all lost a parent and it gives them something genuine to bond over but I still feel that Gabriel should be the main love interest since he just seems like the better choice for Cecelia than Ben. Cecelia is forming her own theories and suspects with the more information she collects but they are baseless right now since she doesn’t have any real evidence or any real skills or connections that she could use to her advantage like the others in the group. Going forward I am intrigued to find out who killed Natalie and why but the questions of whether or not I am going to like this book remained unanswered for now.

As we cross into the second half of the novel, Cecelia is learning more about the town and the murder of Caroline and how this events links back to the current murder and who could be responsible for it. Honestly, right now both Luke and Gabriel might be suspects since they weren’t in the locker room at halftime but Cecelia and Ben know the killer only had six minutes to kill Natalie and three of those were taken up by strangling her. I don’t think it is Gabriel since he has no reason to want to kill her and hasn’t shown any disturbing or out of character behaviour. While Luke has as he wasn’t willing to give the police his alibi originally even though this turned out to be hooking up with Morgan and he threatened Natalie in a text message the day she died but the motive isn’t clear at all right now but I also think that her father could be responsible since he has the motive and character for it. There are also several adults around town that seem shifty enough to commit murder but again it come down to motive and what reason they would have for targeting Natalie in particular other than she is the daughter of the Mayor and someone might want to get back at him.

As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, there are a lot of secrets about the town and its residents coming to light especially after Cecelia learns that Natalie was spying on her mother’s therapy patients and using that confidential information to blackmail a lot of them including Ben and Gabriel. Gabriel won’t tell Cecelia what he was doing for Natalie to blackmail him because he doesn’t know her well enough and I was relived that someone in this town has some sense. However, Cecelia is beginning to think that this might not be a copycat murder with some strange things happening but revenge for what happened to Joe, the man accused of the original murder. Grace, his sister, doesn’t believe he was responsible for killing Caroline even though everyone else does and from the evidence he looks extremely guilty. It seems like the author is keeping their options open for the ending like they weren’t sure how the book was going to end when they were writing it and it shows but I think I might end up enjoying it if the ending is satisfying without being cliché or rushed.

As we cross into the final section of the novel, everything seems to happen at once and while this was entertaining it didn’t really make for a satisfying ending. Honestly, I felt that if Alexa Donne used one of the red herrings as the actual killer the ending would have made a lot more sense than it actually did. I also felt there needed to be a lot more in the character development department since we didn’t care about most of the characters throughout the novel and the fact that Cecelia has known them less than a month also adds to this so it would have made more sense for the novel to span months and I think it could have benefitted from being a duology or series like A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder which had similar themes and tropes but executed them 100x better than Pretty Dead Queens did. Despite this it was still a fairly quick and entertaining reads with likable and cute characters like Gabriel who I desperately wanted to see more of especially in the immediately aftermath of the ending and seeing how his friendship and relationship with Cecelia developed.

I really enjoyed this thriller! I think it was really well set up, tension was present throughout the story and the resolution was tense and thrilling. Overall the characters were distinguishable but didn't fall into stereotypes too much. Overall a really fun read!

Cecilia has lost her mother. Now she’s going to live with her super rich grandmother, Maura, the one her mother cut out of their lives years ago. Everyone in town knows Maura. Not only because everyone knows everyone in this small town, but because she’s a very successful author who got her start writing about a famous murder in the area. But now, someone else has died, and Cecilia was first on the scene. Cecilia wants to get to the bottom of the murder, and in amateur sleuth fashion, this is how the story unfolds.

So, last year, I bought The Ivies, and sadly, it got lost in my TBR, but I’m definitely moving it up the list. I like Cecilia, she’s funny, and she relates well to others. She’s assertive and not afraid to speak up when needed. I like the friends she’s making. It can be tough to start over in a new town, especially a small town where everyone has known each other their whole lives. But people are embracing her, even though she’s stirring up a bit of trouble with her investigation. I like Bronte; she’s a fun character that brings a lot to the story.

Pretty Dead Queens is an inclusive mystery that keeps you guessing the whole way through. The girls are supportive of each other, which had my heart immediately. We need more of that in fiction. I loved it all, from the characters to the setting, to the unraveling of the mystery, this is a super fun read. Thank you, Random House Children’s, and TBR Tours, for sending this along!

This was fine for what it was - a high school murder mystery. I can't say I really cared about any of the characters, but I don't think that was the point of this story. It was just a story to tie one old crime story in the town to a modern one.

It was fine, held my attention, but not one I'll think about again.

A perfect read for the season, this quick and interesting read is such a fun whodunit thriller. I loved all the characters, the setting of a small California town filled with secrets and lies was *chef's kiss*. The main character is relatable, strong, and inquisitive. She is not willing to let anything go until she gets to the bottom of it. It's interesting how so many people within the book are hiding something, from each other & ultimately from themselves. What could drive someone to murder the homecoming queen? Who is doing it again?

Cecelia moves in with her grandmother who she's never really had a relationship with after her mother passes away. All she knows about her is that her mother didn't have a relationship with her and she's a mystery author. As Cecelia settles in and starts making friends she learns the town may have some secrets they want kept hidden.

After Cecelia witnesses the murder of her friend, and homecoming queen, things start to take a deadly turn. I liked Cecelia's character. She followed her gut feeling that the murder she witnessed was just too similar to the one the town experienced 50 years prior. As she puts the pieces together, with the help of some of the town locals, she discovers she may be next. I thought Alexa did a great job or portraying the suspense and uncertainty Cecelia felt as she uncovered each clue to what happened.

This was an intense YA thriller with an unexpected ending. I thought I knew who the killer was but the twist at the end was a total surprise. It definitely kicked off the spooky season and I recommend it to anyone looking for their next thrilling read!

homecoming queen is dead. Cecelia throws herself headfirst into the investigation, bringing her grandmother’s mysteries to life.

Small town, big mansion, and a mystery from the past coming to life in the present. This book is right up my alley. For fans of Karen McManus and the Good Girls’ Guide series comes another teen sleuth trying to solve a murder. But in this case, not only one murder - one from the present and the past.

It may just be me, but the names did get confusing (who’s the victim from the past vs the one from the book vs the present), it’s a little hard to keep track of. I think it was because of this that I was slowed down a bit and didn’t quite get through as fast as I thought I would. But the mystery had my interest piqued and I enjoyed the read as the pieces to the puzzle were put together. And like a good mystery, I truly did not see how it would all come together which makes it all the more enjoyable!

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House Children’s and TBRandBeyondTours for the eARC in exchange for an honest review! Full review to be posted on my IG @manis.and.manuscripts on Monday 10/10.

This was such a fun fall YA mystery! This book hooked me right from the beginning, starting with our main character Cecelia moving into her famous author/grandmother's creepy mansion in a small beach town - what could go wrong!!! The story follows the death of two homecoming queens in the town, over 50 years apart from each other, but dying in almost an identical manner- and leaves you with a laundry list of suspects throughout, basically questioning almost everyone at one point or another. Once you start suspecting everyone, this book was impossible for me to put down. While some twists were more predictable to me than others (this is a YA book after all and I am almost 28 LOL) it was still fun nonetheless. If you're feeling like reading something fun and easy for fall but also with small beach town and spooky high school homecoming vibes, I definitely recommend this book! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book !