The Debutantes by Olivia Worley

This was a solid YA mystery with great atmosphere and a strong New Orleans setting. I liked the overall idea—southern debutante drama mixed with secrets and a masked figure keeping tabs on everyone. It moves quickly and keeps you interested, but the characters didn’t always stand out, and some of the deeper topics felt like they were just touched on without much follow-through. Still, it was entertaining and had some fun twists along the way.

The story takes place during Mardi Gras in New Orleans and follows three debutantes—April, Piper, and Vivian—after their queen disappears during one of the biggest balls of the season. Not long after, a mysterious figure called the Jester starts sending threatening messages, and the girls find themselves pulled into a web of secrets tied to an old death, a powerful social club, and the Krewe parades. They try to figure out the truth while dealing with their own personal issues and the pressure of keeping up appearances.

Read this if you like:
• YA thrillers with a Pretty Little Liars feel
• A New Orleans setting with parades, secret societies, and old money
• Multiple POVs
• A masked figure, missing girls, and layered secrets
• Themes around privilege, race, class, family legacy and reputation

MY RATING 3 out of 5

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House / Wednesday Books for the eARC out October 29 2024.

A fantastic read! I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end, and couldn't put it down. I highly recommend picking this up for a fun quick thrilling read!

The tension between adhering to long-standing traditions and embracing modernity unfolds throughout the story. Characters challenge outdated beliefs as they seek more progressive paths.

A very good YA thriller. So many twists and turns along the way that will keep you guessing right up until the very last page.

This honestly was very fun. Plus I love New Orleans and Mardis Gras! Very fun YA thriller if you're into whodunit stories!

This was Pretty Little Liars as if it were set in the south. I enjoyed the thrill of this, and while I felt these comparisons throughout, there was still a uniqueness and embracing of the southern expereince that differentiated this book from PLL. The characters were flawed, and perfectly so. It dealt with some real issues that are often overlooked in the south. Overall this was a fun thriller to distract me.

Another YA murder thriller my teen (and some adult) patrons will like. I love the New Orleans setting. It gives it a little bit of a Gothic vibe. Give me a tv show on any streaming service please and thank you.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher!
What a fun, thrilling read, with an authentic New Orleans feel. Loved the secret society angle, loved the unlikely friendships-loved this book!

There are a lot of characters, so the first part of the book is trying to figure out who is who and remember them. Once you get through that part, it sucks you in and keeps your interest with twists. As this is a YA, I would say when I was a teen, this book would be perfect!! As an adult, it lacked slightly BUT still kept my interest enough.

The Debutantes is a dramatic and tense YA Thriller, with plenty to keep the Reader on their toes.

I loved the New Orleans setting and the immersion into Debutante culture. It was fascinating and steeped in mystery. I loved the vibes from start to finish.

This is the first that I have read from Olivia Worley, but from this, I can tell that I will be picking up more of her work. Enjoyed it.

A highly addictive read with characters you can't help but root for, even if you don't like them much.

The Debutantes was a miss for me, and I am sad about it. I was drawn to this book for the cover and its comparisons to The Agathas, which I loved. However, it features one of my most hated tropes - rich people behaving badly. I usually dislike the trope because I never find these characters interesting. They are often caricatures and one-dimensional, resulting in me not caring about them. It was even hard to tell the POVs apart. It failed to elicit any emotion in me. By the end, I was just glad it was over. Also, I am disappointed that New Orleans was used so sparingly. What an amazing location, and I felt like it was squandered.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and Wednesday Book for a gifted copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was an interesting thriller and I enjoyed the Mardi Gras theme. I found the POVs to be a smidge confusing given that there were so many and several of the characters were entangled with each other. It took about half of the book to really know who was who.

Points to the author for making a twist that I didn’t entirely guess as well. I had figured out some of it but not all.

I’d read more books by this author.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book so much that I read it in one sitting. I loved the storyline and thought the characters had great growth. I could not put this book down, I had to know what was going to happen. I would definitely recommend this book..

4.25 stars — a fun mystery/thriller with lovable characters, clear world building, and satisfying twists

This was such an entertaining quick read that had me spending all of my free time reading it! I absolutely love how this mystery unfolded and that it dives into important social topics, which would be excellent discussion points for book clubs that read this. I highly recommend this to everyone, especially fans of Pretty Little Liars.

I already want to reread this! Mostly because I enjoyed it so much and partly because there are a lot of moving parts to this plot, which are sometimes difficult to keep track of. Thankfully, there are also several times that the characters have to catch each other up on events that occurred or information they discovered, so it's almost like a recap for the reader as well.

The chapters alternate POVs between the debutantes AKA the Queen & the Maids, which allows the reader to piece the clues together along with the main characters. Although the ending is somewhat unrealistic, it's still entertaining and it ultimately makes the reader reflect on issues like friendship, family, racism, and sexism — all of which play a role in the traditions we follow in real life.

There's something irresistible about a juicy YA thriller. Teens are going to devour this. Fun, fast moving, and grounded in the reality of day to say high school life. Really enjoyed.

Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. I tried multiple times to get into it and it just didn’t work for me. I felt the cover was brilliantly done.

Thank you to NetGalley, Olivia Worley, and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC of The Debutantes!

This book was such a fun ride—dark, dramatic, and full of bite. Olivia Worley has a way of pulling you into the glitzy world of reality TV and then peeling back the layers to show what’s really underneath. The Debutantes brings together a cast of complicated characters and traps them in a high-stakes game that’s just as much about survival as it is about secrets.

I loved the balance of scandal and suspense. It felt like a mix of Pretty Little Liars and The Bachelor, with a sharp, timely commentary on fame, power, and what happens when you strip away the filters. The pacing kept me hooked from the start, and every twist landed just right.

Definitely one to keep an eye out for if you’re into thrillers with a social edge. I’ll be recommending this one for sure!

I enjoy YA Mysteries and wanted to love this, but I struggled to get through it. There were several Pov's that I found myself getting confused on who was speaking, and building of the story was a bit slow in the beginning. Good concept, but it couldn't really get into it.

Any NOLA-set book has my interest immediately and this is no different. The Debutantes delves into the mysterious world of Krewes and the underside of that world.

The story slightly dragged but the payoff was strong enough to warrant it. I would give this a solid middle of the road 3/5!