3.5 stars

This is a YA thriller set in New Orleans' traditional debutante scene, which sounds so fun I just had to pick it up. The Les Masques Ball is the event of the season, but has a darker legacy lately. Last year's queen turned up dead the day after the ball, and this year's queen is now missing. Three girls who aren't close but have secrets that overlap with the queen's team up to try to find her--dead or alive. They uncover more than they bargained for as they realize the roots of the traditional Southern organizations around them are actually super patriarchal and nefarious. 

This was a cool concept but I didn't find myself very invested in the characters themselves and kept having to check who's POV I was in because they sound pretty similar. There was a twist I didn't see coming but it wasn't my favorite resolution, so while I had fun reading parts of this and it was a unique setting, it wasn't a new favorite. I'd definitely recommend this to teens, though, as it's world does stand out from a lot of YA thrillers I read and it had some interesting and important commentary. Thanks to the publisher and the author for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

highly suspenseful and kept me on my toes the entire time, a really thrilling peek into the lives of the New Orleans elite through the lens of teenage debutantes who are just trying to survive the parental pressure to be perfect and successful, with a dead girl and a missing girl - the three debutantes left are forced to band together to protect themselves and help find the missing girl - it gives John Green's Paper Towns if Paper Towns were a thriller, in the best way

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a readers copy of this book. My reviews never contain spoilers and are freely given.

Set in the New Orleans debutante world, this YA mystery is enjoyable. A debutante queen is found dead, ruled a suicide. The following year the new Queen goes missing. Three friends of the missing girl decide to investigate the disappearance and make discoveries that will rock their entire community.

A book that any mystery fan will enjoy.

Thank you to Netgalley and Wednesday Books for the ARC! 💗
i didn’t expect to love this as much as i did, but WOW. it gave me pretty little liars vibes in the best way, and i was SO here for it. this book was exactly what i needed to get out of my reading slump. a fun, fast paced story with great characters. both the pacing and the ending were spot on, and the characters felt super well written and developed, which made me enjoy it even more. definitely recommend this one, and i’m already excited to read what olivia worley comes out with next.
thank you once again to Netgalley and Wednesday Books!!!

Ohhhhhh I REALLY liked this one.

Creepy secret societies, New Orleans setting, and teenage girls who aren't afraid of anything - SIGN ME UP! I really enjoyed this book, and loved reading it through the perspective of all 3 girls. I loved them all and could not put this book down!

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

"The Debutantes" by Olivia Worley is everything you want in a YA thriller.

You've got murder, secret societies, cattiness amongst characters, and blackmail to entice readers into the world of Mardi Gras.

For the elite of New Orleans, there is a famed debutante ball, the Les Masques Ball. When the true belle of the ball, Queen Lily, ends up missing, it is shockingly reminiscent of the prior year's tragedy, a dead debutante.

Now 3 debutantes must team up in search of their friend Lily before she is murdered too. In doing so, they uncover a seedy world within the debutante society that will leave readers surprised.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for gifting me this ARC. I enjoyed it and am looking forward to more books from Olivia Worley in the future.

This is for all fans of YA thrillers and Pretty Little Liars. I am a fan of both and I liked this one a lot. I love that it's set in New Orleans and is full of mystery surrounding debutantes in a semi secret society. This centers around a group of girls who are shocked to discover that one of their debutante Queens goes missing - one year after the previous Queen is found dead. The plot definitely thickens and doesn't stop until the end - and I loved the big reveal at the end.

Much like Pretty Little Liars all of the girls have their secrets but this takes it steps further by giving all of the characters in the book a reason to be part of the drama. Worley did a great job keeping track of everyone and giving us massive amounts of action and drama, all with a multi POV story.

I will say that the relationships between the characters never really developed enough for me. There was too much tension between them all for any true connection to begin. And I needed this to happen so that I would care what happens to all of them. But I did need to know where the missing debutante went so the action and mystery more than made up for the lack of connection.

But this was a fun read and I hope to read more of Worley in the future.

A solid YA thriller that I'm excited to recommend to my students. I really enjoyed the twists of this one and the multiple POVs.

The diverse viewpoints of each of the Maids were captivating, and their characters were exceptionally well-crafted. Their bonds of sisterhood, though initially fragile, grew into an enduring source of strength and empowerment for the women and girls involved. As a sophomore novel, this book is a resounding triumph, showcasing the author's exceptional skill and talent. It is captivating, thought-provoking, and fearlessly delves into the harsh realities of our world. I cannot recommend it highly enough! The diverse viewpoints of each of the Maids were captivating, and their characters were exceptionally well-crafted. Their bonds of sisterhood, though initially fragile, grew into an enduring source of strength and empowerment for the women and girls involved. As a sophomore novel, this book is a resounding triumph, showcasing the author's exceptional skill and talent. It is captivating, thought-provoking, and fearlessly delves into the harsh realities of our world. I cannot recommend it highly enough!

One year after the queen of New Orleans elite Les Masques Ball was found dead, this year's queen has gone missing. Following the interruption of the ball by a mysterious court jester, Lily LeBlanc sends odd messages to three friends to meet her, but she never shows up. Now, the other girls have banded together to discover the truth behind Lily's disappearance. The secrets they uncover about the creme de la creme of society in their city run deeper than they could have imagined and will put all their lives in danger.

The Debutantes by Olivia Worley fell flat for me. Set in New Orleans during the celebrations leading up to Mardi Gras, and described by some as a southern Gothic, this should have been an exciting and atmospheric read. Unfortunately, I didn't care for the characters, and the pacing was a bit slow. By the end of it, I really wasn't as concerned with the outcome as I was with just finishing the book, so I could move on to the next one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for providing a copy which I chose to objectively review.

Thanks, Wednesday Books, for the arc!

I become a bigger fan of Olivia Worley’s writing every book I read. PEOPLE TO FOLLOW was entertaining, but the mystery of THE DEBUTANTES had me unable to set the book down.

I was not a debutante or around that culture, so everything I know is from TV and books. Deb culture fascinates me, so reading a murder mystery set in that culture was fun.

Worley kept me intrigued with her cast of characters and their interactions. The book has excellent pacing, and I was constantly guessing—the end was a complete surprise!

Definitely recommend this book! I can’t wait to see what Worley does next!

Content warnings: murder, blood, sexual assault, misogyny, infidelity, adult/minor relationship, kidnapping, grief, gaslighting

This book is told from four POVs, all from first-person perspective. This ended up being a major issue, as the narrators are all young women, the same age, going to the same school, who have roughly the same background, who are all interconnected. Their voices were not unique or distinctive, and it was over halfway through the book before I didn’t have to flip back and try to remember who was who. Using third-person and making their voices a little more distinct would have gone a long way to helping this work.

One of my biggest dislikes with this work is how many times things felt unrealistic just to move the plot along. And I don’t mean in typical YA suspend your disbelief ways. These girls have been accepted to Sanford and other prestigious universities, they’re supposed to be the best in their classes. Yet there were many times when they jumped to some really silly conclusions that were obviously incorrect, but that the author needed to have happen to make some tension or thinly veiled misdirection. The plot-induced stupidity was painful and greatly detracted from my enjoyment.

If you just love YA thrillers and aren’t picky or don’t mind overused tropes (adults=bad, only teens can solve this, men are gross, etc.), then you may like this one. My thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for allowing me to read this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

When a debutante queen (Lily) goes missing a year after the previous queen (Margot) died under suspicious circumstances, April, Vivian, and Piper - three other debutantes who are not really friends but are connected to Lily or Margot in some way - come together to find out what has happened to Lily and maybe also Margot. They stumble upon a weird secret society tied to their Mardi Gras Krewe and realize that this society might have also had a hand in Margot's death.

Overall, I enjoyed this one. I found it quick-paced and easy to read. I do think the whodunit was a little obvious - although I will say there was a connection that I did not expect. There was also an additional "twist" (can it be called that if only one character really knows?) at the end that was fine - I wasn't expecting it but it didn't really add anything to it. Was this the best YA thriller I've ever read? No, but it was still really solid and overall enjoyable.

I received my copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this thriller set in New Orleans's elite district featuring three girls who are roped together to solve the connection between a missing girl and a dead girl. In their sleuthing, Piper, Vivian, and April discover a secret side underneath the elite men in their society that feeds off of sexism, racism, and discrimination. They infiltrate the top-secret gatherings to try and decipher what Lily wanted them to know before she went missing and how it ties back to Margot.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC, I really enjoyed this modern-day story set in a city with lots of rich history.

Okay this was actually a freaking amazing book. Why did I wait so long to read this? It’s giving pretty little liars, but make it Mardi Gras in New Orleans. If you love YA thrillers/mysteries, this one is definitely a hit! With twists and turns you won’t see coming and secrets that can’t stay buried. Such a great ride!

Every year, the New Orleans elite gather to crown the queen at the Les Masque Ball. Last year, the Queen died, this year she seems to have gone missing or simply run away. When three Maids get an ominous text from her, they come together to unmask their town’s debutante secrets.

THE DEBUTANTES by Olivia Worley is a wild, action-packed, culty YA thriller!

Pulling from her own experience growing up in the New Orleans’ deb culture, Olivia masterfully crafts a story full of tension, secrets, and some wealthy wealthy folks 🤑

I loved seeing the evolution of Vivian, Piper, and April’s friendships as they uncovered just who was being kept in whose pockets 👀

Definitely a story that will have you flipping pages!

Thanks to St. Martin’s Press, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thank you to Penguin Teen and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Thrillers are some of my favorite books, especially YA, so when I heard about The Debutantes I immediately knew I needed to read it. Thankfully Penguin Teen fulfilled my wish and boy was I glad. This was SO GOOD! From the beginning to the last page, I was hooked. Olivia truly pulls you in and doesn’t let you go. I was on the edge-of-my-seat the entire time. I also loved the Mardi Gras setting and how it expanded the world of these debutante balls.
I never went to those, but this book definitely didn’t want to make me start, even though I’m definitely too old. LOL. If you love thrillers, this is one you surely need on your list!

Unfortunately this was just not for me. It just didn't grasp my attention the way I wanted it to. I will try this one again as a published book.

Olivia Worley, you are incredible.

The Debutantes, is not something I would typically gravitate toward. I tend to avoid YA books. However, the cover alone had me do a double take and the FOMO set. in.

I am so happy I strayed from the path most traveled and picked up this banger.

I am a huge fan of Louisiana, so I was instantly enthralled. The character development along with the "who dun it" plot , left no room for error. The Debutantes was perfectly executed and I could not have asked for more.

Check out this teaser :

For the New Orleans elite, the Les Masques Ball is sure to be the social event of the season―if they can avoid another dead Queen. When debutante Margot Landry was found dead the morning after her reign at last year’s ball, it was a tragedy, but not a shocking one. Margot was a wild child with a self-destructive streak, nothing like this year’s Queen, Lily LeBlanc. With a perfectly poised debutante on the throne, everything is going according to plan…until the ball is hijacked by a mysterious figure in a Jester costume. That night, Lily sends a text to three of the Maids on her royal court―her best friend, Vivian; her boyfriend's sister, Piper; and April, her former frenemy―asking them all to meet the next morning. But Lily never shows up.

On the surface, these three debutantes don’t have anything in common except their exclusive private school and their ties to Les Masques. But soon, they realize why Lily brought them together: something dark is lurking beneath the glamorous surface of the debutante world, and it might be the reason she disappeared. And the further the girls dig, the more they begin to suspect that Margot's death may not have been an accident―and that Lily may be next. When the Jester starts threatening to expose their own secrets, this unlikely trio must team up to uncover the monsters behind the Mardi Gras masks―before they’re left with another dead debutante.

good mystery about a couple and staying in a house and the other couple there. kept me on my toes . good mystery and figuring stuff out.