"Pretty Dead Girls" was an interesting YA thriller following Penelope (Pen/Penny) in the aftermath of a death of a frenemy, Gretchen. Soon, another frenemy, Alexis (Lex) turns up murdered also. The killer is targeting the Larks, a school organization composed of 5 seniors and 5 juniors- girls who seemingly organize social events for the school. The most popular girls are on the committee, and Penelope is president. Gretchen and Lex are both senior Larks- so which of the three remaining will be next? I won't say too much so as not to give it away.

All the main characters are typical mean girls, which sometimes makes it hard to like/empathize with them. They seem more consumed with their popularity than with the fact that people are dying, throwing an ill-advised party right after the second murder. Penelope, whose first person point-of-view we follow, is a little better, voting against the party and seemingly feeling a little bad about the murders, but she often felt self-absorbed. Soon, she is approached by Cass, an attractive but unpopular boy (his mother murdered his father which made him a social outcast), who has a theory about who is killing off the Larks.

Cass and Penelope team up to start investigating who is killing the Larks, though their investigation is extremely amateur and most of their time is spent on romance. That being said, the romance was done very well with some very steamy kisses. The investigation, not so much, as Penelope seems to fixate on one person as the culprit and Cass has a bunch of theories. This book ended up feeling more like a romance than a thriller, which can be good for some audiences, although it was not quite what I expected. There were some interspersed chapters from the point-of-view of the murderer, and these were really interesting- I would have liked to see even more of those, as those were the most thriller-feeling sections.

Overall, it was a solid YA romance with some light thriller elements. I found it to be a pretty fast read, as it does move very well/smoothly. Please note that I received an ARC from the publisher through netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I had read several romance books during the past week and felt it was time for something different and wanted a mystery novel and some murder. I picked up one before this and couldn't get into it and then I remembered that I had Monica Murphy's new one - Pretty Dead Girls. I had been looking forward to this book. Pretty Dead Girls starts off with one of the popular girls Gretchen meeting someone in secret and the encounter ends up with Gretchen dead. The next day, the school are alerted, and Penny who is the President of a society called The Larks made of the school's popular girls is questioned as Gretchen was one of the Larks. One down and four more to go as someone is killing off the Seniors in the group The Larks. At first, I thought that the killer was a guy and had one in mind, but then we have a chapter in the killer's perspective where she compared herself to Dexter by being a Female Dexter- bringing justice to all those who were ever bullied in school. Pretty Dead Girls is set in High School and is a YA novel. I have to admit when the killer was revealed, I had a little feeling of who it was, but Pretty Dead Girls is filled with twists and turns that keep you on your toes trying to decipher who is innocent and who is not. If you love mysteries and YA novels, then check out Pretty Dead Girls by Monica Murphy coming soon to a Kindle near you in January 2018.

I received this book from Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed this book! I liked Penelope so much. She's really relatable! Cass is every girl's dream. I was really surprised with who the killer turned out to be! I really enjoyed reading this and would recommend this to anyone that enjoyed pretty little liars!

Penelope Malone and her friends are among the most beautiful and popular girls at Cape Bonita high school. Penelope is also the president of the Larks, a student-led charity organization. When someone starts killing the most popular girls in school, all members of the Larks, Penelope can't help but think the killer might be someone close to her.
Cass Vincenti is a strange, quiet boy from Penelope's physics class with a dark history. When he approaches her about the murders she agrees to discuss what she knows. Penelope quickly finds herself drawn to this mysterious boy she barely knows. As they search for clues his past begins to link him with the dead girls, Penelope thinks he might just be the killer...

I really enjoyed this novel with all of the high school drama and Mean Girls/Jawbreaker vibes. It was an easy fun read with a murderer who seeks out the bitchiest meanest girls and teaches them a lesson. This novel does have some violence and some sexual situations so it may not be suitable for the younger end of the YA spectrum but I didn't feel that it was overly graphic in nature. This was a very entertaining mystery/thriller that I think is going to be a top read for 2018.

This YA thriller from Monica Murphy is going to slay the shelves!
I finished around midnight and decided to sleep before writing my review- because y'all deserve a well written review- not incoherent excited babble. Right?

So let's just preface this with the knowledge that this book takes place in a snooty town, at a private, uniform wearing high school. It wouldn't be the normal setting I'd choose to read about, but it was perfect for this story.

Monica did a fabulous job of giving you enough clues to have viable suspects, but never enough to be certain. I was so excited throughout this whole book that I was hardly able to put it down!!

Coming to you, 12/26/17, I highly suggest you put it on your calendar and pre-order it now!!

Pretty Dead Girls is a thrilling, young adult mystery.

Penelope suddenly finds herself in the midst of a murder mystery. As members of the Larks start dropping like flies, everyone has their guesses of whose killing all of these pretty girls.

Pretty Dead Girls was honestly great. The whole time I wasn’t sure who the killer was. At first, I thought it was one person, and then I thought, no that would be easy. Murphy had me on edge and guessing the whole time. It's a great YA Thriller that I feel anyone could jump into. It was thrilling and kept you guessing until the end.

And just like Penelope, I was also drawn to Cass. He was a bit of a mystery, but so very likable. I too loved how you got a glimpse of the killer, but it doesn’t give much away. Just enough to keep you on edge.

Overall, Five Boundless Stars

**Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of PRETTY DEAD GIRLS by Monica Murphy in exchange for my honest review**

The murders of Penelope’s friends, the popular, stuck-up girls from her prep school, have her scared she’s next. She teams up with Cass, an outcast with a bad reputation, to find the killer.

Told mostly from Penelope’s POV, with several chapters by the killer, Monica Murphy kept me guessing and changing my theories throughout PRETTY DEAD GIRLS. Penelope and her friends, or frienemies, are competitive, backbiting and often nasty. Their classmates fear, rather than respect them. I never quite understood the girls’ social, volunteer group called The Larks. Why would a service group limit itself to only ten members? Wouldn’t the school want as many girls doing good works as possible?

Aside from Penelope and Cass, the other characters weren’t fully fleshed out. The senior Larks were cookie cutter versions of each other as were the juniors of each other. Cass was the most interesting character and I would have liked to know more about him.

PRETTY DEAD GIRLS is fast paced and held my interest. I warmed up to Penelope, even at the points where I suspected her as a possible killer. The story took place over the span of less than a week, so insta-love couldn’t be avoided. Cass and Penelope were an unlikely couple, but somehow they worked for me.

I always give high ratings to books that are fun to read and PRETTY DEAD GIRLS kept me thoroughly entertained.

This may be a me thing because I try to avoid reading thrillers as much as possible because I get let down. I started reading them way back in elementary school. When junior high came along, I was all about Joan Lowery Nixon (her mystery stuff) and Lois Duncan books, freaking I Know What You Did Last Summer was my jam! But Monica Murphy tends to write well, so I wanted to test the waters out here. Her writing was good here, but I just felt the characters were bland, and the story was nothing new. I was hoping for more of a fun scream vibe or like Jennifer Armentrout’s The Dead List. I will say that Monica is one of the best at writing swoony, steamy scenes and there were some great ones here. I think if I hadn’t seen and read so many thriller/horror stuff, this would have been more of a home run for me.

Imagine a group of privileged girls—all of whom sort of conform to the rich, aloof, snooty and somewhat mean stereotype—suddenly being swamped by a mysterious but vengeful serial killer who throws their ordered but small world into chaos. In the midst of them is the head cheerleader and a quiet, mysterious boy who find themselves in the centre of the maelstrom as the noose tightens around them while they play amateur detectives.

There aren’t too many of these sort of YA-thriller, high-school-centric books that I’ve read (or the kind of movies that I’ve watched) and it takes an adjustment every time I read a book like ‘Pretty Dead Girls’. Jumping into a YA book can be hard at times, not least because it’s a throwback into the mean, teenage girl mindset—where everything is exaggerated, pulled apart and then reacted to in an over-the-top fashion—but also because it’s one which I have the hardest time connecting with as well.

This is sort of a step outside my usual reading habits, but I still did have a good time in a way as a distant spectator would with teenage shenanigans, alternating between cringing at the sensibilities of the self-absorbed and petty girls (and wondering if I was as bad as them or worse?) and trying to do the whodunnit game that I normally do with the adult mystery-thrillers I sometimes read. If anything, Monica Murphy gets those behavioural traits pat down and pitches the story perfectly for teens, though it’s honestly difficult to like the characters you want to yell at to grow up before you realise they’re acting exactly their ages…and can’t be expected to do anything differently.

However, there are some questions that don't seem to be satisfactorily answered, where secrets that you think are soul-destroying turn up to be mere storms in tea cups. Still, it was kind of a fun ride, given the unholy glee I felt when these girls had their comeuppance and almost wished the body count got higher just to up the thrill factor for my bloodthirsty and mean soul.