This was a fun young adult murder mystery where two homecoming queens are murdered, 50 years apart, in almost the exact same way. With the original perpetrator in jail, is this a copycat murder or has the wrong person been punished all these years?

What I liked:
-The small town vibes. Everyone is under suspicion and they all have their own motives for murder.
-The main character, Cecilia. Although she’s the new girl in town, she makes friends with the popular kids easily. She’s also smart, capable, and headstrong.
-The dual investigations. Along with her murder mystery author grandmother, Maura, and love interest, Ben, Cecilia does her own amateur sleuthing on both murders. There are plenty of clues and red herrings that kept me guessing.
-The ending. I was definitely surprised by the motives for the killings and whodunnit, and there was a little twist that I wasn’t expecting.

While the mystery in this book was tied up nicely, there is potential for at least a sequel. I wouldn’t mind following along with Cecilia as she investigates the other crimes hinted at the end.

A small town murder? A famous author in that town? Secrets abound?

Cecelia Ellis arrives at Seaview to live with her estranged grandmother after her mom passes away from cancer. It's her senior year and even though Cecelia is nervous to fit in, she finds a group of friends fast. But on homecoming night, Cecelia finds one of those friends (who was potentially the Homecoming Queen) dead in the pool; just like another murder that happened 52 years before. Naturally Cecelia throws herself into her own investigation to distract from her grief.

I loved loved loved this book. Devoured it. You definitely gotta suspend disbelief in YA thrillers (imo) but that's what makes them fun. The twists and turns definitely got me. There were some parts where I just had a pit in my stomach because I knew something bad was going to happen. PRETTY DEAD QUEENS had me by the throat the entire time. I definitely got A GOOD GIRL'S GUIDE TO MURDER vibes in this book and I looooooved that book/series.

This book was seriously 🤌🏻 Go grab this one if you like high school mysteries!

Thank you to @netgalley for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review. PRETTY DEAD QUEENS is available now.

This is the perfect YA thriller, just in time for spooky season! Perfect for fans of Pretty Little Liars! Having lost her mother, MC Cecelia Ellis arrives at her grandmother’s Maura’s mansion. She remembers visiting the California coastal town, but along the way her mother had a falling out with Maura. Cecelia is navigating a new school, a sweet romance, and finds a group of friends each with parents of high society. Seaview High’s new homecoming Queen is murdered! There’s a copycat killer on the loose and Cecelia is determined to find out who & why!

Pretty Dead Queens was a fun ride! I always enjoy reading about two different mysteries that took place years apart and lead one person down the rabbit hole to solve them both.

THIS was just THAT.

The perfect read for this time of year as everyone has either just had or is about to have their Homecoming games and dances.

Meet Cecelia Ellis. New to this quaint little beach town in California, has a New York Times best-selling author for a grandma, lives in a beautiful Victorian McMansion…life couldn’t be better, right? Yeah, if only she weren’t sent to live with her estranged grandma due to her mother dying from cancer recently. As Cecelia says, “cancer sucks.”

Cecelia has vague memories of her infamous grandma, Maura Weston. She remembers visiting for her granddad’s funeral years ago and how that visit ended in a screaming match between her mom and grandma. And that was that. Cecelia never saw her grandma again and only knew she was still alive through the many novels Maura published in the years since.

So needless to say, Cecelia isn’t exactly thrilled to be living with her. She barely knows the woman. But then school starts and Cecelia is instantly welcomed with open arms into the popular group’s orbit. She meets Maura’s intern too, who’s delightfully cute, and there’s an obvious instant attraction from both sides. So, maybe life won’t be so bad in Seaview after all.

Through the days though, Cecelia learns more and more about Seaview’s dark history and the murder the town is most known for as homecoming closes in.

Fifty-two years ago, shortly after she was crowned homecoming queen, Caroline Quinn was found dead in the school pool and the cause of death was strangulation.

The “creepy” school janitor was fastidiously arrested and prosecuted. Some in town think he deserves to be where he is and stay where he’s been for the past fifty-two years. Others aren’t convinced that he’s the real perpetrator.

Unfortunately for Cecelia, history repeats itself, and she finds her homecoming playing out the exact same way. Someone she became acquainted with is found dead in an eerily similar manner to not only the murder of Caroline Quinn but the character in her grandma’s book that was based on Caroline’s death.

The kicker? Cecelia finds her friend’s body, just as her grandma found Caroline’s body all those years ago.

Now Cecelia has one and only one goal. Find out what the hell is happening in this town.

Who did it? A super-fan in town for the Maura Weston convention? Some town weirdo? A random passerby? Or, something even more sinister than anyone could have imagined?

It took me a bit to get into this story, but I am so glad I stuck it out! I will say, the first half of the book was boring in my opinion. Definitely a super slow burn.

But the second half had me hooked. I loved reading all of Cecelia’s adventures to get to the truth.

Cecelia gave me such a Stevie Bell vibe (if you don’t know who that is, you need to! Go read the Truly Devious series ASAP!)

Cecelia was witty and honest and a true badass for a seventeen-year-old girl. I also really appreciated how she took being the new kid with her head held high. As a new kid of many towns and schools myself, I know firsthand how rough that can be, especially in high school. But Cecelia rocked it. She wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself and she called it how she saw it.

Cecelia is the type of friend you want on your side. You can tell she believes in what’s right and will speak up for what’s wrong. She’s an advocate for women and she’d be the one to fight for changes when needed. One particular quote stuck out to me because it was truly wise thinking for such a young girl.

“What teen girl would tell their younger brother if they were being harassed? Or tell anyone at all? People tend to blame young, pretty girls for their harassment rather than the virile young men perpetrating it. The #MeToo movement has made a lot of difference, but it’s not magic.”

PRETTY DEAD QUEENS, ALEXA DONNE
Overall, this was a good book! Originally, I was going to rate this three stars because I thought I had the whole mystery solved from the start. Silly me. The major twist at the end gave this book its well-deserved four stars.

I hope with that open-ish ending that this may become a series. I’d love to read more of Cecelia’s amateur sleuthing adventures and mishaps! I also do like Alexa Donne’s work so I’ll be sure to read more from her in the future!

*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Crown Books/Random House, for providing this digital ARC with me in exchange for my honest opinion.

I received this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ARC provided by Penguin Teen, Random House Children's, and Crown Books.

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 is 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.

Pretty Dead Queens intrigued me with its premise and setting but ended up falling flat for me. While the amateur detective aspect is one that I love, the amount of characters and motives became a bit messy in this. The beginning of the book was so slow and seemingly meaningless that I just was not sure what to do with it. I knew the author was building up to something, but the relationships formed far too quickly even as Donne spent much longer than necessary on setting the scene. This book was just upsetting since it had such a fun and interesting concept but I found the book lacked the excitement the summary gave me when I read it.
Sadly this one just wasn't for me as I wasn't a huge fan of the characters and writing style, but I'll still be recommending to any friends who are in the mood for a fast paced thriller with an exciting setting!

Pretty Dead Queens by Alexa Donne📚

Pretty Dead Queens was a YA thriller that kept me guessing right till the end. It was full of heart racing twists and turns. I do like a small town thriller where everyone knows everyone. Gossip spreads like wildfire and the MC, Cecelia Ellis was the granddaughter of the local celebrity writer, Maura Weston. Upon her mother's passing, Cecelia moves into her grandmothers Victorian mansion.

Little does she know, she is going to be caught at the center of a murder investigation. Maura writes thrillers and mysteries and the first book she wrote was based on the real murder of homecoming Queen, Caroline Quinn, her friend. 20 years later, Cecilia discovers the body of the new Homecoming Queen of Seaview High in the same manner. Is there a copy cat killer on the lose?

While Cecelia makes friends fast and has them all helping with the investigation, she is also falling fast for her grandmother's intern and fellow classmate, Ben. But the killer doesn't want her to uncover the truth, will she survive this chase? Or will she die trying? The ending was amazing and it blew my mind. I would recommend to all YA thriller fans.

I absolutely love the premise of this book. And as a big fan of Murder She Wote, I also really loved the tribute and the repeating homecoming queen murders and the novels being tied in. Overall, I think this book delivers on a fun mystery with more than enough twists and turns for the average reader. Seasoned thriller fans might be a bit disappointed and the plotting at times felt a bit messy, but I did enjoy this book (as I have Alexa's other work) and had such a fun time going on this ride.

I knew from the second I read the synopsis that I would love this novel and I was not disappointed! The mysterious death of the the town's homecoming queen (and not the first) drew me in from the start and I had to keep reading to find out what happened! The book lead you in twists and turns and kept your head spinning as much as the characters in this novel.

There are layers upon layers to the mysteries in this novel and nothing is ever as it seems. Just when you (and the characters) feel like you figure it out the plot twists and takes you on a different turn! It's a truly captivating read!

Pretty Dead Queens is an enthralling thriller mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat from the very first page to the last. I'd recommend it to anyone who loves this genre and its an especially good time to read it this spooky holiday season!

Pretty Dead Queens by Alexa Donne is a young adult mystery thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat and keep you turning the pages. I’m a big fan of YA thriller mysteries! And this book is definitely a good fix for my craving!

This book pulled me in from the very first page and kept me there. I extremely enjoyed it. Cecelia is forced to move in with her estranged grandmother after her mother dies. Her grandmother, Maura, is a famous crime writer. She began her career in a small town called Seaview after the homecoming queen was killed while they were in high school, her first novel was an adaptation of the murder. Cecelia is convinced that there is more to the murder after another young woman was murdered just after she arrived in town. Nothing will be as she expected.

When the newly orphaned Cecelia Ellis moves in with her estranged grandmother, she realizes that her new town is obsessed with the death of a homecoming queen in the 1970s. Her grandmother even started a successful career as an author by writing a mystery based on the girl's tragic murder. Now another homecoming queen is dead, and the murder is almost identical to the first, and Cecelia is determined to find out what happened. But the list of suspects is long, and she begins to worry that what she finds may not be the perfect fictional mystery reveal that her grandmother writes. I love YA Mysteries, and this one is incredible! I couldn't put it down and had no idea what would happen next. Some of my suspicions were correct, but I could have never guessed the ending. I loved that there was an extra bookish element to the story, with Cecelia's grandmother's stories having a significant role in the plot. I also loved the main cast of characters and the teens gathering together to solve their friend's murder. This is a new favorite read, and I can't wait to read more by Alexa Donne!

I'm a big fan of book-themed thrillers (in this case, a murder copycatting a bestselling novel that was itself based on past real events), and I had high hopes for Pretty Dead Queens, especially having enjoyed Alexa Donne's earlier book, The Ivies. So I was a bit disappointed with this Murder, She Wrote tribute, which ended up feeling sloppily plotted, lacking in character development, and somewhat bloated on suspects and red herrings.

I don't mind having to hand wave a bit in the way of plot holes, leapt-to-conclusions, and conveniently timed coincidences...but I had to do an awful lot of such hand waving and glossing over for Pretty Dead Queens. Protagonist Cecelia's entire reasoning for getting into the investigation is specious and shifting, which I'd be relatively okay with (I get how amateur detecting works in fiction, after all) if she herself didn't keep bringing it up and trying to justify it. The love triangle, such as it was, absolutely did not land for me, and the supporting characters all blended together in my mind. This book is relatively predictable, but somehow also an absolute mess...and whether it's a fun mess or too messy to even be enjoyable might differ from reader to reader, but it skewed a little too far on the just plain messy side for me.

First, thank you NetGalley for the eARC. I am giving my honest opinion.

This book was AMAZING! It starts off slow but that was about building the story. After that the story was so fast paced. I was literally writing notes as I was going trying to figure out why everyone was so cagey. And that plot twist along with the amazing bang of an end, I just couldn’t! I feel like I’ll be thinking of this mystery for a while! This book is the best that I’ve read so far this year as far as mysteries go, I actually loved the story of a small town with secrets, a newcomer, Cecelia, comes in and is like wait this is some wild stuff let’s look into this more! The adventure of a full investigation of not one but two murders, even though there was a lot of characters, it was still easy to follow. It was like as soon as you trust someone and think you’ve figured it out, you are proven wrong and have to start over with someone else or some new clue.

The only criticisms are the writing, I understand trying to find other words to describe things, but it comes off as, I used a thesaurus. Also after find a term, reusing a lot, like “pregnant pause”. It was notably used a lot, unnecessarily. However this was a great story and I have no other complaints!

I absolutely love a good YA Thriller, and the synopsis for this one sucked me right in!

Cecelia Ellis feels like death is following her. And after her mom dies suddenly, she is sent to live with her estranged grandmother, a famous murder mystery author, who lives in a creepy Victorian mansion in a small California coastal town. At first, things seem totally normal, but then the Homecoming queen is murdered, and Cecelia discovers there was another dead homecoming queen over 20 years ago. With a potential copycat killer, Cecilia begins investigating, hoping to be like one of the heroines her grandma writes about.

I really enjoyed this story! The characters had a lot of depth, and the setting was great! The author did a phenomenal job of describing everything in a way that made it so easy to visualize.

This gave such cozy mystery vibes. Cecelia and her new friends playing amateur detectives did have a lot of fun moments, but there were pretty high stakes throughout the whole story. I did predict the killer and the biggest twist, but I still enjoyed the lead up and watching all of the clues come together!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

Pub date: October 4, 2022

This book felt long winded and I didn't care about anything that was happening. I didn't like any of the characters, most of them were just bullies and the main character was boring.

THE IVIES by Alexa Donne is one of my all-time fave YA thrillers. I was beyond thrilled to get my hands on her next one!


My thoughts⬇️

Alexa Donne is a YA thriller genius. She delivered another riveting story that packs a punch.

👑 Homecoming mystery, copycat killer
🔍 I love teenage detective stories — read if you like A GOOD GIRL’S GUIDE TO MURDER
❤️ Family dynamics
🏡 Small town setting. Everyone in Cecelia’s friend group has a family member connected to the town: a mayor, therapist, cop, etc
😯 Shocking twists
🩸 Many possible suspects

With all of the characters, it took me a little bit to get the hang of who everyone was and who they were related to. But I really loved the small town setting and I was constantly left guessing. Another YA thriller to add to my collection 💗

Did Alexa Donne just become my new favorite YA thriller author? Yes, yes I think she did!

After the recent death of her Mom, Cecelia moved to live with her estranged Grandma who is a famous thriller writer. In this new small town, she befriended the "it" group of Seaview High. A shocking thing happened when Cecelia found one of her new friends floating dead in the school pool. What was even more strange was the scene was just the same as what happened 52 years ago.

I like that the characters were portrayed as believable as YA thriller can get. It had teen drama (obviously), but the flow in my opinion was great! I like the dynamic between all of the characters, like yes they had problems with one another but not over the top. It was just like real high-school life.

I love Cecilia the main character. How she was determined to find out who the killer is with the help of her friends and her new boyfriend, Ben. There was also a little love triangle here. I am honestly not into a love triangle but this one I like! There was a reason for it though, so you have to read it to find out.

Alexa really did great building up the mystery! I was so into it and I made my own speculations and such. I love when authors leave some bread crumbs in subtle ways, so at the end when it is revealed who the culprit is you'd realize all the clues were there from the beginning but you just didn't pay really attention to it. I love that feeling! I did predict the first twist but did not expect the second one. Totally mindblowing!!!

the ending disappointed me a bit.

at least i was never 100% certain abt who the murderers were, but it's mainly because i was like 'it CANT be them... it'd be too obvious' and yet it was them!!!

but other than that and aside from the cringy moments, this was a good YA thriller in my opinion.

thank you to penguin random house for this physical copy!!!!

After reading THE IVIES, a previously published book by this author, I had high hopes about where Alexa Donne was going to take us thriller-wise. This book did not disappoint, the atmosphere was great and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this one during the cooler weather. I'm also just such a big fan of teen sleuths who investigate murder(s) happening in their town. The setup was great and this is the perfect read to start the spooky season with! Definitely make sure to check it out!

As they say, we all deal with grief in our own way, and for our main character Cecelia her way is by investigating murders in her new hometown.

This book has two murders at the center of the plot. One that took place 50 years ago and one that happens in the present-day. I will say the present murder didn't intrigue me as much as the past one, but a big part of that could be because I had an idea from the beginning about whodunnit, so that took the fun out of figuring it out as the story progressed. That being said, the people of our little seaside town were not without their many secrets, and I enjoyed finding out what everybody was hiding.

One thing that was a tad difficult for me was that I wasn't such a huge fan of Cecelia; I just didn't vibe with her. It felt like her personality would change every other page, and I know she was going through a lot, but she just felt inconsistent, so it was hard for me to connect with her. I think what also didn't help was that the main story took place in a really short time frame, like three weeks to a month tops, and Cecelia had all these big feelings/opinions/expectations of these people she just met. The way she acted sometimes, you would think she’s known them and lived in this town for years. It got a tad annoying at times. I did, however, like quite a few of the supporting characters, so that helped.

Overall, I liked this book. The mysteries were enjoyable, if not kind of predictable. Like most murder mysteries I've read, the last 15% was when everything hit the fan, and it was wonderfully chaotic and really the highlight of the story for me.

3.5 stars