Agatha Christie meets Gossip Girl in this new YA thriller. It’s a roller coaster ride of a book! You constantly think you know who the culprit is, only to be thrown for a loop when new evidence comes to light! And that ending…!

The morning after I finished reading this (I read in bed with my Kindle Paperwhite), my husband goes "so you really liked that book huh? I said yeah why do you say that? And he proceeds to imitate me with my eyes wide open, my eyes feverishly scanning the words on the page, covering my o-shaped mouth, giggling, among other things.
Needless to say, I enjoyed this book.
It was kind of predictable but it had me going back and forth and WANTING to get to bed to read the rest.
All in all, a good time.

Think A Good Girls Guide to Murder meets Pretty Little Liars. 52 years ago, the homecoming Queen is found murdered the night of the dance. Present day, Cecelia is back in town living with her famous grandmother following the death of her own mother. And history is repeating itself with a copycat killer on the loose!
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I thought I originally had the twist figured out but like a good mystery/thriller, I kept changing my mind as new information would be revealed!
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I loved the writing and the connected with the characters right away. I ended up getting half of the twist right so I’ll call that a win 😅 fantastic book that I will be ordering once it is released in October!
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🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5

After her mother dies of cancer, Cecilia moves in with her famous author grandma. Maura (her grandma) writes mystery thrillers with her most famous book being about real life events that happened in this very town. It follows the death of the Homecoming Queen.
When the night the homecoming football game she stumbles across the body of one of her new friends, and the scene eeirily reminds her of her grandmas book.. Well the movie based on the book anyways, the only book of Maura's she read all the way through is the one with the boat. Which definitely puts her in the minority of the rest of the town, most of its residents being very obsessed with Mauras books, so much that they actually have a Convention all about her.

For whatever reason this death has sparked an obession in Celia, and she recruites her other friends, and her maybe possible boyfriend in uncovering everything.She is convinced that this murder is a copycat of the one in her grandmothers book so Celia digs deep, into the current case, and the one from the past. of course she is constantly warned off by the sheriff, but Maura seems weirdly delighted that Celia is digging into this murder, and helps out where she can.

The first few pages were quite interesting, but ended up being pretty slow going, at least until about the 30% mark when the body is discovered. Then its nonstop questions, and digging, and maybe just a smidge of breaking an entering, until the last page. There was alot more going on then we realize, there was so much to investigate, and I really enjoyed trying to figure out what was going on.

I will definitely be reading more by this author!

Cecilia is sent to live in Seaview with her estranged grandmother after her mom dies. Her grandmother Maura is famous for writing mystery/thriller novels, some of which are loosely based on real events. Maura's most popular novel is based on the death of a homecoming queen that she grew up with.

Cecilia is starting at a new school in her senior year and luckily meets a group of friends right off the bat. It probably helps that everyone in town is obsessed with Maura. One of Cecilia's new friends is murdered in an eerily similar way to the crime from Maura's novel about the homecoming queen. Cecilia throws herself into investigating who could have done this unthinkable act and wonders if there's a copycat murderer haunting the town.

This gave me Scream vibes! I really loved it and highly recommend. I don't typically read a ton of YA novels, but this one didn't feel too young. I think a wide range of ages will be a fitting audience. It definitely kept me guessing and I didn't see that ending coming!

Thank you to Alexa Donne, Random House Children's, and NetGalley for the advanced e-copy in exchange of my honest review.

This was a very fun YA murder mystery from Alexa Donne! When Cecelia’s mother dies she’s forced to move in with her super famous mystery writing grandma. Maura Weston based her first book on the murder of a homecoming queen in their small town. Now, years later another very similar death has occurred. Cecelia is determined to figure out if it’s a copycat… or if the original killer is back again.

I really enjoyed the overall atmosphere of this book. The house that Cecelia moves into has so much character, and the crumbling seaside town adds a lot to the story. It was interesting seeing what bits of town history Maura worked into her books. Seeing her fans and how her novels potentially played into the present day mystery was also a fun addition to the plot.

However, I do think that this book took a bit too long to get started with the mystery plot. It’s almost 30% into the book before the murder takes place. There is a lot of setup that happens with introducing Cecelia’s new friends and all of their parents. That was a little bit confusing because there were so many characters. I had to write down whose parents did what so I wasn’t getting lost. Also, I did accurately predict a couple of the big reveals. There were still plenty of things that were surprising, but it wasn’t wall to wall jaw-dropping moments for me.

Overall I had a great time with this book. The reasons for why a bunch of teens are trying to solve the mystery made sense. And they had connections which gave them reasonable access to information that would normally be off limits. I definitely recommend this book for people who enjoy YA murder mysteries.

This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fun, YA, small town mystery that was a quick read. This kept me intrigued and entertained throughout. Unfortunately I was able to guess the killer from the beginning. I was holding out hope I was wrong and would have a mind blowing twist but was somewhat let down. That being said, I would still recommend to anyone looking for a YA mystery/thriller!

Wow, this was quite the ride. Though, I didn't expect any less from Alexa Donne. She is quickly becoming one of my go to authors for YA thrillers and I am excited to see what she works on next. This book was amazing. The characters were well developed and the pacing was great. I didn't think it was too slow in any spots, which often happens in YA thrillers. I did guess some, but not all.

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!

For those of you who think this will be a good quick read to take with you to the pool, beach, or on errands please rethink your decision if you are prone to verbal outbursts while reading. This book had me audibly gasping in an IKEA today and actually face palming on one occasion. I kept second guessing myself with each chapter and was left very satisfied with the ending. A perfect book for killing a reading slump.

This was really enjoyable for me for a YA thriller.

I did find that it dragged on at times, but perhaps for the YA audience this would be ideal? Otherwise I liked the Who Dun It aspect and the fact that everyone was a suspect throughout the book.

I received an advanced copy of this book through NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I've previously read one of Donne's books, The Ivies, so I was happy to get approved for the ARC. Pretty Dead Queens wastes no time getting started with introducing us to homecoming Queens.

The first part of the book lays the groundwork and background, Cecelia's mother just died of cancer and is sent to live with her estranged rich mystery author Maura Weston. She has to start a new high school senior year, just as Homecoming week is about to begin. The town of Seaview CA is known for the murder of its homecoming queen in 1970. Caroline was crowned Queen and then found drowned in the school swimming pool, face down. Maura wrote her 1st mystery book about it, changing a few details, which got turned into a movie and launched her career. For whatever reason, Cecelia's mother was estranged from the grandmother for years. And she gets to go to the high school where her mother's peers had kids her age. Cecelia quickly makes friends with Bronte and Amber and their friends, Morgan, Natalie, Luke and whomever else I might be forgetting. She also meets Ben, an intern for her grandmother who goes to school with them but had a falling out with the town.

Then Natalie, the homecoming queen to be takes Cecelia under her wing. She seems spoiled and not a loyal friend. Natalie is found dead by Cecelia in the same manner as Caroline, 5 decades earlier, but before the Homecoming Game is over at half time. Either because Cecelia just lost her mother, or because she found Natalie, she takes on trying to solve the mystery with her new friends. How are the two murders connected and did the person who plead guilty for Caroline's murder actually do it? She digs really far, alienating the town folk when she reveals a few secrets that were discovered in her amateur investigation. Even her mother was called a Nancy Drew, so it must run in the family. Sometimes I thought she would get caught as she was a little sloppy.

The reason it's not 5 stars is the ending. It's always the people you least suspect... it just kind of fell apart for me in a couple ways. So I want to say I loved it but I was relieved to be finished with it because of the ending and abrupt wrap up following the reveal. It slightly edged up over 3 stars to round up to a 4 star rating but I'll be curious to know what people think when the book comes out October 4th.
TW for dead parents, inappropriate grooming/adult teen relationship, and well, you know murder.

Seventeen-year-old Cecelia ends up living with her famous mystery writer grandmother Maura after the death of her mother. The seaside town had a whole Veronica Mars vibe going for it. The teens at the local high school also had their own group of Mean Girls. The real mystery happens when one of the girls dies the exact same way as Maura's first mystery novel which was based on the real story of a Homecoming queen's death.

What worked: Fast-paced murder mystery with a dash of Mean Girls. There's lots of action throughout with twists and turns plus a shout-out to Murder She Wrote.

Great pacing with more than a few red herrings thrown at readers. The trail to the actual killer is filled with references to the real 1970 murder and to some very shady locals.

Murder She Wrote YA style with a cast of high school characters solving their own murder mystery.

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for this Arc!!

This was a really fun ya murder mystery that is perfect for some Fall reading.

Cecelia has to move in with her grandmother in a small seaside town after her mother dies. She barely starts school before it's homecoming and finds one of the girls running for homecoming queen dead in the school pool. This rockets Cecelia forward into an obsession with finding the murderer. Among lots of twists and turns and a little romance, this story pulled me along quickly and kept me entertained.

Definitely recommend to fans of ya murder mystery looking for a fun read!

Out October 4, 2022!

Content warning for murder, grief, violence.

This book had such a fun and interesting concept but I found it lacked the excitement the summary gave me when I read it. Cecelia is described to us as a strong willed and stubborn girl. We see this in her drive to investigate the murder but not in her social life. Natalie is clearly a mean girl and treats her friends like toys yet Cecelia just goes along with it even though she's aware of how Natalie is treating her. Cecelia was also constantly drooling/swooning over any little thing Gabe or Ben did. Anything they did made her blush. She and Ben went from 0 to 60 so quick.

SPOILERS



She's fully Ben's girlfriend and sleeps with him but we find out Ben is the killer. Then over that's all resolved we find out she's now dating Gabe??? Like that's traumatizing to date and be intimate then have him try and kill you! Why would you immediately date someone after? The "love triangle' was barely there because Ben was always there and we got so few scenes with Gabe. Also the double reveal could have been so cool and shocking but it was so clear that A.) there was another killer B.) it's someone older C.) that it's clearly grandma. We barely spend time with grandma so there's no emotional attachment to this betrayal. It was an okay murder mystery but it took too long to get to the action and the writing of teenage characters felt like someone older was trying to remember how to be a teen.

Pretty Dead Queens by Alexa Donne has a slow start but kicks into action about half way in.

Pretty Dead Queens features our MC Cecelia as she is moving in with her estranged grandmother who happens to be a pretty popular thriller/mystery writer. The story sets off with a fellow high school student being found murdered in the same way as a former homecoming queen. Cecelia sleuths around to find the murderer with the help of some friends.

I have discovered that maybe I am not much of a YA thriller reader. I found the writing of this novel perfectly fine. Alexa does a good job of describing the town and has a good teenager voice. For me I found the first 50% or so of the novel relatively boring with too many characters to keep straight and not enough actually happening. The ending itself did not come as much of a shock for me and I had already figured out the twist (although that could be because I have been watching far too many episodes of Bones as I work lately).

I don't have much to compare this against but I believe if you enjoy YA thrillers this would be a good fit.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing and eArc for this novel.

Cecelia Ellis has lost her mom to cancer and now finds herself living with her estranged grandmother who happens to be Maura Weston, famous and bestselling mystery author.

Cecelia has only read one of her grandmother's books, "the one on the boat," but it doesn't take long for her to learn that Maura's first mystery is a retelling of an actual murder that happened in town. Homecoming Queen Caroline was found floating in the school pool shortly after winning her crown. The book was a bestseller, a movie was shot about the story in town, Maura's fans make pilgrimages to see all the sights, and there is an annual MauraCon where her devoted fans come to congregate.

Even though Cecelia is accosted by fans who want to know all about her famous grandmother, her main goal is making a place for herself at the local school, finishing high school, and getting out of town. Cecelia quickly makes friends who are all life-long residents. Even though she doesn't know all the in jokes or the relationships, she's enjoying her new friends.

But when Natalie, who is a shoo-in for this year's Homecoming Queen, is also found dead and floating in the school's swimming pool, Cecelia feels drawn to investigate. At first, the investigation is a way for her to fill up her mind to cover up her grief for the loss of her mother. But soon, it is the puzzle of it and all the things she learns that keep her going. There are so many parallels with the murder 52 years earlier that Cecelia begins to suspect that the man convicted of the crime might really be innocent.

Naturally, there is a love interest or two. Ben is her grandmother's writing intern. He's a guy who was once in the in-crowd but a problem with Natalie caused his ouster. He has also recently lost his mother when part of their house fell into the ocean. Since Natalie's father is the mayor and Ben's grandfather is suing him, the breakup is understandable. And there is Gabriel who is handsome, hard-working, and the younger brother of one of her new friends but who has some secrets of his own.

I really enjoyed all of the ways Cecelia investigates and loved learning about all the various characters and their secrets. The story was a great mystery with just enough danger to keep up the suspense.

Fans of YA mysteries with engaging characters will enjoy getting to know Cecelia and all of the people around her.

This was a good thriller for YA! The plot was original and I loved Cecelia! Be patient because this one is a slow burn but you won't regret sticking in there because the last half is amazing!!!

This one took me a bit of a while to get into, but once I did it was fantastic! I absolutely loved the small town secrets/drama vibe of this book and knowing that you couldn’t really trust anyone as so many people were keeping secrets!

I loved the dual mystery element of it, as we’re trying to figure out the truth of what happened in the past as well as following the current day mystery. There was so much going on and I loved it. And the ultimate reveal did not disappoint, there were a number of twists throughout and even if you figure out part of what’s going on, there are so many mysteries to uncover that something will 100% surprise you!

The issue that I often have with YA mystery/thrillers is that it’s often really obvious to predict who is responsible, but with this I was guessing until the last minute. There was a large cast of characters and it honestly could have been anyone, which is something I really loved, as so many characters could have had a strong motive for doing what they did.

This definitely had a slower start that I would have liked, although I think it was needed in order to properly introduce us to all of the characters, so you’ll need to bare with it at the start, but once it picks up it was so hard to put down and I read the majority of the book in one afternoon!

It was one of the best YA thrillers that I’ve read in a long time, so I would definitely recommend it if that’s something that interests you!

"Death has always followed me. Time for me to do the chasing."
I received an arc from netgalley and honestly?this was a cool book.
Characters are well rounded, real and entirely batshit crazy.
no because?I suspected that little shit since the beginning too (do I get brownie points?) Anyway , this was a story about people who found out each other's deepest darkest secrets while investigating a murder, so I totally recommend it <3