Oh my gosh- I cannot say enough how much I loved loved absolutely loved this book! It was my first authored by Alexa Donne but it won't be the last one.

I loved "Pretty Dead Queens," from the opening Author's Note. I love "Murder, She Wrote," and this was such a twisty turny, always keeping you guessing kind of story that fit that inspiration. The intertwining of the new murder versus the older one, the list of suspects growing and keeping you second guessing and hooked until the last second was so well done. The ending was too- it didn't come out of nowhere and actually made sense, which I think a lot of thrillers tend to miss the mark with.

Genuinely cannot say enough good things about this book, and I wholeheartedly would recommend it to anyone who would love a more modern "Murder, She Wrote," vibe or YA thrillers.

I did receive an ARC from Netgalley and the publishing company in exchange for an honest review, which has not affected my review.

To no fault of the book or the writing, this was not for me. That said, I still enjoyed it and I might reread it at a later date. The plot was original and I loved the mystery and setting, it just overall took a while to get into the story. It was pretty slow.

When Cecelia Ellis loses her mother to cancer, she moves to Northern California to live with her grandmother, the famous crime writer Maura Weston. Maura's first book was a fictionalization of a murder that occurred at Seaview High where the homecoming queen is killed the night of the dance. Since then, she's enjoyed a prolific career. There's even a convention happening in town to celebrate her novels.

Cecelia quickly finds her footing amidst Seaview's popular crowd, The friends she makes can be vicious to one another, but she can't help but fall for sweet Ben. Then, another homecoming queen is murdered in the same way. With a copycat killer on the loose, Cecelia is determined to find the culprit. Throwing herself into the investigation gives her something to do, a purpose she didn't have when her mom got sick. As Cecelia and Ben dig into the case, Seaview's secrets quickly come spilling out. Motives abound, and there is definitely more than one person who could have committed the crime.

Full of red-herrings, the ending might surprise even the most seasoned mystery reader.

Best for ages 14 and up, Recommend for purchase for high school collections with patrons who can't get enough mystery and murder.

Reasons to Read
-Famous writer Grandmother - After Cecelia’s mother dies, she goes to live with her grandmother, who is a famous mystery writer.
-Past Beauty Queen - her most famous novel is about a beauty queen who dies at homecoming, and it’s based on real life
-New friends - So Cecelia dives into school and makes new friends, until one of them is also crowned queen. She finds her dead just like the one in the past
-Solving mystery - Cecelia now is hot on the trail to solve both murders. And listen this book has multiple twists, and the ride is pretty interesting. Definitely for those who love a true crime type book!

Thanks so much to Netgalley & Random House Children's, Crown Books for Young Readers for this arc of Pretty Dead Queens by Alexa Donne!

This was a super fun read that definitely scratched that need-to-find-something-like-AGGTM itch. I really liked the main character Cecelia and her story of having to move into her famous mystery writer grandma's big house, going to a new school, and then finding a body at said new school. Cecelia is described at one point of having "Harriet the Spy ways" and that is definitely true. She stressed me out almost just as much as Miss Pippa Fitz-Amobi does.

I loved having a current mystery to solve, while also having that story line of the past murder from when Cecelia's grandmother was young (the one that inspired her big bestseller). I loved all of the juicy details of this and was excited to see how everything would play out. I wouldn't say I didn't see the end coming, but there was some of it I really didn't see coming that made this over the top in a great way.

I won't beg for this to be a series. I won't.

Okay I will. I just really hope this becomes a series and Cecelia finds herself in more thrilling situations lol

“Kids in towns like these are born here, die here. Relationships go from womb to tomb.” -From Pretty Dead Queens

4.5 stars

A fast paced fun murder mystery. I like that Cecelia for the most part felt like a real teen, making sometimes teen-like bad decisions, though some of her knowledge in casual ways she described things seemed like more than a teen would know. How the murder victim was getting her secrets certainly felt fresh along with some other small town details. I really felt the vibe of the small town. I thought the themes of grief and friendship were explored in a good way. As an adult reader, I didn’t feel like the final reasoning you got made a lot of sense; but I think teen readers will eat it up and might be surprised.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

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!
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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!
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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!
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/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!

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.