Very fast-paced read! I found the end a little predictable but the twists and turns along the way were fun. There were enough motives and alibis to keep readers guessing and re-guessing throughout!

Thank you to NetGalley and Crown Books for Young Readers for a digital arc

Pretty Dead Queens follows Cecelia, who moves to the town of Seaview to live with her grandmother, a prolific murder mystery author who based her first book on the real murder of one of her high school classmates. When another student turns up dead, Cecelia sets out to unravel the truth between the latest murder, and how its connected to the fictional murder and the murder from the past. It is a twist filled tale of small town scandal, grief, revenge, and of course, murder.

I did manage to guess a few plot twists early on but there are enough twists and turns in this story that I was still able to be surprised by several others. And the twists I did guess correctly didn’t spoil the story for me. I was still held in tension as I waited to see if my guesses were correct, and the payoff of the grand finale was executed well enough to make me not care if I’d seen the twists coming.

One particular highlight is the reason Cecelia is pushing so hard to investigate the murder. Her mother recently passed away of cancer, which was the catalyst for her moving in with her grandmother in the first place. Her grief is still fresh, and it is what drives Cecelia to investigate the murder. As she says herself, with cancer, there’s no concrete thing to fight, no villain to defeat. But with a murder, she can fight back. With a murder, she can bring justice.

The author has been open about working on this book in the aftermath of losing her own mother, and you can tell. While Cecelia’s recent loss isn’t the central focus of the story, it shines through every aspect, and a not insignificant amount of her meaningful relationships are formed with others that have gone through a similar loss as she has. It’s an element of the story that sets it apart from similar stories in the teen murder mysteries genre.

Pretty Dead Queens comes out on October 4, 2022, and if you pick it up, you’ll have a killer time for sure.

Thank you to Net Galley for the digital copy and the chance to read this early. All opinions are my own. The book will be published in Oct 2022.

3.5 stars, this was a quick, fun YA mystery/thriller. I appreciated the author’s note at the beginning, the secretive small town coastal setting, and the Nancy Drew vibes. Like Donne’s The Ivies, it was twisty and full of red herrings. It was very fast paced and action driven. I would have liked a little more character development (especially as there are a lot of people to keep track of) and a few things were hard to suspend disbelief for, but Cecelia is a fun character and it seems to maybe be set up for a sequel. One thing kind of odd is that the first 2/3 of the book would have been appropriate for upper middle grades, but then the last third definitely leaned YA, like the author changed her mind with where she was going. Overall, an enjoyable read!

If you’re looking for a twisty, quick-reading thriller, look no further than Pretty Dead Queens.

Moving in with her infamous author grandmother after the untimely death of her mother, the MC finds herself immediately with the “in” crowd and their secrets too. A murder committed 50 years ago seems to have repeated itself now that she’s in town but who’s responsible?

Just when I thought I’d figured it out, Alexa Donne threw me for a loop and I thank her and NetGalley for this ARC.

Fun and fast paced read. I enjoyed the journey of finding out who committed the crimes. While it was easy to eventually figure it the whole, the why was more surprising. My only caveat, is that is your going to highlight a person’s ethnicity and make it a point to mention. It has to have a purpose. Don’t just say someone is a minority just to make it less mayonnaise

If you were a fan of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, you’re going to want to pick this one up. This story had it all. Amateur teenage sleuths, drama, scandals, sassy grandmas, humor, love interests. I’m an avid fan of YA Thrillers and this one hit every mark. I devoured it.

pretty dead queens didn’t grip me at first and was seemingly typical, but about halfway through lots of twists and I truly couldn’t guess who the killer was until right before the end. so 4/5 ⭐️ from me.

This was a fun ride. Even though the death didn’t happen until about 30% in, I felt the beginning was more compelling than the middle. I felt it went on a bit too long/too many red herrings. It was fairly easy to figure out both “twists,” but it was well written and I look forward to Donne’s next.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley and Random House Children's for this ARC. It took awhile for me to get into thos book and I almost gave up on it. I'm so glad that I kept reading it. The ending was unexpected and not one I saw coming. I will be looking for other books from this author.

This book is an absolute win. What a fun thriller. I was quickly invested in it left me wanting more pretty quickly. Absolute twist ending as well!

This is my favorite type of book it’s kind of a thriller combined with the mystery. I adore the specifically detailed characters and loved the plot as well.

I’m a big fan of YA thriller mysteries! And this book is definitely a good fix for my craving!

There so many alluring elements in this book attract your full focus and make you get lost in gripping mystery:

-Two murdered homecoming queens in the same town in 2 decades and bodies found by a grandmother and her granddaughter in 50 years time range at the exact same place and at the exact same stage: the drowned victim’s hair covering the pool water like a magnifying halo!

17 years old Cecelia who is kind of Bella Swan: moving from LA to small town, attracted the school’s popular kids’ full attention. She’s the granddaughter of most powerful woman of the town: the famous thriller author eccentric Maura Weston lives in a Victorian mansion, knows everything happens in the town, has written her first bestseller about her best friend Caroline Quinn’s murder: who was the angelic homecoming queen turning into a biggest symbol of the entire town.

And now new homecoming queen is also dead! Is there a copycat killer out there to show his tribute to the scandalous crime as the anniversary of Caroline Quinn’s murder is approaching?

Cecelia is still grieving her mom, struggling with the shock of finding dead body of her new friend . Best way to cope with drama is sharpening her investigating skills that runs in the family. Everybody keeps big secret in this small town and even the poor victim homecoming queen is not so innocent. There are so many people out there may benefit from her murder including her close circle friends that Cecelia lately became a part of it.

Cecelia puts herself in dangerous position, surrounded by her grandmother’s obnoxious thriller fans, her lying friend circle and a love triangle between school mascot/ her grandmother’s devoted intern Ben and football player, Bronte’s brother Gabriel. Interestingly both of the guys have a shady past with the poor victim.

Cecelia has to open the box of Pandora, revealing town’s dirty secrets to find the culprit which change the entire townies’ lives forever!

Overall: I like young girl detective/ Nancy Drew themes as they are portrayed at A good girl’s guide to murder and Agathas.

This book is fabulous example of this interesting theme. Even though I guessed the perpetrator a little bit earlier, I didn’t see the final twist coming which was extremely jaw dropping. Just because of that delicious revelation I gave extra half star and rounded 4.5 stars to 5!

This book started as slow burn mystery but especially last third was outstandingly fast pacing and exciting!

That semi open end made me hope this book may turn into series and there will be more books. I cannot say no to any book bringing back Cecelia Ellis’ detective adventures.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Children’s Crown Books for Young Readers for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

***Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a complimentary copy of PRETTY DEAD QUEENS by Alexa Donne in exchange for my honest review.***

Oh Alexa Donne, I’d love to pick your devious brain to see how you create such delicious mysteries.

After her mom’s death Cecelia arrives to live with her estranged grandmother, a best selling mystery writer whose iconic classic is based on the real murder of a high school homecoming queen Caroline. History seems to be reliving itself at Cecelia’s new high school or does this sleepy town have deeper secrets.

I loved the way Donne connected past and present with descendants of the original high school students who experienced Caroline’s murder. Residents steeped in power and privilege know more than they’re saying.

Cecelia is a great narrator, in pain but making the best of her circumstances, open to new friendships and getting to know her difficulty grandmother. She felt like a real person rather than a teen character written by an adult.

Mystery and thriller lovers will love PRETTY DEAD QUEENS, a story at the top of this popular YA genre.

First off, I’ve read every single one of Alexa Donne’s books and I’ve loved all of them. She’s an auto-buy author for me and I was thrilled to get an ARC of this book. And … this one might just be my new favorite of hers.

Pretty Dead Queens is everything I wanted in a thriller. It was twisty, filled with drama, and so suspenseful. I will say, that I guessed the twists early on—which I’m quite proud of, I’m a huge thriller reader—but it didn’t diminish my enjoyment of this book. In fact, I may have enjoyed it more so because it was terrifically plotted, so many motives, so many red herrings, and was an utterly, beautifully executed thriller. The twists and ending were so satisfying … the ultimate murder turducken. The main character was easy to root for and I love how Alexa explored the MC’s grief in this book. Overall, wonderfully written. Such a page turner, I couldn’t put it down!

I absolutely loved this book and I look forward to reading Alexa’s next one!!

This was my first time reading this author and I am looking forward to reading more of her thrillers. this mystery had a lot of twists and turns and had me guessing until the end.

I loved the Ivies, so I was super excited to see a new book from this author. However I loved the Ivies way more. This plot interested me a lot less, it focused a lot on the history of the town, solving an old murder to solve a new one. Out of two twists, the first was a little too obvious and disappointing. The second was actually really good and the highlight of the book. The setting is a small town and there's LGBT+ side characters. If you like YA thrillers, I'd recommend. I'd just recommend the Ivies first.

Theres very little I can say about this book that won't give a lot away. But it's a fun (ish) small town murder mystery with lots of suspects, pretty little liars and sordid goings on. You may guess a twist (or two) but not them all.

Disclaimer: I received this e-arc from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Pretty Dead Queens

Author: Alexa Donne

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: Filipino American Lesbian character, Lesbian character, Filipino American character, Indigenous character, Bisexual characters, Achillean romance between two side characters

Recommended For...: young adult readers, mystery, thriller, prom, unsolved murders

Publication Date: October 7, 2022

Genre: YA Mystery Thriller

Age Relevance: 15+ (death, cancer, grief, animal death, animal gore, language, drugs, gore, classism, racism, homophobia, murder, child abuse, sexual content, sexual assault of a minor, violence)

Explanation of Above: There is death and murder shown in the book and mentioned. There are mentions of cancer and grief is shown in the book. There is two animal deaths (rabbit and dog) and animal gore (rabbit) mentioned in the book. There is some cursing in the book. Drugs are mentioned briefly in the book. There is some violence with knives and gore with blood. There is classism, racism, and homophobia shown and mentioned in the book. Child abuse is mentioned and sexual assault of a minor is vaguely mentioned in the book (there is an adult character in the book who is having a relationship with a child under 18 but nothing explicit is shown). There is also some sexual content mentioned and one fade to black sex scene.

Publisher: Crown

Pages: 336

Synopsis: 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’s 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.

Review: For the most part I really loved this book! The book was a great thriller mystery novel about past murders and a current killer. There’s a lot of twist and turns and it’ll keep you guessing on the whodunit for the longest time. It definitely has a Karen McManus feel to it and one of my newer favorite mystery books. I loved all of the funny pop culture moments as well. The character development was well done and the world building was great. I loved the writing and I had 2/3 overall guesses come true, which surprised me as I’m usually able to accurately guess the end of mystery books.

The only issue I had with the book is that I feel like the planting evidence on a Filipino character should have been called out a bit more for what it was and condemned more. I also feel like the book had some confusing moments that could be cleared up a little bit.

Verdict: I loved this one!

In this homage to Murder, She Wrote, Donne adds her spin on the teen murder investigation genre (is that a thing?). This is a decent thriller with several plot twists along the way. But my enjoyment lies with the relationships among the members of the "Scooby Gang." This is where the story fell short for me. I didn't think these relationships were fleshed out enough to make me really believe that they would risk life and limb to help Cecelia solve a murder. Hand to readers looking for a fast-paced " summer " read.

DNF. Not a fan of the main character at all. Not a fan of the writing style either. I found this to be cliched and predictable while I was reading, and couldn’t find it in me to care how it was going to end.