3.5/5 stars. To be released 2022.

This was a fun read, although slightly predicable. The plot is super fast paced as our main character, Cecelia, dives into solving the murder of a classmate that is easily familiar to one that happened fifty years ago. Her grandmother just happens to be a world famous author who based her first novel on the first murder. As she dives into town history, she discovers more than one secret Fans of Karen McManus will enjoy this murder mystery whodunit!

One line summary: Murder Turducken.
Just like with The Ivies, I can’t help but feel Donne’s writing fits this genre SO well. Pretty Dead Queens is a YA mystery following our main character Cecelia who goes to live with her grandmother in a coastal town in Northern California after her mom passes away from cancer. Her grandmother is a famous mystery writer whose first book was about a real life prom queen from their town that was killed in the 70’s. When history seems to repeat itself and another queen ends up dead, Cecelia’s the one to find the body and takes it upon herself to solve the murder.
This was one of my most anticipated books for 2022, and am so grateful I was able to get an early read. I loved that throughout this book, there were SO many possibilities for who could’ve been the murderer, and the build up to the final scenes felt pretty epic and satisfying.
Criticism-wise, I do think it was a little slow in parts while introducing possibly too many characters. Since this is really solving 2 murders from decades apart, it’s just natural that there would be 2 sets of characters from both eras, but I do think it slowed the pace down a little for me personally. I also want to note that this is probably going to be listed as a “thriller” but I think I’d set my expectations going into it more so as a “mystery” for the pacing. However, the last quarter I’d say was just complete perfection in my eyes and a complete page-turner.
4.5

TLDR:
This book is a fun, fast read with a touch of romance. Had me guessing until the VERY end. And a very satisfying end it was!

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The book starts with our main character, Cecelia Ellis, moving in with her famous author grandmother in a small town in northern California after the death of her mother. The death of Cecelia's mother is present throughout the book but in a quiet understated way. Shortly after her arrival in this small town, the day before homecoming, one of the girls in her friend group is murdered-- found dead by Cecelia drowned in the pool. This death matches a death in one of Cecelia's grandmother's books, which was itself a fictitious re-telling of a murder that happened in that town when the grandmother was a student in high school herself.

So the investigation begins-- was this murder a copy of the murder in the book? or a copy of the OG real-life murder? Are we dealing with a copy-cat killer, a crazy super-fan, or a serial killer come out of hibernation?

Each time a suspect is crossed off the list, some new information emerges that throws them back into the mix.

And so the book follows Cecelia as she escapes grief for her mother by throwing herself into investigating the recent murder and revisiting the murder from 50 years ago.

At times, the middle of the book is almost unwieldy with its messy web of small-town lies and secrets. The ensemble cast is tightly woven, like a soap opera, everyone has a secret, and everyone's relationships with the other cast members are complicated and in need of exploration (and I mean 'Soap Opera' in a good way.). And while being a lot, the characters are all distinct, rounded, and easy enough to keep track of.

There is a touch of romance that gives Cecelia some respite and leads to some juicy scenes that had me laughing or gasping. But overall the story is not about romance.

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I put off reading this book for a while because Alexa has been pretty open about the fact this book was influenced by her grieving the death of her own mother.

So while I was looking forward to this book, I thought it might take a few spoons-- that I would cry or need time to 'recover' the way I did after reading The FireKeeper's Daughter-- a book I also enjoyed but that ruined me. I am relieved to say, this was NOT the case, and while death is everywhere in this book (the deaths of the murder victims past and present, of the MC's Mother, which happens just before the beginning of the book, and of others), this book is not depressing in a weep-yourself-to-sleep way, but more just dark, in a fun way. So IF you've been putting off this book for the same reason I did- fear not! and dive right in.

This book was easily 3.5 ⭐'s for me! It gives Nancy Drew vibes to the max (the CW show not your mom's Carolyn Keene version).

Cecelia Ellis finds herself like a fish out of water in the small town of Seaview where she is the estranged granddaughter of a famous crime writer and, more recently, an orphan after her mom dies. Cecelia turns into a sort of instant celebrity because of the popularity of her grandmother's novels, but she really just wants to fly under the radar and leave Seaview and its bad memories behind.

Seaview is a town stuck in the past. The murder of the Homecoming Queen 50 years ago still lingers over the town because it was turned into a best selling crime novel written by Maura Weston. Cecelia is thrown headfirst into a similar situation when another (almost) Homecoming Queen is killed the night before she is supposed to receive her crown. Cecelia joins a popular group of friends and tries to solve the murder, then there are lots of things happening all at the same time.

I think that the author did a really good job of pacing the novel. The action was pretty consistent throughout the book with lots of twists and turns to keep the reader invested. Donne dropped clues throughout the novel, but there were definitely plenty of potential suspects to choose from. I think that the ending of the novel was spectacular, because as soon as you think you have it all figured out then something else happens!

My only critique would be that the writing at the ending of the book felt different than the rest of the story. The last 10% of the book felt like the author was dumping a lot of the PG-13 content in with no real reason for it to be there in my opinion. It wasn't super off-putting, but I definitely picked up on the differences when I was reading. The rest of the novel didn't flow in that way so it was extremely noticeable.

For fans of Pretty Little Liars and anything Karen McManus, "Pretty Dead Queens" will be a welcome read. Thrill, drama, suspense - Alexa Donne has knocked it out of the park.

Holy motives! Holy suspects! Holy twists and turns! Just when you think you can trust a character, BOOM! Just when you think you have it figured out, BOOM! I have whiplash from reading this book.

Cecelias mother dies and she goes to live with her estranged grandmother, a famous mystery writer, in her moms coastal hometown. As Cecilia starts to get used to her new way of living and meeting friends, she finds the body of a dead prom queen. She soon finds out that this is history repeating herself from the same thing happening in the 1970s. Not only that, her grandmothers first book was based on it. Cecilia sets out to solve who the killer is. Is it a copycat killer? Is it someone she considers a friend? There’s so many red herrings and plot twists you will be on the edge of your seat and up all night to find out.

This was a super great read and one I recommend to everyone.

Pretty entertaining read. I loved the small town atmosphere and the history of the murder that happened.
There were parts that didn't flow well and left me confused about the plot, like it jumped around a bit and there were a few scenes that had way too many characters involved to keep track of what everyone was doing.
I hope some of that clears up by final printing because I really think a lot of younger readers getting into thrillers will enjoy this one !

The killer or killers (as there is two different murders) was very obvious from the beginning. The author did a good job at leaving hints and clues.

Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy!

Thank you to Netgalley for selecting me to pre-read and review this ARC. All opinions are my own upon reading this book.

eh... This was pretty predictable. I guessed the major plot twist early on.

With that being said, it was a fun read. The plot is fast paced and it reads fast if you need a quick book to go towards your yearly reading goal.

The main character was insufferable. Typical teenage girl. I didn't find her intelligent at all rather she was incredibly naïve. I think the ending might be set up for more books in the future? If that is the case, I do not know that I will be reading them for the pure fact that I can't stand Cecelia.

2.5

I love a good mystery, and those set in small towns where everyone knows everyone can be brutal because everyone is a suspect. In this book, a teenager is orphaned and goes to live with her very rich aunt who is a reknowned mystery writer who got her start writing about the true story of the murder of the homecoming queen at her hogh school. Years later when her granddaughter comes to live with her, the front runner for homecoming queen is murdered in much the same way as the first? Since there is a man serving time for the earlier murder, is this a copy cat or has the wrong man been in prison for all of these years?

What a great, twisty book.

When her mother dies, Cecelia moves in with her rich novelist grandmother in a small beach town in northern California. She's barely settled when a copycat murder appears, and Cecelia is drawn to investigating.

I really enjoyed this twisty, engaging book, and I think it's perfect for high school students.

This book has many different motives and will keep you guessing until the end. There are so many plot twists and the characters are amazing

Pretty Dead Queens is a mystery fans dream. The cast of characters are well planned out and the twists keep you guessing up until the last moment. The complexity of the book is perfect, not too much that I couldn't keep the details straight but enough that it kept my attention and had me guessing through every page turn.

It seems that history is repeating itself when Seaview’s newest homecoming queen is found dead in the exact same way as the murder that put the town on the map. Cecelia is new to the town after her mothers death forces her to relocate live with her estranged grandmother. Maybe it’s her fear of dealing with her mothers death, or feeling a deep connection to this town, but Cecelia feels like she has to investigate this newest murder. What follows is a twist on the classic who done it as all the characters, and members of the town, have secrets and a history to hide. The ending is a twofold surprise and one that keeps the pages turning. A fun, engaging and mysterious read.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

What I loved:

So this might be my third ever murder mystery book, and I have previously read ‘The Ivies’ also by Alexa Donne and that one was a very enjoyable one. I definitely did not guess the ‘who’ in the Ivies and while I did guess part of the ending for PDQ I definitely did NOT see that ending coming!

I think Alexa is very skillful in offering up a completely surprising ending while making it believable. And that ending?! WOW! My heart was racing! I can’t lie, I am a sucker for high school settings especially with mean girls and guys. I do love the entire setting of the book and I did kind of chuckle in the beginning with the nod towards Twilight because thats exactly where my mind had gone.

What I didn’t:

There were a lot of characters to follow that a lot of it felt kind of like a whirlwind, but I can imagine Cecilia felt that way too lol. I do feel like the writing in this book had more tell than show than The Ivies, and there were a lot of references made that didn’t feel too realistic for teenagers to make, but the story had a very classic YA feel to it which I’ve truly missed over the years.

Overall, this book was full of lots of secrets that really kept my pointer finger switching to different characters with every chapter. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wishes to read a murder mystery with murdered homecoming queens, a love triangle, and a town fully of twisted and juicy dark secrets!

Thank you so much Alexa, Crown, and Netgalley for the ARC.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this access to this digital ARC in return for an honest review.

This book has the makings of everything my students who love a moody teenager domestic thriller to have. Something has gone terribly wrong once again at Seaview High: a homecoming queen dramatically found dead, and she's not the first, and it seems, she won't be the last. With a copycat killer loose in this seaside town full of creepy manors, closed-door secrets, and just so many potential suspects with so many motives, I was really kept on the edge of my seat, and the big reveal didn't disappoint me.

A great read, while it was somewhat predictable it certainly didn't make it any the less entertaining.. Great cast of characters, I loved Ceccilia and Ben and the imagery for the location was fantastic. Throughly enjoyable and reminiscent of those 90's thrillers I loved as a teen.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!! Alexa did such a good job with Pretty Dead Queens. The characters and plot twists were so well done!

If there’s one thing to say about this book, it’s that it was a wild ride.
It took a while to actually get into it, and start getting ramping up - but that’s okay.
There was some stuff I liked about this book, and some stuff I didn’t.
The whole idea for the book was really mapped out, and well thought out. There wasn’t any loose strings and we weren’t left with any questions at the end. There was though, A LOT to keep up with. You were essentially solving two cases from one p.o.v and one time line. I think maybe it could have been better if it was told in a dual timeline between Caroline and Natalie.
I think the ending was shocking, but I knew what was coming. I didn’t think it was going to that far, but I definitely knew who killed Caroline.
On the basis of it being well thought out, it still left no room for surprise. I feel like finding out the truth was honestly really easy, and I think the author fleshed it out TOO much.
I did like the small town thriller author aspect. I liked the town history, and everyone knowing everything. It did keep me intrigued, but I found myself skimming toward the end.
Overall, with The Ivies being one of my favorite reads of 2021, this was a let down. I did enjoy it, but not as much as i thought I would.

Thanks NetGalley and Crown Books for Young Readers for this eARC, these opinions are my own. I did end up calling the whodunnit in this one but only after second guessing myself multiple times! Which for me is one of the great things about mysteries! Cecelia moves in with her grandma after her mom passes, her grandma who see hasn’t seen in years and who is a famous author. She soon finds that Seaview has a lot of secrets and has had its share of murders. Including the murder of the Homecoming Queen in the 70’s… the one that her grandmothers first book is based on. She makes friends but are they really the people they claim to be and when one of them, also in the running for Homecoming Queen, ends up dead, can she trust any of them? Is it a copycat? Is the murder from the passed truly solved? She’s determined to find out what everyone’s hiding and what really happened with both murders. I loved Cecelia’s determination to solve things and how she kept going even though she was in danger herself! And while I did see the whodunnit I loved the journey of getting there and that Alexa Donne does such a great job of keeping you guessing and questioning what you think you know! Plus the twist at the end I did not see coming! I would highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy a good mystery! Can’t wait to add it to my collection!

I have to be honest—while I really appreciate Alexa Donne’s writing, I had a hard time with this one! I think fans of Truly Devious might love it though—with some caveats.

From the summary, I was expecting upper YA, but it definitely read like much younger YA. Insta-love, very petty drama, love triangle, predictable killer, a very nosy Nancy Drew-type sleuth, and all of the characters were extreme with their emotions. With that in mind, I could’ve given it a higher rating as a younger YA book, except…

…I can’t classify it as young YA because there’s a lot of swearing, some teen drinking/light drug use, one instance of teen sex, quite a bit of political commentary, and the last fifty pages were pretty over the top.

I’m so sad not to give PDQ a higher rating! I really thought I’d love it from everything I read about it. I think older teen fans of Truly Devious will enjoy it. But sadly, it wasn’t the book for me.

Heartfelt thanks to Alexa Donne, NetGalley, and the publisher for giving me this arc!

-A