Thank You to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ebook for review!
I was really excited to read this book because of the popularity of her book the Ivies and I heard other reviewers rave about it. Unfortunately this book was just okay. I liked the hints to Agatha christie with the protagonist grandma being a famous mystery writer. I found that the way that she was able to get in with all the cool kids from the get go seem a little too good to be true, specially when it came to the love interests. I thought the overall story was okay. The beginning drag quite a bit. The actual mystery started around 30% of the book. I think some young adults have the potential to be amazing reads for me, this one did not quite get there. I do think it reads very mature compared to other ya books. If you are looking for a ya that has lots of characters and is full of mysteries, then this one would be a good time. I read it all in one day, it will grab your attention.

Thank you NetGalley and to the publishers for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

DNF at 30%

I think YA thrillers are just not my thing, they always seem super cringey and this was no exception.

This was just ok. It read too young adult for my liking but it was ok for what it was. I predicted most of the plot twists.

After the death of her mother, Cecelia moves in with her grandmother in a town famous for the murder of a beauty queen and the book written about the murder. When a second teen girl is murdered in almost the exact same way, Cecelia takes it upon herself to find out if the original killer is still out there, or if it's just a copycat.

A slow burn mystery novel, Donne focused a lot of the characters and setting. I got a really good feel for the world being built. I'm slow with mysteries so I did not piece it together until a third of the way through, but the last twist hit me the same moment it hit Cecelia and that revelation was just so good. A great read for mystery lovers.

This book had great characterization, excellent story telling, and made me want to keep reading. I will continue to read from this author and look out for their new releases.

Alexa Donne has become one of my go-to YA authors and I will always request her latest on NetGalley. Unfortunately I am way behind on reviews and this book came out last year, but it is still a fantastic read and I highly recommend it.

We meet seventeen year old Cecelia as she arrives to live with her grandmother after the death of her mom. Seaview is a typical coastal California town and she settles into life in the creepy Victorian home where her grandmother writes her equally creepy murder mystery novels as a well-known author.

The normality is blasted to smithereens when the Homecoming queen is murdered...and she's not the first pretty dead queen the town has had.

Cecelia begins investigating when it becomes clear there is a copycat on the loose. She digs into the history of the town, looks into everyone she knows to find connections, motives, etc. But the closer she gets to the answer, the more her own life is in danger.

This was such an engrossing read that I plowed through it in one sitting. The clues, false starts, and red herrings were well-placed and felt authentic.

Something else the author does well is creating characters who also feel authentic. The characters feel like actual teenagers, and not just adults with adult feelings/ideas crammed into teenage-shaped bodies. It is hard to do this well, but Donne especially excels in this area.

Everyone has secrets, Cecelia finds out quickly. After finding her friend dead exactly the way the previous murder occurred, Cecelia begins uncovering a lot of those secrets, even ones the queen herself had. There are several characters who are given ample motive and this was done in a realistic way as well. Nothing seemed manufactured or forced, simply to confuse the reader. The clues are there, if you are paying attention.

I am happy to say that even with paying attention, I had it narrowed down to two suspects before the reveal, and I am not even mad that I couldn't do better than that, because it could have easily gone either way.

I was very impressed with this one and think it is probably my favorite of the author's so far - though I really loved The Ivies a lot.

Highly recommended.

Back when I was still writing, I followed Alexa's social media closely for advice on writing and navigating the querying process. While I haven't watched any of her videos in years now, I thought it would be fun to pick up one of her books. This was a fun, soapy YA thriller and had the authorial voice I'd expect after consuming so much of her content.

Alexa Donne is the next Karen McManus! This is an incredible YA thriller! Just when I thought I had things figured out I’d be left with my mouth hanging open by another plot twist. Expertly crafted. Such a good book!! I loved how the author interwove the two murders - decades apart - to make the book interesting but not unrealistic. I really enjoyed that I couldn’t predict who did it or the ending! Thank you so much NetGalley for the opportunity to read this and provide my honest opinion.

When two dead homecoming queens turn up in the same place and the same way decades apart, the whole town goes into a frenzy.

Cecilia is living with her grandmother, who happens to be a crime fiction author, and based one of her novels on the death of her high school's homecoming queen -the novel that shot her to fame. So when another homecoming queen turns up in identical fashion, there has to be a copycat killer on the loose, right?

This book was more intense than I expected. Granted it is YA, so it wasn't quite as mind-blowing as other thriller books that I've read, but for what it's worth, I felt my heart racing at times. I had a pretty good idea of the direction the book was headed and who was to blame for the murders, but it still didn't really take away the surprise factor for me. I've learned that I can sometimes figure out the who, but never figure out the why.

Overall I devoured this book and enjoyed every minute. 5 stars, I can't wait to read mor from this author.

I really admire Alexa Donne. I'm a huge fan of hers and I'm always wary when it comes to read a booktuber's novel, but this one really surprised me. She just writes beautiful sentences and descriptions. You can see she took the time to flesh out her characters; they were very complex and likeable. I didn't see coming most of the twists and turns, which is one of my biggest fears when I'm about to pick up a thriller. In conclusion, I highly recommend it, especially if you're a fan of Kara Thomas or Holly Jackson's work.

I loved this book it was a fun page turning thriller that I could not put down. This book follows Cecelia after her mothers death from cancer she moves in with her estranged grandmother a famous mystery author. Cecelia starts out just fine fitting with the popular kids at school that is till the queen bee ends up dead at homecoming. Secrets and lies abound as Cecelia try’s to figure out what happened that night as well as what happened many years ago during a similar crime. This book was so much fun it was quick paced easy to follow and really entertaining. I would recommend this to any YA thriller fan and look forward to picking up more from this author in the future. I would like to thank net galley and the publishers for a chance to read this book for an honest review.

If you love YA mystery then this is a must-read! It was engaging and entertaining. This is a great book for both teens and adults. The teen detective felt believable and there was a good list of suspects. The book kept me guessing until the end.

The ending is so twisty and amazing! You don't see it coming. This story definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat.

This book is great if you're a fan of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder or Pretty Little Liars.

Thank you to Netgalley for this book in exchange for an honest review.

Pretty Dead Queens was a fun read that I am sure my YA readers would love. Cecelia moves to a small, coastal town and lives with her grandmother. She hasn't seen her grandmother since she was little when there was a falling out between her mother and grandmother. After her mother dies of cancer, Cecelia must spent her last year of high school at her grandmother's estate. When a homecoming queen is murdered in the same manner that a previous homecoming queen was murdered, There's a ton of characters who make potential suspects and while I feel like Cecelia's investigation and behavior is a bit predictable, the book stays suspenseful and fun. My students will love this book!

** spoiler alert ** OKAY SO this book has been in my tbr for a while so I decided to just download it since I was in a mystery-y mood without realizing the author was the same author as the Ivies which I dearly hated 😭😭😭

Premise: Cecelia's mom dies of cancer, she goes to live with her grandmother who her mother was estranged from in a small town. Her grandmother, Maura, is a celebrity with many well-known murder mystery novels. She starts dating Maura's assistant Ben while lowkey being attracted to bad boy and token POC Gabriel. Maura's first novel and claim to fame was based on a real-life murder that happened to one of her friends in high school, with the killer now locked behind bars. However, fifty-some years later, a copycat murder occurs, killing one of Cecelia's new friends and traumatizing her since she discovered the body. She now believes that the killer may not be behind bars after all. Basically (major spoilers), she realizes that Ben, her boyfriend, killed the girl bc he had access to the nitty-gritty details of the OG murder as his father was the sheriff back then. He did it since he felt that her dad (the mayor) killed his mom (house caved in due to bad soil foundation or smth IDK). Cecelia figures this out, has him arrested, runs back home, yay! Except she realizes that Maura gave Ben an alibi to the police, and realizes Maura was the original murderer and murders people to see how the methods work out for her novels. They fight and she kills Maura and gets a ton of money and a sweet mansion to herself, yay!

First off, the writing. Honestly, it was pretty juvenile. The opening about her not crying when her rabbit broke its back or wtv honestly made me cringe! The book read like a Wattpad novel at the start tbh, evened out after the first couple of chapters though thankfully (or maybe I just got used to it hmmm)

Secondly, the actual murderer (referring to Ben rn, not Maura). It was *so* obvious in so many ways that Ben was the murderer. First off, he literally TELLS CECELIA that the murderer often tries to involve himself in the investigation. Secondly, it made no sense from a plot standpoint to have Cecelia date Ben and genuinely like him while also thinking he was dorky and being weirdly attracted to Gabriel. Honestly, I thought Cecelia was gna date BRONTE (Gabriel's sister) bc she kept talking about how pretty she was, and then it made sense with the introduction of Gabriel, so clearly Cecelia and Gabriel were endgame, making Ben need to be so irredeemably terrible - which obviously meant he was the killer. Also, he kept trying to deflect suspicion onto Gabriel which I didn't like Gabriel is wholesome!!

Moving onto Maura being the original murderer. I honestly thought of it @ the start as a reason why Cecelia's mom cut off contact and then I was like nah the author wouldn't be *that* cliche. But oh, she was. TBH, a disappointing letdown, and was just meh. It would've been so much cooler if it was LITERALLY anyone else. This trope can be pulled off well, but there was little to no interaction with Maura throughout the novel that it just really didn't make any sense/I couldn't bring myself to care.

This is just a nitpicky thing but Luke and Caleb hiding their relationship since it was a "closeminded town" made no sense to me since two of the main side characters (Amber and Bronte) were literally publicly dating and nobody cared ?? It was even said that Bronte was popular enough that if she ran for homecoming queen, she could probably win. Just a plot inconsistency that didn't really make sense - just seemed like the author wanted to cast suspicion on Luke but didn't know how.

The ending was super rushed. From realizing Ben was the killer to realizing Maura was the killer to killing Maura to her dating Gabriel and working with the FBI was super short - they literally all happened within the span of a few pages. I would've liked to see her relationship with Gabriel develop a bit more in the aftermath of her trauma with Ben + Maura, as well as just the small town shenanigans and gossip that would've developed after everything came to light.

Compared to The Ivies, this book was definitely worse. The Ivies at least had a fun boarding school, almost satirical twist on it, whereas this book was just bland, predictable, and bad.

+2 stars bc my girl Cecelia is a BTS stan

so this was a really really good book
not just for YA readers either
I enjoyed the mystery and twists it threw at you
YOu felt like you along side of the characters trying to place everyone and everything to solve this mystery
I really think soooo many people will love this book

I got this book as an ARC from Net Galley and am thankful to have gotten a chance to read it
I thoughts above are voluntary, my own and honest

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 … this one might just be my new favorite of hers. I loved this book and have already recommended this book to many.

This book presents two main mysteries that, for avid readers of mysteries, are quite easy to solve within the first quarter of the book. However, I would recommend it to those who are new to the genre. It’s a good start to get into teen mysteries.

I had one main problem, while the writing style was pretty good. My problem was the main character in the story. She is perhaps one of the most unlikable characters I've come across in a long time. Which is kinda okay, because I don’t have to love a character to be intrigued, but she is insufferable throughout the book, with her egoistic nature and a penchant for prying into her friends' secrets while being reluctant to reveal her own. Her "mean-spirited" attitude towards others who ask her for her own secrets adds to her flawed personality, which startet to annoy me a bit. However, the author injects moments of humor that revolve around the character's flawed nature, which I found somewhat enjoyable. It's clear that Donne is aware of the character's flaws and attempts to add a touch of self-awareness to the story. But the main character was a bit too selfish and b*tchy for me.

Although I didn't enjoy this book as much as Donne's previous work, "The Ivies," I must admit that the final act of the book was fast-paced and exciting, providing some redeeming moments. All in all it was a good read, with a main character who didn’t do it for me.

I really love a good young adult mystery that has a tie to an older mystery. In Pretty Dead Queens, Cecilia has to move in with her grandmother, a famous writer, after her mother dies. The original mystery is the murder of the home coming queen in the 70s. When one of Cecilia's new friends is murdered in the same way, on Homecoming night, Cecilia becomes obsessed with finding the answers to why her friend was killed and who killed her. The pacing of the story moves pretty quickly, and I finished the book in two days. It was hard to put it down. The characters were interesting and well developed. I guessed a few things but there were plenty of plot twists that kept me guessing. I loved this book and can't wait to see more by the author.

"Seaview has a history of murders."

After the passing of her mother, Cecilia Ellis moves to Seaview, a small town known only through the popularity of her grandmother's, Maura Ellis, murder mystery books based off real-life events that took place in Seaview. When the town suffers through yet another tragedy, just another in the line of decades old tragedies behind it, Cecilia takes it upon herself to solve the case, never knowing who she can trust, and doing everything she can to get to the bottom of the murder.

I LOVE murder mysteries, so I was very excited to read this. With a somewhat large cast of characters, it wasn't uncommon for me to mix up the who's and the what's. I often found myself confused, forgetting the characters relations to each other, what they were involved with, etc.. Though I would say that may be more of a fault of my own than the author's. Apart from this, I had a thrilling time reading Pretty Dead Queens! Following alongside Cecilia, trying to solve just who exactly had killed the homecoming queen, through every twist and turn she went down was a delight. It really felt like at times, I was with the character myself, getting stumped with every new lead.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of Pretty Dead Queens in exchange for an honest review.

Great YA mystery about a teen girl who goes to live with her grandmother following her mother's death. Cecelia is trying to adjust to living with her bestselling author grandmother Maura when one of her new friends is found dead. Cecelia is determined to solve the mystery after learning that her friend was murdered the same way as a previous murder decades ago. There are two mysteries in this book and lots of characters to act as suspects. Readers will enjoy trying to guess whodunit.