Thank you, #Netgalley and Random House Children's Publishing, for allowing me to read an advanced copy of Jordyn Taylor's Wicked Darlings #WickedDarlings

Noa feels alive without her sister Leah around, but there are also moments where she feels incredibly ashamed that she feels that way. Why, you might ask yourself why she feels that way; well, her sister Leah committed suicide last year. As Noa's future in college at NYU approaches closer, she gets a feeling that something is not right with her parents or Leah's death. On the night before graduation, Noa finds Leah's phone in her parent's safe and goes through it. Her investigative journalism skills are kicking in, and she notices several alarming clues. So much so that she decided to pack up her things and go to New York City herself. Noa knows her sister Leah, and Leah wouldn't have killed herself. She lived her best life working at the Sentinel and reporting on multi-millionaires and their parties. Her mission is to go undercover with NYC's top elite society members, find out who murdered her sister, and get justice for her.

Although it is somewhat predictable, Wicked Darling's plot will keep you wanting to solve the mystery with Noa.
Disclaimers: Suicide, Murder, Sexual Assault, Grief (Stages of Grief), Mental Health

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy of Wicked Darlings. Jordyn Taylor's books are must reads for me at this point, and Wicked Darlings, though not my favorite of hers, didn't disappoint.

I liked Noa's humanity and realizations as she went on her journey. I enjoyed the reveals from Leah's recordings and journals, and I found the side characters intriguing. Could there have been some more depth in places? Probably, but I didn't go into this book looking for a literary masterpiece I want to dissect in my English class. I went into it looking for a mystery that would keep me guessing and reveal some larger truth about human nature. I think this one aced the larger truth part and missed a little bit on the keeping me guessing part. I don't know if this is because I read a lot of mysteries or if I'm an adult, but I do think my remove from the target audience of the book (I'm reading as a preview for my school library and student book clubs) helped with that aspect. I think the target audience would probably find this a bit more twisty than I did.

Overall, though, this was a good read that will hit with a specific group of my students, and really, that's what I'm looking for.

Welcome to the world of the rich and privileged, where nothing is too expensive to hide, even murder. Ever since her sister Leah’s death Noa has been feeling guilty that Leah’s death means she is finally out of her shadow. When that guilt finally motivates her to do something she realizes that Leah’s death might not be what it seemed and her fancy internship at an NYC newspaper might have gotten Leah in over her head! As Noa goes “undercover” to find out what really happens she begins to redefine her relationship with her sister and her new friends. This was a page turner for sure, I finished it in one day!!