Book: Pretty Dead Queens

By: Alexa Donne

Published: October 4, 2022

Publisher: Crown Book for Young Readers

Pages: 336

Genre: YA Thriller

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About Pretty Dead Queens

When seventeen-year-old Cecelia Ellis has to move in with her grandmother after her mom dies she’s a little disappointed. Her grandmother is someone she doesn’t know all that well but she quickly finds out that she’s a highly popular author. The small town in California seems completely normal, that is until the homecoming queen is killed. The thing is that this isn’t the first time a homecoming queen has died in the area either.

Who can this copycat be?

What I thought

So, I’m not fully sure why I picked up Pretty Dead Queens. Granted I do love YA thrillers. Horror and thrillers are always my go-to books and movies. But the cover isn’t something that would typically make me gravitate toward it. To me, it’s just a cover that kind of blends in with the background. Don’t get me wrong though the cover isn’t bad. It’s just not one that will grab my attention, but I do know it’ll grab a lot of other people’s attention.

I do have to admit that the book really grabs your attention from the get-go. It starts off kind of slow but its kind of a good thing. It builds up a lot of suspense toward the last half of the book.

Alex Donne does a really great job making you feel bad for Cecelia. At least she did a great job at it for me. It seems like a lot of books that I read anymore don’t really pack in the punch with the emotions. I don’t feel as bad for any of the characters even if bad things wind up happening to them. That’s partly why I really enjoyed Pretty Dead Queens. Alex makes them realistic and makes you root for them.

I would absolutely hate the idea of getting uprooted from a school that I have been to all of my life. Especially if I have friends there. I think I would hate it even more if I had to live with a grandma I didn’t really know about. I think I would probably really question why I didn’t know her.

It’s understandable that a lot of people wouldn’t question it and would just be happy that they have somewhere to stay. I think I probably think this way because I’m very close to my family. At least I’m pretty close to my immediate family. For the most part, we are pretty honest with each other. So I would know why exactly we aren’t close to someone that’s supposed to be a big part of our lives. So, I personally would question the heck out of it. But I guess not everyone is so lucky.

Despite the fact that I would really question it I still love the concept of this book. I won’t say any spoilers but it keeps you on your toes. I don’t think I was really able to guess how it was going to end or who the bad guy was. This is definitely going to be a book I reread in a year or two.

Pretty Dead Queens is a four-star read for me! I can’t wait to hear what you think about it.

If you enjoyed this book review then you may also like my book list of YA thrillers.