e-Audio, 09:51:41
Narrated by: Phoebe Strole
Release Date: October 4, 2022
Published by: Crown
Read from: October 18-21, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: PRH Audio (I received a copy of this book from the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
TW: Murder, Death, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Mention of an adult/minor relationship (teacher), Death of parent, Drug Abuse (Weed) and Alcohol Abuse (Minors)
For Readers Interested In: Realistic Fiction. Thriller, Mystery, Teen Detectives, YASeaview High’s homecoming queen is dead . . . and she’s not the first. From the critically acclaimed author of The Ivies comes a nonstop thriller about a decades-old mystery, a copycat killing, and the teen who won’t stop until she discovers the truth.
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.
*MY THOUGHTS*
Although this book sounded like a multitude of other books (prom queens with murder) I was still intrigued enough by the synopsis to take a peek at it. I will ALWAYS read a book about books. This one didn’t stand out until the very end tho. Once you finish it you’ll understand why. It was all just really weird.
Ok so there’s so many books about prom queens out there, so I was interested, but I waited a little until reviews started pouring in so I could gage their reaction and decide if I still wanted to read it. (I had also heard about this author’s involvement in the incident with B&N and the author who called out what they’ll be buying for the public and disregarding that woman of color’s feelings on the matter.) But after hearing an apology and hearing mostly good things, I decided it was ok to try. (I’ve never read this author before.) So anyway, I thought it was ok. It had a grandmother who was a super famous author. They live in a small town and everyone knows her and the books she wrote that were based on a real murder. But suddenly things start happening again, and either the killer is back, or there’s a copy cat amongst them.
The mystery was pretty good. I never caught on to who the killer was. Well I kinda did but not really. Once some things came up I had changed my mind, but then it turned out I was right all along lol It was also hard to pinpoint who it was because of the way she made sure certain secrets weren’t told until certain points in the story. And like I love seeing things unfold, but I did feel like it took too long until she started finding things out. There is A LOT of back story here, and tho it may set the stage for the rest of the story, as a mystery/thriller reader, it got a little boring. I found myself pushing through to “get to the good part” if that makes sense. But once it got going, it was fine.
The characters were all over the place. Some I liked and others I didn’t. But the main character, Cecelia was a boss tho. I am usually not impressed with Teens as Detectives, because it’s usually some weird ass coincidence that happens and lets them get access to materials or clues way too easily, but this wasn’t the case in this one. She was really working off the strength of being a reader and being observant. It was actually really refreshing to read about a teen detective who didn’t have it easy or really have anything really handed to them. And in the case she did and I don’t remember it, I don’t remember it so that’s a good sign lol To me anyway.
The narrator also did a great job. I’ve listened to a couple things by them, so maybe that’s why I was hooked from the beginning. It was an easy listen and I enjoyed hearing all the character’s voices she came up with while she was being each one. It really made it that much more enjoyable. And it was easy for me to turn the speed up to more than my usual 2.0 and still understand what was going on. It was just an all around good performance.
This was your typical prom queen with murder but also not. Definitely one to check out if you want to see the twist and the weird turn this one takes. If you read it, be sure to stop by and tell me what you think!
Overall, I give this
