WoW: Pretty Dead Things by Kelsey Cox

This bookish meme tells the blogosphere what we’re waiting patiently (and sometimes not so patiently) for! It’s hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine!

Secrets emerge as a Texas beauty pageant turns deadly in this rich and addictive novel with a jaw-dropping twist from psychological suspense author Kelsey Cox.

2000: Isabelle Whitmore vanishes at Sherman Ranch in Anhalt, Texas, without a trace.

2025: The annual Lone Star Princess Pageant looms, bringing long-standing grudges to the surface. Ingrid fled Anhalt in the wake of her sister Isabelle’s disappearance and has now returned, just in time for a construction crew to start digging up Sherman Ranch; the pageant brings up past traumas that Melanie can’t forget; Cat, newly sober, starts to feel threatened in ways that bring back old demons; and Sarah Lynn, who comes from a long line of pageant winners, knows tha0t losing is not an option.

When old resentments and new confrontations reach their boiling point, temperatures drop to deadly degrees as a record-setting storm brings down the state’s power grid. With everyone trapped under one roof, scores will be settled, and more than one person will end up dead.

Some secrets are better left buried.

Expected Publication: Minotaur Books
Published by: July 7, 2026

Why I’m Waiting: I actually just finished a different thriller that was also set in Texas. That one was about cheerleaders, this one is about the pageant scene which is also big here. I can’t wait to get my hands on this one! Knowing how crazy these pageants get, I know I’m going to love this! It’s bound to be a ton of drama and messiness lol And if it’s anything like her last book, there’s someone who won’t make it to the end. And I need to know who it is and why!

What about you? Have you read anything by this author? What do you think of the cover? Let me know in the comments!