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Thanks to NetGalley and Entangled Teen for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Release Date: Available Now

300 Pages

Synopsis: Beautiful. Perfect. Dead.

In the peaceful seaside town of Cape Bonita, wicked secrets and lies are hidden just beneath the surface. But all it takes is one tragedy for them to be exposed.

The most popular girls in school are turning up dead, and Penelope Malone is terrified she’s next. All the victims so far have been linked to Penelope—-and to a boy from her physics class. The one she’s never really noticed before, with the rumored dark past and a brooding stare that cuts right through her.

There’s something he’s not telling her. But there’s something she’s not telling him either. 

Everyone has secrets, and theirs might get them killed.

I have to begin by saying that my rating and opinion of Pretty Dead Girls is definitely in the minority. The majority of readers on Goodreads are giving this 3-5 stars, so I’m left wondering what did I miss?

My main problem is with the characters. From the premise, I knew going in this was going to be similar to Mean Girls, only with a serial killer added in. But these girls weren’t just witchy. They were one dimensional and completely flat and I was rooting for the unknown killer for the entire book. 

The main character, Penelope, is the “It” girl of the school. Not quite a mean girl herself, she nonetheless surrounds herself with them and doesn’t really do anything to try to  curb their behavior. She’s too focused on eclipsing her older sister’s queen bee reputation. And when she’s not obsessing about that, she’s obsessing about this new, mysterious, and attractive fellow classmate. But wait. It turns out he’s not so new, she just hasn’t noticed him before. Just ugh. With such an inauspicious beginning I never bought into their romance.

The plot is okay, but I was disappointed in the big reveal because I had actually thought the villain would be someone else, who I would have found much more satisfying. As it was was, I was left with a “meh” feeling. I also felt the author did a lot more telling rather than showing, which was also irksome.

Pretty Dead Girls just wasn’t for me. I’m giving it two stars though because it was a quick read, although that might have been because by the time I was midway through the book, I was skimming. As I said though, there are a lot of positive reviews so if the premise interests you, I recommend you check this out for yourself.