Pretty Dead Girls Spoiler Free Review

Pretty Dead Girls 
by Monica Murphy

Release Date: January 2nd, 2017

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 isn't telling her. But there's something she's not telling him, either.

Everyone has secrets, and theirs might get them killed.

My Thoughts:

I received an ARC through Netgalley

I gave this book 4.5 stars. I’m not much of a mystery reader as I have terrible patience, but I loved this book.

I really enjoyed this book, a lot more than I thought I would. I mean, I guessed who the killer was about halfway through the book, but this didn’t diminish my enjoyment. What made me love it more was the fact that the author says she was inspired by Scream Queens, a show I love. 

I originally thought this book was going to go in the direction of Heathers, because, if you’ve ever seen Heathers and read the synopsis of this book, you know it’s not a hard conclusion to jump to. There’s also the fact that we saw some moments from the murders point of view, but it’s in first person along with our protagonist, so at first, you think they are the same person. At least I did as there was no indication of any shift in perspective, that is maybe the one thing I disliked about this book. You don’t know that the perspective has changed until someone dies.

I’ve read Monica Murphy’s books before, but only ever her romances. I have to say that her transition into Young Adult was well done. I may even like this book more than any of her other novels.

Cass had so much past and I loved hearing about it, I do wish we could have found out more about what happened with his parents, but I guess they never had time to fully breach the subject so I will forgive them. Cass was also very adorable. He had these moments where he would get so excited or smug or just have these bursts of charisma that I found engaging. 

I still can’t decide if I like Penelope. I don’t dislike her, but she definitely isn’t my favorite character. She had moments that I found unreliable as she is supposed to be this spoiled rich girl, but she still managed to be down to earth at the same time. It really depended on what was happening in her life.

I would highly suggest reading this if you love YA contemporary romances and maybe want to try reading more mysteries. It’s not a cozy read mystery, more like a thriller mystery, but it’s still a good one.