Monica Murphy

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.

Pretty Dead Girls

Okay this one actually surprised me. I was worried that it was going to be obvious and cringy because of its concept but I actually thought it was interesting. I had two guesses of who it was but was surprised that it wasn’t my first choice about things. There were a couple plot holes for me or I could have just missed it originally. I had no idea what I was getting into with this one but I actually enjoyed it, it may not have been the best academic thriller/slasher book I’ve read but it was still good time as I was going. 

Priscilla Stanfield

Fun quick thriller but not a lot of depth 

Zoey Novak

“A suspenseful, thrilling read that will keep you on pins and needles until the last page.” —Liezel and Angie's Book Blog 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.

Lacy W

A special thank you goes out to Entangled Teen for allowing me to read this early! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

What a fantastic first book of the new year. A murder mystery reminiscent of Scream Queens and Pretty Little Liars (the book series, not the TV show. We don't talk about the TV show). I was HOOKED from the first chapter. Completely blown away!

What made this book extra creepy was chapters from the killer in between chapters from the MC, Penelope. It added that extra level of scary and it completely threw me off everytime I thought I guessed who the killer was. Those chapters were what really gave this book all my stars. 

This book reminded me of Scream Queens and Pretty Little Liars, like I mentioned above. Confession time: I've only seen the first half hour of the first episode of Scream Queens. Monica Murphy did mention in her acknowledgments that she got inspiration for this book from Scream Queens and I totally see it because of the mean girl trope. However, I much prefer this book over that show. And prefer you all get nervous about the mean girl trope, let me tell you, it was a different spin on it. I won't say how but it was really well done. 

Penelope is a much more likable MC than those two and their MCs I mentioned above. She had a lot of growth in a short of amount of time, which is always a plus. But she still acted like a teenager, with her mood swings and attitude. But she was still kind and caring, under her facade of being a mean girl. I also liked the relationship between Cass and Penelope. It was adorable and there times I wanted to hit them in the head because well....they were being teenagers. I digress. They have worked their way into my heart. 

Truly this was a GREAT start to 2018. I am going to find more books by this author and put this one on my Amazon wishlist. It was just that good! I hope my 2018 is filled with more books like this. So, in conclusion, if you are looking for thrillers set in a high school setting, this is the book for you!

ps- isn't that cover just gorgeous!

laura

* I got this book from the publisher*
I thought this was a really engaging mystery. I really did enjoy the main character in this story and also the killer chapters we got. It added a creepy level to this mystery. I thought the book was fast pace and kept me wanting to read more. I also thought it addressed bullying and school issues in a pretty good way. I thought the characters other then the leads boy and girl could have been developed more. I think this book also has re-read appeal, to see the killer behavior throughout the book. If you like pretty little liars I think this mystery is up your alley!

Jackie

Disclaimer: I received an e-ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

I honestly forgot about reading last month so I'm a few days late - and reading multiple books at once - for actually reading and reviewing this one.

I was a little confused because the book is mostly set in Penelope's perspective but you also get the killer's perspective at times as well and the only way you can distinguish them is by the way certain text is written. It was right before the killer was revealed that I figured it out myself and I'll have to add up the pieces to figure out how the killer ended up being the killer.

If you know me, you know that I love a good romance and this one delivered! I was so pleased with the love story that was interwoven in this thriller!

I felt like I didn't get to know the junior Larks too much in this one and would have really loved to know more about them character wise along with a few other supporting character's in the story. We knew enough about Penny for it to be an enjoyable read but it was also enough for me to really want Ms. Murphy to expand on the storyline and maybe make it into a duology or series instead of a standalone because I'd really love to explore some of the characters more! Especially Cass as I found his back story to be extremely intriguing!

Pretty Dead Girls

Reviews