The Debutantes by Olivia Worley

I received this book for free from NetGalley to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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Jessica Goodman meets The Agathas in this taut, twisty YA thriller set in the glittering world of Mardi Gras in New Orleans, where secrets--and bodies--never stay buried.

For the New Orleans elite, the Les Masques Ball is sure to be the social event of the season—if they can avoid another dead Queen. When debutante Margot Landry was found dead the morning after her reign at last year’s ball, it was a tragedy, but not a shocking one. Margot was a wild child with a self-destructive streak, nothing like this year’s Queen, Lily LeBlanc. With a perfectly poised debutante on the throne, everything is going according to plan...until the ball is hijacked by a mysterious figure in a Jester costume. That night, Lily sends a text to three of the Maids on her royal court—her best friend, Vivian; her boyfriend's sister, Piper; and April, her former frenemy—asking them all to meet the next morning. But Lily never shows up.

On the surface, these three debutantes don’t have anything in common except their exclusive private school and their ties to Les Masques. But soon, they realize why Lily brought them together: something dark is lurking beneath the glamorous surface of the debutante world, and it might be the reason she disappeared. And the further the girls dig, the more they begin to suspect that Margot's death may not have been an accident—and that Lily may be next. When the Jester starts threatening to expose their own secrets, this unlikely trio must team up to uncover the monsters behind the Mardi Gras masks—before they’re left with another dead debutante.

When I chose to read The Debutantes by Olivia Worley, I did so based purely on the cover. I love the cover to this book so much, even though I can’t exactly tell you why. It just jumped out at me as something I should read. And my intuition was spot-on.

The Debutantes is what Pretty Little Liars would have been if it was set in New Orleans. Dead and missing friends, danger, secrets being exposed, mysterious masked people…. Yep, Pretty LIttle Liars in New Orleans backed by Krewe culture and, to an extent, Debutante culture. Honestly, that’s one of the reasons I loved it so much. I loved Pretty Little Liars.

Reading this book kept me on my toes. I didn’t want to put it down, and honestly, I stayed up until 6AM to finish it! It was so easy to read, so easy to follow that I just didn’t want to stop reading. That’s one of the ways in which it differs from Pretty Little Liars – you won’t need a spreadsheet to keep track of what’s going on. Also, The Debutantes won’t need sixteen books to wrap everything up – it was all wrapped up neatly at the end. Or was it?

The ending was amazing and wrapped the book up well. Does it wrap the full story up? It actually could. But could there be more books? I think there could, if Ms. Worley wants there to be more books. I’m sure there’s a way to add a sequel or two to this plot.

As for the characters, I really enjoyed Vivian and April. I wasn’t as much of a fan of Piper’s, mostly because she drove me crazy with the way she behaves. However, I didn’t like Lily at all. Granted, we don’t see a lot of her, but she just doesn’t seem to be a genuine person in this story. She isn’t sincere in anything she says or does and it just bugs me.

I gave this book five stars because it was an excellent book that made me want to keep reading – even after it was over. I hope to read more from Ms. Worley in the future!