The Debutantes: A Novel by Olivia Worley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
In the boisterous Southern city of New Orleans, Les Masques Ball is the highlight of the Mardi Gras season for the elite.
The morning after last year’s Ball, the reigning Queen, Margot, was found dead. Margot had a bit of a wild streak, so to some, it wasn’t a particularly shocking development. That sounds mean, but you know how people speculate.
Nevertheless, it was a tragedy and going into this year’s Ball, the new class of debutantes definitely hold Margot’s fate close to their minds and hearts.
Lily is to be this year’s Queen though and she’s absolutely perfect. There’s no way she would get into the type of circumstance that Margot must have found herself in last year. The event should go off without a hitch.
Unfortunately, the Ball gets crashed by a mysterious figure in a Jester costume, threatening those involved.
After the event disperses, Lily sends a message to the three other girls in her royal court, Vivian, Piper and April, asking if they could meet up the next day. But Lily never shows up.
Now the three remaining girls need to try to figure out why Lily wanted to bring them all together and what happened to her. Also, is this connected with Margot’s death?
What is going on here?
The Debutantes is a dramatic and tense YA Thriller, with plenty to keep the Reader on their toes.
I loved the New Orleans setting and the immersion into Debutante culture. It was fascinating and steeped in mystery. I loved the vibes from start to finish.
At first, I’ll admit, it was a little difficult for me to differentiate among all the characters.
The author worked it out though. It’s tough having that many girls involved and keeping them straight. Once I did though, and started to really learn their various personalities and backgrounds, it was so compelling.
There were many entertaining twists, a couple of the jaw-dropping variety, that left me reeling. Additionally, I loved how Worley continued to build up the intensity and intrigue. This was a tough one to put down.
I also felt like the conclusion was very strong. That final chapter was the cherry on the sundae for me. It helped it all become a little more clear. Bravo on that.
This is the first that I have read from Olivia Worley, but from this, I can tell that I will definitely be picking up more of her work. This style of YA Thriller suits my tastes to a tee.
Thank you to the publisher, Wednesday Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I would recommend this to any YA Thriller fan!