Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for providing this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Makeup and haircare products are scattered across lighted tables. Dresses and costumes are strewn everywhere. Giggles and the clack of heels carry down the hall. The air hums with camaraderie and hope, but there is a current of sabotage underneath it all. Something dark hangs over the event—it is a beauty pageant, after all. And in a community where the pageant has been synonymous with catastrophe and unsolved mysteries for the past 25 years, will this golden anniversary bring redemption, or bloodshed?
Kelsey Cox’s sophomore release, Pretty Dead Things, is the follow-up I did not know I needed after being blown away by Party of Liars last year—our Book of the Quarter for Q1 2025 and Book of the Month for March 2025. Cox became an instant must-buy author for me after that book, and her follow-up proves exactly why she should be on your list, too. This novel follows multiple generations of women in small-town Texas as they navigate the social ins and outs of pageant life, the heartbreak of friendships turned foul, and the betrayals of parents. It will keep you guessing until the final pages and stay with you long after your final float down the river with these women.
I give Pretty Dead Things 4 out of 5 stars. I loved this book, though it took several chapters before I fully settled in. With that said, I appreciate the way Cox handles topics like bullying, substance abuse, mental illness, and more with grace and humanity. Much like her first book, these characters feel like the neighbors I grew up around in my own small town—flawed, but real. They are the kind of people who show up when you need them, but whom you might not trust once they are out of earshot. Set against the backdrop of a winter storm that feels entirely realistic, the property and weather become as vivid as the people, adding a layer of drama that blew me away. As slow as the first third was, I stayed up late to read the rest in one sitting because it completely captivated me.
With physical violence and allusions to sexual assault, this book may not be suitable for all audiences. If you are a mom to teens, you will likely recognize many of these characters, and your book club may find plenty to discuss here. If you love recent releases where the setting and history become as central as the people—like Rachel Hawkins’ The Storm or Isabella Valeri’s The Prodigal Daughter—you are going to love this novel.
Pretty Dead Things will release on July 7, 2026, and is available for preorder now in our Bookshop.org store.
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What I’m Reading
- Current print book: One Summer in Savannah, Terah Shelton Harris
- Current audio book: Brighter Than Before, Courtney Walsh
- Book I’m most looking forward to: God’s Country, William Kent Krueger
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