Sidekick Short Review: The Debutantes (2024) by Olivia Worley

cover image of The Debutantes by Olivia Worley, published by Wednesday Books, 2024.

The Basics

Page Length: 352

Audiobook Length: ~10.5 hours

Reading Level: Grade10+

Target Audience: 13-18

Goodreads Score: 3.63 out of 5

Buy it HERE

Setting: New Orleans, Present Day

Genre: Mystery, Thriller

Topics: Mardi Gras, Debutante Ball, Masquerade, Missing Person, Racial Injustice

Plot: It’s Christmas time in New Orleans, which means the most glamorous event of the year is here: the annual Les Masques Debutante Ball. Only the city’s most elite are invited, and one lucky maid is crowned queen. But last year’s queen was found dead right after her coronation. At first, it was ruled an overdose—until this year’s queen also goes missing. That’s when some of the maids begin to suspect something darker is at play.

Before she vanishes, Lily LeBlanc sends a desperate text to three other maids, pulling them into a frantic search to find her before it’s too late. There’s Vivian, her best friend and a popular soccer star; April, an introverted photographer who resents being forced into the debutante lifestyle; and Piper, the perfect Southern belle—and twin sister of Lily’s boyfriend—who seems to fit effortlessly into the world of high society. They aren’t friends, but circumstances force them together in a race against time.

As they investigate, the girls are stalked and threatened by a masked figure—a jester—who promises to expose their deepest secrets if they don’t back off. The deeper they dig, the more they uncover. There is an underground world of corruption, racism, and misogyny woven into the very fabric of their society. Behind the glittering masks of New Orleans’ elite lies a network of dangerous secrets—and the girls quickly realize the world they’ve been raised in is far more sinister than they ever imagined.

You might like this book if you like:

• Photography or attending elegant, glamorous parties

• Books like Ace of Spades, They Wish They Were Us, The Meadowbrook Murders, This Book Kills

• Shows like Pretty Little Liars, One of Us is Lying (also a book), Riverdale, Cruel Summer

• Movies like Heathers, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Do Revenge

  
  

Other books written by this author: People to Follow, Final Cut

Content

• Language: Mild use throughout

• Sex/Romance: There is romance in this book, but it's definitely not the focus. Just sprinkles throughout. There is nothing sexually graphic, but there is a relationship between an adult and a minor.

• Violence/Scariness: Characters discover a girl has been murdered. Characters are chased, kidnapped, and held in confinement. In one scene, a girl is cut with a knife by her kidnapper. There is arson, and death in the fire.

• Drinking/Smoking/Drugs: Teenage smoking, drinking, and drug use are all mentioned, even if very briefly.

Book Talk Read Aloud Section

*What is a book talk? (Watch a how to video here. Read my blog post here)

If you have the physical book, read chapter 1 (pages 1-4).

If you don't, read pages1-4 in the kindle reading sample here.