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Wicked Darlings

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NATIONAL BESTSELLER From the author of The Revenge Game comes a twisty YA thriller about the underbelly of Manhattan's high society, where nothing is off-limits—not even murder.

Aspiring journalist Noa has a secret she's been keeping. Ever since her sister's tragic death, she's felt almost...relieved. Noa and Leah had been locked in competition with one another since childhood, and things came to a head when her sister scored a glitzy internship at a New York society newspaper. Noa can't help but revel in her new found autonomy.

But when she gets a lead about the sketchy circumstances surrounding her sister’s untimely death, she knows she needs to investigate−she owes it to Leah.

Noa sets out to infiltrate the seedy underbelly of Manhattan high society to investigate her sister’s final days. Along the way she finds herself entangled with the glamorous Avalons and their close-knit circle of friends and frienemies. But will Noa be able to resist the allure of the Avalons' world and uncover a shocking scandal. Or will she find herself in over her head...like Leah?

Audible Audio

First published February 11, 2025

66 people are currently reading
1553 people want to read

About the author

Jordyn Taylor

7 books329 followers
Jordyn Taylor is a New York City–based writer and journalist, currently the deputy editor at Men’s Health magazine; her work has appeared in the New York Observer, Mic, and Glamour.com.

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5 stars
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263 (36%)
3 stars
281 (38%)
2 stars
80 (10%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
Profile Image for Linzie (suspenseisthrillingme).
852 reviews921 followers
May 30, 2025
A fast-paced YA mystery/thriller filled with delicious twists and turns as well as some serious themes, Wicked Darlings was downright intoxicating from the very first word. From the perfectly integrated mixed media format to the smart, clever amateur sleuth, Taylor presented a plot that—while geared for young adults—worked just as well for the more mature crowd. Add in the wealthy, high-flying Manhattan setting and the Gossip Girls vibe, and there simply wasn’t much not to love in this quick, easy read. So much so, in fact, that I just so happened to inhale it cover to cover in one very quick sitting.

While the plot was an intriguing mystery packed full of unsettling secrets and lies, the characters were what grabbed me and didn’t let go. Especially Noa. Genuine and sincere but realistically flawed as well, her character arc made the plot come alive. As for the rest of the cast in this book, they were equally well-written. From Noa’s wealthy, new friends who quickly became more and more suspicious to the sweet romance subplot, I never really knew who to trust. Rounding out my love for this novel was the LGBTQ+ and Jewish representation that didn’t feel even the littlest bit forced and instead made them feel all too real.

The one tiny issue that bugged me just a bit was the open-ended conclusion. Then again, this is a quirk of my own at I’ve always preferred books that have neat, pretty, little bows to tie up the plot before the very last page. So perhaps it won’t irk you in the same way as it did me. After all, it was almost wrapped up—just not as conclusively as I might’ve hoped.

All in all, with a few shocking twists, plenty of rich people behaving badly, and a dysfunctional family dynamic at play, I couldn’t get enough of this YA/NA novel. Just be aware that some of the underlying topics were borderline adult. While not particularly graphic, they might be more explicit than what some parents would prefer that their children read. In that case, be sure to check my trigger list if so inclined. Regardless, however, I was very impressed by the depth of the story all while providing a fun, enigmatic mystery that managed to keep me in suspense from beginning to end. Rating of 4 stars.

SYNOPSIS:

Aspiring journalist Noa has a secret she's been keeping. Ever since her sister's tragic death, she's felt almost...relieved. Noa and Leah had been locked in competition with one another since childhood, and things came to a head when her sister scored a glitzy internship at a New York society newspaper. Noa can't help but revel in her new found autonomy.

But when she gets a lead about the sketchy circumstances surrounding her sister’s untimely death, she knows she needs to investigate−she owes it to Leah.

Noa sets out to infiltrate the seedy underbelly of Manhattan high society to investigate her sister’s final days. Along the way she finds herself entangled with the glamorous Avalons and their close-knit circle of friends and frienemies. But will Noa be able to resist the allure of the Avalons' world and uncover a shocking scandal. Or will she find herself in over her head...like Leah?

Thank you to Jordyn Taylor and Delacorte Press for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

PUB DATE: February 11, 2025

Content warning: death of a sibling, drinking and driving, sexual assault, mention of: suicide, drug overdose
Profile Image for ♡ A ♡.
732 reviews11 followers
December 29, 2024
Wicked Darlings follows Noa, an aspiring journalist with a secret: she’s relieved her sister died. Noa always felt her sister Leah was her competition and when she got a job at a society newspaper, stealing Noa’s longtime dream, she wasn’t all that upset when her sister died. But a year later, she finds out the circumstances surrounding Leah’s death isn’t what it seems and her supposed suicide might just have been murder. Noa infiltrates Manhattan’s high society to investigate and finds herself swept up in the glamourous Avalons’ and the seedy underbelly of their world as she risks everything for the truth.

This was a super fun mystery thriller! I loved the setting—anything set in NYC is always so fun and atmospheric. Its quite fast-paced and so easy to fly through. I read it in two sitting and found myself engaged the entire time. There were a couple minor twists I guessed but I didn’t see the big reveal at the end coming and was impressed with how it ended. I really liked the journalist narrative and loved the pieces of Leah’s time as a journalist sprinkled throughout.

The characters were really good and very distinct. There’s a decent size cast and it was really fascinating to see both perspectives of Noa (the outsider) and the high society rich people and how they move through the world. I also really liked that Noa was a very complicated character. She’s not someone I immediately rooted for as she seemed so callous about her sister, but also it was understandable that she felt the way she did. I really liked the nuance of her perspective and found her growth really well done and believable. I loved her friends and thought the romance subplot was really cute and sweet. I loved how everything ended.

Overall, if you love thrillers set in Manhattan about high society and journalists, this is definitely one you’ll want to pick up!

Thank you to Penguin Teen CA and Netgalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review!
Profile Image for Amélie.
181 reviews43 followers
March 9, 2025
Nett für Zwischendrin :)
Profile Image for Tracy Inzero.
18 reviews
July 4, 2025
All the characters were stereotypes. The stereotypical untouchable rich kids. The stereotypical young bisexuals and nonbinary New Yorkers. The stereotypical perfect older sister and jealous younger sister. The stereotypical detached parents. I was waiting for an original character.
Profile Image for Shannon.
8,324 reviews424 followers
February 10, 2025
A good YA revenge thriller that has a younger sister trying to uncover how her sister came to die from a drug overdose. Set in the cutthroat world of the privileged NYC elite, Noa gets a job interning at the newspaper where her sister works and worming her way into the inner circles hoping to figure out who killed her sister and why. Great on audio and perfect for fans of books like the Good girls guide to murder series. Many thanks to @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC in exchange for my honest review!
Profile Image for Natalie.
3,443 reviews121 followers
June 2, 2025
I really enjoy YA mysteries so I was excited for this book, as the main character is trying to figure out if her sister’s death was truly suicide or if she was murdered.

I liked seeing the main character infiltrate the lives of the Manhattan elite, even though the way she got their attention in the first place was a little ridiculous (tic tac toe, really?). There were some interesting twists and turns but the romance felt really out of place and came out of basically nowhere.

It’s definitely a quick read and I’d recommend it if you like YA thrillers.
Profile Image for Lauren | Wordsbetweenlines.
1,032 reviews19 followers
November 18, 2025
3.75 ⭐️

Sometimes all I want is a bingeable YA thriller. This was exactly what I needed. A quick palate cleanser that I enjoyed entirely as I read it.

Will I remember it all later? Probably not, but I enjoyed it during the moment and it got me out of a slumpy situation.

Oh, the book is about poorly behaved rich people, a dead girl, and the journalism she was working on before her death.
618 reviews53 followers
January 10, 2025
This was my second book by this author and unfortunately I think it’ll be my last. I had the same problem with the other one- it was extremely predictable and a little boring. I figured out what happened almost immediately, and I just did not care for any of the characters.

While my preferred genre IS young adult, I try not to read YA thrillers too much because of this. Points for including the transcripts I guess?
Profile Image for Kassidi.
50 reviews12 followers
September 2, 2024
Thank you, #Netgalley and Random House Children's Publishing, for allowing me to read an advanced copy of Jordyn Taylor's Wicked Darlings #WickedDarlings

Noa feels alive without her sister Leah around, but there are also moments where she feels incredibly ashamed that she feels that way. Why, you might ask yourself why she feels that way; well, her sister Leah committed suicide last year. As Noa's future in college at NYU approaches closer, she gets a feeling that something is not right with her parents or Leah's death. On the night before graduation, Noa finds Leah's phone in her parent's safe and goes through it. Her investigative journalism skills are kicking in, and she notices several alarming clues. So much so that she decided to pack up her things and go to New York City herself. Noa knows her sister Leah, and Leah wouldn't have killed herself. She lived her best life working at the Sentinel and reporting on multi-millionaires and their parties. Her mission is to go undercover with NYC's top elite society members, find out who murdered her sister, and get justice for her.

Although it is somewhat predictable, Wicked Darling's plot will keep you wanting to solve the mystery with Noa.
Disclaimers: Suicide, Murder, Sexual Assault, Grief (Stages of Grief), Mental Health
Profile Image for Raji.
856 reviews48 followers
March 10, 2025
Find this review and more on my blog at Worlds Unlike Our Own .

3.5 stars
Thank you to the publisher, Penguin Teen Canada, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When Noa’s older sister Leah died from an overdose, secretly, awfully, Noa wasn’t all that upset. They had always competed for everything since their childhood and things became worse when Leah got a coveted internship at a famous New York newspaper – something that was aspiring journalist Noa’s dream. A year after Leah’s death however, Noa finds some information on her phone that raise questions about how Leah died. As she begins to investigate, she realizes that the events surrounding that night aren’t all that straightforward after all, and she sets out to infiltrate the same Manhattan high society events that Leah reported on, meeting the influential Avalon family who seem to be at the centre of it all.

I haven’t picked up too many novels of this genre lately so I was really looking forward to this. The premise sounded intriguing and quite different from the other mysteries I’ve read in recent months.

It was so fascinating to follow Noa as she made her way into the Manhattan high society by befriending the Avalons, who she is certain have something to do with Leah’s death. It was such an interesting setting even more so due to the contrast between Noa’s perfectly ordinary everyday life and the circles she was infiltrating, which were ridiculously glamorous, but also filled with secrets, scandals and lies at every turn.

I liked that the book was presented in mixed media format, with regular narration, Leah’s journal excerpts, texts and voice notes. I’m not usually a fan of this format, but it worked really well for this story.

Some of the themes this book involved were a bit serious given that this is YA, but there was nothing particularly graphic.

This was a fast paced and thrilling read, and I basically flew through it. Though this was definitely a YA novel, the way it was written and presented made it something that even older readers would enjoy.

Noa wasn’t the most likeable character at first, but her arc was wonderfully written as she came to terms with her complicated feelings about her sister, also understanding herself better along the way.

There was quite a large cast of characters for a mystery novel, and though Noa’s was the only direct POV, each of them was distinct, well written, and left an impression.

The final chapter left the story a bit open-ended, but wrapped things up on a hopeful note, which I really liked. As for the big reveal of the mystery itself, I wasn’t a huge fan of how that went down. I knew I was in the last 10% of the book so it was definitely around the corner, but the way it happened felt rather abrupt to me, and perhaps a little too easy as well.

Overall, Wicked Darlings was a fun read. Though there were aspects where I wished the execution had been handed differently, it was an entertaining story and I would recommend it to fans of the genre, regardless of what age group you prefer to read.
Profile Image for michaela .
5 reviews
Read
August 16, 2025
This was such a fun read. Came across it super randomly, and it doesn't seem to be well known, but I definitely think it deserves more recognition. It was the perfect length, with a solid plot that was unravelling at the right pace, nothing too slow or too fast-paced. It's set in a Gossip girl upper east side setting but sprinkled with a little thrill from the murder mystery that is trying to be solved. We all know I love a little gossip girl moment with some death and drama, so I can safely say it was a fun page turner.
Profile Image for PinkAmy loves books, cats and naps .
2,738 reviews251 followers
February 13, 2025
Aspiring journalist Noa has complicated feelings about her older sister’s presumed suicide. She sets out to investigate what actually happened, thrusting her into the world of the uber wealthy, so wealthy they can buy their way out of trouble.

I like Jordyn Taylor’s word building and storytelling. WICKED DARLINGS is a propulsive mystery that I enjoyed from start to finish. I’m not going to list what prevented me from giving a full five stars as I’m a lot older than teenagers to whom the book is geared and what bothered me probably wouldn’t bother them.
Profile Image for Vicki.
516 reviews35 followers
February 9, 2025
Sounds cliche but I was seriously hooked from this book right from the start. It gave major gossip girl meets good girls guide to murder vibes. I didn’t see the ending coming but I loved everything about it and the journey to the end! Such a good book.
Profile Image for Ghostly Writer.
388 reviews5 followers
November 5, 2025
Was good, but not my favourite! I was hooked at points, but I had some good guesses at who was going to be responsible.
Profile Image for shana.
103 reviews
December 29, 2025
Actual Rating: 2.5
Someone please give me back those hours I spent on this book. Actually, nevermind, I had too much fun hating on it (hence the .5)
Profile Image for Sophie.
138 reviews
June 29, 2025
4.25 Stars ✨

Thoroughly enjoyed my time reading this. The perfect book to get you out of a reading slump.
Profile Image for Bob Box.
3,164 reviews25 followers
December 1, 2025
Good YA murder mystery. Solid characters and snappy dialog.
108 reviews1 follower
June 20, 2025
3.5 stars. My one confusion:
The name Leah. Lee-uh or Ley-uh? I decided on Lee-uh.
It was a really good book.
Profile Image for Haley Sparks.
455 reviews29 followers
February 23, 2025
Jordyn Taylor always delivers what I need her to deliver. This was not memorable and the whole thing was very predictable, but it was fun. I crushed it in a day, appreciated it for getting me out of a slump, and will definitely pick up whatever she writes next.

My biggest complaint was that it wasn’t set at a boarding school like her last 2, but maybe I’m the only person in the world that cares that much about a boarding school book.

637 reviews3 followers
July 26, 2025
Noa's sister committed suicide a year ago. they were never close, always in competition with each other. a few days before the suicide, they got into a big fight and were not talking to each other. so the eve of the suicide, Leah reached out to Noa for help regarding an abusive work behavior she was trying to deal with but Noah ignored the text. guilt has been her motivating factor for the past year. so she moves to new york to retrace her sister's last year only to find she was murdered by the owner of the company she was working for to silence her for her son's abusive behavior towards her.

noa is 18 during the timing of this story. i didn't realize it was a YA book until i started reading it.
Profile Image for Caroline.
193 reviews2 followers
May 28, 2025
Before reading this book, I would have liked the blurb to be more specific about the deep content in the novel, as I was not prepared for some of the hard topics. Noa's complicated relationship with Leah was well portrayed, but the large number of side characters with overlapping plots made it confusing to determine whether or not someone was associated with Leah's death or Noa's own development. I wished more time was spent with Zayn and Ivy; they softened out the darkness of the book and made Noa a more positive person.
Profile Image for Audra.
5 reviews1 follower
July 23, 2025
DNF

I got about 50 pages in….I kept waiting for the main character to say or do something ANYTHING to make this book worth reading-but zilch, nada, nope. She was a spoiled self absorbed brat and yes I get that is probably the point but I literally could not take her whining one more second.

And WHY ON EARTH was this book in the tween/teen section of my library?? There are very mature themes from the get-go of this book and absolutely NO trigger warnings for suicide and depression. I get that it’s a mystery/thriller-but come on now!! This should not be considered a book for teenagers.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Tabby {Genie in a Novel}.
316 reviews59 followers
February 7, 2025
Wicked Darlings is basically Gossip Girl meets murder mystery, so I was definitely intrigued by the premise of it. However, this book fell short for me. I think the problem is that it seemed rushed all the way through. The suspects changed so quickly because Noa was quick to suspect everyone her sister had contact with. Overall, I just didn't really vibe with this book.

Thanks to NetGalley for a digital ARC of this book to review.
Profile Image for Elisabeth Loya.
Author 5 books2 followers
September 22, 2025
It started out ok, and I really tried to like it, but I ultimately had to put it down without finishing it. The MC was petty, selfish, and overall unlikeable. It took forever to get to the "inciting incident", which could have been put much closer to the beginning and skipped a lot of whining. Finally, there was no mention of LGTBQ themes in the description, but they're very heavy-handed. Not at all what I thought I was getting when I picked it up.
Profile Image for Maria.
339 reviews
June 24, 2025
Meh. Did not love the characters and the story line kind of fizzled. There was no true mystery about who the main villain truly was. It was basic and kind of boring.
12 reviews
July 31, 2025
Very predictable but fairly paced
Profile Image for JJ.
2,393 reviews10 followers
November 7, 2025
This was a terrible character, in a premise impossible to suspend disbelief for. Like all the worst parts of Gossip Girl with a really bad mystery.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews

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