Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

The Ivies by Alexa Donne

7 reviews

greenlivingaudioworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Infidelity, Toxic relationship, Murder, Death, Grief, Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Classism, Toxic friendship, Rape, and Racism

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

The book was a great mix of commentary on class, race, and college admissions mixed with a mystery/thriller. Parts of the mystery's conclusion were pretty obvious to me. But the final part wasn't as obvious. 

I have to agree with the statement in the article from near the end but I think the obsession with Ivy League admissions is partly the students and partly the parents. It's gotten WAY out of control. I mean an Ivy League diploma depending on what you plan to do means almost nothing, and if you're not rich and don't get enough finical aid you're saddled with more debt when you could have gotten the same quality of education at certain state schools without all the debt. We need to stop this nonsense.

Overall a good book!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Bullying, Death, Toxic friendship, Classism, Grief, Sexism, Infidelity, Cursing, Racism, and Gun violence

Moderate: Toxic relationship

onthesamepage's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I had a pretty good time with this. The characters were compelling, there was some very juicy drama, and the writing style was engaging. Some of the twists I saw coming, but others were a total surprise, which is always nice, especially because the author played with a few generalizations and managed to surprise me with the character growth.

Where this fell apart for me was the ending; both the motivation of the killer, and the way the reveal was set up, just didn't make sense to me.

Olivia thinks she knows who the killer is (she's wrong), finds the actual killer (who she doesn't suspect), tells them that she knows who it is, at which point the killer pulls a gun on her, even though she wasn't suspecting them. Just...why? They could have gotten away with it. I just didn't buy the way it happened.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying

Moderate: Gun violence and Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Infidelity

sistershelves_fasya's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder

Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Infidelity

collinsd's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Bullying, Classism, and Cursing

Minor: Death, Incest, and Infidelity

cepbreed's review

dark funny mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

My love for this book really crept up on me, originally I wasn't into the long exposition and drivel about another classic pack of mean girls but when the action picked up I was fully head over heels. The characters were unlikable and gritty, everyone is a suspect, and no one can be trusted. It falls into so many of those YA mystery novel tropes, but does them well enough to stay interesting. All of this really hit home for me though, and I literally mean home. I live so close to where all of this fictional action is taking place, and my brother is attending one of the cut throat colleges mentioned early on, its insane. Plus I'm a senior this year so admissions are my current hell.

Why try and redeem Avery at all? It would've been much better leaving her as a completely irredeemable bitch instead of changing her character to help the one-note-poor-girl MC. She was meant to be bad, they all were, even the MC, so I felt no remorse for any (minimal) consequences they received.

Songs: 

• Bang Bang Bang Bang - Sohodolls
• Are You Satisfied? - Marina and the Diamonds
• Teacher’s Pet - Melanie Martinez 
• Boarding School - Lana Del Rey (unreleased)

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Gun violence, Homophobia, and Incest

heytherekaity's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Review to be published on kaitplusbooks.com later this month!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Toxic relationship, and Violence