Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Ivies by Alexa Donne

3 reviews

sniggy's review

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

so, i just finished this. there are a few things
1. the writing
it felt kind of forced to like connect with modern audiences. there were some weird words and phrases .

2. the plot
just like what!!???!??!? the plot was interesting to say the least. there were loads of  things that were left unexplained. the things that were explained were just not explained well at all.

3. the love interest 
what was happening with Ethan, i have no idea. like he was helping Olivia figure things out and then suddenly he was into Harvard and  had been test taking for Emma's scam business. didn't like his character at all.

4. predictability 
many of the subplots were predictable for me. like there was no surprise aspect at all. 

5. the murderer
the motive was terrible. like did not make sense at all why that happened. mc was saying throughout the book that it's always the boyfriend and guess what? IT WAS THE BOYFRIEND!!!!!!!!!!

6. Olivia 
Olivia's character was bland. it was giving pick me energy. saying things like 'i will never fit in' 'i will never be one of them' i'm not like them' like just shut up!!!

7.the names 
the first thing i look at in a book is names. the names in this book were so basic. eg: Olivia, Avery, Sierra, Ethan, Paul, Emma, Tyler. 

8. NOTHING HAPPENED!
also nothing happened. in most murder mysteries there are so many twists and turns but i felt like nothing really was happening. usually in books like these, there is so much information that you forget but not in this. all the 'MC almost getting killed' part was also bland and felt forced.

9. tropes 
plus, all the basic murder mystery tropes were there.

10. just a me thing 
covid-19 was mentioned in this. like its not a bad thing but it was kind of just glossed over. i think i just don't like it when authors put real life events into books.





apart from all that negativity i think the story was really fun and interesting and an out of the box idea.  


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potatoyeetedtospace's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious 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

4.75

I LOVED THIS BOOK!! It is so insightful and I loved all of the twists and turns the author has made.

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cepbreed's review

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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)

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