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emilyrose23's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying
Moderate: Death and Murder
lujisa's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Bullying
tealikestoread's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Cursing, Murder, Blood, Classism, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Drug use
annieslibrary's review
emotional
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Rape, Violence, Murder, Alcohol, Death, Pedophilia, Misogyny, Grief, Gaslighting, Bullying, and Adult/minor relationship
hgoode's review
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Good but not great. I wouldn't want to read it again. One of the twist was 100% shocking but the end twist wasn't. There wasn't enough character growth for my taste of reading. I also couldn't make myself care about the characters. To the point where I didn't care if Olivia was wrongfully arrested. The writing was good, the storytelling was good it just wasn't my kind of book. I am interested in reading another book my alexa donne though.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
eleanorefiore's review
mysterious
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
✨ Engaging
✨ Struggled just a bit with the writing style
✨ Infuriating in the best way possible
The Ivies is so incredibly engaging. There’s so many mystery threads for you to follow, and as they came together they made one big picture. All the hints were there and I loved following them and putting the pieces together afterwards.
The main mystery—the murder—was probably the least interesting out of all of them, but I still liked the set up and pay off. I know it won’t appeal to everyone. I’m putting spoiler thoughts at the bottom.
Olivia was fine. I didn’t love her, but I have no reason to complain. She doesn’t grow, necessarily, but she’s a good vessel for a mystery novel—unobtrusive, but interesting enough. She makes sensible decisions and there’s also plenty of time to explore the rest of the cast.
I think the setting was a big reason I liked it. I tend not to like teens written by grown adults, but the fact that it’s in a rich, private boarding school makes it seem like a whole other world. And some of the things I usually mind make sense in that setting.
The ending is infuriating, but not in a bad way. The whole book is about rich white kids—it’s hard to be in that world and not get angry at how rules are just suggestions to them. But it’s not unrealistic and because of that I don’t count my annoyance as a negative.
I know some people will be like “it’s ALWAYS the boyfriend!” but like....yeah, it is. As an avid watcher of true crime...I'm so used to it it's not even funny.
I had a feeling right at the beginning, when they were reading the text about how not to trust any men, and then Avery made a snarky comment about her stepbrother.
I don’t know if his motivation completely sticks right with me, but the truth is that this book was never about who killed Emma. It was Olivia uncovering ALL the lies and mysteries at Claflin.
Also low-key I loved how she told you in the beginning not to trust any men. Because I’d get attached to Ethan, but there was always a thought in the back of my head that maybe that wasn’t right. And it all played out and it was just perfect!
✨ Struggled just a bit with the writing style
✨ Infuriating in the best way possible
The Ivies is so incredibly engaging. There’s so many mystery threads for you to follow, and as they came together they made one big picture. All the hints were there and I loved following them and putting the pieces together afterwards.
The main mystery—the murder—was probably the least interesting out of all of them, but I still liked the set up and pay off. I know it won’t appeal to everyone. I’m putting spoiler thoughts at the bottom.
Olivia was fine. I didn’t love her, but I have no reason to complain. She doesn’t grow, necessarily, but she’s a good vessel for a mystery novel—unobtrusive, but interesting enough. She makes sensible decisions and there’s also plenty of time to explore the rest of the cast.
I think the setting was a big reason I liked it. I tend not to like teens written by grown adults, but the fact that it’s in a rich, private boarding school makes it seem like a whole other world. And some of the things I usually mind make sense in that setting.
The ending is infuriating, but not in a bad way. The whole book is about rich white kids—it’s hard to be in that world and not get angry at how rules are just suggestions to them. But it’s not unrealistic and because of that I don’t count my annoyance as a negative.
I had a feeling right at the beginning, when they were reading the text about how not to trust any men, and then Avery made a snarky comment about her stepbrother.
I don’t know if his motivation completely sticks right with me, but the truth is that this book was never about who killed Emma. It was Olivia uncovering ALL the lies and mysteries at Claflin.
Also low-key I loved how she told you in the beginning not to trust any men. Because I’d get attached to Ethan, but there was always a thought in the back of my head that maybe that wasn’t right. And it all played out and it was just perfect!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug use, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Note on drug abuse TW: There is a lot of talk about some of the characters adding things to others' drinks—like laxatives and adderall—without their consent or knowledge. I wasn't sure what to label it, but the true trigger warning should say "drugging others without their knowledge".annaem's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
isabella_ramensky's review
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
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
4.0
So I read this book because of Alexa’s youtube channel and was not disappointed.
I am a little younger than the girls in this book and go to school in America so I related to them on a lot of levels. College stuff and whatnot.
A lot of the plot twists were predictable but not in a bad way, in a everything fits together way. And figuring it out was fun.
I thought some of the slang fell a bit flat. Considering the author is older than her characters it makes sense though. mostly I laughed and cringed a tad when something felt off. only happened a few times though.
SPOILERS BELOW:
I liked how you still didn’t really know who it was until Olivia found Tyler’s computer.
On that note though, I got while reading that he mentioned Emma being strangled and it was a little infuriating watching Olivia not notice. I feel like she did that a lot which makes sense as a character thing I guess but still.
Also I ended up loving Avery (which I didn’t expect) even though her getting away unscathed and going to Princeton annoyed me so much.
I was pretty disappointed in what happened with Ethan. I mean I guess that was the point but I really liked how he and Olivia worked together. I mean he was a little cringy and the Harry Potter line was weird considering the age of the characters. Nobody talks about it super much.
I wasn’t super satisfied with Tyler’s motives and confession either. Not sure why, but something was missing. <spoiler end>
Also, I liked Olivia and the detective’s conversations.
Overall I really liked this book.
I am a little younger than the girls in this book and go to school in America so I related to them on a lot of levels. College stuff and whatnot.
A lot of the plot twists were predictable but not in a bad way, in a everything fits together way. And figuring it out was fun.
I thought some of the slang fell a bit flat. Considering the author is older than her characters it makes sense though. mostly I laughed and cringed a tad when something felt off. only happened a few times though.
SPOILERS BELOW:
On that note though, I got while reading that he mentioned Emma being strangled and it was a little infuriating watching Olivia not notice. I feel like she did that a lot which makes sense as a character thing I guess but still.
Also I ended up loving Avery (which I didn’t expect) even though her getting away unscathed and going to Princeton annoyed me so much.
I was pretty disappointed in what happened with Ethan. I mean I guess that was the point but I really liked how he and Olivia worked together. I mean he was a little cringy and the Harry Potter line was weird considering the age of the characters. Nobody talks about it super much.
I wasn’t super satisfied with Tyler’s motives and confession either. Not sure why, but something was missing. <spoiler end>
Also, I liked Olivia and the detective’s conversations.
Overall I really liked this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, and Death
Moderate: Alcohol, Violence, Racism, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Gun violence, Outing, Incest, and Eating disorder
cherryhayburn's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Incest
helenlittle's review
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- 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
3.0
A fun, easy thriller with plenty of scandal and fast-paced plot to keep me reading. The US college admissions system was a unique and interesting backdrop for a murder mystery, and while I would have loved an even deeper and darker analysis of the elitism, nepotism, and classism in higher education, the depth of exploration of those themes in this book felt appropriate for the plot and tone. I imagine this would be a topical and entertaining read for any teens navigating college apps, but as someone who did that 10 years ago at a public high school, I felt a little too old and outside the target audience to fully enjoy this book, hence the 3 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic friendship
Moderate: Murder and Pedophilia