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laurenevlyn's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Toxic friendship, Murder, Cursing, and Death
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Rape, Racism, Outing, and Pedophilia
phantastic's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
No one is absolutely good, no one is absolutely evil, and people are always hiding parts of themselves from others. The characters are deeply flawed, and yet that’s what makes them realistic.
The Ivies does its job well, and I’ll certainly be left reflecting for a long time.
Graphic: Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Cursing, Classism, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Bullying, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Incest, Gun violence, Rape, Eating disorder, Outing, and Homophobia
myleesimm's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Graphic: Eating disorder, Racism, Homophobia, Outing, Murder, and Gun violence
sniggy's review
- 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
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.
Graphic: Bullying, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Cursing, Death, Grief, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Outing, Racism, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Classism, Gun violence, Outing, and Sexual assault
isabella_ramensky's review
- 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
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.
Graphic: Murder, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Gaslighting, and Death
Moderate: Alcohol, Violence, Racism, and Adult/minor relationship
Minor: Gun violence, Outing, Incest, and Eating disorder