Reviews

The Ivies by Alexa Donne

judywang2's review

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5.0

insane that i know this happened irl

amelia_m3llark's review

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2.75

I was so invested in this book. It was so cleverly written, twisty, and ridiculous plot-wise in the best way. The whole concept of a murder mystery set in a boarding school with Mean Girls? I was fated to like The Ivies from the beginning. Also, I loved how obviously flawed all the characters were. The MC could truly trust no one, and everyone was hiding secrets of their own.
But speaking of the MC, Olivia, she really grated on my nerves at times. The entire 2 reasons Olivia is supposed to be likeable are because she’s poorer than everyone else at the school, and she did less shitty things to secure her own coveted Ivy League spot. Yet Olivia constantly gives her peers grief for what they had done. She probably would have helped her friends do all kinds of things too, but they decided to keep her out of it. And Olivia took part in some sabotage knowingly! This girl has no right acting so high-and-mighty because she betrayed/blackmailed less people.
But the real reason this book gets 2.75 stars from me is the ending. Man, this story felt so well thought-out and mysterious until that ending.
Look, I had guessed Tyler was the murderer from the beginning. He just seemed like the type. What I was really eager to know was his motive. I don’t know what I was expecting. I thought it would be really cool if Tyler had been faking his stupidity all along and was really planning to overthrow Emma’s whole SAT business scheming thing. But instead Tyler killed Emma just for a good sob story on his RD essay? Couldn’t he just have paid someone besides Megan to write it for him? And seriously, that one line from him after the big reveal is too awful not to quote: “Do you know how hard it is to be a rich, above-average white guy in college admissions?” To say that with a straight face is a level of ignorance so astronomically high, it’s just cringeworthy to put into a book. I get that the backlash from bratty, undeserving kids and their families after a college rejection can become a huge problem, but if the author was going to try and turn this into a social commentary of sorts through Tyler, that was not the way to go.
Another grievance I have with this book is the lack of character development Olivia gets. The last 20 pages or so were just confusing. What did she learn from this entire experience? Apparently, to continue lying to everyone around her, except now on a bigger scale: Olivia’s dealing with the press, basically, and by extension, the general public. You’d think after all that meddling that Olivia did these past couple hundred pages, and how it all blew up in her face, that she would learn her lesson and stop pulling stunts like that. But she finishes this absolute mess of an ending by vowing to herself to continue lying, and also to “claw her way to the top,” whatever that means. Olivia got into the best college she could, given the circumstances. She cut off all the toxic people in her life, aka literally all her peers at Claflin. She had an entire YEAR to think back and reflect on her poor decisions throughout her senior year. Essentially, Olivia has had every opportunity to turn over a new leaf, but instead she is set on returning to her old ways with pretty much no explanation as to why. And does it pay off? Does Olivia’s stubborness come back to bite her in the butt? We’ll never know, because the book screeches to a halt in one of the most unsatisfying endings I’ve ever encountered in a piece of writing.

I know that was a lot, but I really did like the writing style of this author. I’m just reeling from that god-awful ending. Maybe she had a looming deadline to meet or something, because I sincerely want to believe that I can pick up another title by Alexa Donne and enjoy it much more than I enjoyed The Ivies.

ashleereads's review

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dark 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? Yes

4.5

mmotleyu's review

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4.0

Mean girls and murder! Surprisingly twisty prep school full of rich kids mystery. Better than anticipated

bookishghoul_96's review

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4.0

Pretty Little Liars meets Cruel summer

vanity__17's review

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • 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

kopalparmar's review

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3.0

[3.5 stars]
Classic high school story where stuck-up, rich, private-school students want to get into great colleges- in this case, the Ivy leagues- but there's a murder involved this time. I guessed quite a bit about what was going to happen in this book which took the fun out of it when the protagonist was like 'oH mY, hOw cOuLd iT bE tHeM?' whilst I had predicted it from the first few chapters- and I'm usually not that good at predicting things but I've probably read way too many books that are like this so I've picked up on it. The story was a bit irritating here and there but I'll give Donne credit for shocking me a little from time to time.

cilantro's review

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5.0

This was such a good book! I love a good dysfunctional "friend" group and rich people drama so this was fantastic. The plot twists kept surprising me and the characters were so interesting. I love it

ananyasinha's review

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3.0

When I was looking for my next read, scrolling through various titles online, the cover of this book intrigued me. But when I read the blurb, I was downright excited. To give you an idea, here's a short intro to The Ivies:

Every student has a dream college. Many hope to get into the Ivy League. So the do The Ivies. A group of five girls at Claflin Academy, each assigned to a particular Ivy school, The Ivies have one goal - to get into their respective schools. By Any. Means. Necessary.

"We disrupt class ranks, club leaderships, summer internships, academic competitions, and musical auditions. We improve our own odds by slightly decreasing the fortunes of others."


But, well, when things don't go according to plan, murder can be added to that list.

The plot had me completely invested. My suspicion kept falling on one character, then another. Each clue new clue was a shocking revelation.

"Keep your enemies close."


I loved how well-formed the characters were, each with their own unique traits and personalities. Bold, smart, clever, confident, it was all there.

Overall, this book was an amazing read - up till the end. But the conclusion simply didn't satisfy me; in fact, I was slightly disappointed. After the great build-up throughout the story, the ending seemed a little less exciting and slightly abrupt.

Still, I think that the rest of the book was fantastic. It also reveals another aspect of high school student life and college admissions - pressure, competitiveness, student struggles, and more.

army_potterhead_multistankpop's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

5.0


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