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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was an AWESOME book -- perfect for anyone who liked A Good Girl's Guide To Murder, Truly Devious, and/or One Of Us Is Lying -- I clearly cannot get enough of the YA murder books.
Prep school + conniving teenagers + murder + rich kids vs. poor kid + a cute crush + red herrings galore + a smart feminist protagonist --- this was SO enjoyable.
* thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s/Crown Publishing for the eARC for review.
Pub date: 5/25/21
Prep school + conniving teenagers + murder + rich kids vs. poor kid + a cute crush + red herrings galore + a smart feminist protagonist --- this was SO enjoyable.
* thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s/Crown Publishing for the eARC for review.
Pub date: 5/25/21
A fun YA thriller. Very flawed characters but I still liked the main character. I called the two top suspects early on but failed to identify the real killer. (I thought their motive was nonsense but it still worked I guess.)
Overall, a fun and twisty read with lots of reveals. Well written and accessible prose.
Overall, a fun and twisty read with lots of reveals. Well written and accessible prose.
Fast read, but I had some major issues with it. First of all, no character development. Olivia never actually changes, which stinks because she's really not as likeable as Donne wants us to think. Also, am I missing something here? Is this book set in the future? Because it was published in 2021, mentions covid as just happening recently but the seniors talk about being welcomed to college as the class of 2025? Why is there a four year difference there? Or is that just the e-book?
There is a clique at every school, but no clique is like the Ivies. Five girls all aiming to get into a different school in the Ivy league, and they are willing to play dirty to get what they want. Each girl is supposed to apply to a certain school in the ivy league so that they don't compete against each other to fill the quotas but when Emma applies to Harvard and gets in she steals Ally's spot. Then Emma turns up dead. Ally always said she would do anything to get into Harvard, did she mean it?
I thought that this book was really well executed. I thought the stakes felt high enough for the girls to have a good enough reason to not work with the police and I thought that the twist was really well done. You knew it was coming but it was difficult to work out who the killer was even up until the end. I think that my only critique of the book is that it might be too realistic because ...
All in all, a good read and worth your time.
I thought that this book was really well executed. I thought the stakes felt high enough for the girls to have a good enough reason to not work with the police and I thought that the twist was really well done. You knew it was coming but it was difficult to work out who the killer was even up until the end. I think that my only critique of the book is that it might be too realistic because ...
Spoiler
the rich girls still get to attend the ivies they applied to and the one kid with no money is the only one who gets screwed in the whole thing. Even the murderers step mom pays for his lawyer even though he tried to kill her daughter. That felt weird. But other than that a very good read.All in all, a good read and worth your time.
This book was absolutely addicting. Just like with any good mystery book, it was impossible to put down and impossible to guess any of the plot twists.
I borrowed this book from the library the maximum number of times I was allowed because I simply wasn't ready. Then I started it and could not put it down. People who say Gossip Girl plus Mean Girls in a high pressure prep school environment and add in a murder whodunit are right.
Olivia is part of a clique at a prep school. The clique called The Ivies has done some pretty cutthroat things to their classmates in order to get ahead with their college applications with each girl getting an Ivy League to apply for Early Decision. Olivia is supposed to apply to Penn. However her dream school is Harvard, but the group leader Avery Montfort has forbidden any in their group to apply to her dream school despite being a triple legacy. Avery comes from a wealthy family as well as Emma, Margot and Sierra who are quite comfortable. Yet Olivia is a scholarship student with a single mom who is a public school teacher.
When 1 in their group is murdered, Olivia is determined to find the killer and also make sure she isn't falsely accused. Pretty much everyone is suspicious including members of their group. But will she find the truth before she makes herself a target of the killer?
I enjoyed this book a lot including the way things ended. 4.25/5☆
Olivia is part of a clique at a prep school. The clique called The Ivies has done some pretty cutthroat things to their classmates in order to get ahead with their college applications with each girl getting an Ivy League to apply for Early Decision. Olivia is supposed to apply to Penn. However her dream school is Harvard, but the group leader Avery Montfort has forbidden any in their group to apply to her dream school despite being a triple legacy. Avery comes from a wealthy family as well as Emma, Margot and Sierra who are quite comfortable. Yet Olivia is a scholarship student with a single mom who is a public school teacher.
When 1 in their group is murdered, Olivia is determined to find the killer and also make sure she isn't falsely accused. Pretty much everyone is suspicious including members of their group. But will she find the truth before she makes herself a target of the killer?
I enjoyed this book a lot including the way things ended. 4.25/5☆
Okay, yeah, this is one of those books where the characters are not exactly likable, and yet you can't look away. Even the main character has her flaws and makes choices that you are yelling at her to not do, although I do sympathize quite a bit with her. Or at least I understand why she makes those choices. But most of the time, you're just yelling at her to walk far far away because it would be healthier for her. While some of the elements of the story were pretty typical for the genre of YA mystery thriller/contemporary fiction, I found enough of it to be original that it kept my interest throughout. This would be a good beach read and I think people who enjoyed [b:A Good Girl's Guide to Murder|40916679|A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, #1)|Holly Jackson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1545494980l/40916679._SY75_.jpg|63791847] or [b:One of Us Is Lying|32571395|One of Us Is Lying (One of Us is Lying, #1)|Karen M. McManus|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1490084494l/32571395._SY75_.jpg|49825436] would probably enjoy this one. There are allusions to the college admissions scandal, as well as mention of the Corona Virus, so it's very clear it's a recent story and somehow it made it seem more realistic to me. Overall, I would say this is a solid 4 stars and I would absolutely read another book by this author.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I WANTED to like this book. I really wanted to like it.
But... the characters fell flat for me. The prep school snobbery was written well but didn't quite fall right for me. And the side characters (Sierra, Margot) were interchangeable. I knew from page 2 that I wouldn't be able to tell the Ivies apart aside from the narrator, the dead one, and the suspect.
But, it was interesting and scary to see the lengths that teens might go to for entrance into a top level school.
But... the characters fell flat for me. The prep school snobbery was written well but didn't quite fall right for me. And the side characters (Sierra, Margot) were interchangeable. I knew from page 2 that I wouldn't be able to tell the Ivies apart aside from the narrator, the dead one, and the suspect.
But, it was interesting and scary to see the lengths that teens might go to for entrance into a top level school.
I really enjoyed this one - I can't remember the last time I stayed up way later than I should have because I couldn't put a book down.
"The Ivies" is the story of Olivia and her four friends at a boarding school in their senior year as they await the decisions of the universities - all Ivy League - that they have applied to. The friends have a cutthroat attitude toward the application process and have used all manner of underhanded means to claw their way to the top of their class to earn the few coveted spots available. When some members of the Ivies friend group go rogue in their applications, it throws a wrench in Queen Bee Avery's plans, and one member winds up dead. Olivia, the aspiring journalist and only scholarship student of the group, uses her skills and tools to try to solve the mystery of who killed the deceased Ivy and why, and uncovers the secrets that her non-scholarship "friends" have been keeping from her.
I expect a big part of why this story drew me in was that I related to Olivia. Something about her experience as a scholarship student in a boarding school, surrounded by classmates who were quite well off, reminded me of a bit of some of my own experiences as an undergrad who was a first-generation college student amongst friends who seemed to all have parents who had gone, if not to our university, at least to a university - it made me look back and realize just how much I didn't know I didn't know, and it hit that much harder for me as the reader when Olivia later in the story finds out just how much her rich friends have kept from her.
In addition to being unable to put the story down due to the kinship I felt with the narrator, the mystery sucked me in as well and kept me guessing. Every piece of evidence Olivia (and her co-editor assisting in the investigation, Ethan) uncovered was believable while also taking the timeline and activities of the deceased's final night in new directions.
I was torn on if I should go with a 4 star or 5 star rating on this one, as I really wanted to put it at 4.5; I rounded up as I really did enjoy staying up a good hour and a half later than I meant to because I simply couldn't put it down until I reached the end (even if I was mad at myself for it in the morning).
"The Ivies" is the story of Olivia and her four friends at a boarding school in their senior year as they await the decisions of the universities - all Ivy League - that they have applied to. The friends have a cutthroat attitude toward the application process and have used all manner of underhanded means to claw their way to the top of their class to earn the few coveted spots available. When some members of the Ivies friend group go rogue in their applications, it throws a wrench in Queen Bee Avery's plans, and one member winds up dead. Olivia, the aspiring journalist and only scholarship student of the group, uses her skills and tools to try to solve the mystery of who killed the deceased Ivy and why, and uncovers the secrets that her non-scholarship "friends" have been keeping from her.
I expect a big part of why this story drew me in was that I related to Olivia. Something about her experience as a scholarship student in a boarding school, surrounded by classmates who were quite well off, reminded me of a bit of some of my own experiences as an undergrad who was a first-generation college student amongst friends who seemed to all have parents who had gone, if not to our university, at least to a university - it made me look back and realize just how much I didn't know I didn't know, and it hit that much harder for me as the reader when Olivia later in the story finds out just how much her rich friends have kept from her.
In addition to being unable to put the story down due to the kinship I felt with the narrator, the mystery sucked me in as well and kept me guessing. Every piece of evidence Olivia (and her co-editor assisting in the investigation, Ethan) uncovered was believable while also taking the timeline and activities of the deceased's final night in new directions.
I was torn on if I should go with a 4 star or 5 star rating on this one, as I really wanted to put it at 4.5; I rounded up as I really did enjoy staying up a good hour and a half later than I meant to because I simply couldn't put it down until I reached the end (even if I was mad at myself for it in the morning).