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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
it was an easy quick long weekend read but it could have been better. the major off points for me were the main character and the killer's motive. i think i would have liked it better if olivia was really one of the ivies, being rich and arrogant too because always pointing out feeling poor compared to them and feeling left out but trying to keep her hands clean felt two-faced. also the way she kept going back and worth between who to trust. i get it that she was afraid but why trust anybody to begin with then, why keep changing her mind? and about the killer's motive... with all things discovered it felt weak and very random especially because apparently it was planned...
Really liked this one, I like to be kept guessing and it was the perfect vacation read
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.75 stars
I thoroughly enjoyed this ya thriller and i’m glad bc it’s been on my radar for a while. i’m in love w the cover..
I had a ton of fun reading this, and I did like the misdirects we got and subtle actions of suspects that would make you believe it’s them versus the actual killer. I really liked how the whole reason for the murder was so that a rich white straight man could have content for his college essay LIKEEE it’s so ridiculous but also just goes to show the power that rich white people have.
avery gave me major leighton vibes from sex lives of college girls and I love that show sm. I do wish we got a little bit more of sierra and margot as they were part of the core friend group but ultimately felt like flat characters. and I wish that the cutting of the security cameras and that reveal was a little more intense but other than that I had a great time :D
I thoroughly enjoyed this ya thriller and i’m glad bc it’s been on my radar for a while. i’m in love w the cover..
I had a ton of fun reading this, and I did like the misdirects we got and subtle actions of suspects that would make you believe it’s them versus the actual killer. I really liked how the whole reason for the murder was so that a rich white straight man could have content for his college essay LIKEEE it’s so ridiculous but also just goes to show the power that rich white people have.
avery gave me major leighton vibes from sex lives of college girls and I love that show sm. I do wish we got a little bit more of sierra and margot as they were part of the core friend group but ultimately felt like flat characters. and I wish that the cutting of the security cameras and that reveal was a little more intense but other than that I had a great time :D
Find this review and more on my blog at Worlds Unlike Our Own.
Thank you to the publisher, Penguin Random House Canada, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Ivies are a group of five girls at the elite private school Claflin Academy with one mission: to get into an Ivy League college by any means possible. Except, things don’t go according to plan. When Avery gets rejected by Harvard and Emma who was not supposed to apply at all (since Harvard was ‘Avery’s school’), gets accepted, they have a huge fight. The next morning, Emma turns up dead. Olivia is determined to get to the bottom of this and find out who the killer is. The Ivies are willing to go to great lengths to get what they want, but does that include murder?
The Ivies reads like a cross of Mean Girls and Pretty Little Liars and it was a thoroughly entertaining read from start to finish. It was an interesting way to explore the stressful process that is college admissions and what high schoolers face. I really liked the way the story was written, and the tone and pace of the narration was very good and perfect for the mood of the story. There was certainly a lot of drama too, what with each of the girls hiding some major secrets, the many plot twists and all those red herrings that keeps the reader guessing for most of the book.
The characters were all really interesting, and I was quite impressed that despite the fast faced of the story, the author was still able to build some pretty complex backstories for all of them. Avery, the leader of the Ivies starts out as the classic mean girl, but with the path her arc went down, she actually ended up being my favourite of the lot. Margot didn’t get too much page time so it was a little hard to get a good idea of her character. The same goes for Sierra, who appears more often, but I couldn’t really make up my mind. As for Emma, she appeared quite unassuming on the surface, but just like the others, there was a lot more that she was hiding and unravelling her secrets and piecing together the clues over the course of the investigation was fun.
While the mystery was great and I really enjoyed it, I felt that Olivia, the main character and narrator was just not that interesting. Her sleuthing aside, I just feel like I’ve seen the scholarship student at a rich school trope too many times. Plus, she is more like the Ivies than she cares to admit and with how things ended, I didn’t get the feeling that she was changed in any way because of what happened, which was a pity, because it would have been a great opportunity. Also, while I get that this is a YA novel and the focus is largely on the five girls, it didn’t seem like Detective Cataldo really did much and all the scenes where Olivia talks to her were just boring and didn’t contribute much
Though the culprit seemed rather obvious when everything was said and done, the mystery itself was masterfully constructed, and apart from Olivia and the detective, everyone looked suspicious at some point. The tension was maintained beautifully throughout the story and this is one book that will be very hard to put down. Highly recommended!
Thank you to the publisher, Penguin Random House Canada, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Ivies are a group of five girls at the elite private school Claflin Academy with one mission: to get into an Ivy League college by any means possible. Except, things don’t go according to plan. When Avery gets rejected by Harvard and Emma who was not supposed to apply at all (since Harvard was ‘Avery’s school’), gets accepted, they have a huge fight. The next morning, Emma turns up dead. Olivia is determined to get to the bottom of this and find out who the killer is. The Ivies are willing to go to great lengths to get what they want, but does that include murder?
The Ivies reads like a cross of Mean Girls and Pretty Little Liars and it was a thoroughly entertaining read from start to finish. It was an interesting way to explore the stressful process that is college admissions and what high schoolers face. I really liked the way the story was written, and the tone and pace of the narration was very good and perfect for the mood of the story. There was certainly a lot of drama too, what with each of the girls hiding some major secrets, the many plot twists and all those red herrings that keeps the reader guessing for most of the book.
The characters were all really interesting, and I was quite impressed that despite the fast faced of the story, the author was still able to build some pretty complex backstories for all of them. Avery, the leader of the Ivies starts out as the classic mean girl, but with the path her arc went down, she actually ended up being my favourite of the lot. Margot didn’t get too much page time so it was a little hard to get a good idea of her character. The same goes for Sierra, who appears more often, but I couldn’t really make up my mind. As for Emma, she appeared quite unassuming on the surface, but just like the others, there was a lot more that she was hiding and unravelling her secrets and piecing together the clues over the course of the investigation was fun.
While the mystery was great and I really enjoyed it, I felt that Olivia, the main character and narrator was just not that interesting. Her sleuthing aside, I just feel like I’ve seen the scholarship student at a rich school trope too many times. Plus, she is more like the Ivies than she cares to admit and with how things ended, I didn’t get the feeling that she was changed in any way because of what happened, which was a pity, because it would have been a great opportunity. Also, while I get that this is a YA novel and the focus is largely on the five girls, it didn’t seem like Detective Cataldo really did much and all the scenes where Olivia talks to her were just boring and didn’t contribute much
Though the culprit seemed rather obvious when everything was said and done, the mystery itself was masterfully constructed, and apart from Olivia and the detective, everyone looked suspicious at some point. The tension was maintained beautifully throughout the story and this is one book that will be very hard to put down. Highly recommended!