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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
reflective
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:
Yes
I found the protagonist, Olivia, to be rather one-dimensional and apathetic. She was the stoic narrator of the events without much meat behind her, which made it difficult to relate and care about what she experienced.
The premise - cut-throat boarding school, elite cliques, etc - had a lot of promise, but in execution came up short. There is a lot of juicy angles to be explored with a plot like this, but I found Donne did little exploration and reported the events of the plot journalistically. Maybe that's because Olivia is literally a school journalist, but it came off as bland.
I was able to finish the book simply because it had just enough action and resolution to keep me satisfied, but it was on a moment-to-moment basis. In the end, I would say this is an easy read for Winter break, but it didn't exactly thrill me.
To the author's credit, I appreciated the character development when it was present, and am generally satisfied with the events of the book. There were indeed some well-deserved moments of mystery coming to light. But it left much to be desired.
The premise - cut-throat boarding school, elite cliques, etc - had a lot of promise, but in execution came up short. There is a lot of juicy angles to be explored with a plot like this, but I found Donne did little exploration and reported the events of the plot journalistically. Maybe that's because Olivia is literally a school journalist, but it came off as bland.
I was able to finish the book simply because it had just enough action and resolution to keep me satisfied, but it was on a moment-to-moment basis. In the end, I would say this is an easy read for Winter break, but it didn't exactly thrill me.
To the author's credit, I appreciated the character development when it was present, and am generally satisfied with the events of the book. There were indeed some well-deserved moments of mystery coming to light. But it left much to be desired.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
i truly don’t know how to feel about this. it was a very good premise, up to my speed, and the mystery & drama of it all was rlly fast-paced & captivating. but as we got towards the end, towards the climax and finding out the truth, i rlly was just disappointed.
all in all, i’m glad i read another book (and that PG County was mentioned in a random YA book), but at what cost.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Toxic friendship
Minor: Homophobia, Racism, Vomit
adventurous
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
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:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
mid tier book. I like the author and find reading her work isn’t difficult, I will say it did take me 50 pages to actually become invested in this book however.
Concept interesting with some obvious plot holes or too predictable choices. Foreshadowing can be good, but also too telling. Definitely could have been fleshed out more on the back end of the book, some missed opportunities to confuse the reader and possibilities to fix those holes. I’ll end with this: once an Ivy, always an Ivy. Ivy ambition never dies.
Concept interesting with some obvious plot holes or too predictable choices. Foreshadowing can be good, but also too telling. Definitely could have been fleshed out more on the back end of the book, some missed opportunities to confuse the reader and possibilities to fix those holes. I’ll end with this: once an Ivy, always an Ivy. Ivy ambition never dies.
yeah I dunno honestly I think I just haven't read true YA in a while and I just couldn't get into it. some parts had fun twists/character building but I dunno I could NEVER accuse/believe my friend of murder and then be all buddy buddy with her a sec later