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3.64 AVERAGE
3.64 AVERAGE
All hail the Ivies! Mean girls meets dark academia meets revenge in this twisty YA thriller. All five of the girls in the Ivies group were the absolute fricken worst and I completely ate it up. This gave me everything I was wanting in a mind-candy, popcorn read type of thriller. Highly recommend picking this one up if you enjoyed Five Total Strangers or Ace of Spades!
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Gave this 4 ⭐️ solely because I actually enjoyed reading this and it took me out of my slump.
Mean Girls meets Scream Queens in this YA murder mystery stand alone. I think at this point I worship this genre because it’s one that I actually find exciting and Alexa Donne was the perfect choice of read for me at the moment. I l absolutely loved how chaotic the story and the characters were! This is the picture perfect cliché about a rich kids boarding school and a page turner with its fast-paced writing style with an impeccable drama-filled story escalating from just a
bunch of girls just trying to get into college into blackmail and murder.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Death, Murder
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-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
The things that some kids will do to get into a college….
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I saw the ending coming, but the reason felt stupid. All this for a college essay? I was suspecting Tyler, but it would’ve been cooler if Olivia did it and it was an unreliable narrator type of thing.
I am a big fan of YA Thrillers. When I compare them to adult thrillers, the pacing is typically so much better and the characters are go getters instead of feeling like the world is passing them by or that the story is happening to them instead of feeling part of the story.
That being said this novel could have been about 20-30 pages shorter and I think it would have helped the pacing. I think YA thrillers and a lot of publications are dying to fall within 300 pages more specifically 300-350 and sometimes the stuff they add to make the story stretch that far just isn't the most interesting.
That being said the story of this novel and the twist was good. I felt that the reason of the antogonist was right in line with current events surrounding college admissions and the pressure students feel to achieve to get into these schools is a bit ridiculous in my opinion, but I will say it made for a great thriller. I just wish that the beginning was paced quicker to get us into the story faster instead of feeling like a slog.
However, the ending of this novel was done better than most. A lot of times, we get a really abrupt ending after the case is solved and in this we had a good 20-30 pages after to conclude the events of the novel, which was really nice cause it felt like a more complete novel and ARC for our characters.
That being said this novel could have been about 20-30 pages shorter and I think it would have helped the pacing. I think YA thrillers and a lot of publications are dying to fall within 300 pages more specifically 300-350 and sometimes the stuff they add to make the story stretch that far just isn't the most interesting.
That being said the story of this novel and the twist was good. I felt that the reason of the antogonist was right in line with current events surrounding college admissions and the pressure students feel to achieve to get into these schools is a bit ridiculous in my opinion, but I will say it made for a great thriller. I just wish that the beginning was paced quicker to get us into the story faster instead of feeling like a slog.
However, the ending of this novel was done better than most. A lot of times, we get a really abrupt ending after the case is solved and in this we had a good 20-30 pages after to conclude the events of the novel, which was really nice cause it felt like a more complete novel and ARC for our characters.
When I finished this book, I immediately rated it 4 stars on GoodReads. But writing the review, about 2 weeks later, I had to change it to a 3/3.5.
Surprising because The Ivies is pretty much entirely my jam. A YA murder mystery set in an elite school? A touch of dark academia? All a world of yes for Kat! So why the star rating downgrade? Because I remember almost nothing. I BARELY remember who the murderer was! It didn't stick in my ribs one single bit.
I still definitely recommend it if you, like me, are all about YA, murder mystery, and/or elite schools. The audibook was great; in fact, I would seek out Phoebe Strole as a future narrator because she's THAT good. But if you've got other thrillers on your TBR, I wouldn't run to bump this one to the top.
Surprising because The Ivies is pretty much entirely my jam. A YA murder mystery set in an elite school? A touch of dark academia? All a world of yes for Kat! So why the star rating downgrade? Because I remember almost nothing. I BARELY remember who the murderer was! It didn't stick in my ribs one single bit.
I still definitely recommend it if you, like me, are all about YA, murder mystery, and/or elite schools. The audibook was great; in fact, I would seek out Phoebe Strole as a future narrator because she's THAT good. But if you've got other thrillers on your TBR, I wouldn't run to bump this one to the top.