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hayleybeale 's review for:
The Ivies
by Alexa Donne
Nobody at fancy Claflin Academy believes that “where you go is not who you are”, particularly the group of girls known as the Ivies. For them, it’s the Ivy League or nothing and they are very well aware that those colleges will take 2, or at most, 3 students from Claflin. So sabotage is the name of the game as they make sure they get the best extracurricular positions and that smart students might not be feeling their best for their important exams.
Each of them has their assigned school so they’re not competing with each other - Avery the Queen Bee sees to that. But when Avery is waitlisted for Harvard and it turns out Emma applied and was accepted, then the proverbial hits the fan. Unfortunately, our protagonist Olivia, who was assigned Penn, has also applied and been accepted to Harvard but, unlike Emma, she doesn’t tell anyone.
So when Emma turns up dead, Olivia starts to investigate. But the deeper she goes, the less she likes what she finds about the other girls in their clique and begins to suspect that maybe one of them would do absolutely anything to secure a place at a most prestigious college
This is a really solid murder mystery with motives, red herrings, and twists abounding. Olivia, the token scholarship member of the Ivies, peels away layers of oblivious privilege and entitlement as she investigates but she, herself, is also not above a bit of sabotage and maybe the finger will point to her?
After the Varsity Blues admission scandal, in which parents did some pretty corrupt things to get their kids into prestigious universities, it’s a logical step on to imagine the kids themselves being so obsessed with where they end up that they would resort to all sorts of shenanigans. Of course the Ivies go way beyond what might really happen (or do they?) and the plot does get a little farfetched, but not enough to worry me.
Perfect for readers who enjoy Karen McManus and Holly Jackson.
Thanks to Crown and Netgalley for the digital review copy.
Each of them has their assigned school so they’re not competing with each other - Avery the Queen Bee sees to that. But when Avery is waitlisted for Harvard and it turns out Emma applied and was accepted, then the proverbial hits the fan. Unfortunately, our protagonist Olivia, who was assigned Penn, has also applied and been accepted to Harvard but, unlike Emma, she doesn’t tell anyone.
So when Emma turns up dead, Olivia starts to investigate. But the deeper she goes, the less she likes what she finds about the other girls in their clique and begins to suspect that maybe one of them would do absolutely anything to secure a place at a most prestigious college
This is a really solid murder mystery with motives, red herrings, and twists abounding. Olivia, the token scholarship member of the Ivies, peels away layers of oblivious privilege and entitlement as she investigates but she, herself, is also not above a bit of sabotage and maybe the finger will point to her?
After the Varsity Blues admission scandal, in which parents did some pretty corrupt things to get their kids into prestigious universities, it’s a logical step on to imagine the kids themselves being so obsessed with where they end up that they would resort to all sorts of shenanigans. Of course the Ivies go way beyond what might really happen (or do they?) and the plot does get a little farfetched, but not enough to worry me.
Perfect for readers who enjoy Karen McManus and Holly Jackson.
Thanks to Crown and Netgalley for the digital review copy.