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sandrareilly513 's review for:
The Ivies
by Alexa Donne
Welcome to the world of elite prep schools, where some people will do anything to succeed. Meet The Ivies -- a group of five prep school teenage girls who are ready to take down anyone standing in the way of their entrance into an Ivy League college. They sabotage competitors, I mean, classmates, grades, club positions, class status, and even personal relationships just to ensure the five friends will have a smoother path to Ivy League acceptance. But sometimes they get a little too competitive. When one of them ends up dead, all fingers point to the so-called friend group having "taken out" one of their own. Olivia, a surprising member of The Ivies given her middle-class family status, is shaken by her friend's death. She's determined to figure out what happened and just who is to blame -- and who is left for her to trust...
Thoughts: I'm so excited to share this new YA thriller with my students! The drama, the intrigue, the "red herrings" -- there's a lot going on in this elite school murder mystery! And despite the setting being at a school for "rich kids", the main character Olivia is a scholarship student from a middle class family, which makes her much more relatable to most YA readers. I wasn't buying her plea of innocence as to how far her "friends" would go for an Ivy League admission, but considering she's not nearly as cutthroat as the rest of her peers I guess it shouldn't be that surprising. Given that this story centers around college admissions, I'd highly suggest it for high school juniors and seniors just because I think they'd feel the tension of the college admissions process moreso than younger YA readers. I think the inappropriate relationship got glossed over a bit, there were a few predictable aspects, and I could do without the no-trustworthy-or-completely annoying-adults YA trope, but otherwise I give this book a solid 4.5 stars. It was a page-turning, suspenseful mystery with surprisingly relatable characters and enough twists and turns to keep the story moving.
Thoughts: I'm so excited to share this new YA thriller with my students! The drama, the intrigue, the "red herrings" -- there's a lot going on in this elite school murder mystery! And despite the setting being at a school for "rich kids", the main character Olivia is a scholarship student from a middle class family, which makes her much more relatable to most YA readers. I wasn't buying her plea of innocence as to how far her "friends" would go for an Ivy League admission, but considering she's not nearly as cutthroat as the rest of her peers I guess it shouldn't be that surprising. Given that this story centers around college admissions, I'd highly suggest it for high school juniors and seniors just because I think they'd feel the tension of the college admissions process moreso than younger YA readers. I think the inappropriate relationship got glossed over a bit, there were a few predictable aspects, and I could do without the no-trustworthy-or-completely annoying-adults YA trope, but otherwise I give this book a solid 4.5 stars. It was a page-turning, suspenseful mystery with surprisingly relatable characters and enough twists and turns to keep the story moving.