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A review by suspensejunkie
The Ivies by Alexa Donne
3.0
A fun and enjoyable thriller but a bit too cozy for me. Recommended for people that like Mean Girls, PLL, CW, etc
The stuff I liked:
1-Unputdownabble, for real, compulsively read this and I hate YA teenage girl drama. The author put a spell on me.
2-Awesome depiction of the school, students, environments, and works. Felt very real and immersive.
3-Solid characterization and dialogue. It was very believable and distinct.
4-I knew who did it from the start but the author kept seeping doubt with the red herrings. Well done.
5- Loved how everyone is flawed yet redeemable( in a way) because I dislike goody-two-shoes in books.
6- Loved the way the author described the struggles of a poor family in a very upper-class environment.
Stuff I hated:
1- This suffered from The Silent Patient syndrome where it requires a lot of suspension of disbelief to work. Hard for me to swallow that the detective nonchalantly left items of a homicide victim in the hands of a meddling 18-year-old and then not asked about the information she retrieved until days later. The detective/police came off as completely incompetent, Olvia withheld info for too long, etc...
2- Every male character is an asshole, period. Penis=bad.
3- Very didactic (maybe because it is YA?) and trying to be preachy with left-wing American politics. Sometimes it didn't make sense and felt very forced. If a character is very Liberal/conservative I'd be fine with that but here it was pushed as if translating the author's bias. Hard to believe girls that ruin other student's futures, lie, catfish, blackmail, threaten, poison, make people fat, fake all about a BOMB would care about minorities, fat-shaming, slut-shaming, white privilege, and whatever...Pretty sure committing crimes and felonies are worse than making a fat/ stereotype joke.
4- The killer twist was nice, the motive was not. I couldn't get behind that reason, way too thin.
5-While I enjoyed the ride, I did not like the destination, specifically the climax and action scene. Loved the denouement though.
The stuff I liked:
1-Unputdownabble, for real, compulsively read this and I hate YA teenage girl drama. The author put a spell on me.
2-Awesome depiction of the school, students, environments, and works. Felt very real and immersive.
3-Solid characterization and dialogue. It was very believable and distinct.
4-I knew who did it from the start but the author kept seeping doubt with the red herrings. Well done.
5- Loved how everyone is flawed yet redeemable( in a way) because I dislike goody-two-shoes in books.
6- Loved the way the author described the struggles of a poor family in a very upper-class environment.
Stuff I hated:
1- This suffered from The Silent Patient syndrome where it requires a lot of suspension of disbelief to work. Hard for me to swallow that the detective nonchalantly left items of a homicide victim in the hands of a meddling 18-year-old and then not asked about the information she retrieved until days later. The detective/police came off as completely incompetent, Olvia withheld info for too long, etc...
2- Every male character is an asshole, period. Penis=bad.
3- Very didactic (maybe because it is YA?) and trying to be preachy with left-wing American politics. Sometimes it didn't make sense and felt very forced. If a character is very Liberal/conservative I'd be fine with that but here it was pushed as if translating the author's bias. Hard to believe girls that ruin other student's futures, lie, catfish, blackmail, threaten, poison, make people fat, fake all about a BOMB would care about minorities, fat-shaming, slut-shaming, white privilege, and whatever...Pretty sure committing crimes and felonies are worse than making a fat/ stereotype joke.
4- The killer twist was nice, the motive was not. I couldn't get behind that reason, way too thin.
5-While I enjoyed the ride, I did not like the destination, specifically the climax and action scene. Loved the denouement though.