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justinbaumann71 's review for:
The Ivies
by Alexa Donne
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.