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A review by deathh_by_tbr
The Love Song of Ivy K. Harlowe by Hannah Moskowitz
3.0
2.5⭐️ rounded up
The Love Song of Ivy K. Harlowe shows what it’s like for young adults to find out who they are, what they want, and just dissect their feelings.
The queer representation is the best part of the book. You get to meet many lesbian characters and a polyamorous couple. The poly couple are side characters, but you don’t see that rep often enough.
The characters in this book were very unlikeable.
Ivy was trying too hard to be the bad girl who doesn’t care about anything to the point that it was exhausting to hear about. She also had a tendency to lead people on, then take no fault for it.
Andy was exhausting simply because she whined about everything to do with Ivy and hated every girl that Ivy even looked at. Her whole personality was being obsessed with Ivy. She then starts a relationship with Elizabeth knowing full well that she is in love with Ivy and won’t be able to love Elizabeth until she sorts that out, but refuses to have that tough conversation, even though it is long overdue.
Dot was infuriating. I did start to like her at the end more, but I’m not sure if that was because I pitied her or not. Dot just kept showing up everywhere Ivy was and it was lowkey weird. This book romanticized the idea that even when you’re told to go away, you should keep trying and keep inserting yourself in someone’s life until they give in and decide/realize they want/need you in their life.
The relationships were even more unlikeable.
Andy and Ivy’s relationship felt so forced to me. There was no depth to it. It was just Ivy stringing along Andy and Andy obsessing over Ivy and her sex life. They rarely talked about anything other than women and sex. Andy had said at one point that she only ever sees the “real Ivy” one day per year, and that sealed the fact that their friendship is superficial for me. Ivy also continually kissed Andy and when Andy confessed her love to Ivy, Ivy admitted she knew. If she knew the whole time, Ivy never should have been giving Andy the idea that there was maybe a chance there when Ivy never felt the same way.
Ivy and Dot’s relationship was so weird to me. Ivy initially only talked to Dot because she suspected she was underaged, which is creepy. Their personalities also do not seem like they would mesh very well. And again, Dot’s persistence came off as mildly manipulative, she kept insisting that Ivy would figure out at some point that she needs her.
Andy and Elizabeth’s relationship was kind of a shock because Elizabeth seems so much more mature and in a different place in her life than Andy was. They had the potential to be good, but Andy was not ready for her and Elizabeth had a life to live. I wasn’t surprised how it ended, but I’m glad Elizabeth was able to move on and get that great job.
Dot’s incident could have been avoided if the adults in this book acted more like adults and didn’t let a child party with them all the time. I think Dot was in over her head trying to fit in and get with Ivy.
The writing in this book was good overall, however, I thought the way the story was told was odd. I thought we would be reading about Andy’s love story as it developed with Ivy, but it turned out to be Andy telling us Ivy’s story. This is the first time I’ve read a romance told like this and I’m not sure I liked it. We missed out on so many details between Dot and Ivy and their relationship. Maybe if the story was told from Ivy’s point of view, I could have liked Dot and their relationship more than I did.
“It’s not that I’m the secondary character in my own story. It’s just that this one was never my story.” -Andy
Since it wasn’t Andy’s story, it shouldn’t have been hers to tell.
The Love Song of Ivy K. Harlowe shows what it’s like for young adults to find out who they are, what they want, and just dissect their feelings.
The queer representation is the best part of the book. You get to meet many lesbian characters and a polyamorous couple. The poly couple are side characters, but you don’t see that rep often enough.
The characters in this book were very unlikeable.
Ivy was trying too hard to be the bad girl who doesn’t care about anything to the point that it was exhausting to hear about. She also had a tendency to lead people on, then take no fault for it.
Andy was exhausting simply because she whined about everything to do with Ivy and hated every girl that Ivy even looked at. Her whole personality was being obsessed with Ivy. She then starts a relationship with Elizabeth knowing full well that she is in love with Ivy and won’t be able to love Elizabeth until she sorts that out, but refuses to have that tough conversation, even though it is long overdue.
Dot was infuriating. I did start to like her at the end more, but I’m not sure if that was because I pitied her or not. Dot just kept showing up everywhere Ivy was and it was lowkey weird. This book romanticized the idea that even when you’re told to go away, you should keep trying and keep inserting yourself in someone’s life until they give in and decide/realize they want/need you in their life.
The relationships were even more unlikeable.
Andy and Ivy’s relationship felt so forced to me. There was no depth to it. It was just Ivy stringing along Andy and Andy obsessing over Ivy and her sex life. They rarely talked about anything other than women and sex. Andy had said at one point that she only ever sees the “real Ivy” one day per year, and that sealed the fact that their friendship is superficial for me. Ivy also continually kissed Andy and when Andy confessed her love to Ivy, Ivy admitted she knew. If she knew the whole time, Ivy never should have been giving Andy the idea that there was maybe a chance there when Ivy never felt the same way.
Ivy and Dot’s relationship was so weird to me. Ivy initially only talked to Dot because she suspected she was underaged, which is creepy. Their personalities also do not seem like they would mesh very well. And again, Dot’s persistence came off as mildly manipulative, she kept insisting that Ivy would figure out at some point that she needs her.
Andy and Elizabeth’s relationship was kind of a shock because Elizabeth seems so much more mature and in a different place in her life than Andy was. They had the potential to be good, but Andy was not ready for her and Elizabeth had a life to live. I wasn’t surprised how it ended, but I’m glad Elizabeth was able to move on and get that great job.
Dot’s incident could have been avoided if the adults in this book acted more like adults and didn’t let a child party with them all the time. I think Dot was in over her head trying to fit in and get with Ivy.
The writing in this book was good overall, however, I thought the way the story was told was odd. I thought we would be reading about Andy’s love story as it developed with Ivy, but it turned out to be Andy telling us Ivy’s story. This is the first time I’ve read a romance told like this and I’m not sure I liked it. We missed out on so many details between Dot and Ivy and their relationship. Maybe if the story was told from Ivy’s point of view, I could have liked Dot and their relationship more than I did.
“It’s not that I’m the secondary character in my own story. It’s just that this one was never my story.” -Andy
Since it wasn’t Andy’s story, it shouldn’t have been hers to tell.