A review by isabella_hightower
The Ivies by Alexa Donne

4.0

5 Teenage girls, Academic “Mean Girls” of their high end prep school, have done whatever they could to get their way into the Ivy League schools. Our protagonist, Olivia, is not like them. Daughter of a single mother and a scholarship student, she has none of the money, connections or resources the others take for granted. She’s not exactly one of them, but she desperately wants to be one of “the Ivies”. When a close friend of hers is murdered soon after college admissions drop, everyone is thrown for a loop. And if she died, supposedly because she took one of the coveted early decision Harvard spots, what does that say for Olivia if she got the other?

I found this book to be incredibly well written, with all of the attributes and attitudes young high school students have. The plot is incredibly thick with so many moving parts that keep you on your toes, you can’t forget a detail or it’ll come back to bite you. I love Olivia, at the end of the day she’s as messy as any teenager is expected to be, who is ambitious to a fault, and constantly trying to decide between selfishness and honesty. If you are a high school or college student the constant worry of admissions among the characters will certainly be humorous to you.

If you want something fun and light, with a bit of high school drama, give it a shot!