Review: The Ivies by Alexa Donne

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Author: Alexa Donne
Edition: audiobook
Publisher: Penguin Random House (May 24, 2021)
Genre: Young Adult, Thriller, Mystery

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Synopsis

Everyone knows the Ivies: the most coveted universities in the United States. Far more important are the Ivies. The Ivies at Claflin Academy, that is. Five girls with the same mission: to get into the Ivy League by any means necessary. I would know. I’m one of them. We disrupt class ranks, club leaderships, and academic competitions…among other things. We improve our own odds by decreasing the fortunes of others. Because hyper-elite competitive college admissions is serious business. And in some cases, it’s deadly.

A thriller about teens who will stop at nothing to get into the college of their dreams. Too bad no one told them murder isn’t an extracurricular.

My review of The Ivies

The Ivies is a tightly plotted YA thriller about the price of ambition and the rules we are willing to break to fit in.

Trigger warnings: mentions and descriptions of violence, death, alcohol, bullying and blackmail, toxic relationships, mentions of disordered eating.

Thrilling From Page One

The Ivies was delightful and had me on edge from page one. It’s tightly plotted, the pace of the reveals was thrilling and I’m a big fan of how Alexa Donne manages the tension in this book. I didn’t see the final reveal coming until right at the end, but it made total sense when it did! Nothing is more satisfying than a reveal that is shocking but all the pieces have been there all along.

I’m not overly familiar with US college applications, but thanks to social media I knew enough going in to be comfortable. Additionally, The Ivies does a great job at explaining all the relevant moving parts and why these cutthroat students are willing to kill to get into the top schools. So if you were worried that a lack of knowledge about college applications would affect your enjoyment of this book: it won’t!

I think Alexa Donne writes teenage drama incredibly well! She perfectly captures how dramatic everything is and feels, how every betrayal might as well be a death sentence – but equally, how quickly friendships recover. I was also happy to see a YA book that accurately depicts how teenagers really use their phones and social media!

Insufferable Girls Who Own My Heart

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love insufferable and angry girls. And The Ivies has a lot of them. Each of the girls has her own motive, and while I wished to know more about some of them, I fell in love with these characters. So often young women are expected to be soft and nice and any kind of ambition makes us a cold-hearted bitch. Having a cast full of characters who own that title and are ruthless is strangely satisfying.

Alexa Donne excels at writing from Olivia’s perspective as the constant outsider. She made for a compelling and relatable POV character – after all, who of us could relate to the rich Ivies? While I definitely don’t agree with or condone some of her choices, I can understand her actions. The Ivies doesn’t necessarily judge its characters, no matter how terrible they are. As readers, Alexa Donne trusts us to make our own moral judgements.

Additionally, I appreciated the diversity in the cast. It’s not the focus of the book, as it shouldn’t be from a white author, I think. But it’s there, an important part of each character and just a fact of their experience in this elite prep school.

Overall…

The Ivies is a fantastic YA thriller with an edge, perfect for fans of How We Fall Apart and One of Us Is Lying.

This book is for you if…

…you like YA thrillers with school settings and female main characters
…you are looking for a book that’ll hook you on page one

A post you might also enjoy: My Review of How We Fall Apart by Katie Zhao

Synopsis