I was given the chance, by NetGalley, to read a digital ARC of The Ivies by Alexa Donne. The cover and synopsis jumped out at me, so I gave it a shot. I mean private school murder mystery, sign me up! Let me preface this review by saying these are all my own thoughts and I definitely will speak my mind.

With that being said I adored this book! It was exactly what I thought it was going to be. Elite boarding school, group of devious girls, oh yeah, and a murder. If you loved Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson, People Like Us by Dana Mele, or The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas then this is the book for you! I kid you not there was such a good balance of murder mystery, friendship, romance, self-discovery, intense murder-y scenes, scholarship student turned detective, parties, and of course boarding school drama. Everything I look forward to in a YA murder mystery.

While we are on the topic of murder, the identity of the murder was not easily guessed, at least for me. There were so many twists and turns it was brilliant. Definitely got to a point where I thought it was going to be wrapped up neatly, when I noticed I still had many pages left. It was right up until the reveal of the murderer that I finally understood who the killer was. Before that there were a handful of options that kept me from putting the book down. This is the kind of book you will struggle to put down, you just have to find out what happened!

Now onto my less savory thoughts, though with this book there aren't many. The first thing is that the beginning is quite slow and full of story building/setting the mood. The main character, Olivia, goes on and on about her friends and their dynamic. It was a bit confusing to say the least. They are The Ives, they each applied to one of the ivy schools and must stick with it. She goes between calling them their names or their school's names. I don't think I remembered her friend's names or the schools they were going to until the 5th chapter. The other thing I didn't favor was that Olivia felt like she was such a goody-two-shoes and really held herself on a high horse. I would have loved to see her humble herself, but no such luck. Finally, covid-19 was randomly mentioned as a past event and it felt very weird. Very out of place and randomly thrown in there, I didn’t like that. Although, these things barely stand to how good the book was. Definitely pick this one up!

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this fun YA thriller!

I absolutely love the mean girls/boarding school thriller genre, and The Ivies is a great addition to it! The main character, Olivia, is very relatable and sympathetic, and I really enjoyed getting to know her and watching the events in the book develop through her eyes. I absolutely loved the twists and turns in the plot, and, though I was pretty sure who committed the murder before the end, I still enjoyed watching Olivia and the other characters figure it out. I thought all the characters were complex and well fleshed out, and the shifting allegiances and secrets revealed kept the story moving at a super fast pace.

Definitely recommend!

The idea of a elite prep school murder mystery was highly appealing when I initially requested The Ivies. It was even appealing up until the point that it became clear that it was nothing but a bunch of nasty rich girls stabbing each other in the back. I mean, I did expect that but it had me flashing back to how petty teenage girls could be in high school. Then I kept reading for the sweet yet disturbing drama that unfolded. 

The Ivies tells the story of a group of five girls at an elite college preparatory school in New England. They call themselves the Ivies, as each is gunning for a spot at one of five Ivy League schools and they'll do anything to get in. The story is told from the perspective of Olivia Winters, the only girl in the group that doesn't come from absurd wealth. She's a scholarship student and it's clear from the start that she doesn't *quite* belong in the group. It's a pretty standard catty school drama until Emma,  one of the Ivies, is found murdered in the rowing house hours after a tremendous fight with the leader of their girl gang, Avery. Emma applied and was accepted to Harvard… but it wasn't "her school" it was Avery's, and she didn't get accepted. Further madness ensues- secrets are revealed, red herrings abound, and it gets pretty crazy.

This was almost a hate read for me, except it was actually really good. I just hated the characters- the mystery aspect was much deeper than anticipated and the author deftly threw curveballs left and right. The Ivies was a surprisingly intense read and, well, I'm a little impressed. It would make prime mini-series material and I would probably watch it. Some aspects were a little annoying (but accurate) like the modern young kid lingo and the heavy use of pop culture/social media references. It makes me feel OLD AND OUT OF TOUCH. Amazing what a decade can do to a person! I do think that the heavy use of those references may not help this book age gratefully. It'll be cool for a few years, but ultimately I don't think it will end up a classic in its particular surgery. But that's just my opinion of course!

The Ivies by Alexa Donne is an amazing, gripping thriller. It’s incredibly well done and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time while reading it.

This was precisely what I was looking to read when I picked it up. The Ivies follows a group of friends in the senior year of high school. When one is murdered, accusations start to fly, and the story really picks up.

I was pleasantly surprised with the book. It was really fast-paced, and though I could kind of see where things were going, I was still kept on my toes for most of the book, anxiously awaiting the next huge reveal. Though I think some of the plotting and writing could've been a little better, overall I'd consider it a very solid YA thriller.

Thank you to Random House Children's, Crown Books for Young Readers, and Netgalley for early access to The Ivies in exchange for an honest review.

Two of my favorite genres are mystery/thrillers and YA, and Alexa Donne satisfied me on every level with The Ivies. A little bit of Heathers, Mean Girls, and Pretty Little Liars set in the world of the ultra wealthy, with a scholarship girl thrown in for fun...or scapegoating...or as lackey or ... mastermind.

You'll be guessing all the way through as secrets unravel about the dirty deeds of students who "need" to get into the Ivy school of their dreams. Who harms whom and why? Who is innocent, but bears guilt? Who is guilty, but will do anything to maintain their innocence? Who won't survive? Whose dreams will be crushed? Who can recover from the craziest senior year imaginable?

Each charachter is complex, and you may find you are rooting for them, hating them, and worried about them all. The tricks, sabotages, and crimes are believable, as are the settings which are described with just the right amount of detail.

The Ivies is a great book to get lost in, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

It gave me a mix of Pretty Little Liars and Gossip Girl vibes. These students are ridiculously rich and their parents send them off to a prestigious boarding school called Claflin. The Ivies are a group of five girls who are each given an Ivy League school by the leader of the group, Avery. They will do anything to get in. They bully, scheme, and take down any other student who is a threat of taking a spot at their dream school. It gets ugly and of course someone dies in the process. It was fun following one of The Ivies, Olivia, as she tries to find the murderer. She learns a lot about her group of friends and some dangerous secrets. It was definitely over dramatic following privileged students around but I never grew up in a boarding school so what do I know? I think the author wanted to show how entitled the students were so it worked! I also rolled my eyes to the back of my head with the ending but it was pretty fun trying to guess the murderer! I did like Olivia. A bit naive but I can’t blame her because there are some Mean Girl motives that she was unaware of. These elite school students are sneaky. I think she made some excellent choices when she found out who would truly have her back. I still enjoyed the story and I recommend if you are looking for a thrilling read or if you are a Pretty Little Liars fan. Of course dark academia lovers will have fun with this too.

I really enjoyed this book. I like how the author didn’t have the murder take place right away. She allows us to know more about all involved beforehand.

I felt like I knew who it was most of the time, but she added great twists. Olivia is very relatable, Avery is like the Regina of the group, Margot is annoying, and Sierra is just kind of there (you will get the Sierra part after you read it).

If you love Holly Jackson and Karen McManus, this is right up your alley.

Thanks NetGalley for the advance copy!

Thank you to the publisher, Penguin Random House Canada, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Ivies are a group of five girls at the elite private school Claflin Academy with one mission: to get into an Ivy League college by any means possible. Except, things don’t go according to plan. When Avery gets rejected by Harvard and Emma who was not supposed to apply at all (since Harvard was ‘Avery’s school’), gets accepted, they have a huge fight. The next morning, Emma turns up dead. Olivia is determined to get to the bottom of this and find out who the killer is. The Ivies are willing to go to great lengths to get what they want, but does that include murder?

The Ivies reads like a cross of Mean Girls and Pretty Little Liars and it was a thoroughly entertaining read from start to finish. It was an interesting way to explore the stressful process that is college admissions and what high schoolers face. I really liked the way the story was written, and the tone and pace of the narration was very good and perfect for the mood of the story. There was certainly a lot of drama too, what with each of the girls hiding some major secrets, the many plot twists and all those red herrings that keeps the reader guessing for most of the book.

The characters were all really interesting, and I was quite impressed that despite the fast faced of the story, the author was still able to build some pretty complex backstories for all of them. Avery, the leader of the Ivies starts out as the classic mean girl, but with the path her arc went down, she actually ended up being my favourite of the lot. Margot didn’t get too much page time so it was a little hard to get a good idea of her character. The same goes for Sierra, who appears more often, but I couldn’t really make up my mind. As for Emma, she appeared quite unassuming on the surface, but just like the others, there was a lot more that she was hiding and unravelling her secrets and piecing together the clues over the course of the investigation was fun.

While the mystery was great and I really enjoyed it, I felt that Olivia, the main character and narrator was just not that interesting. Her sleuthing aside, I just feel like I’ve seen the scholarship student at a rich school trope too many times. Plus, she is more like the Ivies than she cares to admit and with how things ended, I didn’t get the feeling that she was changed in any way because of what happened, which was a pity, because it would have been a great opportunity. Also, while I get that this is a YA novel and the focus is largely on the five girls, it didn’t seem like Detective Cataldo really did much and all the scenes where Olivia talks to her were just boring and didn’t contribute much

Though the culprit seemed rather obvious when everything was said and done, the mystery itself was masterfully constructed, and apart from Olivia and the detective, everyone looked suspicious at some point. The tension was maintained beautifully throughout the story and this is one book that will be very hard to put down. Highly recommended!

I received an ARC of The Ivies by Alexa Donne thanks to the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Alexa Donne has written an incredibly timely and (thankfully) exaggerated portrayal of the college admission system. The pressure that students, especially those in high school, must get perfect grades and go to the best colleges can be so extreme. Bribery, cheating, and sabotage are things that are very real and show how awful the collegiate process is and how desperately it needs to change.

Now for the actual review.

I love the way this story was written with just the right mixture of relationship tension and conflict, suspense and mystery, and all of the tough emotions (confusion, desire, fear, etc.). Olivia is such a strong person and her determination to do x, y, and z is commendable. Despite her fear of rejection and her struggle to be herself, she works to grow as a person. The moments where she shows her true colors were some of my favorite parts of the story. I also love her brain and how she and (detective partner) plan work through problems.

Another aspect that I loved was the subtle entwining of details that lead into major reveals later in the book. I kept trying to make predictions on who the 'bad' person was and through clues I kept coming to certain characters and was consistently wrong. It was really interesting to see the whole thing unfold.

I recommend this book if you are looking for a peek into extremely competitive college admissions! Or even just looking for a good YA murder mystery.

I did not find this book enjoyable. I thought that the premise was interesting, but the plot did not hold up and none of the characters were likeable at all. It also seems as though this person doesn't have a lot of experience in the area in which they were writing.

<i> The Ivies </i> by Alexa Donne is a murder mystery set at a private boarding school that centers around elite college admissions. I requested an ARC of this because for the past four years I've worked in college access with high-achieving students so my interest was piqued!!! I don't read a lot of mysteries and I've only read two other YA mysteries, so this was a new genre but honestly I truly enjoyed it!!

<b> What I liked: </b> The Ivies themselves! The Ivies are a group of girls who basically sabotage the rest of their school to secure spots in five Ivy League colleges. They're so conniving and entitled and at moments truly awful but I loved the characterization of each of them!! Even Avery which imo is the one with the most abhorrent attitude is fun to read about and had some depth to her. The concept of sabotaging your entire school to get into college is absolutely ridiculous, but to me that's what made it compelling to read about! Also, the book definitely dramatizes what it takes to get into college admissions (pls don't kill anyone to get into Harvard, folks!!!!), BUT it really has some shreds of truth to it. College admissions for top tier schools irl is cutthroat, often dehumanizing, and can make students feel pretty desperate, and I liked the commentary that the author sprinkled in here & there about private college admissions counselors, how money affects admissions, awful essay topics like poverty tourism and exploitation of trauma, etc.!!

Around 1/3 of the way into the book I found myself getting pretty hooked as our mc and her sidekick/crush started uncovering clues quicker and quicker and getting to the meat of the story. I just love an amateur sleuth and her cute sidekick kind of story, what can I say!!!!

<b> What I didn't love: </b> This is nitpicky and honestly I just wish I knew less about the intricacies of college admissions lol because then I wouldn't know or care about this but because I have that background I feel forced to mention: there's no way one would have a $20,000 gap in financial aid at Harvard but get a full ride to [insert liberal arts college that I don't want to say the name of here because it's a spoiler!]. That's not how it works!! Harvard has so much money and they meet 100% of financial need. If she's getting a full ride elsewhere based on need, she would get that at Harvard too. *mild spoiler* Also if you're so concerned about financial aid why apply to a bunch of out of state public institutions, where you'll receive no aid!!!! make it make sense!! *end mild spoiler lol* I guess I wish the author had thought to simply research that part.
I also can't decide how I felt about the ending and who ended up going where. I won't go into it because again, spoilers, but! I did love that the Ivies didn't end up being the end-all-be-all, which is a common line of thought for soooo many students, because there are so many other awesome and affordable schools out there that aren't Ivies!!!

I also can’t decide if I ended up liking the murder motive once it was revealed... was it too extra or was it just ridiculous enough??? Jury’s still out.

<b> Overall: </b> fun to read, twists & turns, riveting characterization, interesting commentary on elite college admissions and the ridiculousness of it all!

<b> For fans of: </b> pretty little liars, a good girl's guide to murder by holly jackson

I enjoyed The Ivies a Mean first boarding school novel with twists, so won't elaborate further other than to say I thought I'd nailed the murderer. But no...
Well paced read that is easy to read and entertaining.

Such a fun and unique book. As far as books about prep/boarding schools, this is easily one of my favorites. Alexa Donne really just crafted a masterpiece and I would really love to see this turned into a movie or a television series. Also, I think this cover is perfect.

I'm not usually a huge fan of murder mysteries (though I still read them because my students love them), but I really enjoyed this one! The narrator is at turns sympathetic and utterly unlikeable, but the ending was satisfying. There were about a million red herrings, but I really loved that! The only thing I wish were different is that the mystery portion of the book didn't start till about a quarter of the way through. I feel like this may be too slow of a start for some of my students.

***Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Having read Alexa’s first two books, I was not surprised that I liked The Ivies too. The only reason why this book is a 4 stars rating is the first few pages of chapter one; they relay more in telling than showing. I had to re-read the first pages a few times before I could remember the bunch of names that were introduced to me, and the schools these girls applied for.

The book was fast-paced and well-written. I was on the edge of my seat many times. Some of the events were predictable, others I never saw coming and it caught me off-guard and left me with a jaw-dropping down. One of these moments was when we found about Emma and the SAT scam.

Emma gave me the perfect motive for her murder.

That was a shock, indeed.

I liked most of the characters and they were okay, but for some reason, I didn’t like Olivia. I thought she was so in denial for a long time, considering everything that was happening with her. She kept saying “They are my friends.” and she “told” us they accepted her, while she was showing us the opposite. I liked that she stood up for herself in front of Avery, but then she stayed the same until the end. I hoped to see her developing, but she kept trying to play the rich and popular girl’s mind games until the very last page.

I didn’t like it, too, when Olivia slapped Ethan after she found out that he got into Harvard. I mean, I can understand her frustration, but she lied to her friends about her acceptance too.

Avery can call me a lot of things, but not a lier.

That wasn’t true at all. Olivia lied about a lot of things. And as she kept some stuff hidden from her friends and even from Ethan. Well, they did the same to her!

I noticed when Ethan and Olivia were reading the text messages from Emma’s phone.

“So, there’s one thing,” He scrolls up to the text, shows me. “He must live in Whitley. She mentioned she can sneak in to see him, that Tyler showed her how.”

I wasn’t expecting Olivia to be that surprised, considering that she already read the whole thing beforehand.

I noticed, too, that the event took place in 2020, and COVID-19 was mentioned more than once, but there was no hint to wearing masks or social distancing which is highly unusual considering the global pandemic where we all are wearing masks on daily basis.

The ending was frustrating, at least for me. A lot of things were left unanswered. I would understand if the book was a first in a series, though.

Overall, the book was enjoyable and I think a lot of teens will love it. Alexa had done a great job in showing the stress and the struggle of high schools.

Gripping and fast-paced, The Ivies kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time I was reading.

My full review will be going live on FreshFiction.com, and I will add the link once it does.

This was a fun a quick read despite the dark topic. The characters were interesting and unlikeable (tho that wasn't a flaw in the story) but I wished they got a bit more character development. There was also some inconsistency in the characters' level of intelligence but that was a small thing to overlook.

The mystery elements were done well and we had plenty of plausible suspects.

Sadly I didn't love this book. I wasn't rooting for any of the characters because they were so unlikeable, which was the point but I just didn't enjoy even reading about them. All entitled kids that cheat, steal and manipulate their way into the best colleges in the US is just not...good. All the end the characters grew and I enjoyed that but sadly I just didn't enjoy this one.

If you are looking for the perfect dark academia boarding school murder mystery, look no further.

Like many other people, I am a hoe for a good dark academic murder mystery, but this one has to be one of my new all time favorites. The main thing I loved about it is that this is one of the first books I have read in a while where I wasn't able to guess the ending. I was constantly guessing and changing my mind about who did what throughout the book and that is entirely because of hoe Donne was when writing this book. I also really enjoyed the idea that Olivia thought she knew everything, but in reality was just as in the dark as I was. This book was a refreshing take on how the least likely of people can become your greatest allies. Olivia had to go through a lot throughout this book: betrayal, backstabbing, and brutality, but she managed to come out on top over those who tried to shove her to the bottom. I cannot recommend this book enough.

Also the pop culture references were on point, especially if you are a fan of true crime.