Book Review: The Ivies by Alexa Donne

This was a fun read, if that’s ever an apt description of murder. I was excited when NetGalley approved me for an ARC, because I follow author Alexa Donne on YouTube, and I enjoyed her previous novel, Brightly Burning, a YA retelling of Jane Eyre set in space. 

The Ivies are high-achieving students at Clafin Academy, an elite New England boarding school. The students have their hearts and minds set on, well, the Ivy Leagues. They work hard, but they also feel entitled to a place at the university of their choice — at any cost.

Our protagonist, Olivia, is a scholarship student who does her best to fit in among her rich and powerful friends, sometimes crossing the line to get what she and her friends want. But is she a helpless victim along for the ride or just as culpable as the rest of the pack?

The characters are well-developed, and the pacing good. The author leads you down several paths where you think you have solved the mystery, only to find you’re on the wrong track. I have mixed feelings about the very ending.

I received this Advanced Reader Copy of The Ivies from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Description:

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.

Alexa Donne delivers a nail-biting and timely 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.