Let me start out by saying I read this book in two sittings. It would have been one but I eventually fell asleep at 1am as one does.

This book is absolutely ridiculous but in the best possible way. It's absurd but has so much truth behind its absurdity and was just so much fun to read. I really liked what it had to say about class and privilege and the kinds of pressures that are put on young, impressionable high schoolers. It had some insightful commentary that I was delighted to see in a YA thriller.

I really enjoyed how there was just enough shadow of suspicion cast on pretty much every character. I could have seen the plot going in any number of directions and I was pleasantly surprised in how it ended. The ending was shocking, but not in a "this came out of nowhere and is stupid" kind of way. The way it all tied together in the end was actually brilliant and is the main reason why I'm giving it four instead of three stars. To say anything more would be a major spoiler.

There's a chapter that takes place 9ish months after "the reveal" and I normally hate such things but this one actually contributed to the themes from the rest of the book. It was very well done and did not at all feel cheap or unnecessary.

I highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for something fun, fast, and engaging that has actual substantive things to say about society.

I devoured this book in two nights. Especially in the wake of the college admissions scandal, this book felt like a timely exploration of the lengths to which people will go to achieve socially valued goals, and how easily obsessing over those goals can obscure our ability to find true happiness.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with this eArc in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book! I am a sucker for anything set at a boarding/prep school, and this did not disappoint. It had the right level of drama/gossip/outlandishness without being totally unrealistic. Very well-paced and I read it in only a few sittings. Highly recommend if you love a good snarky YA prep school murder mystery!

THE IVIES is Alexa Donne's splashy dive into the ocean of YA thrillers. As a subscriber to her channel, it was fascinating to witness the journey of this book from conception to traditional publication. So of course I had to request the eARC when it became available on Netgalley. The author touted her 3rd book as soapy and it wasn't false advertisement. THE IVIES is a very soapy read following 5 teen girls at a private boarding school. These girls are known as the Ivies because each are assigned what ivy league school they must apply to in an effort to avoid college admissions competition between each other.

Alright, I'll admit I'm still relevantly new to the world of thrillers. I'm not very good at putting together clues to unmask culprits, but the moment some characters were introduced, I clocked what was going to happen immediately, but it didn't take away from the enjoyment. However, I'm deducting a star because of the culprit's villain monologue at the end. I understand the author stated in her foreword that this book was satirical, but as a Black reader, I cringed so hard at the murderer's speech and motives. I understood the message Donne was trying to convey, but the method and delivery watered down its importance. I did truly appreciate the realistic ending. In fact, it's the most realistic ending I've read in a very long time.

4 out of 5 stars for me

Not gonna lie, I was hooked from the beginning. College applications are brutal. Where I go to high school, I wouldn’t be surprised if the AP side of it was actually doing something extremely shady. So I get it. Adjacently. College applications are fucking hard, and it’s even harder when you’re applying to the Ivies. So maybe it was that this story hit a little too close to home, or that I’m just a sucker for murder mysteries held in boarding school that have a strong academia touch to them, but I loved this book.

It addresses things like affirmative action, racism, the rigged system, and very heavily, classism as well. It’s crushing to see this story through the lens of students who were ready to risk it all.

I love mysteries when I can be interested in the characters themselves. A plot is nothing to me when I don’t give a shit or at least am not curious about the cast. Which makes it very hard for me to find good mysteries. But this book definitely delivered on that end!! While no one was an angel of any sort, I was constantly wanting to know more about everybody. I was invested, and I was also sweating most of the time with suspense and anticipation.

I do have a few other things to say I didn’t vibe with - the ending. It wasn’t the whodunnit I had a problem with, but just the ending/epilogue in general. Now I can’t actually say anything about this, because I don’t want to give spoilers, but how the book ended didn’t fully sit right with me. Not that it was bad!! No I still love the book and it was good. It just could’ve been better. And that’s all I’ll say about that.

Bonus points for realism though! Someone actually complained, “do you know how hard it is to be a rich, above-average white guy in college admissions?” Which made me laugh and then cry. And then wipe away my tears because I wanted to know desperately what happened damn it.

I’ll give my right kidney for more books on backstabbing bitches in school who fall into schemes way bigger than they should be legally or ethically involved in. This one was wonderful, and I hope y’all read it when it comes out!!

I genuinely enjoyed reading THE IVIES, which was a fun xmas day read. brief synopsis: 5 girls at a prestigious fictional prep school Claflin conspire to receive acceptances from Ivy League schools. murder becomes centrally involved. THE IVIES is essentially a cozy YA murder mystery. it’s not necessarily a thriller though in the sense that I didn’t feel thrilled. engaging relationships but not character development. I noticed that the book takes place in 2020, which is mentioned twice including one COVID-19 reference. I think that the author should change the date to an earlier year like 2019 bc this plot unfolding during the pandemic just doesn’t make sense. I teach in person at a prep school in 2020, and masks & social distancing are central to real life. I felt satisfied w/ the ending overall & would recommend this book to YA mystery readers seeking a light read re: prep school college admissions

This definitely has some mean girls in it! These girls will stop at nothing and I mean nothing to achieve acceptance and their dream ivy league school! From blackmail, bomb threats, SAT scams, and much more! Will they survive, will they get accepted, will they be ruined forever?

Move over Mean Girls and meet <i>The Ivies</i>. Clafin Academy’s got their own set of vicious, conniving, and evil set of girls that will make your own life a living hell if you get in their way of their top choice Ivy League College. They may even commit murder.

The Ivies (Avery, Sienna, Margot, Olivia and Emma) have been paving their way to their choice college for years by knocking out their classmates in horrible ways. Miralax shakes right before the ACT? Bomb threats from someone else’s phone to get them expelled? They have no limits. Until one of their own turns up dead.

Donne does a fantastic job of developing each of these characters as well as the plot, which has such great twists!

Thank you to both the publishers and NetGalley for providing me this advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. My opinion was not affected by the free copy.

I don't know what it is about books like these, but I always end up enjoying them despite not being able to relate to them at all. I didn't even think of trying for Ivy League when I was in high school and while I always did my best in school, I wasn't exactly competitive in my grades. Yet I found this story to be very entertaining and I bet a lot of people who have or are going to apply into Ivy League schools will find the story extremely relateable.

I always like to get my negatives out of the way first, but I feel like a lot of my negatives just come with this particular genre. And since I read that this is supposed to be a satire, I feel like I can allow the clichés that pop up in the story. Even the one element I really had a problem with-- the cop sharing information about the investigation to the main character-- I can sort of ignore because that's just what happens in these stories. Any time I got annoyed by a cliché, I reminded myself that it was probably on purpose. I guess the only big negative is that it mentions Covid as something that happened but was already cleared up. That sort of thing sadly dates this book in a way that it could have avoided if Covid wasn't mentioned.

Like I said, I never tried for Ivy League so I can't personally say if any of what was portrayed would hold true, but it feels believable. And despite my personal distaste for reading lots of swearing, something about the way this was written made it feel conversational and how real people might talk. The mystery was good and I didn't want to stop reading until I came to the end.

Overall, I thought this to be a very enjoyable book. I think teens will love it and those trying for an Ivy League school will relate to all the struggle and stress depicted in the book. As for people like me, I think they'll still be fascinated by this world of high-stakes academia.

Wow! These mean girls are out for blood when it comes to college acceptance into the Ivies. They will take down anyone who stands in their way. But when two Ivies get in to Harvard and “steal” the spot from one of their “friends,” it’s a vicious fight to the end. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader wondering until the last page is turned. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my review.

I loved this book. A perfect YA tale of college admission scandal, ripped from the headlines really, follows Olivia as a scholarship student at Caflin in Massachusetts. After the death of her roommate, she must exonerate herself and find out who the true killer is. Definitely a must-read that I finished in less than 24 hours (as it’s the perfect pace and is hard to put down).