Book Tour: The Ivies by Alexa Donne (Review + Giveaway)

I am so excited to participate in my first book tour! I’m beyond thrilled that it’s for The Ivies by Alexa Donne, hosted by Turn the Page Tours. This book was such a wild ride from start to finish. It reminded me of how much I adore a good mystery, and I loved every moment of it. I have so much more to say, so let’s get started. At the bottom of my review, you can find giveaway details for a copy of The Ivies.

Thank you to Crown, NetGalley, and Turn the Page Tours for the ARC. Please note that the (non-spoiler) quotes in this review are from the digital ARC and not part of the final print.

The Ivies by Alexa Donne: Fast Facts

Release Date: May 25, 2021
Format: Digital ARC, courtesy of Crown
Pages: 254
Genre(s): contemporary, mystery, thriller, young adult
Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
Content Warning: adult/minor relationship (not explicit), alcohol, bullying, cursing, death, grief, homophobia (not explicit), infidelity, murder, sexual content (not explicit), violence

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.

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.

bookshop | indiebound | publisher

About the Author

Alexa Donne is the author of Brightly Burning and The Stars We Steal, YA sci-fi romance retellings of classics set in space out now from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Her next YA, THE IVIES, a thriller set in the world of competitive college admissions, will be out in May 2021 from Crown/Random House. A graduate of Boston University, she works in TV marketing and has done pro bono college admissions mentoring since 2014. A true INFJ, in her “free” time she mentors with WriteGirl, runs the Author Mentor Match program, and manages one of the most popular writing advice channels on YouTube. She lives in Los Angeles with two fluffy ginger cats named after YA literature characters. You can find her in most places @alexadonne.

— i.

Everyone knows the Ivies: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, UPenn, Princeton, Yale. This consortium of eight schools is considered the most elite in the United States and, in some cases, the world. The only reason it’s called the Ivy League is because, eighty years ago, some journalist coined the phrase to refer to an athletic conference. That’s it. All of this because of football. There is a far more complex and nuanced history of the Ivy League, but it’s not one that matters. Far more important are the Ivies. The Ivies at Claflin Academy, that is.

Let’s talk about characters first. The protagonist, Olivia, is about as morally gray as you can get. I am a complete sucker for morally gray characters, so it was an absolute delight reading her perspective. Of course, if I knew Olivia in real life, I would hate her—she only looks out for herself while painting herself as the victim of this story. Olivia tries to come off as less cruel than her friends because she didn’t know about some of their transgressions, but that doesn’t mean she’s a good person because she certainly isn’t. But that was okay because it made her character so much more fun to read.

Throughout The Ivies, Olivia attempts to solve her friend Emma’s murder. But Olivia takes it upon herself because the school’s security cameras caught her outside around the time of Emma’s death. Olivia is afraid of someone framing her or the detective building a case with circumstantial evidence to indict Olivia. This factor makes Olivia a far more interesting character—wanting to solve Emma’s murder simply because she was her friend is something you would expect. Olivia would have left it completely up to the detective team if she wasn’t afraid for her future.

The secondary characters were pretty great, too. Avery, the equivalent of Regina George, is such a layered character—there is so much more to her than leading the Ivies and securing herself a spot at Harvard. Although Emma is dead, we learn a lot about who she was when she was alive, making the mystery of her death so much harder to solve. There is not a single character who seems innocent. Everybody has something to hide—you just don’t know what it is. I think this is one of the reasons why this mystery is so compelling—everyone is a suspect, and even the most innocent of people have their own secrets. When the characters are shady and complex, the mystery is always better.

— ii.

But then, some friendships aren’t meant to last forever. They occupy a moment in time, and then you move on.

The Ivies has some of the most complex relationships I have read in a long time. For the first time in a while, there was no relationship I was rooting for—no friendship, no romance, no family. Usually, that could be a red flag for me, but in this context, it makes sense. The only thing you want to know is who killed Emma while learning about her dirty secrets. You cannot trust anybody, making it difficult to root for any relationship—but that did not make them less compelling. As I was reading and attempting to decipher who did what, I wondered how the big reveal would impact Olivia’s relationships. Her friendships with the remaining Ivies (Avery, Sierra, and Margot), her growing crush on Ethan, her friendly dynamic with the nighttime security guard, Paul, and her tense relationship with the lead detective. Part of the stakes hinged on Olivia’s relationships—how will finding out the truth affect them? This curiosity compels you to keep reading until the very end. It drives the mystery forward.

— iii.

My mom always told me: no one hands anything to a kid from a working-class neighborhood in Maryland. You have to scratch and fight your way to the top, prove you deserve a shot. She was the first in her family to go to college, ended up teaching at a really good school. She got her feet onto the first rung of the ladder so that I could climb. Dream big, Olivia, my mom always said. Keep one foot on the ground, though: dreams are useless without a practical plan of action.

Usually, I always consider characters and relationships primarily, and the plot comes second. The plot might be mediocre, but it wouldn’t bother me as long as the characters and relationships are compelling enough. However, I value plot in mystery just as much as characters and relationships; if not, then more. After all, a good mystery relies heavily on the plot.

Thankfully, The Ivies had a riveting storyline. It was not just about who killed Emma, but what Emma was up to in the weeks before she died—the secrets she kept, the lies she told, and the infractions she committed. The Ivies is so much more than just trying to solve Emma’s murder. In fact, there were so many points in the book that reminded me of Sara Shepard’s novels—most notably, Pretty Little Liars, my favorite book series of all time. It is rare to find a mystery that keeps you guessing while dropping subtle hints that might throw you off track or point you in the right direction. And when the pieces fall into place, everything finally makes sense. The truths we discovered did not feel forced or inconceivable. The clues were consistent and coherent.

Seriously, I couldn’t put the book down because I was so desperate to solve Emma’s murder while discovering the truth about her. The Ivies was an engaging and well-paced novel from start to finish. I didn’t even realize how much I had read in one sitting because I kept telling myself I had to read another chapter. The book was indeed that good, and I highly recommend it.

— iv.

It’s too awful to think your friend might be a killer. But it’s also too awful to think your friend is dead. Someone did it. I was there when one cop said to another in a hushed tone that I could still hear, “No way it was accidental, even if she was drunk. Definitely homicide.”

Another strength of The Ivies is the writing. Alexa Donne does an excellent job of capturing teenage emotion and behavior. The characters and their interactions were authentic and convincing. I also liked how the writing was concise, making a more significant impact with every domino revealed. These reveals were so much more powerful because of the compact writing. Alexa Donne’s style makes me want to pick up another book of hers. I definitely will not forget her, and I am sure whatever books she has planned for the future will also be fantastic. In the meantime, I’ll read her previously published works.

— v.

But I know that if I went back, I would do it all over again. I would have accepted the Ivies’ invitation in every possible scenario. I needed their approval like oxygen.
In the present, I take a deep breath. I smile for the camera.
And I lie.
Because this is the game. The long game. Play the part, try to fit in. Earn their trust. Take their shit. Claw my way up, up, up.
The bright lights burn my eyes. I stare, straight ahead, and don’t blink.

Overall, I adored The Ivies. It has been a while since I read a good mystery, and this book made me fall in love with the genre all over again. It reminded me so much of Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard. And if you know me, you know how much I love Sara Shepard.

I highly recommend The Ivies, and lucky for you, there is a giveaway! Up for grabs is ONE finished copy of The Ivies by Alexa Donne. This giveaway is open to US residents only and will run from May 23rd to May 30th at 12 AM CST. To enter, click this link. Good luck!

Final Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

— vi.

Our fellow students don’t know the calculated way in which we targeted them and took many of them down, though there are definitely rumors. They know us as the Ivies. They point to us at meals, in the halls, whispering and guessing. But every Ivy mission is planned to have total deniability. It’s easy to write off ruthless teenage behavior because hyperelite schools like Claflin are built on ultracompetitive cutthroatedness. There were ruthless students before us—they just weren’t as well organized.
Avery makes up the rules and controls the List. We’ve cataloged our competition, our marks, our fellow students whose success we need to disrupt in order to improve our own chances of securing those coveted entrance spots at each university. There are two per school, maybe three—never four.
We disrupt class ranks, club leaderships, summer internships, academic competitions, and musical auditions. We improve our own odds by slightly decreasing the fortunes of others.
Because hyperelite, competitive college admissions is some serious fucking shit.
I learned that the hard way.

I’d love to hear from you guys! Did you manage to read The Ivies? If so, what did you think of it? Are you planning to read it? What are your favorite mystery novels? I’d love to read more mysteries and/or thrillers, so if you have any good recommendations, leave them in the comments below. And if you read The Ivies (which you definitely should), let me know what you think of the book!

In case you missed my last review, I reviewed Cool for the Summer by Dahlia Adler. I also realize May is almost over, and it will be time for the next monthly wrap-up soon. However, here is April’s, just in case you missed it.