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The Ivies
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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 o
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Hardcover, 320 pages
Expected publication:
May 25th 2021
by Crown
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Trigger Warnings: death, alcohol, bullying and blackmail, toxic relationships, some mentions of disordered eating.
(*note: the disordered eating was not explicit or truly acknowledged, but I know people recovering from/struggling with EDs can be triggered by a lot of seemingly minor or random things (ie. digital numbers might remind them of the numbers on a scale) so I put that there just in case.)
Why the hell am I so obsessed with elite-private ...more
(*note: the disordered eating was not explicit or truly acknowledged, but I know people recovering from/struggling with EDs can be triggered by a lot of seemingly minor or random things (ie. digital numbers might remind them of the numbers on a scale) so I put that there just in case.)
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me an ARC!
Why the hell am I so obsessed with elite-private ...more

May 23, 2020
Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell
marked it as wishlist
Hi my name is Nenia and I am dark academia TRASH
*points to username identifying herself as an actual garbage can*
*points to username identifying herself as an actual garbage can*

Nov 19, 2019
Tucker (TuckerTheReader)
marked it as not-released-tbr
Recommended to Tucker by:
Crown Publishing

I was lucky enough to read this recently, and let's just say... the world isn't ready. Smart and darkly addicting, I can't recommend it enough. The characters will get under your skin, and the writing is perfectly paced and deliciously evil. Just go buy it!
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We have a cover!
My dumb ass always imagined it to be total black with white school logo at the middle so I'm confused now, but I'll get used to it lol. ...more
My dumb ass always imagined it to be total black with white school logo at the middle so I'm confused now, but I'll get used to it lol. ...more

I was lucky enough to get an early copy of this book. I devoured it. SO GOOD.
Boarding school setting? Yes please. Ruthless ambition? Yes please. Mean girls who are actually way more than that? YES PLEASE.
There were twists and turns galore that kept me guessing. I did NOT figure out whodunnit, even when I thought I had. And that final twist is just < mind blown emoji >
Pick this up!
Boarding school setting? Yes please. Ruthless ambition? Yes please. Mean girls who are actually way more than that? YES PLEASE.
There were twists and turns galore that kept me guessing. I did NOT figure out whodunnit, even when I thought I had. And that final twist is just < mind blown emoji >
Pick this up!

This book is going to be crack to juniors and seniors--the number of times I came across a moment and said, "I mean they didn't kill anyone but yeah, I basically watched that happened" makes this book almost too real. Murder aside, this is the most realistic take on college admissions I've ever read in a fiction novel--we all know quotas are a thing. Colleges won't accept more than X students from a specific school. THE IVIES takes that premise and makes a page-turning murder mystery out of it.
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Apr 12, 2020
Vee
marked it as want-to-read-new
Alexa's last two books were retellings of Jane Eyre and Persuasion, so this thriller is an unusual direction.
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Feb 28, 2021
h o l l i s
rated it
liked it
Shelves:
contemporary,
crime-mystery,
finished-in-february-2021,
grief-or-loss,
lgbtqia,
romance,
thriller,
ya,
2021-reads,
arc
This is exactly the kind of thing that would make a great mini series. Mostly because it felt not unlike a Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars mashup (I say this without ever having watched or read PLL, so I could be off base, but from random ads I've seen it has the thriller vibes needed). Except throw in the Gilmore Girls education focus that Rory and Paris had in their final year at Chilton.
All that to say, this was a hot twisty priviledged backstabby underhanded mess and boy was I enthralle ...more
All that to say, this was a hot twisty priviledged backstabby underhanded mess and boy was I enthralle ...more

May 12, 2020
hillary ☾
marked it as to-read
A book about a group of prep school elites who would literally kill to get into the college of their dreams? Nothing attracts me more than murderous students obsessed with academia.

Do you remember the movie Mean Girls? This is a mean girls story with an academic mission. The story was smart, addictive, and definitely shocking! The characters get under your skin, they are ruthless and twisted.
The girls are twisted and will do anything and I mean anything to get into thier dream college, even murder. This is a great whodunit type of book, the twist and the shocks keep coming. Olivia is at a boarding school where she and her friends are all trying to get into one of their Iv ...more
The girls are twisted and will do anything and I mean anything to get into thier dream college, even murder. This is a great whodunit type of book, the twist and the shocks keep coming. Olivia is at a boarding school where she and her friends are all trying to get into one of their Iv ...more

The college admissions game turns deadly at an upscale boarding school, and scholarship student Olivia tries to figure out which one of her friends killed one of their own. Each of the girls in the friend group has a distinct personality and a particular skill for gaming the admissions process, and Olivia is sure they are hiding things from her.
Donne makes all the moves of a seasoned mystery writer, complete with an arrest at the 75% mark, which any mystery reader knows is too early for it to be ...more
Donne makes all the moves of a seasoned mystery writer, complete with an arrest at the 75% mark, which any mystery reader knows is too early for it to be ...more

I think I just found a new favorite book. This book was killer. It reminded me why I love the YA thriller/mystery genre so much, I'm about to go binge more thrillers.
Blurb
A group of five prep school girls will do anything to get into their school of their dreams. Each one of them is gunning for a specific Ivy League school; Harvard, Princeton, UPenn, Columbia, and Yale. After one of them turns up dead, Olivia is determined to get to the bottom of it, unearthing secrets that should've stayed b ...more
Blurb
A group of five prep school girls will do anything to get into their school of their dreams. Each one of them is gunning for a specific Ivy League school; Harvard, Princeton, UPenn, Columbia, and Yale. After one of them turns up dead, Olivia is determined to get to the bottom of it, unearthing secrets that should've stayed b ...more

"it's deadly"
YES GIMME

...more
YES GIMME



Perfect YA thriller set at an elite boarding school. 'The Ivies' are an exclusive clique that are literally dead set on getting into an Ivy League school. I loved the fascinating glimpse into their privileged lives from the point of view of Olivia, the scholarship student from Maryland. There are tons of suspects all with valid motives and just when you think you've figured it out, there is another twist in the plot!
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...more

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 !
I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS BOOK AND I WAS NOT LET DOWN.
Anyone who is a fan of Alexa Donne's YouTube channel knows that her usual fare comes in the vein of soapy, romantic Jane Austen retellings in space. While that is not usually my jam, I bought them all anyway. I think her channel is wonderful and I've enjoyed watching her walk the walk when it comes to applying the concepts she speaks about in her writing, and its been a joy watching her style evolve. What was particularly excitin ...more
I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS BOOK AND I WAS NOT LET DOWN.
Anyone who is a fan of Alexa Donne's YouTube channel knows that her usual fare comes in the vein of soapy, romantic Jane Austen retellings in space. While that is not usually my jam, I bought them all anyway. I think her channel is wonderful and I've enjoyed watching her walk the walk when it comes to applying the concepts she speaks about in her writing, and its been a joy watching her style evolve. What was particularly excitin ...more

This book was completely addicting and wildly entertaining. A dark academia murder mystery set at a boarding school? Count me in.
Full review to come closer to the publication date!
Full review to come closer to the publication date!

I genuinely enjoyed reading THE IVIES, which was a fun xmas day read.
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brief synopsis: 5 girls at a prestigious fictional prep school Claflin conspire to receive acceptances from Ivy League schools. murder becomes centrally involved.
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THE IVIES is essentially a cozy YA murder mystery.
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it’s not necessarily a thriller though in the sense that I didn’t feel thrilled. engaging relationships but not character development.
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I noticed that the book takes place in 2020, which is mentioned twice inc ...more
.
.
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 inc ...more

May 23, 2020
Maraya21 (The Reading Dragon)
marked it as to-read
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Maraya21 by:
Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell
Shelves:
_added-in-2020
The Garbage Can is talking to me again *sigh*
...more

This was pretty good. I was really pleased with what happened with Avery's character. (view spoiler)
I will say, the decision to acknowledge COVID-19, but have it be completely and totally over by Fall 2020, no ma ...more
I will say, the decision to acknowledge COVID-19, but have it be completely and totally over by Fall 2020, no ma ...more

THE IVIES is such a fun and twisty YA elite boarding school mystery/thriller! The story is about a group of high-achieving friends known as “the Ivies” who will do whatever it takes to be accepted into the university of their dreams. When someone turns up dead and the Ivies become the prime suspects, Olivia decides to get to the bottom of it. With a cast full of perfectly “unlikeable” characters, I couldn’t put this book down until the reveal. The dynamic between Olivia and the other Ivies was c
...more

An exciting thriller set in the cut-throat world of elite boarding schools. I couldn't stop reading and went to bed at 430am - not very wise on my part but this book was a page-turner. What I enjoyed most was the no holds barred social commentary on the class divide between the wealthy and the working class, sexism, and racism. Donne's characters are flawed, hurt, and complex in the way humanity is. I was sucked into this world of terrible teens whose emotions are raw and whose desperate ambiti
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This was an AWESOME book -- perfect for anyone who liked A Good Girl's Guide To Murder, Truly Devious, and/or One Of Us Is Lying -- I clearly cannot get enough of the YA murder books.
Prep school + conniving teenagers + murder + rich kids vs. poor kid + a cute crush + red herrings galore + a smart feminist protagonist --- this was SO enjoyable.
* thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s/Crown Publishing for the eARC for review.
Pub date: 5/25/21 ...more
Prep school + conniving teenagers + murder + rich kids vs. poor kid + a cute crush + red herrings galore + a smart feminist protagonist --- this was SO enjoyable.
* thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children’s/Crown Publishing for the eARC for review.
Pub date: 5/25/21 ...more

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 lo ...more
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 lo ...more

I wanted so bad to love this book. I really loved Brightly Burning, but the characters were just not fleshed out in this book. It was as if someone watched a bunch of The CW and decided that's what being a teenager is like. It was so unrealistic. I was telling my husband about this book at around the 70% mark and for the life of me couldn't remember the MC's name, so when you can't even produce the name of the character whose perspective you're in, while you're smack in the middle of reading the
...more

May 14, 2020
Taasia ✨
marked it as please-give-me
As weird as this sounds, this is literally sounds like my Exact type of book.
Why did I not know this existed?
Why did I not know this existed?
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