Blog Tour and Review: The Ivies | Alexa Donne

The Ivies | Alexa Donne

Page count: 320

Publisher: Crown

Publication date: May 25, 2021

Genres: YA, thriller, mystery

Synopsis

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.”

“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.

Thank you to Turn the Page Tours for an ARC in exchange for a blog tour stop!

The Ivies is a YA thriller about just how cutthroat college applications can really be.

This was a lot better than I expected it to be! I’ve read one other book by Alexa Donne that I didn’t like at all, but this one was much better. I was a little apprehensive because of my previous bad experience, but The Ivies was a massive improvement.

Really, the main thing that I got out of this reading experience is that I should read more thrillers. Though I still guessed the killer, I enjoyed the twisty plot and complex characters. The thing about thrillers is that there is never a perfect character to root for. Everyone’s a little screwed up in one way or another, and that’s fantastic to read about.

The premise of this story is tons of fun. I love all the talk of admissions and getting into the right school, and this is probably a very timely book for some readers.

All in all, this was an enjoyable book. It’s not my new favorite, but I had a good time and I’d encourage you to read it!

Author Info | Alexa Donne

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.

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