The Ivies by Alexa Donne is a young adult boarding school novel worth your time. With mystery, pettiness, high school drama, rich entitlement, and a murder - ooh, you will sucked in with anticipation of what is going to happen next.

This is a mystery ready to be read or listened too. I found this fantastic to listen to on audio and is currently one of my top novels for this specific sub-genre of young adult, e.g. the high school murder mysteries like One of Us Is Lying or A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. Yes, there are moments in this novel that can be cut to create a bigger punch but overall, it is an enticing read and if you want a cliché and cheesy but so fun to read who-dun-it, then this is worth your time.

The Ivies starts with cattiness and because I was able to listen to the novel on audio and had already forgotten the premise, I was hesitant to continue because I had no energy for teenage high school angst BUT teenage high school angst with murder? Yes, I had time for that.

That is what the plot is about. It transforms from the focus being solely on acceptance into the Ivy leagues into why one person was killed and who is the killer.

Trying to figure out the killer for me was a delight as I genuinely could not figure it out. The plot contains many twists that help enforce the mystery and although I assume the majority of you will be able to figure out the killer, there are many suspects along the way and is why it is so fun to read. The Ivies contains a solid plot which I believe will be heightened if you struggle to identify the killer as that for me was the best part of the normally because typically in these types of YA's, I can guess the killer but not in The Ivies.

There are a litany of characters in this novel. There are the Ivies: Emma, Margo, Sierra, Avery, and Olivia and then there are the supporting characters with too many to name. The novel focuses on Olivia as she is the protagonist followed by Avery, the "head" of the Ivies. They are catty, all the characters are catty and at certain instances exude ignorance regarding reality but, they are fun and worth reading about.

I think the ending could have been condensed to create a better bang for the reader. It was good overall and The Ivies is a pretty fun book to read.

The Ivies was exactly what I expected and I ate it up. The novel was a glorious high school drama with murder (intriguing) and clothing descriptions (the worst). This was genuinely a blast to listen too and an audio book I finished in a flash.

I could not guess the killer for the life of me. You are probably thinking to yourself, seriously? But it's the honest truth, I could not figure it out. My top suspects were the teacher followed by Tyler with Sierra and Rebecca in tow. I knew it couldn't be Avery as everything was too conveniently pinned on her but up until the teacher (whose name is eluding me) was arrested and we gleaned insight into him having no clue who his blackmailer was, I knew it couldn't be him. My suspicions then shifted to Tyler and then stayed there until Olivia went through his suspect list which made me then briefly spiral as to who the true killer was.

Throughout the whole novel I experienced a high amount of confusion on who the true killer was and even though it ended up being Tyler, someone I did initially suspect, because there were so many other suspects on my list, it made the reveal exciting! I suspected Tyler once he became the head advocate for Emma's memorial. I have taken many classes to know that a high percentage of murderers involve themselves in the aftermath of death as either a way to create an allusion of innocence or to be closer to the drama and I felt it in my bones Tyler was doing the former.

The only downside I had about this novel, apart from the ridiculous focus on makeup as a key component of presentability, was why Tyler killed Emma? His motive was weak. A really really weak premise and I feel unexplainable rage would have been more suitable than jealously regarding college admissions. An absolutely weird and lacklustre motive but then again, people kill for the craziest reasons and sometimes no reason at all. It may have suited the story a bit better to categorise Tyler as a killer with no motive and reveal him as a psychopath as it was definitely alluded too that something was a bit off with him, at least from Avery's perspective.

The Ivies was a real delight and I had fun listening to this novel. I tried throughout to determine but continuously failed to figure out the killer before they were revealed and is why this was a solid mystery for me and one I do recommend reading.