Review: The Ivy by Lauren Kunze with Rina Onur

The Ivy by Lauren Kunze with Rina Onur

Congratulations! You have been admitted to the most prestigious university in the world. Now what are you going to do?

Callie Andrews may not have money or connections or the right clothes, and she may have way too many complications in her love life, what with

Gregory
the guy she loves to hate ...

Evan
the guy she'd love to forget ...

Clint
the guy she'd love to love ...

and Matt
the guy she really should love ...

all vying for her attention.

But she has three fantastic roommates (best friends or her worst nightmare?) and a wholesome California-girl reputation (oops) and brains and beauty and big, big dreams.

Will it be enough to help her survive freshman year at Harvard?

Review:

The Ivy was a fantastic guilty pleasure novel that can easily be devoured in a few hours. Callie Andrews was a likable main character and even though it seemed like everything just fell perfectly into place for her I still liked it a lot. The book opens with Callie starting her freshman year at Harvard. In high school, Callie was the popular, smart soccer player with the perfect boyfriend. But at Harvard, nothing will ever be the same.

While Callie may seem like the girl you love to hate, I did like her. She was sweet and cared for her friends and just didn't always know where she fit in at Harvard. Reading about her experiences at college were my favorite part of the book. Since I'm a sophomore in high school, I still have a few years to go before I start college, so it was interesting to read about Callie's experiences. From roommates to tests to social clubs and mean girls, The Ivy had it all.

Callie had three roommates- Dana, Vanessa, and Mimi. Dana was the religious and well behaved one, Vanessa was care-free and fashionable, and Mimi was the elusive French girl. As the novel progresses Callie will realize that some of them may not be what she originally thought and will have to deal with a (possible) painful betrayal. I liked getting to know the other students that Callie encountered. Especially the boys. There was Evan (Callie's ex from high school who she never wants to hear from again), Gregory (the apparent mean guy who may just be the perfect one for Callie), Clint (the perfect, popular upperclassman with the ex-girlfriend set on destroying Callie), and, finally, Matt (the sweet, studious guy who fell for Callie from the first time he met her). Reading about our main character's experiences and ups and downs with each was fun and heartbreaking and I especially liked Matt and Gregory.

Drama was a key aspect of The Ivy and Callie gets herself involved in a fair amount; and it's usually not her fault! Reading about the secret societies and social clubs was another key part of The Ivy. It was intriguing to read about the intricacies of these clubs and about how hard it was to snag an invitation. I'm not sure how realistic of a portrayal this was of true college life, but it was an entertaining and enjoyable debut and Lauren Kunze and Rina Onur are two authors to watch.

All in all, I enjoyed The Ivy quite a bit. It was entertaining and filled with betrayal, romance, and other drama. There was a great cast of characters and I liked the little newspaper segment at the start of each chapter. I can't wait for the sequel, Secrets, to be released!

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

August 31, 2010/Greenwillow Books/320 Pages/Young Adult/Book One

Source: BEA 2010 and Publisher (ARC and Finished Copy)

Other books in the series: Secrets (The Ivy #2)