By: Alexa Donne
This book genuinely terrified me. Not the murder stuff, obviously. But like the ED Day stuff. Now that I’ve read how tense ED Day is (oh, ED stands for Early Decision) I’m very frightened. I shouldn’t have read this book. Now I’m going to be panicking about ED (Early Decision), EA (Early Action), or RD (Regular Decision) Day! Worrying 4 years too early!
Enroll in this boarding school thriller about a group of prep school elites who would kill to get into the college of their dreams…literally.
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.
But to be honest, if I went to Claflin Academy, I would be one of the Ivies. I know that being an Ivy is not particularly a good thing, but it’s just a thing that I would do. I think that a lot of people would be ready to do this, even if they won’t admit it. But to be fair, I wouldn’t go about killing people who stole my spot for my dream college. Though, I am an expert at holding grudges.
So, let me explain how the Ivies work. They’re a group of 5 people who have the same goal: getting accepted into an Ivy League college. The girls decided to apply ED to separate colleges. Avery is Harvard. Olivia (the narrator) is Penn. Emma. Is Brown. Sierra is Yale. And Margot is Princeton.
Other people don’t know the calculated way the Ivies target people and take them down. But there are rumors, obviously. But the mission is to have total deniability. Now there’s one explanations of why the Ivies are so ruthless. It’s because of hyper elite schools like Claflin. These schools are build on “ultra competitive cutthroatedness.” There were other ruthless students—but none were as organized the Ivies.
Avery makes the rules and controls the List. They’ve recorded who the competition is, their marks, the students whose success they need to ruin so that the Ivies have a better chance of securing a spot at their coveted universities. The spots are very limited: 2 per school, maybe 3, never 4.
They disrupt class ranks, clubs, internships, academic competition, and musical auditions. They improve their chances by slightly descreasing the fortune of others.
“Because hyperelite, competitive college admissions is some serious [freaking] shit.”
And the most important day of the year is ED day. That day, half the seniors and Claflin Academy will die. On the inside. A hundred kids will obsessively refresh their email and portals so that it can tell them about their futures:
Welcome to Harvard, class of ——
or
We regret to inform you that we must crush all your hopes and dreams…
At least, that how the student read it as. “It’s early decision day and hearts are going to break. Then heads will role.” Then that night, they’ll let loose at Claflin’s infamous ED day party. Accepted or rejected, every senior gets wasted.
Knowing the ins-and-outs of college admissions, the girls have agreed to apply ED to different Ivies.
Their reasoning is, if they all apply to separate schools they won’t be directly competing against one another and therefore, will up their chances of acceptance.
Avery Montfort, the Regina George of the group, has claimed Harvard as hers.
On Early Decision day, it is revealed that Emma had secretly applied to Harvard and gotten accepted. While normally this would be cause for celebration, Avery (Queen of Claflin, Valedictorian on lock, triple legacy) did not get in and thus, blames Emma.
Enraged, Avery confronts Emma at a party and the two girls get into a fight. Ultimately, storming off to separate corners.
Olivia, our main character, watches the drama unfold from the sidelines (ends up doused in a drink). She secretly applied to Harvard as well, and got in, but there is no way she is telling Avery that!
The following morning, Emma is found dead. Olivia is shocked. Could Avery have possibly been angry enough to kill their friend over a college admission?
In the high-stakes world of cut-throat academics, it’s definitely possible. Olivia begins to doubt her place within the Ivies. It seems the other girls have been doing a lot of things behind her back.
The ending was definitely unpredictable. It’s for anyone who likes rich people/boarding school/hyper elite murder mysteries.
MAJOR SPOILER ALERTS FROM NOW ON! DON’T READ IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE BOOK YET!!!!
Last Chance To Turn Back…
Problem #1:
So, apparently T**** is the killer. I admit I was surprised. My main problem with this is the fact that T****’s motive for murder is as ridiculous as the systems these Ivies set up for themselves.
Are you freaking kidding me???
Killing someone for college essays???
Look, I’m totally fine with crazy killers. But seriously, the whole idea of students offing each other just to get into Harvard is already plain dumb and unrealistic (not that there’s anything wrong with that. I mean, I really hope people don’t actually kill each other for college admissions!). His motive is just so ridiculous and absurd. I mean, I was surprised by the reveal, but I was even more surprised that out of all possible reasons for murder, the author went with that one. The guy’s unhinged, plain and simple. There’s nothing about that motive that would make it interesting or make us sympathize with him. NOTHING.
Problem #2:
Secondly, I can’t believe I’m getting all political on this, but I’m trying to not dive too deep into it because, honestly, I don’t think I have the right words to describe the situation. I mean, the author has good intentions – she’s trying to say that there’s some racism going on in the college admissions system. Tyler offed Emma because he needed a killer (literally) essay for his college applications, claiming that as a white guy applying to top colleges, it’s tough because they seem to prefer picking people of color over him.
Look, so you can totally put in racism or whatever in your book, I don’t mind. I get that racism happens in college admissions too, that’s just a fact. What bugged me though was how it was used as a plot twist and a reason for a murder. Like seriously?! It’s just messed up to make the motive for a murder about racism. And to top it off, the killer being a basic white racist guy who murdered someone for college essays.
Problem #3:
Now. Let’s talk about the PLOT HOLES!!
How is it possible to get away with using just a student ID to take the SAT? Surely they must ask for more comprehensive identification, right? And why on earth would anyone allow a friend to make such a crucial decision as picking the college they should attend? The killer’s alleged reason for the murder was supposedly being tired of “racism against whites”? It’s bewildering to think that Olivia’s only action was printing what she believed were legitimate student IDs, yet it led to all her college acceptances being revoked, while the wealthy individuals involved in the SAT scandal still managed to attend prestigious universities like Stanford and Harvard without facing any consequences. Why didn’t the affluent students face any punishment for their actions?
The cultural references were totally outdated. At this costume party that was like a blast from the past, the kids all rock up dressed as James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, and I even heard someone mention Janis Joplin. I mean, come on!
Problem #4:
And now, let’s talk about the tone shift.
• Olivia confronts the real murderer.
• The real murderer is wound tight and raving about the petty grievances that pushed them to commit the murder in the first place.
• An ally comes to Olivia’s rescue, but no wait, they’re in cahoots with the murderer!
• Murderer and Ally are comic-bickering about how to dispose of Olivia.
• Ally turns on Murderer with a frying pan because they were secretly pretending to be against Olivia to disarm the Murderer.
The problem isn’t even with the frying pan. The frying pan is an excellent contrast to the high-stakes fraught environment. The problem the joking going on between the Murderer and the Ally.
Problem #5:
Surprise! Olivia is just as venal and ambitious and ruthless as the clique, and now she’ll step on anyone to get back what she lost.
Cool ending, dude, but no build-up.
And finally, FINALLY, the single biggest way this book sunk and drowned:
Problem #6: Surprise The Reader. Hide The Murderer In Plain Sight But Don’t Let Anyone See Them Coming.
Well. It worked. I was surprised, the murderer was in plain sight, and I didn’t see it coming. You know why? Because their behaviour was suspicious in hindsight (if you squint) but it had no connection with their motivation.
There was more foreshadowing for the red herring fake murderer than there was for the real one.
And guess what? After this whole fiasco, most of the Ivies didn’t even go to their damn college. The thing that they worked so hard for, the thing they literally killed for, they gave up. Willingly. Who does that? And plus, aren’t ED decisions irreversible?
So this is a book that was probable 2 or 3 stars out of 5.
XOXO
Aaradhyaa
#AllOrNothing
