Review: The Ivy

Title: The Ivy
Author: Lauren Kunze & Rina Onur (Collaborator)
Date Released: August 31st, 2010
Pages: 310
Rating: 4 out of 5

Description:
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:
Callie Andrews has arrived at Harvard from California *applause*.  She has three roommates, all with different personalities, and a whole bunch of guys that she's met (and crushing on).  But then there's also her *ahem* ex-boyfriend.  Now she just has to survive college while juggling school work, roommates, and four different guys.  It's no big deal, right?

The Ivy was so addicting!  While I was reading this, I was supposed to be studying for finals... But I couldn't help myself :)  What really kept my eyes glued to this book was all the backstabbing and secrets.  All of the drama really made The Ivy super captivating. 

I thought it was super cool how there was such a difference in personality between all four roommates.  Callie was a little more calmer, and not really like the stereotypical blonde from California (hint hint: Elle Woods from "Legally Blonde").  Callie's other roommates, Mimi, Vanessa, and Dana were total opposites.  Mimi was the rich international student from France who was pretty crazy and wild.  Vanessa was the rich New York socialite, who wasn't as crazy and wild, but was more concerned with being popular and gaining admittance into the clubs of Harvard.  On the other hand, Dana is the total opposite of Vanessa and Mimi.  She's the type of girl who would be caught studying all the time and was raised pretty religious, so she could care less about what her roommates really care about (social-wise). 

Don't even get me started on the guys in this book.  All of them were pretty cool, but some of them could be total jerks.  Like Gregory.  All of the guys, like the girls, had different personalities, too.  Gregory was the rich kid who could be a jerk at times, and Matt was the totally sweet one that anyone would want to be their boyfriend.  Clint was an upperclassman, so he should be totally off limits, and he was sweet, too, but not as understanding.  And there's Evan.  He's not really in the book as much, but he came off as a jerk even though he sounded pretty nice.  Obviously, all the characters in The Ivy were diverse.  They're not hard to forget either.  The characters also weren't confusing because they were all so different.

Overall, The Ivy is a pretty good book.  Although, I will warn you to not get your hopes up if you think it's all about Harvard (that's what I originally thought).  It's more about the social aspect of going there (if any of it is true... Apparently the authors won't say how much of it is true?? :/ ).  There is some drinking, getting drunk, partying, and more stuff like that.  So, if you're not really into books like that, then I wouldn't really suggest it, but this was a page turner for me because of all the secrets and backstabbing and not to mention, the question of who Callie would end up with by the end of the book :) 

This left on a pretty huge cliffhanger so I'll definitely be looking forward to the sequel, Secrets! 

Cover Review:
I love the cover!  I don't know how to explain it, but the design in the background kind of has this old feel to it.  Not old like in a bad way, but it reminds me of old and prestigious colleges, like Harvard!  The red is very eye-catching and so is the title. 

A Question:
One thing that I really want to know about this book: Does all of this stuff really go on in Harvard? I just watched "The Social Network" and it kind of seems to be that way. There was one scene in the movie and I think it was at one of those club party's, and the guys and girls were drinking and stuff and it just totally reminded me of The Ivy. My dad really wants me to go to Harvard (I think in a way it's sort of weird since it's such a prestigious college... And I see why. But still.), so now I'm pretty sure that my mom's second guessing the choice (she watched the movie with me).

Cleo :)

*Description from Goodreads.com
**Review copy borrowed from library.