The Ivy (Ivy, #1)

by Lauren Kunze and Rina Onur

When Callie arrives for her freshman year at Harvard, she encounters her three vastly different roommates, new friendships, steamy romance, and scandalous secrets.

• ISBN10: 0061960462
• ISBN13: 9780061960468
• Publish Date: 3 May 2011 (first published 31 August 2010)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[rakesandrogues]

I don’t know how I managed to read THE IVY by Lauren Kunze and Rina Onur in its entirety when I clearly did not enjoy it. Riddled with caricatures and cliches, THE IVY by Lauren Kunze and Rina Onur is far from your typical college experience.

There is no debating the fact that THE IVY by Lauren Kunze and Rina Onur is young adult, despite the fact that the story takes place in college. Why? Because it’s like the characters never left high school. THE IVY is centered around gossip, drama, and hooking up. There’s really no depth to the college setting – except that it gave the authors more excuses to include sex, alcohol, and drugs.

THE IVY by Lauren Kunze and Rina Onur lacks any likeable characters. The characters are obnoxious and over-exaggerated caricatures. The protagonist, Callie, is very difficult to like because her moral compass is so way off. She’s quite over-dramatic and self-centered. Her character changes for the worst, and by the end of the book, I loathed her. Her friends aren’t any better. They are annoying and they engage in ridiculous shenanigans.

For all the drama crammed into one book, you would think that the characters had never left high school. The fact that all of this can happen to one group of friends is also unrealistic. The gossip and drama are never-ending. Most of the time, I think their problems are so juvenile that it makes it so hard to believe that these people would actually be my age.

You know I didn’t like a book when I can’t think of one good thing to highlight in a review. THE IVY by Lauren Kunze and Rina Onur is not worth your time.

[Amber]

Let me start out by saying that the characters in this book are a bit older than what is the norm in YA. Callie is a freshman at Harvard, so she's just that little bit older, but the story definitely still fits the typical age range for YA.

The Ivy is an excellent contemporary book, with so much drama! I love books like this, and this really reminded me of that TV show, Greek, just without the sororities.

Callie is a great MC. She's flawed in ways that are to be expected with a teenager who's just moving into adulthood, and she has a lot to learn about friendships.

Her roommates provided a lot of humour, which I adored. I was laughing out loud throughout most of the book because these characters are hilarious and crazy! I loved them all apart from Vanessa.

Vanessa was a complete cow. She had the audacity to call Callie a bad friend, when in reality she was just as awful, if not worse. There was a scene at the beginning when Callie embarrassed herself in front of the entire cafeteria, and Vanessa pretended not to know her. Yeah, great friend.

This book does contain a love triangle, and while I normally abhor those, I actually really enjoyed this one! Gold star for the authors for doing it right!

Gregory! *hearts* I'm in love. Callie was so oblivious, but he obviously likes her. Open your eyes, woman! I love Gregory so much, he's a wonderful character.

Clint is the other side of the love triangle, and while I liked him - mostly - I felt he was too mature of Callie and they didn't have much chemistry. I think it's pretty obvious as to which side of this triangle I prefer!

Matt was another character I loved. He's such a nerd.

Overall I LOVED this book and I think it's definitely underrated. More people need to read The Ivy, because I think it's one of the best contemporaries I've read. And it is set in college which means no parents. Which means craziness ensues.