Review: The Ivy by Lauren Kunze and Rina Onur

Title: The Ivy
Author(s): Lauren Kunze & Rina Onur
Publisher: Greenwillow Books
Pub. Date: 8.31.2010
Genre: Contemporary
Keywords: Ivy League, Frienship, Love, Relationships, Reinvention
Pages: 320
Description (from GoodReads):
Freshman year at Harvard--glamorous parties, blossoming friendships, steamy romances, and scandalous secrets. Skip the campus tour and get right to the good stuff: classes are for scoping guys (and their Facebook profiles), not taking notes. The library is for study dates (the medieval history stacks get a lot of action), not studying. And success is a 4.0 GPA... plus getting into the most exclusive parties. How will Callie--a California girl with brains, beauty, and big dreams--and her three roommates survive?

Get admitted to The Ivy, the first book in a provocative new series about the world of the Ivy League.

THE IVY may not be the most accurate portrayal of freshman year at University, but that's besides the point: Rina Onur and Lauren Kunze fully succeeded in writing a fun, dramatic, boy-filled novel that I kept me distracted for hours.

While THE IVY exaggerated some aspects of college life, there were definitely situations that happen on campuses across the country. For me, this novel was a perfect balance of reality and fiction - too much reality would be horribly boring, too much fiction and I wouldn't have related to the characters. Every time I stumbled across a phrase or situation I recognized, like moving into the dorms or Thirsty Thursday, a little lightbulb popped on and I was pulled just a bit deeper into the story.

I honestly can't discuss this book without mentioning that there are many, many boys within its pages. Good looking boys, I might add. This fact may not pull in those male readers, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to seeing quite a few of those boys in book two. *daydreams*

Speaking of boys, this book definitely has a romantic plot line... or two... or three. The main character is apparently a boy magnet and is never without at least one admirer. Best of all, being such a boy magnet allows for different types of romance... there's a tension-charged relationship and a sweet relationship. Something for everyone!

THE IVY may not be a new or revolutionary concept for a novel, but Onur and Kunze did a phenomenal job with this familiar plot and I, for one, will be reading any subsequent novels. THE IVY is relateable, despite some of the far-fetched material, and extremely amusing!

Grade: A