The Ivy: Book Review

Novel: The Ivy (The Ivy #1) by Lauren Kunze with Rina Onur

Release Date: May 3rd, 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 336
Format: Hardcover Novel
Source: Purchased at The Strand Bookstore

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?
(Synopsis from Goodreads)


   Let me start with this: I was laughing so hard at one point I was crying. This book is so funny! OK (you'll meet him - he's Matt and Gregory's roommate) is so funny, and him put together with Mimi (Callie's roommate)... Oh my. I wish I knew them both, because my life would be so incredibly funny!
   The entire cast of characters in this novel are great. They each have their own quirks, and these are each well known to the reader. Callie's roommates are hilarious, simply because Vanessa and Mimi are like partners in crime. Vanessa wants to let Callie borrow as many of her clothing items as possible, Mimi wants to give her advice on her love life, and together they make a pretty good team.
   Callie herself is a character with depth. She has regrets, she has motives, and most of all, she has spunk (my favorite quality in a character). She makes the pages light up, and you feel as if you are there with her. Everything she does has a motive, and her enemies are... well... Perfect enemies for Callie. Callie has a drive, and nothing gets in the way of that, which is definitely something I admire.
   The Ivy is definitely a summer book filled with laughter, gasps, and speed-reading moments. One of my closest friends read my copy before I got a chance too (she consistently stole it from me in NYC) and on the plane she kept on bursting into laughter, and when I'd ask what it was, she simply point to the book and give me this "You'll figure it out" look. And oh boy I did. The Ivy is hilarious. Absolutely insane. So now, you need to stop reading this review and go out and buy this book.