This is a book about bitches, male and female, and is willing to hold them accountable for their bitchery. 

The camp tone requires you to play along (starting with the idea that a group of mean girls are referred to as 'the Ivies' by actual human peers). It is more of a Knives Out than a Hound of the Baskervilles, with the caveat that it is much more predictable than either. 

Though none of the boys are as compelling as the female leads, every character is either hiding something or trying something. The Ivies is very much a book of its time as well. References to 'the oppression Olympics' (which Donne boldly tries to convince us her protagonist's mother coined) and Elizabeth Warren are harmless, and the through-line about systemic injustice is pertinent. However, this is strained to the point of parody by the end. I feel Sierra, the Ivies' only black member, would have benefited from exchanging about 20% of her dialogue on race issues for another character trait besides 'hacker' too. (Side note: unless Girls Who Code has drastically changed their mandate since my involvement, their web dev classes will not give you the skillset to hack your school's IT systems.)

The climax is a bit of an eye-roll but upon completion of that, we are rewarded with the most interesting moral notes of the book. Donne pokes her head above the crowd here when she forsakes the nice but unmemorable ending for one where a) the logical consequences of the murder scandal play out with no care for plot armour and b) our narrator, Olivia, when faced with one test of character, chooses

the dark side! To play the game in the documentary interview in pursuit of sweet, sweet validation.

Relatable enough to root for; bold enough to balk at.

I usually steer clear of high school drama, college admissions, and rich boarding school stories, yet Ivies has such a snappy voice and the plot was so peppy that I finished it in one day. I only hope Donne's next book bears a different setting.