Mystery Chick Lit with Tons of Brains: (2010-07-28) 
It's just so hard to find an intelligent, funny, and suspenseful series, which is why I adore Diana Peterfreund's IVY LEAGUE novels. They contain everything I want in a series about college students: secrets, romantic entanglements, and pages and pages of side-splitting collegiate conversation.

Amy is engaging, wry, and endearingly stumbling through life as a secret society member at an elite university. She is dynamic and can hold her own in any situation. But the brilliant characterization doesn't stop there. Every character, no matter how much or how little time he/she gets on the page, has his or her own personality. It's not so hard for us to keep track of all dozen or so of the members of Rose & Grave, which is a remarkable accomplishment, and a sign of a high-caliber author.

Likewise, the plot is intricate and clearly shows the amount of time that went into planning and writing Amy's world. The story weaves around the society comings and goings, delves deliciously into Amy's "relationship" with George, takes readers on far flung adventures...and that's in between helping us remember who's who! The story is a complex, satisfying, and delightful concept that only an author with more than enough brains to spare can concoct.

UNDER THE ROSE is a thriller/mystery story for the estrogen-prone, chick lit for the brainy. And that's why I love it. This book doesn't dumb itself down for readers; instead, we're left feeling impressed at Diana Peterfreund's writing ability, even if the scenarios and dialogue only exist in a world where the perfect quip comes out of your mouth instantly, every time. I'd like to live there.

WhatMissKelleyIsReading:(...): (2010-04-07) 
It's fall of Amy Haskel's senior year at fictional Eli University, and the nostalgia has already set in. The Diggers have recovered, mostly, from the events of the previous spring. They're preparing to initiate their last three members (taps who were away their junior spring), and the previous class members, D176, have all dispersed except for Poe, who is attending Eli Law. Two crises confront D177 before they can get too comfortable: factions within the patriarchy are still fighting the decision to admit women, and one of them is leaking information to the press. Is this tap class finished before they've even gotten started?

Two things stood out about this book for me. Fraternal life, be it in the form of a secret society or a Greek organization, is at its best when it encourages friendships across typical lines, when people are forced to give a second look at someone they might not have considered otherwise. This is clearly in evidence as Amy and her new friends grow closer as a class, and I really enjoyed that.

The other is the ongoing struggle to deal with the ramifications of their status as the first coed class. There is still ambivalence amongst even the male members of D177 about the Diggirls, as they've named themselves, and as the term goes on the situation deteriorates. When this finally comes to a head in the story's climax, the scenes ring absolutely authentic. It took what was already an exciting read and turned it into something more meaningful.

I liked the first book in this series, but I really liked this second one. I highly recommend it.

Terrible mystery: (2010-01-13) 
So, there are some people who can write an interesting and thought-out mystery, and there are some who can't. This author can't. What a disappointment. The first book was witty and amusing, but the second? A flop. I just wondered why I stuck with it till the end. Maybe that's why it took me a week and a half to finish the book. That's like a world record for me. I never take this long with one book, and I can honestly say that when the 3rd installment comes out, I will NOT be reading that.

Amy Haskel and her secret society members--more commonly known as the Diggers--are back from their summer (in Amy's case, interning for a literary agency) and ready to devote themselves to Rose & Grave and their brotherhood. But it seems like last year's problem continues to remain a problem. There are still members who want the old tradition of an all boys club back, but Amy is adamant that it won't happen. There's a traitor among them as well--someone who's leaking information to outsiders and causing even the press to become interested. Who is doing it, and what's their motive?

First, I'll admit that I did not read the blurb. There are two reasons for that: one, because it's the sequel to Secret Society Girl, a book that I really enjoyed reading. And two, because I was in a hurry to start reading so I could pick up where Amy left off. A couple of chapters in though, I flipped the book over and read it. Okay, that sounds interesting, I thought.

And it was, at first. Amy's point of view was still as witty and amusing. She's such a tough character, because despite her ordinary name, she's fierce, loud-spoken, and a bit too silly at times. The author really developed Amy the character well, unlike other stories where some character traits didn't even make sense on the particular person. That would irritate me even more. Besides Amy, I do like George. He's probably one of the most realistic character's I've ever read about. He's the stereotypical player, and Amy's infatuated with him. And though they like each other, he makes it perfectly clear that his playboy nature won't change just because of her. I find that sad, but it's true. Maybe the readers want to see a change, but I find it not realistic and original enough. I mean, how many bad-boy-reformed stories have I read? Plenty.

And when I got midway, the torture began.

The pace slowed and I felt like I'd been reading just that one chapter for the whole day, and that made me really frustrated. Then, I couldn't help but become angry with the book. Why was it taking forever to get to the point already? (If you want to read the book, do not read forth because it will contain a whole bunch of spoilers.) Amy already knew it was Jenny, so all she had to do was find her. And when she finally did--what kind of clues were those, anyway?--the reason behind Jenny's betrayal was just so Un-freaking believable I wanted to cry and/or rip out the pages of the book. I'm not even kidding. What kind of reasoning was that? And while I'm ranting, what kind of mystery is that? Jesus Christ. How did all this betrayal stuff lead to talking about Christians and religion? And even more randomly, about the other secret group within Rose & Grave that are trying to steal money from the brotherhood. Um, totally random, don't you think? Like, come on, you can do better than that!

To recap, I seriously won't recommend this to anyone if you're looking for a good read, something that's witty and fascinating, because this book will disappoint. Maybe if I got over the whole mystery concept, I would've thought this was a good book, but I can't, so that's why I gave it a horrible rating. I just can't believe the sequel turned out so bad. Never, ever, write sequels people, unless you really know what you're doing, because you'll just end up ruining interesting characters and a well-like story that was the first book.

Angieville: UNDER THE ROSE: (2008-11-01) 
Reading Secret Society Girl: An Ivy League Novel (Ivy League) put me in righteously indignant mode for two days straight. Now, admittedly, it doesn't always take much to send me there but, since my indignation was on behalf of fictional characters and couldn't hurt anyone, well, real, I figured it was okay to let the wrath reign. Besides, some of those dudes really deserved it. My wrath, that is. Reading UNDER THE ROSE was an entirely different experience. I spent the majority of the time grinning madly, silently egging certain characters on while berating others for their a) lack of the barest trappings of a conscience or b) inability to just come out and say what's really bothering them.

And boy was there a lot of bothering going on. At the start of the book, it quickly becomes apparent someone within the secret society is leaking information to outsiders intent on destroying them. Amy, known within the Rose & Grave annals as Bugaboo, is dismayed to find out she's lived up to her society nickname when none of the other Diggers will listen to her pleas for help investigating the leak. Caught up in their own lives and dramas, her fellow Diggers leave Amy alone to fret and fester over the fraying society she's been so loyal to (and so instrumental in saving in the last book). And Amy has her own heady distractions in the form of her senior thesis, her roommate Lydia's love life woes, and the persistence of one George Harrison Prescott.

I thought UNDER THE ROSE was an even stronger story than its predecessor. The pace never flagged, the dialogue was sharp, and the characters became more interesting and more dear, as evidenced by the fact that my heart went out to two of them who'd done nothing but irritate me in the first book. I love it when that happens! I was particularly enamored by the unwilling alliance Amy forms with a certain caustic law student and the verbal sparring that ensues. Ah, the things she gets roped into doing in the name of the greater good. This book was a smooth, delicious treat and when I closed it I felt like we'd all of us had a good time.

Fast-Paced Fun: (2008-05-05) 
This is the second book in the "Ivy League" series by Diane Petrefreund. The third book in this series - Rites of Spring - will be available June 2008. In general, between this book and the first one, Secret Society Girl, I still feel like these books are failing a bit at living entirely up to my expectations - I feel like there are just too many archetypes to make the books really satisfying as other books in this genre of fiction can be.

In this one, Amy Haskel is back at school for her senior year as a full-fledged Digger (member of a secret society) but things are once again on the fritz within the Rose & Grave as the group receives threatening messages and their secrets are being leaked to a conspiracy website. The author does a good job of setting up a ton of suspects and subplots from the first chapter - you never know who to trust within the group and on the outside, which makes for a fun guessing game as to who the rat within the group is. Even then, once the main mystery of the story is uncovered, it's suddenly revealed that the betrayal in the group goes much deeper than originally thought!

These books are hard to sum up without giving a lot of information away so that's all I can really say. In terms of pros, the book really was good at making me suspicious of a lot of people in the beginning and I kept on guessing what the twists were going to be - I didn't anticipate too many of them mostly because some of them were kind of completely from left field. Still I found the book entertaining and gripping enough to be a page turner that I finished in a few days so that's probably a good sign.

Also I still give the author credit for creating some very realistic portrayals of the different types of college students out there, I recognized almost every 'archetype' she had, and the protagonist was a good mix of ivy league pretentiousness and naive twentysomething. All in all I'm looking forward to the next book, if only for a bit of fun reading.