A Girl Named Ivy

by Ali Marie

Waking up from a 2-year coma, Ivy finds herself lost. She has no idea who she is, who her parents are, what got her in the coma, and what her past was. Not to mention, no one has ever filed a “missing person” case. Well, Ivy could never find one in that matter. As Ivy starts a new life with her adoptive family and searches for her missing past, she finds secrets that were better off never finding out about.

Genres: Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Thriller, Young Adult

284 pages, Paperback

First published May 7, 2022

About the author

Ali Marie is the author of cozy, coastal summer mysteries that will have your heart in the ocean, but your mind in a crime scene.

Ali began writing stories at the age of 8 and published her first children's book at 11. She spends her free time with her family, reading, and competitive swimming. You can see her frequently walking around the aisles of Strand Bookstore in New York City. She resides in the area of Southern New England with her family.

Reviews

[sophia marianna · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐s!
I loved the concept of this book so so so much!!! And I think it was executed really well for how young Ali was when the wrote this novel.
My only critique is that most of the time the characters felt too young for their age, for example they were 15 but they sounded 13ish, which makes sense because the author was around that age when she wrote them.
Anyways the mystery aspect was well thought out and I really didn’t expect the ending. I think this book is good for all ages and I will be recommending it to my younger sister and my friends.

[Ioanna⚡️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw your tik toks and wanted to read this book for a long time. 5⭐️ loved the plot the concept and the fact that is clean ya (I wanted to read it first before recommending it to my little cousin). the fact that you became an author at 13 is sooooo inspiring! keep it up and I can't wait to read "what went wrong last summer "

[Lilly Prendie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was the most amazing book I have ever read. You must read it and find out what happens to Ivy and watch her find her self.

[Lacy Goldstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m absolutely obsessed with this book it’s so good it’s the best mystery book I’ve ever read it has so much suspense and I never wanted it to end there were some parts I had the chills it was was good I wish this was a series I finished this book in just a day its just amazing and I never thought once that this was written when Ali Marie was only 13 I think it’s amazing that at 13 she wrote this amazing mystery novel it’s only like the 2nd book shes published and it’s just so good🤩

[H. R. Frankline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh. My. Gosh.
I'm a teen writer and really needed someone I could (realistically) look up to and I found you. I adored this book, loved the twists, and read in it two sittings. it really is an amazing book, especially if you wanna start out with a mystery/thriller novel.

[Flynn 📚 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly…considering the fact that Ali was litterally 13 when she wrote this, I’m impressed. This was better than A LOT of other books that I’ve read. This was really well executed and the story seemed really thought out. I’m litterally going to be auto-buying her next novel(s) Please go read this.

[katie ebersole · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was SOO good!! The plot twists and mystery was soooo interesting and I was hooked. I wish there was a second book to follow up with Ivy's life with theo!!!

[Sakinah Rangoonwala · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it! This book was completely clean and all the loose ends were tied up at the end. The only thing I will say is that I think the first third of the book was a little slow, but once you get through that part, the story was really engaging and it kept me hooked, which is hard for a lot of books to do!
I highly recommend this for any age including younger audiences as well! I watch Ali Marie online and absolutely love her content as well! I also love how she doesn't look over younger audiences like many authors do :D

[sally ⋆ ˚｡⋆୨୧˚]

ORDERING IT RN.

[Addy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so good! I can’t believe a teenager wrote it! ( I could never) I really loved how everything came together and definitely will be buying your other book!

[Sophie Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The storyline was interesting and well approached. There were some small mistakes, but the ending was in my opinion a great conclusion to the book.
Ali Marie wrote this when she was 13, and she is an inspiration to me! She is the true meaning of " Follow your dreams"

[Clara Andersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very impressive read from such a young author. I really enjoyed the plot and the characters, and by the end of the book, I cared for them, which is a good sign. However, there were many grammatical and formatting problems and overall holes in the story. I can easily overlook this though because it is by such a young author, and I could never in a million years publish an almost 300-page book! Good Job Ali👏🥰

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

For such a young author this book is truly incredible. I enjoyed the story even though sometimes the writing did sound young and I found some grammar mistakes. But overall I liked the set up and build up to discover what had happened to Ivy.

[Ria Bowe · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 rounded up

I was so excited to get this book for Christmas!! I read it in one day. It was quite interesting. I liked the story. A nice premise but the formatting was really weird in my copy and that distracted from it.
*lighthearted*
*hopeful*
*mysterious*
*slow to medium pacing*

[Ataya Skinner · Rating 3 out of 5]

some typos but you should expect it because it was written by a 13 year old and was self edited 😊 so great job

[Jamie Bowers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the plot of this book! The concept was really cool and I thought it was mostly well executed. The biggest issue I had was that certain things were really skipped over and then there was one thing that got so dragged out I stopped caring about it. I enjoyed the characters but didn’t get insanely connected to them. Overall it was a fun easy read 3 stars.

[Niamh Mulhern · Rating 4 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

‘A girl named Ivy’ is a very good book! I would definitely recommend and the author is so genuinely so inspiring,however the first half of the book could do with being shortened or rewritten. The characters seem a little young for their age, but this doesn’t affect the reading experience. The second half of the novel was excellent and had a twist that I could not see coming. It’s a very quick and easy read! I’m so excited to read the other books the author has published. The end is so satisfying and heartwarming! Very good!!

[Emma Duston · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably like 2.5...

The writing was NOT good and there were multiple typos. I'm trying to be generous because she wrote this when she was 12, but I had high expectations for this and then...

It got a bit better near the end though and I did like how the book ended. I thought everything worked out well and it was a sweet ending. Probably would only recommend to younger readers.

[Madison · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited going into this book, but I felt very disappointed. I've followed Ali on her social media for a while, and decided to give her book a go. Mind you, she wrote this at thirteen and it's her first novel, so I didn't expect to rave on it.

I was very disappointed that there were over 100 pages of nothing. I was being told everything, but nothing all at once.
The formatting was off, along with spelling or grammar, which had me re-reading parts to make sure I wasn't tripping.


I like the idea of the story, and I like the author and her personality, but this book wasn't for me. I'm hoping her second book (and her new release) will be more enjoyable, but I'm not giving up on her books!

[Evelyn Kate]

"Count it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not laking in anything." James 1:4

like Ali, i'm a teen writer/author. so like over the course working on my own writing projects i've had little dialogues with Jesus about my books. cause honestly i get my creativity from the Lord and He is like my number one biggest fan. i KNOW that Jesus likes my books because He told me so.

the reason i bring this up is because i think God and Ali would have a similar conversation. i've mentioned before that there is a sort of creativity that's Spirit-led whether or not the artist has actually asked God into their hearts. the only reason humans are able to create is because they were created in the image of the Creator—a mouthful, i know, but entirely true.

i can FEEL how much fun Ali had writing this book. like the
energy and passion is radiating off the pages. if any of you need help learning to write or create for yourself and nobody else, just look at Ali Marie. i've seen her confident, joyful personality on her youtube channel and i wasn't at all surprised to see it shine through on the pages of A Girl Named Ivy. just like the love she brings to Ivy and everyone else...I admire it and want to bring the same sort of fearless adoration to my own books.

this is an amazing story about self discovery and found family—quite literally. i found myself every time Ivy chose to have a good attitude about her circumstances. sure, waking up from a coma having no memory of your past sucks, and it has the potential to make people like really depressed. Ivy did have those moments, but it made me happy to see Ivy lift her head and face the future with confidence. that's why this book review's verse is James 1:2-4. when you read this book, you literally watch the protagonist meet trials and count them as joy, eventually maturing into a strong, confident, perseverant girl even through setback after setback.

i also love how innocent this book is. it's one hundred percent clean in more ways than one. to paraphrase Ali, "as long as you're okay with mentions of abuse, you should be able to read this book." it's so refreshing to read a young adult novel without any swearing or steam especially as a Christian. thank you Ali Marie and keep up the great work!

anyway, i think my next review will be Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. i promised that one a while ago but i've been procrastinating. anyway on deck for reviews is the Delirium trilogy by Lauren Oliver and Ali's second book, What Went Wrong Last Summer. i'm praying for you guys and i'll catch you in the next book review!

p.s. Ali Marie- idk if you read your own books' reviews but if you're here please be my second friend on goodreads!

[Madelyn Wainwright · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book only took me like 3-4 hours to read it was probably a 3.75⭐️, because I loved the ending it took me by surprised so that’s why I did like it.To me it felt a little rushed but not in a bad way.

[Maci Craven · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very very great book!!! I got it for my self and it was the best book especially for ali’s age! I’m going to read her next book soon!

[Richard Parmar · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

A nice quick read, but this book felt like it could have been extended into a series rather than compressed so tightly into a <300 page book.

For being a teen writer, this is very impressive. As a book, it does fall short in some places. Overall, this just felt like I was reading a first draft, with the chapters flip flopping from being 30-40 pages to literally being 2 pages long. The world building was attempted here, but it was approached in the antithesis of being meandering, with this feeling like a very very small avenue of exploration.

I was attracted to this novel because of the premise: a teen girl attacked now lost her memories, but nobody knew she went missing? Sounded great. Then it devolved into a cliche theme of a sense of togetherness fostering the solution. The last few chapters and the epilogue felt especially rushed as after finding out-

**SPOILER ALERT**

-Ivy is related to Jenna, a lot of nothingness happens in such few pages. All the main questions of storylines were closed really loosely and it felt unsatisfying.

I read this in 2 hours cumulative time, so it’s a nice little thing to pick up once.

[charlie mae · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book, it was really good. I love the author Ali Marie 🥰 really nice writing, especially since she was 13 when she wrote this.

However, there is some iffy stuff that kinda of irritated me.
Starting with, the characters were supposedly 15 years old, but acted like 12 or 13 year olds instead.
And, in my opinion, it was more Ivy (MC) growing and learning more about herself after the coma, along with her regaining her memory, I definitely expected more suspense, or at least a lot more mystery.

FAVORITE CHARACTERS:
Cody Caster
Theo Laurier
Ivy Mae Sierra-Laurier

The plot was amazing, along with the mystery/suspense parts. Very good imagination 💭🤌

But I rate it 4⭐️!!
I recommend it to anyone 🤗

There are some other books by this author, Ali Marie including: A girl named Ivy 😛, What went wrong last summer, and The sun always sets.

I’m really excited to read the rest of her books, specifically The Sun Always Sets 🫶🏼✨☀️

[Lyla Mobley · Rating 5 out of 5]

AHHHHH THIS WAS SO AMAZING! Oh why! Someone tell me why! Why does this book have to be overrrrrrr! I read this in less than a day. Started it at 3 in the afternoon and finished it at 8 that night. Oh mannnnnnnn. Ali Marie what have you done to me? Trust me she did a good thing. I can’t believe she wrote this when she was 13. Well-I kinda can because of some things about the writing style-but the story! I loveeeeee Cody. Idk why. From as soon as i met Cody I liked him. He just cracked me up! And Theoooooooo! I love him so muchhhhhhh. Same as Kat! Age rating: mature 10+ or 11+. The only part that may be bad for younger audiences is the part when she finds out about her dad (drunk stuff-but I’m 12 and it was fine 4 me). I felt so cozy and happy reading this-and I just couldn’t put it down! Go read this right now!

[Reagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars- it was very interesting though i don’t like how it switched from ivys perspective to an outside narrator and i also didn’t love how the author made mark and jenna seem, it was a good easy read and the epilogue was very sweet and i was reallly hoping that cody would Mary kat but i didn’t love her and theo together
It took me a while to get past the begining of the middle because i found it a bit boring then but once i pushed through to the end it was somewhat worth it

This book did have some good twists and it was a happy ending for the most part so i don’t regret reading this book.

[veronica kaur · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Ali's second book, which is 'What Went Wrong Last Summer' and I feel like I was sort of nervous going into A Girl Named Ivy, but I'd heard good things.

I read this after a whole freaking 600 page novel, so this was super light, singable and fast paced. Loved the characters, the simple language and the plot which was pretty well crafted, gotta say.

This is perfect if you wanna get out of a slump, or just want to read something bingeable!

[Elsie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED this book. The plotline, the characters, everything was just spot on and perfect. Undoubtedly one of my favourite books. Personally, its the perfect pick for comfort reading and beginner readers. Would totally reccomend this to any teen/tween for a good mystery. Literally had me hooked since page one. LOVED IT!!

[Joanne Pfeffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 13 year old granddaughter gave me this book to read. She told me it was written by a 13 year old and I said that I would like to read it…she had loved it! Well, I did too!!!!!!!!! The storyline was wonderful, the characters alive and I read it in just a few hours…couldn’t put it down! Hope she keeps up the good work!!!

[Gracie Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty good. The beginning was pretty slow and just felt like she was repeating everything again cause she was trying to process everything since awaking from her coma. After more than half way through, it started to get more fast paced. After only having around 5 chapters left it got super interesting and was hard to put it down. I really liked the ending and it ended super cute! 3/5 😊