One of my favorite Ruth Ware books, this atmospheric dark academia novel perfectly sets the reader into the scene until the very last page.
Ruth Ware has been hit or miss for me in the past so I was delighted that I enjoyed this book, even though I will admit it was very hard to get into. After the character's introductions were done though, I sped through this book. It was longer than it needed to be with some points being rehashed over and over again for no reason, but I enjoyed the reveal and the lead-up to it which I thought was one of Ruth Ware's stronger endings.

Opening with Hannah Jones’ discovery of her Oxford University roommate’s body, Ruth Ware’s The It Girl tells the story not so much of a murder but of what led up to and followed April Clarke-Clivedon’s death. In the process, readers get to know not only the wealthy April and the admiring, naïve Hannah, but also a group of Oxford friends: Emily Lippman, Will de Chastaigne, Hugh Bland, and Ryan Coates.

Ware tells the story in two time periods, alternating chapters titled “Before” and “After” for slightly more than half the book. She then switches to a series of “After” chapters. The “Before” chapters focus on the lives of first-year Oxford students with April the beautiful, wealthy It Girl, typically directing the action and Hannah striving to be more like April and infatuated with April’s boyfriend Will. The “After” chapters are set roughly twelve years later, ten years after the trial that convicted an Oxford porter, John Neville, of strangling April--a conviction largely hinging on Hannah’s testimony. Hannah and Will are now married, pushing thirty, living in Edinburgh, and expecting a baby. Much as the first “Before” chapter focuses on the discovery of April’s death, the first “After” chapter reveals John Neville’s death in prison

One might think that the survivors could now breathe easier, but John Neville had died insisting on his innocence. Hannah remains haunted by the role she played in his conviction.

I found myself cringing at the college shenanigans, such as strip poker games and April’s practical jokes. If I had been one of the group of friends, I even admit to thinking I would have wished myself rid of April. Nonetheless, I largely enjoyed The It Girl.

Posted to Barnes and Noble.

Ware concludes with chapters titled “The End” and “The Beginning, helping me understand part of what had bothered me and bringing the novel to a satisfying and hopeful conclusion.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scout Press/Simon & Schuster for the advance reader copy.

Fans of Ruth Ware will not be disappointed with her latest The It Girl. It is fast paced, alternating time lines and will keep you drawn in.

Ruth Ware can do no wrong. This may be my favorite of all of her books.. The perfect mix of preppy college background and a who-done-it crime. I was invested in Hannah from the beginning and couldn’t put this down. Loved it!

Hannah Jones arrives at Oxford and meets her roommate, April, who is wealthy, confident and blessed with a star quality. As an introvert from a small town and working-class family, Hannah ends up being taken under April's wing, which includes becoming closer with April's friends -- Will, Ryan, Emily and Hugh.

When one of them is found dead, a man is convicted for the murder and sent to prison, but a journalist contacts Hannah with new information that casts doubt on the man's guilt -- leaving open the possibility that it was someone else within their group who actually took a life.

The story is told from Hannah's point of view, and it transitions between the present and ten years prior. When it comes to creating a great, popcorn, can't put it down mystery/thriller, Ruth Ware is at the top of charts, in my opinion, and I absolutely loved this read. I enjoyed every bit of it, including the twist and reveal at the end. This may be one of my favorites by Ware -- up there with The Woman in Cabin 10!

Great thriller! Kept me guessing until the very end. The college it girl ends up murdered and everyone who knew her is forever haunted by her death. When the person who murdered her ends up dying in jail questions from that night resurface. How well do you really know someone?

What a fun read! And for those of us unaquainted with the comings and goings of Oxford it was quite enlightening.

I'm generally not a huge fan of main characters that seem to just be floating along - a bit meek and things just happen to them. I like mine a bit more assertive (even when they're making bad choices) but this main character, Hannah, did evolve into a more interesting and worthy leading lady.

I love how all the breadcrumbs lead neatly to the conclusion. This is a great one to pass around your friend group.

Having read (and loved) a few of Ruth Ware's books before I was highly excited for The It Girl, and had huge expectations. Unfortunately, those expectations fell short for me once I got into the groove of reading the book. Ultimately, I felt like this story didn't quite have the spark I would've liked for it to have, and it began to feel like a chore while I read it.

Ruth Ware is the queen of psychological thrillers-and she doesn't miss with this one. College friends at Oxford coalesce around April-the "it" girl, so named because she has it all. Hannah, her first year roommate becomes her bestie and is absorbed into April's coterie. As Hannah tries to suppress an attraction to April's hunky boyfriend (which turns out to be mutual,) April is murdered at the end of first term. The past is interspersed with the present-Will and Hannah marry, they happily wait for an upcoming baby, but a podcaster specializing in unsolved murders starts stirring up unpleasant memories-hmmm, what could go wrong?
About half way through the book, not only couldn't I put it down, but I think I achieved an ebook speed record-so much him/not him. Wowzers!

"The It Girl" is typical of Ruth Ware - unreliable narrator, tenuous relationships, loaded secrets. Out of all of Ware's books, the protagonist is my second favorite as her character was fleshed-out well and her actions were understandable to a greater extent. What I liked most about this book was the exploration of town and gown - the divide between Oxford students and faculty versus staff and town-dwellers.

The It Girl
by Ruth Ware
Pub Date: 12 Jul 2022
Oooo....this one was good! Classic whodunit!
Quiet Hannah is ready to re-invent herself as she heads off to college. With the crazy-rich, compulsive, outgoing, flawlessly beautiful, "It Girl"April as her roommate, she is in for the amazing freshman year she dreamed of. She has new friends, new experiences, and hot guys surrounding her, but then she realizes that April can be quite a cruel jokester. Hannah's leery, but hasn't ever been the target of any of these cruel jokes. Their friendship continues cautiously until one day Hannah walks in and discovers April dead in their room.
Flash forward 10 years....Hannah is married to April's former boyfriend and pregnant. Her life is good, but the death of her best friend still haunts her. The murder was solved in record time, but he still maintains his innocence. Did they get the right person? Something's not right. #TheItGirl #RuthWare #Netgalley

✨𝐑 𝐄 𝐕 𝐈 𝐄 𝐖✨

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐭 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐛𝐲 𝐑𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐞

I really enjoyed this one! I haven’t read a ton of Ruth Ware books, so I was looking forward to this one. The length was intimidating, but I actually flew through it.

👍🏼: I loved that this one kept me guessing until the very very end. I’m horrible at guessing #whodunnit anyways, but loved the twists & turns. I also enjoyed the academia setting and reminiscing on the college days. (minus a murder lol)

👎🏼: This one was fairly long and took a while to pick up, but it kept me engaged & turning the pages to see who did it 🤷🏼‍♀️

Thanks to @netgalley & @gallerybooks for the e-ARC! This one is out now.

I’m definitely looking forward to reading more by Ruth Ware- which is your favorite? 📚⬇️

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ruth Ware has been an auto-read for me, but I didn't love her last book so I was a little wary of this one. I was pleasantly proved wrong! It feels weird to call a murder mystery a fun read but that's what this was. I loved the characters, the group of friends. Ware strikes a great balance between character and plot and there were some great twists I didn't see coming. Would definitely recommend!

The It Girl by Ruth Ware is an entertaining mystery. One of the best I’ve read in a long time!

Overall, I thought Hannah is pretty compelling. I do think her being pregnant added more tension to the story especially as she goes deeper and deeper into the investigation. I liked reading about her past at Oxford and relationship with April. Their friendship is interesting—initially it seemed stereotypical with rich girl/shy girl dynamic but there’s much more there. I do think Hannah saw something different in April than anyone else did.

I found this to be an engaging and even insightful story about image, perception, friendship and more. My favorite mysteries do a deep dive on the characters and this more than delivered on that front. While I do think it would have benefited to have more characters give their input, I still very much enjoyed the novel.

Blog:
I’ve read about half of Ruth Ware’s books and enjoyed them all, so I was excited and surprised when the publisher approved me for a review copy of her newest book on NetGalley. Most of her other books I’ve read part of the thrill is the characters’ tie to a place – like a ski chalet or weekend hen do rental. This one, though, the thrills come from everyone’s tie to an event that happened a decade ago – the death of April Clarke-Cliveden.

To me, the most important part of a thriller is that at least one of the twists (preferably the last one) both surprises me but also strikes me as fair. In other words, that it’s not only a twist because the writer withheld something from the reader that other characters we closely follow know. The twist must also not have been immediately possible for the main character to figure out. This book definitely ticks that criterion. Although, I thought I’d guessed the twist about 18% of the way into the book, I was definitely wrong. I hadn’t guessed the twist even moments before it happened. And I didn’t feel cheated because the twist did make sense. So if a surprising twist that makes sense if what you’re after, this read is for you.

Now, I will say, I nearly wore my eyes out rolling them at the main character Hannah. She just struck me as quite emotionally/psychologically weak and easily influenced. I don’t need to love a main character to enjoy a read, though, so I wasn’t bothered. Something about Hannah that some readers may enjoy, partially because it’s unusual in a thriller, is that she’s about six months pregnant for the meat of the story. I’ve never been pregnant myself, so I can’t say how necessarily realistic the portrayal is, but it did make for some different and interesting scenes.

The only thing that does bother me, which is why this is four stars, is I just do not understand why Hannah ever considered April her “best friend” or why she’s still so enamored with her years later. From the first moment we meet her when Hannah does on move-in day at Oxford, I was like…man this girl is the WORST. Did I know people like her in college? Sure. Did I befriend them? No. Am I aware of someone who had a roommate like her? Yes. Did she befriend her? No, they just hung out in separate groups and lived their separate lives. But I will say, Hannah is characterized as weak and easily swayed, so, in a way, it makes sense she’s friends with her. But I never felt sympathy for Hannah about any of it.

Overall, this was a fun thriller. For me it took a little bit to pick up speed, but once it did, I was definitely motivated to find out the final twist.

Instagram:
What if your roommate the first year of university was murdered and your eyewitness account was what sent the unlikeable porter away to prison? But then after he died ten years later a podcaster showed up arguing the porter might have been innocent? Who can you trust? And can you solve the mystery while 6 months pregnant? Ruth Ware’s newest thriller delivers a unique plot with twists I didn’t see coming and a rogue civilian investigator who’s pregnant. This was a fun read. Link to my book blog in my profile for my full review. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the free reviewer’s copy!

GoodReads:
I thought I'd guessed the twist about 18% of the way into the book. I was definitely wrong. I hadn't guessed the twist even moments before it happened. And I didn't feel cheated because the twist did make sense. So if a surprising twist that makes sense if what you're after, this read is for you.

Now, I will say, I nearly wore my eyes out rolling them at the main character Hannah. She just struck me as quite emotionally/psychologically weak and easily influenced. I don't need to love a main character to enjoy a read, though, so I wasn't bothered.

The only thing that does bother me, which is why this is four stars, is I just do not understand why Hannah ever considered April her "best friend" or why she's still so enamored with her years later. From the first moment we meet her when Hannah does on move-in day at Oxford, I was like...man this girl is the WORST. Did I know people like her in college? Sure. Did I befriend them? No. Am I aware of someone who had a roommate like her? Yes. Did she befriend her? No, they just hung out in separate groups and lived their separate lives. But I will say, Hannah is characterized as weak and easily swayed, so, in a way, it makes sense she's friends with her. But I never felt sympathy for Hannah about any of it.

*I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.*

I have been looking forward to this novel since I first knew about it and it didn’t let me down. Ruth Ware does write exciting novels that draw you in and hook you. This is another thriller that twists and turns, great characters and well written.

April Coutts-Cliveden and Hannah Jones met at Oxford and were very soon best friends. Together they formed a tight friendship with Will, Hugh, Ryan and Emily and were inseparable. But by the end of the second term, April was dead.

The novel is written from the two timelines of before and after April’s death.

Ten years after April’s death, Hannah is pregnant and together with Will are expecting their first child. John Neville who worked as a porter at the university was convicted of killing April but has recently died in prison. Hannah now feels she can let go of the bad memories but when a journalist contacts her to discuss new evidence that Neville may have been innocent it all starts again. Hannah makes contact with her old group of friends and discusses April’s tragic death which sparks fears that one of them may have something to hide, even murder.

I did enjoy the novel but didn’t feel it quite lived up to some of the previous novels by this author. Still very entertaining but I didn’t feel the grip held by her other books. Dragged a little at times but perhaps I am being too picky.

In The It Girl, we are introduced to the main character Hannah, who is a new student moving into Oxford. She immediately makes friends with a group of other Oxford students including the gorgeous popular girl April who happens to be her roommate. As the school year begins this group of friends are always together even though they are all so totally different. Everything is going perfectly for this close friends group until the night Hannah finds April dead in their rooms and all their lives fall apart. Fast forward 10 years and Hannah is expecting her first baby with a member of the friends group and she hears the news that the man that she helped put away for the murder of April has died in prison still professing his innocence. Now Hannah is having second thoughts about what she remembers that night that April was murdered and everything changed for their group of friends. As she begins to look into the past to discover what really happened she reveal secrets that she’ll regret uncovering.

As soon as I picked up this book I had the hardest time putting it down because I was so absorbed by the characters, the storyline and the writing. I loved how close the friends group was and that they all brought something different to their found family. I found myself becoming absorbed in the dark academic atmosphere of the Oxford campus and the intriguing happenings that took place there. I really enjoyed the whodunit mystery that I tried to guess throughout the story but I can safely say that I did not predict the killer and loved that the end twist was so crazy. I love the unsettling tension Ware built throughout the story in both timelines. The characters were so well thought out and so interesting and the pacing of the story was perfect and had my attention the whole book. Thanks to Netgalley and Gallery Books for the digital copy of this ebook. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys dark academic mysteries with a fun cast of characters and so many twists.

<i>Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this in exchange for an honest review.</i>

BEFORE - Hannah and April are best friends and Pelham University roommates. In their first term, the two grow their friend group into an inseparable six: them, Will, Hugh, Emily, and Ryan. By the end of the second term, April is found dead in her and Hannah's shared room after a school production of <i>Medea</i>.

AFTER - A decade later, the man convicted of April's murder dies in prison and a young reporter emails Hannah with news that the man might have been wrongly convicted. With a potential killer still roaming free, Hannah gradually disrupts her peaceful life to dig up the past. But as Hannah uncovers more secrets about that night 10 years ago, clues begin to point in directions she...doesn't like. And you can't turn a blind eye to the truth once it's been uncovered.

The book alternates chapters between BEFORE and AFTER the incident, both in 3rd person POV following our main character, Hannah. I'll admit, my main qualm with the book (and why it ultimately got 4 stars instead of 5) is because of its length. At times, it was just hard to push through—very dense with prose and so. much. description. That being said, the alternating timeline between chapters really helped with the pacing issues on this one! It really balanced the introduction of new info and the plot points with the more subtle character work.

And speaking of the characters, I like that this book had a smaller cast. We're focusing on the main six in the friend group (Will, Hugh, Emily, Ryan, April, and Hannah), John Neville (the man convicted of April's murder), November Rain (<spoiler> April's sister </spoiler>), and...I think that's it! It's much easier with the smaller cast to keep track of everyone and to really get to know them over the course of the story (and try to guess April's killer!)

I listened to the audiobook along with the eARC I received for this, and Imogen Church never disappoints. Her and Ware are an iconic duo that are auto-buys for me!

Overall, this was a really solid thriller and arguably one of Ware's best! I personally still think <i>Turn of the Key</i> takes the cake, but I will absolutely recommend this one if Ware's been a hit-or-miss for you lately (I know people weren't huge fans of <i>One by One</i> and its large cast). This book, though slow at times, does excellent character work and pulls off a believable but breath-taking twist that any mystery/thriller writer yearns to achieve. Fans of Ashley Winstead's <i>In My Dreams I Hold a Knife</i> will enjoy this one!

I need to stop reading Ruth Ware books. You see, she's highly praised all over the bookternet and I love thrillers, but each book by her leaves me wanting something more. The IT Girl is no exception.

I found this annoyingly predictable for a psychological/ domestic thriller. I clocked the killer 23% in and kept reading out of some weird sense of duty. I suppose I feel Ruth Ware has potential and can't always let me down, yet she continues to just be boring and basic Agatha Christie regurgitation. Yawn. I'm done giving her chances... probably.

A mystery set at Oxford? Say less! The “it girl” of campus is murdered her first year at school, and 10 years later her friends are still struggling with their pasts. When the man found guilty of the murder dies, Hannah, the It girl’s best friend, realizes the man she convicted of murder may have been innocent all along, and the true murderer may still roam free.