April Coutts-Cliveden is the ultimate It girl. Her vivacious and bright personality immediately draws Hannah Jones into her orbit. During their first term at Oxford, they develop a close knit group of friends. But by the second term, April is dead. A decade later, John Neville, the man convicted of killing April, has died in prison. Relieved to put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a journalist comes knocking on her door saying Neville could have been innocent.
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𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒: This was my most anticipated thriller of the year! I’ve been a Ruth Ware fan for a while and so far, One by One is still my favorite. This one dragged more than I really cared for but there was so much character building over the course of the book that you ended up with very rich characters. I LOVED the dark academia theme! I haven’t read many books like that and really enjoyed it. Once everything started coming together, the pace really took off! I stayed up late flipping pages to finish it and I loved the ending. Although it wasn’t my favorite of hers, I still really enjoyed it! Thank you to @, @, and @ for my gifted e-ARC.

This book lives up to what I have come to expect from Ruth Ware. There are twists and turns to keep you guessing until the very end. Characters were well developed and I loved the dark academia vibes.

Reading Between the Wines book review #58/135 for 2022:
Rating: 4 🍷 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book 📱: The It Girl
Author: Ruth Ware
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
RELEASES July 12, 2022!!! Get your copy today!

Sipping thoughts: The It Girl was full of mystery and suspense. It was a really slow burn that was a little bit repetitive in some parts. I enjoyed the past and present POV’s. What I could not stand was Hannah and how whiney she was throughout the book. I did understand that her best friend was killed in college, and she was the one who found her. I just wanted her to get therapy and not really move on but just be better. Well once someone made her think Neville, the accused killer, might be innocent Hannah’s whole life turned upside down into a whirlwind. I figured out early on what happened, but I had a lot of fun waiting to see it revealed. I really enjoyed this book and look forward to Ware’s future releases.

Cheers and thank you to @NetGalley, @GalleryBooks, and @GalleryScoutPress for an advance copy of @TheItGirl.

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What's it about (in a nutshell):
The It Girl by Ruth Ware is a compelling story about a campus It Girl and her murder ten years ago. After the man imprisoned for her murder dies of natural causes in jail, doubt is cast about his guilt. Her college roommate and best friend, Hannah, feels like she must figure out who did it once and for all.

Initial Expectations (before beginning the book):
My initial expectations are based mainly on the reputation of this author's works. I've never had an opportunity to read a book by Ruth Ware, and I've very much wanted to do so. I like the cover, but it doesn't seem to give much away about the story. It reminds me of how things look when seen from a moving car. The blurb mentions Oxford, which is always a great setting for me. The murder is an old case from the main character's college years, which intrigues me, as does the deceased's personality. It's always the outgoing, vivacious ones that get murdered, isn't it? I'm expecting an exciting mystery about the murder of a popular girl from all of this.

Actual Reading Experience:
The aspect of this novel that I absolutely loved the most is the locked room mystery. I adore a good, locked-room mystery, and this one is excellent. I never suspected the person until right before the reveal, and the reason was the last thing I would have ever guessed. I enjoyed that the murderer didn't reveal the why too. It seems small, but it frequently happens, so when the murderer refuses to divulge why I wanted to applaud. Let's face it, we all think that would never happen in real life – only in Scooby-Doo and Agatha Christie novels. Of course, someone who knew more about the murder's secrets reveals the reason, so the reader gets the satisfaction of the story coming together at the end.

The fact that the book is a slow burn and over 400 pages was a mixed bag for me. As a rule, slow burns are not my favorite. This one, however, is told in a dual timeline. I enjoyed the story from the past, so I easily remained focused during those chapters. The present timeline wasn't nearly as compelling for me. As it dragged on, I did find my attention span wandering as it often does during slow-burn stories. I would have loved that specific part of the story to be streamlined by about 50-100 pages. But that's just me. As I often mention, I have the attention span of a gnat, so it's much harder for a story to hold my attention than it is for it to not.

To Read or Not to Read:
If you love slow burn or locked room mysteries, The It Girl is just the mystery you are looking for.

Loved this dark academia thriller. At first blush, I wasn't sure I was interested in the premise (I don't usually like books that hop between time periods) but her execution of it vastly exceeded my expectations. The building crescendo was so effective--this book was super well paced. There were also lots of red herrings and misdirection, and it kept me guessing. I also appreciated that the book wasn't gory or gruesome--it conveyed its tension through conversations and relationship dynamics, not through bodily horror.

If you hate seeing characters do things you wish they wouldn't do, you'll get frustrated here. It didn't bother me--I didn't mind seeing more clearly than the protagonist does, and Ware knows that she's doing that--but just a warning for those who can't handle the cringe.

4 stars instead of 5 because I don't really understand why anyone was friends with April in the first place--the premise of the book is that she's the narrator's best friend, but I didn't find their bond fleshed out or believable. That said, it was easy enough for me to get past that and caught up in the story. I found it un-put-down-able!

I love me some Ruth Ware candy!! This book was devourable. So many twists, so many times I thought “I KNOW WHO DID IT” and I was wrong. An enjoyable thriller all around. 3.5 stars.

This book was fantastic! I kept thinking I knew who actually killed April, but I never predicted who it actually was. I loved the before and after, and how it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. I had a hard time putting it down. Ruth Ware does it again! A fabulous read.

4.5 Kept me intrigued. Told in BEFORE and AFTER the death of fellow Oxford classmate April Clarke-Clivedon. Longer than the books I’ve been reading lately, because I feel like I didn’t put this one down but I took longer to read it than I have been. Will keep you guessing till the very end.

First off, I have never read any other books by Ruth Ware. I do, however like thrillers and academic settings. When the setting is Oxford, well I decided to take a chance and request The It Girl. It took me a bit to get into it as I didn't connect with the characters for awhile. It also took awhile to get used to the before the murder chapters and the after the murder chapters. As a locked room mystery with good suspense it kept me engaged and changing my mind with every red herring presented. I did like the conclusion. My one quibble? It could have done with some editing for length. There were bits that could have been trimmed without any loss of tension and story.
Overall I did enjoy it but I'm not certain I will rush to read another of her books. My thanks to the publisher Gallery/Scout Press and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I've read reviews about this author (and this book) that there are too many words and unnecessary details. I agree that Ruth Ware includes a ton of background information and details, but that is part of what I love about her books. She includes a great deal of information that allows us as readers to play detective and determine what is related to the mystery at hand and what is a red herring. I don't find the amount of detail to be frustrating. Instead, I look forward to weeding through the information presented to try to "figure out" where the book is going, know that some of it has been placed to intentionally throw us off.

This book contained dual timelines: Before and After. Both were told from a singular POV about the same murder and the same friend group from college. I liked that this was a single POV and thought the dual timelines were a great way to keep us interested as readers while still only writing from a singular perspective.

I've never fully "solved" a Ruth Ware book -- this one included. I find her stories to be clever and there is always one more twist than I expected.

Overall, if you like Ruth Ware, pick this book up! OR - if you're looking for a new thriller where you can play detective while reading, this will be a great choice for you. Happy reading!

Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery/Scout Press for the ARC of this book!

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TW: The main character is pregnant and I can imagine some of the subject matter could be triggering for folks who have dealt with tricky pregnancies or stressful/harmful situations while pregnant.

The It Girl by Ruth Ware is a very highly recommended, outstanding psychological mystery/thriller that begs you to consider how much can you trust others as well as yourself?

Hannah Jones’s Oxford University roommate, April Clarke-Cliveden, has it all. April is beautiful, wealthy, and sophisticated. She is the ultimate "It" girl, so Hannah is thrilled when the two immediately become best friends. Hannah becomes part of a close group of friends including April, Emily, Ryan, Hugh, and Will. What she could never portend is that April would be dead before the end of the year. This event changed the entire course of Hannah's life.

Ten years later, Hannah and Will are married, living in Edinburgh, and expecting their first child. The man who was convicted of killing April, Oxford Porter John Neville, has just died in prison. His death brings the trauma a decade earlier to the forefront again along with reporters and media contacting Hannah. When one young journalist who is a friend of Ryan presents some new evidence that suggests Neville might have been innocent, Hannah, whose testimony sent Neville to prison, begins to question what she believed to be true about April's murder.

The plot unfolds through Hannah's point-of-view in alternating "before" and "after" chapters. The "before" chapters follow Hannah's arrival at Oxford, her socializing with her friends, and memories of Oxford leading up to April's murder. We meet the group of friends, see their personalities, and observe their interactions with each other through Hannah's eyes. "After" chapters follow Hannah in the present day, her life with Will, her pregnancy, and the growing doubts concerning what she thought was true. She becomes obsessed with trying to uncover what really happened to April.

The It Girl is very well-written, intriguing, captivating, and utterly compelling. I was engaged from beginning to end in this even paced novel. Ware provides details that bring to life the characters and settings. The alternating timelines work remarkably well in the narrative and help to gradually create even more suspense and tension. Every one is a suspect at one time or another as Hannah tries to figure out what happened and if her observations were accurate. I was engrossed right up to the denouement, which was a shocking surprise.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Gallery/Scout Press.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Edelweiss, Google Books, and Amazon.

The It Girl by Ruth Ware
Mystery/Thriller
Pub date: 7/12/22

We’ve all known an “It Girl”. The one who seems to sail through life with all the looks/brains/money needed for success. If we’re being honest, we’ve all probably hated an It Girl for those same reasons.

Hated enough to murder? Hopefully not. But that doesn’t make April Clarke-Cliveden, the eponymous victim of Ruth Ware’s newest novel, any less dead.

The narrative alternates between the “Before” and “After” of April’s demise, as experienced by her roommate bestie, Hannah. Along with their fellow Oxonian mates, April and Hannah enjoy the hell out of their first year of university. Right up until Hannah discovers April’s body at the end of term, signaling an abrupt end to the Before.

The After concentrates on the new life Hannah has constructed 10 years down the line, blissful until the man convicted of April’s death dies in prison. Questions arise that threaten Hannah’s mental and physical health, along with that of the child she is carrying. Which happens to be fathered by Will, April’s boyfriend in the Before.

This fast-paced thriller is filled with things that make you go hmmm, to quote C & C Music Factory. Everyone is potentially unreliable, not just the narrator. Motives abound and red herrings swim freely through the story. The best moments center around the camaraderie of college friends. Whether navigating relationships or taking the piss, the author captures the interplay with narturalistic dialogue that connects the reader to the characters.

“It” may be for you if:
- you like your thrillers with more brain matter than blood spatter
- you fantasized about attending Oxford
- switching timelines keeps your attention engaged
- you’re a fan of dark academia a la The Maidens and The Secret History

I liked this one more than her other books (not to say I don't enjoy her other books). I thought she did a good job explaining why the main character was so determined to find out the truth. I had an inkling that the real murderer was who they were, but then second guessed myself many times. I thought the plot had enough twists and turns to keep me interested, but seemed plausible at the same time.

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book. I liked the characters and felt they all could have been guilty of the crime. The IT girl at Oxford who has everything going for her- money, brains, beauty and great “friends” who wouldn’t love that.

Although half way through I felt like it was dragging a little. I got to the point that I just wanted it to end.

And then it did and I wished that it didn’t end so quickly. I felt like we needed more information at the end as to the why. I realize as readers we got the why but in one page. Take a little out of the middle and add it to the end.

Overall I did enjoy the book and will recommend it to thriller lovers. Ruth Ware does it again. 🙌

Another solid thriller from Ruth Ware!

Although aspects of this story have been seen many times before in other books, e.g. the death of an "it girl", murder at a university, a convicted killer proclaiming innocence, etc., I still found Ware's story entertaining, if somewhat unoriginal. The mystery kept me guessing and several times I thought I had it all figured out, but ended up being surprised by the reveal, although the middle did lag a bit. Overall, I'd say this is a solid 3 stars.

Ruth aware never disappoints—by the end of this book I had accused nearly every character or April’s murder. The last quarter of the book was a wild ride and full of twists. Wild make a great—dark movie!

Truly enjoyed this book from cover to cover. The author has an incredible way of telling stories through characters. I found myself staying awake longer each night just so that I could read.

The It Girl is written in a before/after format centering around the murder of our main character's college roommate. I liked the format because it truly kept me guessing until the very end.

HOWEVER....

It was like 100 pages too long and just draggggggged in the middle. Plus the ending just kind of left me unsure of the plausibility of it all.

It had a ton of promise but sadly just fell flat for me.

2.5/5⭐️

While I appreciated the twists and turns, the plot seemed predictable especially towards the end. There seemed to be a lot of fluff in the beginning and middle of the book that wasn’t needed and could’ve been cut for a shorter more concise book.

OMG!!! I had heard a lot about this book, just as I've heard a lot about the author. I have been wanting to read her books for some time and now, thanks to NetGalley, I've been able to get the chance to read this one! WOW!!! To say I was blown away is putting it mildly, wow, what a rollercoaster ride it was. Just when I thought I knew whodunit, nope, I was wrong, again. I never saw the ending coming, it was a total surprise!!!! Wish I could have given it more than 5 stars. For all of you that have been Ruth Ware fans for years, I know you will enjoy this one as much as I did. For all others who have yet to read one of her books, I highly recommend!!! I'm looking forward to reading more from this talented author!!!