The It Girl starts strong, but I can’t help but feel as though I’ve read this story before. It takes place between the present, and ten years ago at Oxford. It follows Hannah, and her friend group, leading up to the murder of her roommate, it girl April. Based on Hannah’s evidence, the wrong man was convicted of the crime. She starts digging, and everything comes unraveled. As in all of Ruth Ware’s books, everyone is a suspect.

April died one night in their suite in Oxford. They were both in their first years there and for Hannah, April's roommate and best friend it was a trauma that she has spent years trying to put behind her. Hannah's testimony helped put a man in prison for the murder but Hannah has always been riddled with doubt about whether Neville, the convicted murderer of April really did the deed. Suddenly Neville is dead too and the guilt is too much for the now-pregnant Hannah who is married to April's former boyfriend, Will. She is on a seemingly impossible quest to find the killer of "The It Girl". This quest will prove to be dangerous and involves a look into the past, a meeting with one of April's family members, and a shocking discovery. I have read several of Ruth Ware's novels and this is definitely the best. Thanks to #NetGalley#TheItGirl for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Another great suspense novel from this author. Who killed the girl who had everything? Many suspects, and a few twists… .Don’t plan on putting the book down until you know!

Hannah came to think of her existence as divided into two sharp halves— before and after.

Before and After are how the chapters of this exciting story unfold.
Before: Hannah is new to college and is assigned April as her room mate. Hannah's circle of new friends include April's boyfriend, Will; Ryan and Emily and Hugh.
The before storyline carries the reader through the friends growing relationship with each other and ends with the night that changed the rest of Hannah's life, when she and Hugh find April murdered in Hannah and April's rooms, after watching a porter that had been stalking Hannah, leave their building.
After: Hannah left college after April's murder and the trial and ultimate conviction of the porter, John Neville. Hannah eventually married Will and they are expecting their first child when Hannah's world is turned upside down again. John Neville dies in prison still proclaiming his innocence. After a reporter contacts Hannah about some concerns about Neville's guilt Hannah begins to look back on that dark moment in her past.
The problem, Neville really never had a motive but there were so many other people who did.
The finally chapters are incredibly tense and I admit that I never figured who was the true killer until it was revealed. Another great thriller by Ruth Ware.
Thank you to Netgalley, Gallery/ Scout, Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to enjoy this thrilling e-ARC

This is my second Ruth Ware book, but it won’t be my last. This is one of those books that goes back ten years and then is the present. I am a reader that enjoys that back and forth. I feel like it helps to build the depth of the character. I loved the twists and turns along with the ton of foreshadowing. I did not care for the main character Hannah. I cannot put my finger in it but she just annoyed me. Even with that, I overall enjoyed the book.

The IT Girl
By Ruth Ware

An Inventive and Intriguing Who DonE It Novel

SUMMARY
The modest Hannah Jones and the flirty April Clarke-Cliveden first meet as roommates at Oxford. April had it all. She was intelligent, luminous, and otherworldly. She was also a little intimidating to the hardworking Hannah and their tight circle of friends, Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily. By the end of the second term, April is dead. A porter at the college, John Neville, who had been stalking Hannah, was convicted of murdering April. Hannah and Hugh had witnessed Neville leaving Hannah and April’s apartment right before they found her collapsed body on the floor.

Ten years after April’s death, Hannah is working in a bookshop. She and Will are expecting their first child. They have both put the tragic past behind them and now live in Edinburgh. The news has just reported that John Neville has died in prison. Days later, a reporter calls Hannah for an interview, and she reluctantly agrees to meet. Following that meeting, Hannah begins questioning what she saw that night and whether or not Neville could have been innocent, as he had claimed all along. But if Neville didn’t kill April, then who did?

REVIEW
THE IT GIRL is a skillfully-crafted novel alternately told from Hannah’s perspective both before and after April’s murder. This “who done it story” is inventive and stocked with intriguing clues that will have your head spinning.

Both Hannah and April’s characters were delightfully well-developed and a study in contrast. Their unique circle of memorable friends added depth and interest to the story.

Author Ruth Ware weaves a tale that grabs you with the potential of an innocent person serving a life sentence in prison and the pregnant Hannah’s arduous attempts to find the true killer ten years later. THE IT GIRL will have you turning pages until late into the night.

Author Ruth Ware lives with her family in Sussex, on the south coast of England. She is the best-selling author of In A Dark Dark Wood (2016), The Woman in Cabin 10 (2016), The Lying Game (2017), The Death of Mrs. Westaway (2018), The Turn of the Key (2019), and One by One (2020).

Thanks to Netgalley and Gallery Books for an advance reading copy of this book. All opinions expressed here are my own.

Publisher Gallery Books
Published July 12, 2022
Review www.bluestockingreviews.com

I’m conflicted about this book. I read it quickly like all of Ruth Ware’s books, and I was ecstatic to receive an ARC of this title. Yet I felt like there were some big gaps near the end - like the explanation for Will’s reaction before chasing his barefoot pregnant wife out of their house- and I honestly wanted some more background on April and what made her tick, as well as why she was so fantastic besides beautiful, rich and charismatic. I enjoyed this, but it wasn’t my favorite. I just found it lacking in the end after a huge buildup.

The friends that people thought they knew turn out to be potential murders in this Ruth Ware novel that is typical of her work...keeping you guessing till the very last page!

If you’re a fan of slow burn psychological thrillers (emphasis on slow) you’re going to love this book.
I personally prefer fast-paced and creepier thrillers. This is more of a “contemporary fiction murder msytery” with a lot of character development.

What I liked: the academia setting.

What I did not like: it took 90% of the book for things to start happening.

April, the “it girl”, is Hannah’s roommate at Oxford. April is found dead in their room, and the Oxford porter is found guilty. Ten years later, he dies in jail and a journalist brings the story back to life saying he has evidence that the porter was innocent.

Guess what happens? Hannah needs to dig further and find the truth.

This is a plot I've seen before many times. So many that I’m a little annoyed by it.

The story was entertaining overall but it’s not a good sign when you check the last chapters to see how many pages you have left because you’re bored.

3 stars

The It Girl by Ruth Ware is a bit of a departure for this author, for whom the setting is often an integral part of the story. This book in two timelines follows Hannah as she begins college at Oxford University, and ten years later as she prepares for the birth of her first child. We learn that her college roommate was brutally murdered during their freshman year, and that Hannah is still dealing with the attention from news reporters ten years later, especially when the man convicted of the murder dies in jail after multiple failed appeals. As an investigative reporter successfully gets in contact with her, Hannah begins to question whether her memories, and her testimony, were as accurate as they could have been. This leads to an investigation of her own that will have startling and dire consequences for Hannah and those closest to her.

Ruth Ware is well known for her mystery thrillers, and The It Girl is another novel in this genre. Hannah was a young girl enrolled at Oxford University who has an 'it girl', April as her roommate. Tragically, April is murdered in their university dorm room and a porter at the college is convicted for the crime. Hannah later marries April's boyfriend Will. But is the right person in prison for April's murder?

The It Girl is a thriller set at Oxford University in England. I enjoyed the setting (college in the UK always makes me think of Hogwarts - I know that sounds very uncultured and American of me). I also really liked all of the characters except for April. But since she is the victim in this story, her non-likability provided plenty of motives for her group of friends and others at the college. The plot moved quickly and kept me guessing until about the middle of the story. After that, I figured out the killer and how they did it, but that didn’t take away from me enjoying the rest of the book.
I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes thrillers and enjoys murder mysteries. This was my first Ruth Ware book, but it won’t be my last.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an eARC in exchange for my review.

After a few flops from Ruth Ware, I am happy to report that I really enjoyed her latest novel! April as a character intrigued me and I enjoyed the pregnancy mystery and the time hop aspect. I didn't give this one all the stars because I feel like the college murder plot line is overdone lately. But, really enjoyable book.

I had only just read my very first Ruth Ware mystery earlier this month. And my second from the author was every lore enjoyable! This book was certainly one I couldn’t put down.

Hannah, a very strong main character takes us through meeting April when she began attending Oxford and how the two became incredible friends. Hannah was entranced by the life that April lived. She was “that girl,” the one everyone else anted to be or be around. And when Hannah was pulled into that orbit, nothing would ever be the same. Especially after April’s murder…

Now, a decade later, the man convicted of her murder dies behind bars and a journalist comes to Hannah with evidence that he may have been innocent. So, to say that Hannah’s world is once again turned upside down would be an understatement. But she owes it to her friend. She has her own guilt from her time as April’s friend… and her group of friends that banded together in Oxford are each holding some secrets of their own.

This was such a page turner. I am really enjoying Ruth Ware’s writing and can’t wait to pick up some back list titles. It’s safe to say that I highly recommend this book!

In this new psychological thriller Ruth Ware introduces us to an unlikely group of friends at an Oxford college, all orbiting around "It Girl" April- rich, beautiful, intelligent, and talented who seemingly has it all. Yet by the end of their second term April is dead, murdered in her rooms. A decade later it comes out that maybe the man sentenced for the murder didn't actually do it- which naturally makes you wonder, if not him, who did kill April?

This is the second Ruth Ware book I've read (One by One was the other) and I definitely liked this one more than I expected to. The book is split into alternating "Before" and "After" chapters (as Hannah's life is divided into 'before April's murder' and 'after April's murder'), introducing us to narrator Hannah, "It Girl" April, and their friends Will, Ryan, Hugh, and Emily, as well as building them up over the course of their college experiences. In the "After" sections it is ten years later, Hannah and Will have moved to Edinburg and are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April dies in prison. They are pushed back into the trauma of the murder and the media circus surrounding the murder and the trial and you get a really good sense of how traumatizing both events were for Hannah, Will, and the others- and how they reacted to it in very different ways. But you also see, before she does I think, that while Hannah might see herself as weak, she is anything but- when the idea comes up that Neville might have been innocent Hannah does face it and does start to confront the memories surrounding that time period, asking herself what she might have gotten wrong and who might have killed April if not Neville. She's a far better friend, in life or death, then April probably deserves, because she doesn't let it go. It effects her marriage and her health, but she feels like she owes it to April and to Neville, a man who sexually harassed her at college, to find out the truth. Is she naive, innocent, and in over her head? Yes. Is that annoying? Yes, often. But it somehow makes her the character you've read a hundred times before and at the same time someone you can pull for the whole way because you see something new through her eyes. You want her to understand that April is a vicious, nasty piece of work while at the same time hoping that Hannah was somehow making April a better person. You want Hannah's innocence to remain intact while knowing it won't, which makes you worry about what will be left when the dust settles- because you care about her and her marriage and her friends through the spell that Ware casts page by page.

There are well-written descriptions of Oxford and what the college and college life are like; wrenching psychological cases of survivor's guilt and looks into our morbid cultural fascination with "it" murders and what they do to the people left behind in the cases; tension weaves through the pages even before anything happens without you able to quite identify why; red herrings leap like spawning salmon; excellent twists and turns getting to the 'who', 'how' and 'why'; and friendships and relationships that will haunt you to the last page.

A must read summer psychological thriller for the mystery lover!

I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

The It Girl is the “It” thriller of the summer!

Ten years after Hannah Jones’ college roommate, socialite April Coutts-Cliveden is murdered in their dorm room at Oxford, the porter convicted of the crime, John Neville, dies in prison.

Feeling guilty for providing the testimony that prompted the jury to convict him, Hannah vows to determine if he was truly guilty of April’s murder. Neville always proclaimed innocence, forcing Hannah to wonder if she signed his death sentence without merit.

If John Neville didn’t kill April, then who is the real murderer?

Told in alternating chapters from before and after the murder, Hannah must figure out who murdered April before it is too late.

I was engaged in this dark academic mystery from start to finish and did not guess the murderer! This plot is very clever and includes excellent character development and fantastic amateur sleuthing.

My only issue was the book’s hefty length. It easily could have been edited down at least 50-75 pages, as there is a lot of unnecessary repetition. However, I was never bored, as Ware frequently shifts gears, constantly introducing new motives and suspects.

4/5 stars

Expected publication date 7/12/22

Thank you to NetGalley and Edelweiss for the ARC of The It Girl in exchange for an honest review.

The It Girl is a psychological thriller that will keep you pondering and forever wondering who silenced the beautiful, prankster It Girl as each turn in the novel leaves you more bewildered and perplexed. Ruth Ware is at her best in this offering proving why she is one of my favorite authors.

Provided to me from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

I liked this one a lot, but not as much as previous books that Ruth Ware has written, hence only 3 stars (probably more like 3.5). The setting reminded me a lot of <em>The Maidens</em> by Alex Michaelides, which I think threw me off a little bit in this book. As I do with most mystery/thrillers, I made my guess of who the villain was, and I'm happy to say I got it wrong (I don't like books that make things too easy to forget). I didn't mind the differing timelines, and I think it enhanced the tension just a little bit.

I’ve been up and down on Ruth Ware from one book to the next. Her catalogue has ranged from exceptionally fun to nearly unreadable. But with this one, unfortunately, we’ve hit rock bottom.

First, this is not, as it has been labeled, Dark Academia. It is set in part at Oxford University, but there is absolutely nothing academic about it. The college itself doesn’t really figure much into the narrative aside from as a setting in the most literal sense of the word.

The protagonist is a certain archtype common to domestic thrillers aimed at a female audience for whom I’ll never understand the appeal. This woman has absolutely NO self esteem. She can’t even get a sentence out in a normal social situation. It’s pitiable, certainly, but neither relatable (even for those who have some social anxiety) or likable.

She’s also a terrible friend, and a colossal idiot. Seriously, how did this dingbat get into Oxford? She can’t put two and two together until she’s been hit over the head with it, and she spends most of the book falsely accusing pretty much every character of being the murderer without any factual checks on what she’s thinking.

But it’s the one accusation that she makes that WAS right that made this a one star book and not a two-star, dumb but amusing thriller. For the entire narrative, we listen to Hannah bemoan that she has “condemned an innocent man to die in jail.” This is factually untrue (Hannah did not accuse this person, rather, her concrete evidence was used to support the police case against him). But far more importantly, this man was far from innocent.

Whether he was the murderer or not, a lot of women were safer with this man behind bars. He may not have been April’s killer, but he stalked and menaced multiple women and would have done the same to many more. And that includes the protagonist, who was rightly terrified of him. He sexually assaulted her, menaced her, and stalked her. And yet at the end of the book, Hannah talks about him by saying he was “just awkward and weird.”

Obviously we don’t want to put people in prison for crimes they didn’t commit, even if they’re guilty of something else. And some of Hannah’s thoughts are consistent with the guilty and shame that plagues sexual assault victims. But the manner in which all of this was presented is absolutely inexcusable. For a female author, it’s downright embarrassing.

I don’t love this kind of subject matter in a thriller even when it’s handled responsibly because it gives me the icks, but this martyring of a sexual predator to drive plot and characterization is gross and deeply unfair to assault survivors. Women have enough trouble with how they are treated by others and how the world tells them they should feel under circumstances like this. They don’t need that exacerbated by an author’s insensitive and irresponsible decision making.

TW: sexual assault, stalking, physical assault of a pregnant woman

Audiobook readers: Obviously I’m not recommending this book at all, but I’m particularly not recommending it in this format. The reader is exceptionally slow (I listen at 2x and still felt like I wanted to tear my hair out at the painfully drawn out overenunciation and absurdly long pauses). The exaggerated tone also didn’t help with unlikability of an already deeply loathsome protagonist.

Let me start by saying I love Ruth Ware. I have not found a book yet that I have not liked. This is a well-written, gripping, action-packed dark thriller.

The It Girl is a psychological thriller about a murder in Oxford and the woman who may have been responsible for the conviction of the wrong man for the crime. The narrative alternates between “before” and “after” the crime. Ware creates tension and atmosphere in the brilliant way the chapters bounce from past to present, and there are certainly a number of suspects. There are not too many characters that the story gets confusing. The ending was really clever. It was a solid story that kept me guessing.