For a Ruth Ware book, this was a major disappointment.

Ten years ago, Hannah's roommate April was the type of person that people were gravitated to but also hated. One night, Hannah comes home to find April dead. She thinks she sees the murderer run from the crime scene and her testimony puts the man in jail. When he dies from a heart attack in jail, all of her doubts that she was wrong resurfaces and she investigates if he was the true killer.

Usually, Ruth Ware is very good with build up. This time the build up was so boring. The characters were flat and stereotypical. Hannah was boring and stupid. She kept saying how they were best friends in college but it was very clear that she didn't like April. For a woman who kept bringing up her pregnancy, she was blasé about putting herself into danger and having high blood pressure.

This review is based on an advanced copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

4+ stars

April and Hannah are roommates at Oxford. While very different people, they become best friends and have tight group of friends. Hannah has a crush on April’s boyfriend Will. Hannah finds April dead in their room.

Ten years later, Hannah and Will are married and expecting a baby. The person found guilty of killing April died in prison after always saying he was innocent. Hannah starts digging into what happened.

The book goes back and forth from their freshman year to current day as Hannah tries to solve the mystery. Well done novel with a very satisfying ending.

This was my first book by Ruth Ware, and I will be reading her others. Good mystery with a nice twist at the end even though it wasn't completely unexpected.

I love this author, she never disappoints. This book was full of twists and turns that kept me interested and made me want to pick back up and read it more. I've been in a reading slump and I'd happily recommend this one if you have been too.

The It Girl is another treat for fans of Ruth Ware. The twisty plot, intertwined timelines, and intriguing setting all make for a great read. The book will also appeal to readers who haven't yet encountered Ware's work but who liked titles like Ghosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella, The Devil and Webster by Jean Hanff Korelitz, or The Secret Place by Tana French, all thrillers set in an intense academic atmosphere.

Review of Advance Uncorrected eGalley

Hannah Jones, newly arrived at Oxford University’s Pelham College, meets her roommate, April Coutts-Cliveden. April, outgoing, effervescent, and bright, comes from wealth and seems to want for nothing. She’s absolutely dazzling . . . and soon the two girls have a group of devoted friends; Will, Hugh, Ryan, Emily, Hannah, and April are close-knit, staunch friends, but it is April who stands out as the ultimate IT girl.

But April has a mean streak, visible as she delights in pranking others, often leaving her “victim" feeling distressed or foolish. One night, Hannah sees creepy porter John Neville coming out of their staircase and then discovers April in their room . . . dead.

Ten years later, Hannah and Will are married and expecting their first child. And when the man convicted of murdering April dies in prison, Hannah finds herself thrown back into the mystery of April’s death as a journalist says there is evidence that John Neville might not have murdered April, after all.

Hannah sets out to find the truth, but what she discovers may not be at all what she expected to find. Will she find that Neville was innocent, after all? And if he was, will she find the one who murdered her best friend?

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The academia of Oxford provides a strong sense of place for the telling of this tale. Told in chapters alternating between Before and After, the character-driven narrative finds Hannah [who testified at the trial of the man accused of murdering April] concerned that her testimony may have incarcerated the wrong man. Now she is determined to re-visit that horrific event to discover if someone else might be responsible for April’s death.

The characters, flawed and not always likable, are nevertheless believable; April can be mean-spirited [and often is]; readers may find it difficult to relate to her. Hannah, who tends to come off as particularly naïve, is her polar opposite. The relationships between the six friends are complex and abstruse.

The story, told from Hannah’s point of view, is intriguing. The suspect pool is large and readers may find the identity of the culprit a surprise.

I received a free copy of this eBook from Gallery Books, Gallery/Scout Press and NetGalley
#TheItGirl #NetGalley

3.5 stars

Ruth Ware is an author that has become an auto read for me, but I have a love / hate relationship with her books: I loved The Woman in Cabin 10 and The Death of Mrs. Westaway; I liked The Turn of the Key; I didn't love In a Dark, Dark Wood and One by One, but could understand if readers do; and I hated The Lying Game. I would say that Ruth Ware's THE IT GIRL is appropriately stuck right in the middle at 3.5 stars. If I had to rank, I'd put it in the "didn't love" category before In a Dark, Dark Wood. Anyways, onto the story!

This book has a whole academia vibe where the main character, Hannah relives her past trauma after finding out that her roommate's murderer has just died in prison. However, Hannah's life drastically takes a turn when a journalist provides her new evidence stating that her roommate's killer may have actually been innocent. Hannah is happily married to her college sweetheart and has a kid on the way, and she doesn't need this to affect her love bubble. However, sometimes the past has a way of rising back to the top. I definitely got vibes from Ashley Winstead's IN MY DREAMS I HOLD A KNIFE, so if you like that book, you should give THE IT GIRL a try!

THE IT GIRL did not feel like a Ruth Ware novel to me as it was very slow and not really suspense-driven. I did enjoy the mystery and our protagonist, and I did not expect how the story was going to end at all. For real, I think this was my first Ruth Ware novel that I was stumped. It was just a tad too long for me, especially with a very fast wrap up, even though I read it in 24 hours, so maybe I'm just a complainer. However, THE IT GIRL does not follow the typical rhetoric that bugged me with One By One, so I think Ruth Ware fans will enjoy that this story is drastically different than what you may expect. I definitely think that if you're a fan of the author, you should give THE IT GIRL a chance. I'm curious to see where readers will align with ratings as this book was good, but a bit disappointing after a two year hiatus.

I enjoy a good Ruth Ware novel and this one was no exception. It has some slower parts but overall a great dark academia thriller. I didn’t expect the ending at all and enjoyed the twist.

Another classic Ruth Ware winner. Truly, she's a master of her craft. I was partial to this novel, largely because it's set in Oxford at the same time that I studied there - at the dawn of the Instagram era and everything that came with the innocuous little photo-sharing app. A delightfully twisty murder mystery, meticulously plotted and with a twist that actually caught me off guard.

he It Girl was a slog for me to read - it felt very repetitive, and the poor girl finding rich, gorgeous best friend at exclusive British school trope is getting tiresome for me. I did not feel the plot line of Hannah changing her whole life because of a murder of her college roommate that she knew for less than a year was believable. I also did not understand her obsessive quest to find justice for a man that totally creeped her out in college, and her willingness to jeopardize her relationship with her husband and her yet to be born child. The ending was way over the top as well. Although I have enjoyed her previous works, this one did not do much for me. I will say that your milage may vary because I've read a lot of mystery thrillers and could be a bit jaded at this point. Thank you to Netgalley for an Advanced reader copy.

I'm a sucker for a college murder mystery (something I didn't truly know about myself until I read <i>In My Dreams I Hold a Knife</i>). The description of <i> The It Girl </i> sounded so similar that I knew I had to read it.

While I ultimately didn't think it was as good as Dreams, I still found myself drawn into the romantic, Oxford landscape of Hannah's past. I agree with other reviewers that it was pretty slow-paced (at least in the present-day narrative), but I really loved the Oxford flashbacks—that's what made the book for me. Would recommend for those in search of some nostalgic, autumn mystery vibes (without being too creepy/scary).

The It Girl by Ruth Ware is a psychological thriller set against the backdrop of college life at Oxford University, a murder, and the woman who may have been responsible for the conviction of the wrong man for the crime.
Hannah Jones is an academically hardworking student who finds herself feeling like a fish out of water when she arrives at Oxford University. This feeling is made worse upon meeting her rich roomate April Coutts-Clivedon, the girl everyone wants to be friends with. Quickly becoming best friends, Hannah's life becomes everything she could hope for at Oxford until that life is turned upside down upon discovering April murdered in their dorm room.
Hannah becomes convinced that the murderer could only be the Oxford porter John Neville.
Fast forward ten years and soon-to-be mother Hannah learns that John Neville has died in prison. What should have been a relief soon becomes a nightmare when a reporter reaches out claiming John may not be the murderer.
Told from past and present perspectives, Ruth Ware manages to create tension and atmosphere but lacks an orginal storyline. As a reader of this genre the book takes on a recycled feel in both characters and story. While not Ruth Ware's strongest story to date, readers will still want to give it a go and will find the drive to finish for that "gotcha" moment in the who-dun-it read.

The It Girl by Ruth Ware was absolutely brilliant. It had everything I was looking for in a locked-room mystery—intrigue, clues, red herrings, and a nice amount of glitz and glam.

We follow a girl named Hannah Jones in her first year at Oxford. Hannah is a bit of a loner, and when she's paired with April Cloutts-Cliveden, a wealthy young woman who seems to have it all, her life takes a turn for the better—or so she thinks.

When April dies tragically, and Hannah witnesses a porter lurking outside their room, she testifies that the porter must have committed the crime—because there was no other way into the room besides the stairwell he came out of, after all.

But as with all locked-room mysteries, this one has a clever twist up its sleeve. Ten years later, Hannah is settled into life working in a bookstore, and pregnant with her first child. She doesn't want to drudge up the past. But when the accused porter suddenly dies in prison, and a journalist comes around looking for the truth, Hannah can't help but wonder—could she have been wrong all those years ago? Could she have accidentally sent the wrong man to prison?

Bravo and five stars for Ruth Ware, as this one is as good as it gets.

The It Girl was a fantastic read and just what I needed to get out of my psychological thriller slump.

Alternating between before and after, The It Girl follows Hannah before and after the murder of her best friend at Oxford, April. Hannah’s testimony has sent the creepy porter John Neville to prison for April’s murder, but after his death, Hannah is increasingly worried she pointed fingers at the wrong guy.

It took me a little while to get into it, but the second half was fast-paced and I couldn’t put it down. You can’t go wrong with Ruth Ware!

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review and opinions are my own.

When I get a new Ruth Ware book, I get myself all settled in and know I'm going to enjoy myself. This book was no exception. The setting was as cozy and British as ever, the characters a mix of upper class and lower class, and a murder that shakes the surface. I thought I had this one figured out early on but I was wrong. Ware surprised me yet again.

Ruth Ware, the #1 New York Times best-selling author of the "claustrophobic spine-tingler" (People Magazine) of One by One, makes an amazing return with this unputdownable mystery that follows a woman on the search for answers a decade after her friend's murder. Captivating and page-turning, 5 enthusiastic stars!

Thoroughly enjoyed this! A great who done it. Just when you think you have it figured out, the author throws another character side story that makes you rethink everything. Poor Hannah and her group of college buddies. Not all friendships will survive.

Familiar Plot and Characters

"She was the prefect friend--until she wasn't."

The It Girl is a psychological thriller about a murder at Oxford and the woman who may have been responsible for the conviction of the wrong man for the crime.

Before: Hannah Jones experiences imposter syndrome when she arrives at Oxford University to study literature. Her sparkly, rich roommate, April, has all in her thrall, but when April is murdered, Hannah’s newly crafted life implodes.

After: Hannah, now pregnant and married living in Edinburgh, receives news that the man she testified against in April’s murder has died in jail. She begins questioning whether or not she was responsible for convicting an innocent man.

The narrative alternates between “before” and “after” the crime, but both are told from Hannah’s point of view. I found both narrative threads boring, especially in the beginning. It took me a bit to warm up to Hannah. Her voice is dull, and I didn’t really care what happened to her until the end. I found the side characters much more interesting.

The plot is one I have read before. Hannah even feels like other characters I have met before. I was hoping for more of an original storyline or at least a twist to make it a little more interesting. On the plus side, it is well-written; Ware has a talent for casting doubt on all characters. I was suspicious of all at one point or another, and this element kept me turning the pages.

I hated Ware’s last book, One By One, and the good news is that I liked this one much more! Even though I was bored, I was invested enough in the plot to keep turning the pages--my inner armchair detective was piqued by all of the red herrings. I thought this book would never end, and even though it was a drag getting there, the ending finally adds some excitement.

Overall, The It Girl is a solid thriller but loses stars for lack of originality.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I've read many books by Ruth Ware and have enjoyed them all. This one was no different. Her books are faced pace and easy to read. Great characters that are easy to root for. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you, NetGalley, for an e-ARC of The It Girl by Ruth Ware.
The premise of this book, a murder in a college dorm, nothing new. The characters were flat and hard to rally behind. The setting was perfect for the mystery, but the story lacked pizzazz. It was too predictable and lacked the essence of Ruth Ware's other novels.