This is a pretty classic murder mystery with the perfect number of potential suspects. I loved the dual timelines. The twist was not super predictable but also not too unbelievable. Was a relatively fast read.

Thank you NetGalley for the free eArc!

I really enjoyed getting to know this group of college friends, which included the 'it' girl. At this prestigious university, small town girl, Hannah, ends up with a trust fund very wealthy dorm mate, April. They each have their own bedroom but they couldn't be more different. There's so much drama, when Hannah falls for April's boyfriend, strip poker with a group of friends, and of course, a death of one of the teenagers. Imogen Church narrates the audiobook, so you can't go wrong listening to this one either! The story unfolds years later through flashbacks to the group's college years, was the wrong person jailed for the murder? I totally enjoyed finding out!

Ruth Ware got me with this one!

I truly thought I had the twist figured out, but then that ending came about, and boy, was I wrong!

Hannah and April were college roommates, and while Hannah was trying to get by (like most of us), April was undeniably the "It Girl." Whatever "it" was, she had it. The looks, the brains... the practical jokes.

When Hannah finds April's dead body, and sees John Neville, a porter for their university, exiting their building, she is certain, based on past interactions, he is the one to blame for April's death.

But what if she's wrong?

Loved this one and highly recommend it to any mystery lovers!

While Ware's novels can be a hit or miss for me, this was definitely a HIT. Probably my new favorite Ware. We've all known the "It" girl - the one who was annoying and entitled and yet you could never say no to her. It was a love/hate relationship that you knew would blow up one day but she was a magnet and everyone knew it.

Hannah considered April her best friend and was the key witness of her murderer being sent to jail. But when said murdered dies in prison, the media vultures start coming back out to feed and you start to question what you might have actually witnessed those many years ago.

Ware fed me so many red herrings that I don't think I'll need to eat for months. Just when I was all "A-HA! I knew it?!", it was "Oh, ok... erm, maybe not... (flips pages)". Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Haha - I was having so much freaking fun with it and I think Ware does an amazing job of keeping you on your very tippy toes. You know those movies where the last couple of minutes is just a flashback of scenes that explain the why and how of what happened? Yeah, that's what I got here.

This one just hit me right in the happy. Thanks, Ruth.

Ruth Ware’s slow-burn style of writing psychological thrillers continues to impress. This Dark Academia murder mystery focuses on the murder of April, an It Girl at Oxford. #partner

Her accused murderer has recently died in prison, causing her best friend, Hannah to question if she wrongfully put the wrong person in prison. As Hannah reevaluates the murder a decade later, new information comes to light that has her questioning everything she knew about that time in her own life and April’s.

It’s a long book and a slow burn, but I didn’t see the ending coming! I thought I figured out the murderer early on and was dead wrong.

Going into this novel, I was a little overwhelmed by the fact that the audio was SEVENTEEN hours long. In my opinion, most books have no business being 400 pages or longer, and while this one is no exception, it was really well done and super entertaining.

Hannah wasn't a particularly likeable character for me. She felt meek and naive, her decision-making was lacking, and it frustrated me how careless she was with her pregnancy. Part of my distaste for Hannah was likely with the narrator as well. I've done other audiobooks with Imogen Clark and strongly disliked them, due in large part to the narration. While ultimately I thought the narration was pretty good for It Girl, it was a little overacted at times and often a bit grating.

By 70% into this novel, I think I had suspected every single character as April's murderer. I had a hunch early on that I kept second guessing and I am pleased to report that I was wrong (always love when a mystery can surprise!!).

Much of the novel includes flashbacks to before April was murdered and I always love a good acidemia setting. I felt like there were some flaws with the setting, for example, why would a wealthy student like April be placed with a roommate when most of the on campus housing was singles? That aside, I loved the college location and enjoyed reminiscing about my own times back in university playing games in friend's dorm rooms and venturing out to the local pubs instead of going to the library.

I have to say, Ware is an expert at the reveal. I absolutely love that she didn't do an information dump on us during the last chapter. It's one of my biggest pet peeves when the killer is revealed and then they go on a chapter long monologue tying up all the loose ends. The reveal in this novel was uniquely done and worked so well.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I'm not sure it'll particularly stick with me and it definitely could've been 100 pages shorter, however, it held my interest and I love that I was surprised.

Thank you to Gallery and NetGalley for a copy of this novel.

I have read a few of Ruth Ware's books, this was one of the better ones for me. I enjoyed the Oxford setting and the group of friends. Hannah's roommate, April is murdered. Hannah thinks she knows who did it, but 10 years later she's having doubts about whether or not her testimony sent the wrong man to prison. Could one of her friends be responsible? Or even her husband? The story keeps us guessing until the end with a few good twists along the way. No one is who Hannah thought they were, even her best friend April had secrets. The story switches back and forth from the present to the time leading up to the murder. I didn't know who did it until the very end, and then it was a surprise. I did have a little trouble working out how the exact details of the murder made sense. But overall a good, compelling read.

I liked the before/after story line. I thought it was a nice change from the Mutliple POV storylines we have been seeing a lot of lately. The dynamic of the group was really spot on for what I envision a group like that at college would be like. I also think the character of April was really well written and a very believable character

I've been trying to think about how to write this review and share my thoughts for a little while and what it comes to is that it disappointed me with this story. It had its positives and all, but overall, it was a letdown. This was a very hyped-up book and I'm not sure why.
This story is about Hannah and Will, who are married and expecting their first baby. They have had to build a life and recover from 10 years earlier when Hannah found her friend/roommate murdered one night and this story is told from two different timelines. One timeline is from a decade ago when Hannah was living the events that lead up to finding April, her roommate, strangled, and the other is the present timeline. Hannah finds herself lead to uncover the answers to what really happened and who killed April 10 years ago and in the process finds out secrets being kept by others around her and puts herself, her baby, her husband, her marriage all in danger as she pushes to find and uncover the truth.
As I mentioned previously, this was an extremely hyped-up book and I felt that it didn't live. up to that hype. The first half or so of this book was a bit long, slow moving and hard for me to get through to get to the good part and finish the story.
If you like Ruth Ware or can push through the slow parts then you'll probably enjoy this one more than I did. This one, I think, was just not for me.
Thanks so much to NetGalley and Gallery Books/Gallery/Scout Press for letting me read and review this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I've never met a Ruth Ware novel I didn't love, and this was no exception. The It Girl is told in a dual timeline, following Hannah's university days a decade ago, contrasted against present day events.

Because of the dual timeline, we see how the characters have each changed over a decade's time, and it's interesting, especially approaching the end of the book, to consider whether our impressions of the college-age characters were accurate.

This had all the twists and surprises that Ruth Ware has become known for... as the book progressed, I found myself thinking: Could it be this person? No, that's impossible. But what about him? What about her? And I promise that whatever you predict at first... you'll marvel at the ending!

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the complimentary digital review copy of this title.

Ruth Ware always keeps you guessing to the end and this one does that too. At times I found the story dragged as it took awhile to introduce new characters as Hannah waffled about whether she should pursue finding out who really killed April. I enjoyed the English college setting. This story would make a good movie.

Could this be my new favorite book by this author? It's definitely close! I love a good dark academia setting and the historical prestige of Oxford makes this one a winner. 

I am also a sucker for dual timelines. I enjoyed seeing the progression of development in each of the characters over the years. I wasn't fond of any of the characters, but I appreciate a book that makes me dislike all characters equally!

As far as the plot itself, I found it more exciting and more unique than the more recent books from the author. Things unraveled in a way that you knew what was coming, but it didn't take away from the action. I was still surprised by a few things. 

Overall, this was a hit for me! Ruth Ware will always be an auto-read author for me so I am already looking forward to what she writes next.

It’s harder to care about a murder when the victim sucks. Loved the setting and the switch between past and present, but this felt bloated.

When the alleged murderer of her best friend dies in prison, it opens up a lot of questions for Hannah. The story switches back and forth between 10 years ago, before "It Girl" April was killed, and present day. The author leaves us many breadcrumbs to figure out who the killer is. There are a few red herrings, but for the most part the who is predictable. I enjoyed the story and definitely found it hard to put down at times.

I am probably the only person that hasn’t read a Ruth Ware title, but I swear I have always meant to! When I saw this come up on NetGalley, I thought it was the perfect time to start. I have been trying to get into this genre, so I took the jump! This is a mystery about Hannah, who gets pulled back a decade into the past when the murder of April, her roomate at Oxford, is back in the headlines. The trial for April’s murderer hinged on what Hannah saw, and her testimony. When what she believed to be true is called into question, she goes back and tries to make sense of what she is hearing, and all the things that are beginning to come to light.

I really enjoyed this! I don’t usually read this genre as I try too hard to guess the ending and it always ruins it for me. I tried not to this time, and I enjoyed it so much. The twists and turns and the ending were great, I thought! I will be going back and reading more of Ruth’s books for sure!

I was given an advanced reader's copy via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own

Ruth Ware brings the reader right into the heart of this mystery when a man accused of murdering a young college girl dies in prison just before the 10 year-class reunion. We follow dual timelines of a group of friends centered around a beautiful, ethereal yet untrustworthy "it girl", both before her murder and in the years that follow. If you enjoyed In My Dreams I Hold a Knife, you will love this ride into the halls of a dark campus thriller.

Ruth Ware's books can be hit or miss for me but I've loved her last couple and this sounded intriguing. Unfortunately it took me a while to get into it, and it reminded me too much of other thrillers (which, in fairness, is hard NOT to do these days). So while it was enjoyable, it wasn't as enthralling as I'd hoped. I know others have loved it though, so this might just not be for me.

This book would have been a million times better without the pregnancy storyline. Loved a dark academia and got excited about Oxford, but I kind of felt like it could have been set at any school, really. Also this had no business being so long! It wrapped up well but it dragged soooo much in the middle. I seem to keep continuing to miss the bus on big Ruth Ware Fandom. Not sure there's one by her I'd really recommend.

DNF @12%

Absolutely not. I read the first 12% of this and thought to myself, "This writing is terrible." I knew that I could not continue reading after hearing from several people that they regretted finishing it. So, I decided to skip from 12% all the way to the last three chapters and wouldn't you know that the character that they introduced us to who is obviously suspicious is the one who did it. I was not surprised and I feel vindicated in my choice not to read this whole thing because I would've pissed. Instead I only wasted an hour of my time instead of 4 which I would've been angry at having not been able to get back. Glad that I decided to skip ahead and was confronted with how bad this book is. I think Ruth Ware is not for me anymore and she's an author who I am going to stop reading and checking out. Her mysteries do nothing for me and while I had fun with One by One, that's the only one that I've really liked a lot. The rest have been mediocre and this one is no different.

another stunning, compelling and captivating book by Ruth ware! Absolutely cannot wait for her next.