Twists and turns galore in 'The It Girl'
By Sandy Mahaffey For The Free Lance–Star
My first encounter with Ruth Ware’s work was “The Woman in Cabin 10,” which made me anticipate every following release. She is the master of the edge-of-your-seat thriller, and “The It Girl” did not disappoint. Many chores went undone until I had finished it.

April is the “it girl” who quickly establishes her tightly knit group of friends after they arrive for their first term at Oxford—suite mate Hannah, Will, Hugh, Ryan and Emily are devoted to her.

By the end of their first year, April is dead and Hannah has been instrumental in the conviction of her killer. It was Hannah who discovered the body. Ten years later, following the convicted man’s death, a young reporter with new evidence is convinced the imprisoned man was innocent, shaking a now-pregnant Hannah’s confidence in what she believed she saw.
The tension grows slowly, the red herrings, skillfully placed, keep the suspense twisting and turning. Hannah learns that everyone is hiding something, but is it enough to reveal the killer?


As the friends reconnect and Hannah digs deeper, lives are in danger.

The plot is brilliantly constructed, with chapters titled only “Before” and “After” and clues doled out in bits and pieces. Set aside some time for “The It Girl” and be prepared to read until you are done. It’s that good.
Sandy Mahaffey is the former Books editor with The Free Lance–Star.

Normally I enjoy Ruth Ware’s slow burn mysteries but I found that “The It Girl” was far too slow for my liking. We don’t get to the crux of the night in question until more than halfway and even then it doesn’t reveal anything new.

I found that while I enjoyed the Dark Academia aspect of the plot, a lot of it just didn’t need to be there. I found myself skimming through a lot of the fodder in the middle to get to the parts that contained the actual plot.

While I can normally do a slow burn, this was more of a match than a flame and I found my interest flaming out by the end. That being said, the twist is work getting to the end for!

Thanks to Netgalley and Ruth Ware for the copy of “The It Girl” in exchange for an honest review.

The latest by Ruth Ware follows students from Oxford University who were connected through the murder of a classmate ten years ago. The questions surface quickly as to whether the convicted killer is the actual killer and readers feel forced to switch loyalties as evidence makes them question even seemingly innocent classmates. Kept guessing till nearly the end makes this a hard book to put down. Thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for this ARC. This is my honest review.

Thank you Gallery Books and NetGalley for the ARC of The It Girl. This book definitely took me on a wild ride. Hannah Jones finally feels like she is truly becoming herself at college and finding friends that she will have for life. April, her roomate is one of those friends. However, April does what she wants and doesn't ever worry about the consequences. When April turns up dead in their shared common room, Hannah is sure she knows who did it. Ten years later, everything is stirred up again when the convicted killer, who always claimed his innocence passes away. Hannah just can't let it go when new information is offered up and follows the clues to some very scary possibilities. Her actions will forever change the lives of many people but will it be too late for her and her baby?

I've come to realize that Ruth Ware really enjoys writing slow burn thrillers, The mystery is usually there early on, but it takes at least half the book for it to start ramping up. The It Girl is no different; it follows Hannah, a pregnant bookstore clerk, as she delves into the murder of her college roommate April ten years earlier. Hannah testified against a porter at their college, John Neville, who went to prison and died there after ten years. His death spurs a journalist to dig further into the case, approaching Hannah for her firsthand account of events. For the first time, Hannah begins to wonder if she fingered the wrong man. Slowly, very slowly, we learn that April was pregnant at the time of her death and her infamous pranks may have earned her a few enemies at school. I enjoyed quite a bit of The It Girl. I thought the twist was unexpected and enjoyed the final reveal. However, I'm tired of "she was pregnant!" being used for its shock factor, particularly in thrillers like these. It seems such a cheap way to cast a victim in an even more vulnerable light. I also wished the pace would pick up.

I was a fan of some of Ruth Ware's books so I was excited to get the chance to read her latest. This book follows Hannah as the murder of her college roommate becomes front and center in her life years after it happened.

While I liked Hannah well enough I would have enjoyed reading from the other characters point of views as well. I did enjoy the switching between the present day and past. In regards to what actually happened in the past I do have to say that I figured out the who not that far in but couldn't really figure out the how or the why. The ending was okay but I kind of expected maybe some more turns or action. This was a great beach read for me and I look forward to reading more from Ruth Ware.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the galley.

Many characters lives intertwined. With Ruth Ware, it is never the obvious guess. It kept me interested until the end. If you enjoy a book that keeps you wondering, try out It Girl. A strong 4 stars.

Thank you to the publisher for the DRC.

Told in alternating timelines of Before and After, the story of a murder on a college campus unfolds. The luminous and magnetic “ it “ girl of their friend group, it seems like a few people had reasons to want her out of the picture.

This book is classic Ruth Ware, and was a decent thriller. I felt it was about a hundred pages too long and that manifested in too slow of a slow burn. The conclusion was a bit iffy for me, for reasons that would be a spoiler to include here.

Overall, this was an ok time, but nothing extraordinary. I’ve enjoyed other Ruth Ware thrillers much more.

This is not my typical genre of book but I found it to be engaging and exciting. Lots of twists and turns leading to an exciting conclusion. Would definitely make a good beach or vacation read!

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