I was drawn in by the premise of this novel as I'm a huge fan of thrillers and love a novel set in an academia world. While I enjoyed The It Girl, and ultimately would recommend, I wasn't entirely blown away by the book but I would rate it as a very solid thriller that was entertaining.

Hannah is accepted into Oxford University and is immediately thrown into a world that she is unfamiliar with, full of glamour and formalities. Luckily for Hannah she is roomed with a posh socialite, April, who is more than willing to bring Hannah along with her. Flash forward 10 years and April has been murdered in her and Hannah's room and Hannah is now pregnant with their friend/ex-lover's baby. Hannah was happy, until the suspected murderer of April has been announced dead and some suspicions have been raised if he really was the killer at all.

I personally loved the scenes set at Oxford as I felt they were descriptive and set the scene. I did question a few times if they actual ever went to class though and the only class mentioned is Hannah's tutorial time with an inappropriate professor. (Which the twist of him being married the whole time did make me scoff). Other than that they did homework and drank basically. The forward scenes occasionally felt a little repetitive in the beginning but as the story progressed and merged with the past they did get more speed to them. I thought the ending was well done... until it felt that the author was trying to wrap everything up into a happy ending. For some reason that just felt ingenuine to me after everything that happened. Like attending the killer's funeral? I guess. Otherwise, the story kept me interested, I enjoyed it and would read another of Ruth Ware! Many thanks for the ARC!

That first magical year of university, who can forget it? Those glorious days of newfound independence from your family, making friends, spreading your wings, picking up a stalker – oops, that last part isn’t typically on your average student’s agenda. But it is the central point around which Ruth Ware’s The It Girl revolves.

Hannah Jones won the roommate lottery. She had planned to have a single room to herself at Pelham College, Oxford, but winds up in a suite with April Clarke-Cliveden. April is as pretentious and demanding as her name would indicate – she takes the best bedroom, strews designer clothes all over their apartment, plays nasty practical jokes on her friends and essentially steamrolls over the quieter, more studious Hannah. April is also lively, irreverent, funny, generous, brilliant and occasionally warm-hearted. She takes Hannah under her wing and the two become the best of friends. It isn’t long before they’ve become part of an established clique which also includes April’s boyfriend Will, his buddies Hugh and Ryan and the acerbic, direct and intelligent Emily.

Hannah loves pretty much everyone she’s met at Uni except the porter John Neville. It doesn’t take long for her to realize that he is constantly around her – dropping packages off at her rooms when he’s supposed to keep them at the desk, interacting inappropriately with her when she picks up the mail, and following her as she goes around campus in order to “help her find her way.” Hannah’s friends tell her she should file an official complaint, and just as she is working on doing so, the unthinkable happens: April is killed and Hannah sees John Neville fleeing the scene.

Fast forward ten years. Hannah married Will and is currently expecting their their first baby. They moved to Edinburgh, far away from Oxford and all the hoopla that surrounded April’s death and John Neville’s trial and conviction. Most days, the two of them go from hour to hour without ever thinking about what happened in the past. But when John Neville dies in prison, a podcast journalist decides to revisit the whole issue. New evidence comes up, throwing doubt on the conviction. And Hannah finds herself once more forced to revisit the darkest moments in her past.

Ms. Ware does a fabulous job of depicting just what life is like when women find themselves being stalked. Hannah has, like most women, been trained to be kind and nice, and she applies that training when she deals with John Neville, initially excusing his behavior as eccentricity and feeling guilt about her own discomfort. We watch Hannah rearrange her schedule to avoid Neville, all while castigating herself for being silly to do so. She really wrestles with whether to lodge a complaint about his behavior, even while her friends urge her to consider his actions increasingly hostile and inappropriate. The story very much captures how women doubt their own instincts in an effort to do the right thing and shows the reality of women twisting themselves into pretzels to accommodate the behaviors/desires of the men around them.

The author also does a fantastic job of depicting the victim, April, who, on the surface, has everything and looks Instagram perfect. Rather than a one-dimensional nice girl or bad girl, we find ourselves faced with a young woman who is a mix of both, a typical human with flaws but also good points who can be equal parts kind and cruel, selfish and generous. April’s characterization demands that we contemplate how we often look at victims and force them to fit into molds that help us determine whether they did or did not, in a sense, deserve what happened to them. April defies those conventions and forces us to see a fully fleshed-out person whose worth comes from being human, not from being a good girl worthy of society’s adulation and protection. I loved that she isn’t perfect but is loved and left plenty of grieving people behind.

The mystery here is solved by an amateur bumbling about and asking all the wrong questions and not coming to the right conclusions until she is in danger. While I liked Hannah and appreciated her loyalty to her friend, I’ll admit at times I got a wee bit frustrated with her. At the start of the novel, she’s a very organized, somewhat thoughtful student but as the story progresses, she seems to be someone who simply plunges heedlessly forward without contemplating the results of what she is doing. She’s a relatable and engaging protagonist but if you are a purist who likes solid detective work in the solving of a mystery, she may irritate you a tad. While the tale has the dark, edgy undertone of a thriller, Hannah is a heroine more typical of a cozy than a suspense novel. That unlikely combination appealed to me because of the pacing and the motivating factors within the plot. It’s clear that Hannah carries a lot of guilt over John Neville’s imprisonment and also questions her role in April’s death a great deal. That emotion makes it seem natural that she would want to reaffirm she’d done the right thing with her testimony against John and reassure herself she hadn’t somehow allowed her prejudice against him to taint what she said about him. The fact that she is working off instinct rather than actual facts/clues makes it natural that she would investigate rather than simply going to the police.

The It Girl is a nuanced, intelligent mystery that is a beautiful showcase for Ware’s masterful storytelling. I thoroughly enjoyed it and believe other fans of mysteries will as well.

** “She has stopped running from the monsters. She has turned to face them. She wants the truth.” **

Ruth Ware delivers another incredible thriller with “The It Girl.”

When Hannah Jones attends Oxford’s Pelham College, she meets her new roomie April Clarke-Cliveden, an “it girl” social media influencer when social media was just starting out. But when April is murdered and Hannah believes she knows who committed the act, her world is forever rocked.

Ten years later, when the convicted man — whom had always claimed his innocence — dies in prison, Hannah finds herself drawn back into her friend’s death. Could she have been wrong and blamed an innocent man? If so, was one of her friends guilty instead?

Ware is excellent in developing a plot filled with twists and turns and lots of misdirections to keep the reader guessing until the very end. Told in a Before & After format — 10 years ago at Pelham and now, 10 years later — “The It Girl” deals with the ripple effect of actions and decisions; friendship and loyalty; trusting one’s own instincts; and overcoming fear and doubt.

She has also once again developed an intriguing and perplexing cast of characters that will fascinate the reader.

Disclaimer: this novel does include quite a bit of course language and inferred intimate moments.

Five stars out of five.

Gallery/Scout Press provided this complimentary copy through NetGalley for my honest, unbiased review.

I have read many of Ruth Ware’s books and this is my favorite so far. The characters in The It Girl are far more interesting and well developed than in her other books. The plot line is good as well as the format, switching back and forth between the murder and the present, ten years apart. While I determined who the murderer was, and pretty much how, sooner than I thought I would, I did not determine the motive - and that was a twist. Sufficient red herrings to make me question my initial determination. Well written.

This review was originally posted on <a href="https://booksofmyheart.net/2022/07/12/%f0%9f%8e%a7-the-it-girl-by-ruth-ware/" target="_blank"> Books of My Heart</a>
&nbsp;

<i>Review copy was received from NetGalley, Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i>

4.5 hearts

I have to tell you I was worried for Hannah from the start.  She's pregnant and all the stress isn't good for her, plus she is digging into the past and bringing up things other people want to be finished.  It's not she's TSTL but she pushes it.   She lets her emotions take her dangerous places when she needs to be working in her head, because she is naive but very smart.

When the convicted killer dies, there are reporters and others who come forward to ask questions because he always claimed his innocence.  He was creepy and did some questionable things but was he a murderer?  Hannah keeps talking to people and learning more about that time.  She misses April and cared about her.  But she continues to learn more and more about April and why some people didn't like her and how she might have ended up dead.

As usual for this author, it's a twisty journey and emotional journey as you root for characters and their totally natural responses to good and bad situations.  It's great because not everyone is all good or all bad.  Which makes it harder to know what's true and what's deflection or outright lies. It's another winning read to boggle the mind and drag my heart around.

Ruth Ware does it again! This was one of her longer books but it was worth it! I always love her protagonists, & this was no exception! Great story!

Historically I have found Ruth Ware's books to be absolute hits or just okay. This one fell more towards just okay for me. I loved the dark academia vibes and setting of this book. However, I found that most of the characters fell a bit flat for me. I do think that the jumps from "Before" to "After" were done well and definitely made it more interesting.

Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for my review.

BOOK REVIEW: The It Girl by Ruth Ware
2022 Publication Date: July 12

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐️

T.I.M.E. Favorite Books To Read
T.I.M.E. Best Books By Genre | Thriller
T.I.M.E. Most Anticipated Books Of 2022

CONNECT WITH A BOOK | T.I.M.E. SIMPLE LIVING TIP
The clues are there... If you are willing to see them... ✨😎✨

T.I.M.E. BOOK REVIEW: I always enjoy — and look forward to — a new book from Ruth Ware, who is often referred to as the "Agatha Christie of our time." Quite a high bar to achieve — and maintain — amongst avid thriller/mystery readers. If you read her previous book, One By One, you can easily understand the comparison. And there is an absolutely thrilling skiing sequence that left me breathless!

But with The It Girl, Ruth Ware breaks free of any comparison and left me breathless with every story element making this book my favorite Ruth Ware book to date... And securing a spot on my T.I.M.E. Favorite Books To Read list too.

With the strong female protagonist at the center of the story, there is also the added complication of her pregnancy that raises each scene's tension meter to the extreme.

Solving the mystery becomes like building a house on shifting sands as I found myself absolutely convinced I had this one figured out... Only to find the rug pulled out from underneath me with each new chapter. And if there is one thing I love to find in a thriller, it is a "rug" that is constantly being pulled away from underneath my mystery-solving feet!

For underlying story elements, I particularly loved the conflict of exploring the multi-dimensional issue of prosecuting criminal behavior with circumstantial though damning evidence.

Perfect for readers who are looking for a book with a page-turning mystery, thrilling sequences and love a good Hitchcock-like storyline!... ✨😎✨

Pages: 432
Genre: Thriller
Sub-Genre: Crime Fiction
Time Period: Present Day
Location: England (Oxford University) | Scotland (Edinburgh)

IF YOU LIKE THIS BOOK THEN TRY…
Book: One By One by Ruth Ware
Movie: Midnight Lace (with Doris Day)

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
How will you remember the girl who took your breath away?

Meet April Clarke-Cliveden, a beautiful and dazzling force of nature... And Hannah Jones, who always felt a bit behind the trends, off the mark, and generally the opposite of April.

Ten years ago, Hannah and April were roommates at Oxford University — and quickly April took Hannah under her wing pulling her into a world that was both exhilarating, thrilling, and more than a bit risky.

But to be within April's exclusive world was too seductive to refuse.

Their inner circle of friends also included Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily. And as with most college relationships, the loyalties and the complications tighten around and amongst the circle.

By the end of the first year... April was dead.

And Hannah's testimony helped bring her convicted murderer to justice, John Neville, a campus porter at Oxford who had a history of unusual behavior.

Jump to ten years later... Hannah and Will are now married and expecting their first child when she receives an update that John Neville (who always maintained his claim of being innocent) has died in prison.

She's thrilled to finally put the past behind her. Until a reporter approaches Hannah with new evidence that John Neville may have been innocent after all.

This new evidence has Hannah questioning facts she was once sure about. So she reconnects with each of her old friends to find out what really happened to April all those years ago.

But with each encounter, that familiar tug of loyalties and the subsequent complications start to tighten again around and amongst the circle.

A mystery unfolds within these pages that will have you guessing until the very last page! With deliciously surprising twists throughout every chapter, there is something new waiting around each corner.

--------------------

All my book reviews can be seen at This Is My Everybody | Simple Living | Denise Wilbanks at thisismyeverybody.com/blog/what-book-should-i-read

♡ Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

This story will be familiar to you: college friends, murder, trial/conviction but what is the truth? Was the man convicted of April’s death innocent? Hannah, the narrator, is haunted by the death of her friend, dazzling “it girl”, April. When the man convicted of killing April dies in prison, a series of events set Hannah on a path to unravel the truth.

What I liked: the atmosphere and setting. I love an Oxford setting, especially when there are secrets and murder. It’s why I love the tv show Inspector Lewis so much. Ware sets the novel brilliantly.

Unfortunately, I did not care for much else. There are many plot holes and much of time I kept wondering why no one was acknowledging the stalking and assault that plays a big role plot wise but is brushed away in terms of its psychological impact. As a narrator, Hannah’s insecurities and doubt mean she is constantly telling us that she needs to know what happened. And there’s so much repetition in her p.o.v. that I found myself losing interest. She puts herself in bizarre situations given her pregnancy.

The podcaster didn’t add very much in my opinion and I felt like he was focused on the wrong questions. As someone who watches a lot of true crime stories, I was continuously annoyed by the kinds of details being emphasized. The plot holes become glaring to me, here.

Ware has moments of really great writing throughout. I’ve always liked her writing style but it feels a bit lost among the threads of a whodunnit that misses the mark, for me. If you are expecting a thriller, I would say modify your expectations and prepare for a suspenseful mystery instead.

Fans of academic settings, friend group drama and Ware’s previous books may find this more compelling. The tension and sense of foreboding is strong throughout and I appreciated that “what is going to happen feeling” but the mystery itself is well-worn territory. I just wanted and expected more. 3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

April Coutts-Cliveden was known as the "It" girl in her class at Oxford. She had it all, money, looks, charisma, and charm that could turn nasty fast. Hannah Jones, her roommate, soon became good friends with April, as did Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily. The group did a lot together that first term at university when young people spread their wings, explore new things, and begin to come into their own. April was murdered during the second term.

Ten years later, Hannah is still living with the psychological repercussions of April's death. Now married to Will, and pregnant, she learns that the man convicted of murdering April (based in large part on Hannah's testimony) has died in prison. John Neville, an Oxford porter, maintained his innocence from his arrest until he died. Now, instead of his death bringing closure to Hannah, she wonders if she got it wrong, and is responsible for the death of an innocent man. To the dismay of her husband and friends, she begins to look closer at the case. The more Hannah looks into the murder, the more she discovers about April and others. Turns out, April had a fair amount of enemies for one so young. If John Neville didn't kill April, then someone else did, and it looks like it's someone Hannah knows.

This psychological suspense/mystery is a good read with each chapter containing Before and After sections which give the reader more information as to the happenings leading up to the murder and after it. Ware does a good job of keeping the reader invested in the story writing in twists and turns and tossing out believable red herrings throughout the tale. She got me -I was not expecting the ending!

My thanks to Gallery/Scout Press for permitting me to read an e-copy of this book via NetGalley. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and are given freely.

4.5 stars
Hannah meets April when they are paired up in a suite at Oxford. They are chalk and cheese, Hannah being the shy naive one of the duo, but she is soon pulled into the dazzling lights of April's world during their first term. April's light definitely shone bright, but as with all lights that are bright, their longevity is cut short, as was April's as, by the end of the second term, she was found dead. Murdered.
Back in the present and we catch up with Hannah, living with Will (April's former boyfriend) and expecting their first child. They have sort of managed to put the past behind them but that past is about to come hurtling into their present as the man convicted of April's murder has died in prison, having protested his innocence right up to the bitter end. And then Hannah is approached by a journalist who claims to have new evidence which makes Hannah doubt what she saw that night, what she spoke up about in the trial...
And so begins Hannah's quest to find the truth... But will she live to regret it...?
This was a bit of a slow burn for me initially but once it got going, once the foundations were all laid, it did go off like a train. Flitting between the past and the present, we see how the friends met and their relationships developed in the weeks and days leading up to the murder in the past. In the present, we follow Hannah as she goes about her investigative endeavours. The both timelines complementing and being fed by each other.
I am not sure quite why but I really didn't take to many of the characters in the book which meant that I didn't care as much as maybe I ought to have done. Reap what you sow was a phrase that I kept homing in on pretty much all the way through! I also guessed early what would have happened but that was probably cos I read so many books of this genre that I maybe cottoned on to something...
Pacing was slow initially but matched the narrative well enough all the way through. And there was pretty much no waffle or padding so the story got on with itself well. And the ending, although not a complete shock to me, did leave me satisfied... and a bit smug!
All in all, a good solid read that I have no hesitation in recommending to fans of the genre and the author. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

So addictive and I did not see the ending coming. It did sort of remind me of in my dreams I hold a knife but in a good way. Loved all the college secrets. Hannah wanting to her married in a library was very relatable. I can’t wait to read more from Ruth.

This is a solid read from Ruth Ware. Probably not my all-time favorite, but still very solid. Having studied abroad at Oxford for a trimester, I absolutely loved the setting, so that was a highlight for me. I also liked that I was constantly changing my mind about who the culprit was, and that while I didn't see the end coming, it made sense and wasn't totally out of left field.

April Clarke-Cliveden was the first friend Hannah Jones had at Oxford University. They shared a sitting room and then shared much of their lives. April was beautiful, wealthy, magnetic. She seemed to move through life effortlessly. Then she was murdered, right in their living space at the university, before the end of the school year.

A decade later, Hannah is married to Will, one of the members of their tight-knit group from that year, and they’re expecting their first child. She lives a pretty low-key life, working at a bookstore and being there for Will in the early stages of his career at an accounting firm. Hannah has locked away the memories of that shocking crime. But then news comes that the man who had been convicted of the murder has died in prison, insisting on his innocence until the very end. And a journalist who had been talking to him gives Hannah evidence that the system may have locked up the wrong person.

Even as Will and other friends from before tell her she has to leave it alone, Hannah can’t stop worrying about it. She starts looking into the facts again, asking around to find out what she may have missed, and what she had forgotten. And she realizes that each of her friends could have had motive to kill April. Her husband worries particularly about her health and their baby as the stress takes a toll on her, but what’s far worse is she could be putting herself in danger from the real killer.

The It Girl is a compelling mystery. I admit that I guessed early on who the killer was; I just didn’t know how or why the killer did what they did, so those reveals were interesting. The last bit was pretty heart-pounding. Still not my favorite Ruth Ware book (I personally liked The Death of Mrs. Westaway, which isn’t a straight mystery like her others), but a very good one.

Y’all @ruthwarewriter has written another masterpiece 💛 This novel will have you constantly guessing who murdered “IT Girl” April during her freshman year at Oxford. April is not really a likable character, so there is no shortage of people who would have had motive! I did not figure out who the killer is and I loved the dual timelines.

As with all of Ruth Ware’s books, I highly recommend reading this one!

Thank you @netgalley and @scoutpressbooks for allowing me to read this book ahead of publication in exchange for my honest review.

Ruth Ware is back with another twisty murder mystery. April Clark-Clivedon is beautiful, smart, talented and popular. But not so popular she wasn't targeted for murder. Hannah Jones is her best friend who gave evidence that locked away her April's murderer. She has been hounded to the point of moving away from England, leaving Oxford and trying to quietly live w/ her husband, Will and expecting their first child. But did John Neville, convicted of April's murder, actually do it? New evidence seems to rock Hannah and has her second-guessing everything she thought she knew. Told in parts Before (the murder) and After, The It Girl will leave you guessing until the very end.

*Special thanks to Gallery/Scout Press and NetGalley for an e-arc of this novel.*

This one didn't grab me the same as other Ruth Ware novels. It took me almost 2 months to read this, which should have been more like a week or two. The general concept was great, but the plot just kind of dragged. Better luck next time!

From my blog: Always With a Book:

Ruth Ware is one of my favorite authors and The It Girl is one of my most anticipated reads not only this month, but this summer. And let me just say…it totally delivers! I had the opportunity to read an early galley of it back in May with a bunch of bookstagrammers world-wide and it was such a treat!

Give me all the dark academia books and add in a locked-room mystery and I am one happy girl! This one might give off In My Dreams I Hold a Knife vibes, which incidentally is one of my favorite books, but it definitely stands on its own. It’s so atmospheric, and it totally gets under your skin. I loved the way it moves back and forth, using a before and after format, allowing you to really get to know the characters. As we get further into the book, it becomes evident that just about everyone has reason for wanting to harm April, but who actually did it? I loved learning about all their relationships both in the past and in the present.

This is such a brilliantly plotted book, and the structure really lends itself to quite nicely to the perfect buildup of suspense and tension…so much so that you find yourself unable to walk away from the book until you get to the final resolution. And with the mini-cliffhangers at the end of the chapters…you just cannot read fast enough!

I admit, it does start off a bit slow, but I think that was necessary in order to really help set the scene and help us get in the right mindset for all that was to come. Because once that is done, things start taking off and it becomes a much faster, more action-packed read.

This is definitely a book you don’t want to miss and I’m telling you, it’s completely binge-able despite its length. It’s a story full of complex characters, where everyone is hiding something, and as long as you love a mystery that takes its time building the layers, you will love this one. I have loved all of Ruth Ware’s books but this just might be my new favorite!

This is my very first Ruth Ware book. I was really excited to get an early copy as I’ve heard good things about her novels. The beginning of this book holds promise and it all kind of reminded me of In My Dreams I Hold A Knife as the characters are investigating a college friend who was killed. I actually ended up enjoying In My Dreams I Hold A Knife much much more than this one. I found the whole plot of The It Girl very slow moving and repetitive. I thought the whole novel lacked character development and it was difficult to connect to any of them. The conclusion was decent, but not overly exciting. Overall, I think there are more thrilling books out there to devote your time to. ♥️

Ten years after her college roommate is murdered, Hannah discovers the man she helped put behind bars has died. As old memories begin to resurface, and new reports of the convicted man’s alleged innocence surface, Hannah can’t help but revisit the night it all happened and everything that led them to that night. But when the trail leads her to places she didn’t even think of before, she begins to question everything, and everyone, around her.