With trails of perfect little breadcrumbs scattered about, it's no wonder that this book kept me guessing. And I wondered throughout if there would be any messy loose ends, but it was just NEAT. Ruth Ware does such a good job of leading the audience exactly where she wants them to go (which is usually in the wrong direction). It is a very British sort of mystery, landing somewhere between The Girls are All So Nice Here and In My Dreams I Hold a Knife for me. But overall, it was a definite improvement over One by One in my eyes so I'll be sure to check her next novel out.

*Thank you to Scout Press and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

The It Girl is a psychological thriller about a murder that happened ten years prior at Oxford. The alternating chapters contain what happened just before the murder occurred and ten years after the murder took place in the present.

Hannah and April were roommates when they went to Oxford together and instantly became best friends. April was marked as an “It Girl” by many. Hannah found April murdered in their dorm room after Hannah came back from a night out. After ten years, Hannah learns that the man she testified against in April’s murder died in jail. She is now questioning whether she convicted an innocent man who is now dead.

Ruth Ware is one of my auto-read authors, and her books never disappoint, but this book was a mixed bag for me. I found both “Before” and “After” narratives boring for the better portion of the book. Nothing happens until 70% of the book. The final part was much better. Ware did a great job making all the characters look suspicious, and it was fun trying to figure out the actual suspect. I was intrigued about how the story would end too. It had a very twisty page-turner ending, and it gave me a glimpse of what I love about Ruth Ware's books. This is not my favorite Ruth Ware book, but this was much better than her previous novel, One By One.


Thank you to NetGalley and to Gallery Books for giving me a copy of the book.

This wasn't the spooky thriller you expect from Ware. However, this is one of my favorite books by her. "It Girl" has a fast paced flash back to present time format. You will love the main character and trust no one.

One of the most popular thriller authors is back. This time with an academia thriller set in Oxford. It’s been a decade since April Coutts-Cliveden’s murder and trial, but it still feels like yesterday to April’s roommate and best friend Hannah. Ten years of people hounding Hannah for more information and ten years since her eye witness testimony sent John Neville to prison. The hype around the murder and trial has only now started to die down, that is until John Neville dies in prison clinging to his innocence. His death sets off a chain reaction that will send Hannah looking for new answers to the same questions she’s been asking for ten years.

We have two timelines in this book but both are told from Hannah’s perspective. We have ‘Before’, which chronicles the events leading up to April’s murder, and ‘After’ which follows Hannah 10 years after the murder. I generally like these split timelines, but I found that as soon as one got moving and interesting, we switched to the other. I personally could have gone for a few less switches between the timelines, the constant switching made the story drag on, which is really my biggest complaint with the book.

Hannah, our main character, seems typical thriller novels. She lacks all confidence and even all these years later doesn’t seem to trust her own memories and while almost 30 in the after timeline, she seems way more naïve than that. The pregnancy pieces hit a bit to close to home for me at the moment, as I had a 3 month old while reading this. While nothing major happens on that front I just found that aspect of the story lackluster. I did enjoy most of the other characters though and found Emily and Ryan to be the best.

This one had some ‘The Maidens’ vibes in terms of the dark academic setting but more gripping and better written. As a note I hated The Maidens so take that as you will. The It Girl is entertaining and keeps you guessing but it’s long and seemed familiar. At around 430 pages, this one was just too long for me. If it would have been 50-100 pages shorter I would have enjoyed it more. 3.5 stars but rounding down to 3 simply for the length.

The It Girl, isn’t my favorite Ruth Ware novel but I did like it more than One by One. I will say that The Lying Game is still my favorite of her books even though most people tend to like that one least.


The It Girl comes out July 12, 2022! Huge thank you to Gallery/Scout Press for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest opinion. If you liked this review please let me know either by commenting below or by visiting my instagram @speakingof_books.

This was a perfectly fast and unputdownable read! It was not my favorite Ruth Ware, nor was it my least. Those who enjoy campus stories and stories about friend groups and dynamics will surely devour this one. The mystery was fine. Plenty of characters and surprised to keep the reader interested. In a sea of thrillers, I am not sure it stands out, but it was certainly an enjoyable enough read! Thank you to NetGalley, Ruth Ware, and the publisher for supplying me this ARC.

The It Girl switches between before and after the murder of a girl who was part of a group of friends at Oxford College. Was the person jailed really the murderer? Or did someone else commit the murder and get away with it? The It Girl is an engaging, suspenseful, and cleverly crafted mystery.

I was really excited for this book! The synopsis intrigued me.., I got about 20% of the way in and stopped reading. It took me a week to get that far… it just didn’t capture my interest the way I was expecting. I’m super upset because I wanted to love this book! Maybe one day I can continue past that point and it’ll get better but for now I am putting it down.

I’ve been trying to read this book for roughly 2 weeks now. And I don’t know why it’s not pulling me in.

It appears to have everything I love in a book. And Ware is one of my absolute favorite authors. I usually love the past and present narrative. But I’m struggling.

I think part of the issue is pacing. There’s really nothing to grab me and keep me going. It’s had a wow moment, but that’s it. We are back to a basic narration…and it just feels as though things are going nowhere. I have suspicions about the truth about April, but I’m not sure if I can continue much longer to get there.

And Hannah is untrustworthy as hell. I don’t trust Will a bit either. I feel like I should be Team Hannah, but again, she’s very blah. It’s a pity party and I can’t bear it.

For now, I’m giving up. With full intent to go back and finish after a short break.

A clever, rich thriller about a group of pals attending Oxford. There’s the rich girl, the brainiac from small town, a second generation plus many more in the group of friends. Some are friends tried and true while others are friends of opportunity. What follows is their story and the after effects of their school shenanigans all told in classic Ruth aware form. This is a sure hit. Thanks to NetGalley for the early read.

Ruth Ware has written another gripping, suspenseful story. The story is written from Hannah's POV, as she tells the story of her college roommate's murder (April). A porter named John Neville is convicted for the murder and ends up dying in prison years later. Hannah was never convinced of his guilt, so she sets out to do some more investigating. The story is told from two perspectives- "before" while they were in college and "after", when Hannah is married and later investigating.

Told in alternating chapters of “before” the murder when roommates Hannah and local “It girl” April navigate their first year at Oxford, and “after” when Hannah, ten years later, is confronted with the choices she made that might have sent an innocent man to prison.

Before: Hannah coming from a more modest working class background is put in a shared living space with April, who comes from the kind of wealth that is beyond anything Hannah could imagine. Though worlds apart financially they become fast friends and quickly form a tight knit group along with Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily. What starts as a promising first year ends up a nightmare when Hannah discovers April dead in their living area before the summer break.

After: After changing her name, her location, and her appearance, Hannah thinks she just might have found some peace ten years after the murder of her best friend and roommate April. Living in Edinburgh, she works days in a bookshop and comes home each evening to her husband Will, the only person she trusts, who understands what she has been through. Hannah’s biggest problem now is watching her blood pressure while pregnant, until another reporter finds her at work. She finds out the man who was convicted of April’s murder, because of her testimony, is dead, and there is new evidence to suggest he wasn’t guilty.

The It Girl is a fast paced psychological thriller that is hard to put down. The alternating before and after chapters make you want to keep reading long past bedtime. Although not the most original plot, it was still thoroughly enjoyable. This would make a great beach read!

Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery Books, and of course Ruth Ware for the advanced copy. The It Girl will be available on July 12th. All opinions are my own.

Hannah & April meet as roommates freshmen year at college and instantly become best friends. When Hannah arrives home to find April murdered her whole world get turned upside down. Ten years later the convicted murder dies in prison. Hannah begins to wonder what really happened that fateful night and was Neville wrongly convicted.

Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC for an honest review.

Another enjoyable read by Ruth Ware! This was more of a slow burn, but suspenseful and it kept me guessing.

I've definitely read several novels with almost this exact plot in the past year or two, but I'd say this one had a slight advantage over some of the others. I'd put it below Joseph Knox's True Crime Story, but above Laurie Elizabeth Flynn's The Girls are All So Nice Here. The cast of characters, especially the murder victim, felt vividly drawn and sympathetic, which helped Ware avoid some of the cliches and tropes of this sub-genre. It still felt very conventional, but it was satisfying and compelling. I'd read Ruth Ware's last book, One by One, and found the writing to be distractingly clunky. This novel had much smoother writing and dialogue, but was also a much slower burn and lighter on plot. It almost didn't seem like they were by the same author.

This book is everything I love about Ruth Ware and I’m really glad she wrote another book.

This is about a woman whose roommate was murdered 10 years ago and she is beginning to question whether the person convicted- the person she testified against- is actually guilty.

The story is so well developed and unravels perfectly. I love the way she reveals small details without matter of factly stating them, and the way each new thing uncovered left me wanting more.

I always love books that switch between past and present and it was well done in this book, and gave just the right amount of both reveal as well as adding more mystery in each chapter. I did not suspect the ending, so many times I was sure I had it figured out, but it wasn’t any of the scenarios I imagined. Overall such a well done book and I’m thankful to have the opportunity to read it early!

Another fabulous thriller from Ruth Ware! I had looked forward to reading The It Girl, as I have loved all of Ware’s books—and it did not disappoint. The format of chapters that alternate between the current life of protagonist Hannah, as a married and pregnant woman in Edinburgh, and her first year at Oxford University ten years ago, is well done and sets a lively pace. The focus of the book is the murder of Hannah’s roommate at Oxford and the man convinced of that crime, in large part due to Hannah’s testimony. But when that man dies—still proclaiming his innocence—Hannah wonders if she could have been wrong, although it seems unlikely. Ware does a wonderful job of conveying Hannah’s angst and anxiety as she searches for the truth, and readers will once again be thoroughly engaged in this well-plotted thriller. Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this book!

Thank you to Gallery Books and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The It Girl by Ruth Ware is the explosive thriller that all of her author's fans have been waiting for! The story revolves around Hannah, who was part of a close-knit group of friends at Oxford a decade ago. But the queen bee April was found dead at the end of their first year. Now, it's a decade later, and new evidence has come out that the man convicted of April's murder may have been innocent. Can Hannah figure out who the real murderer is before they come looking for her?

Here is a chilling excerpt from the opening chapter:

"She knew what happened next only from what the others told her. Her screams. Hugh following her up the stairs, two at a time. April’s limp body sprawled across the hearth rug in front of the fire, almost theatrically, in the photos she was shown afterwards.
But she could not remember it herself. It was as if her brain had blocked it out, shut down, like a memory glitch on a computer: file corrupted—and no amount of patient questioning from the police ever brought her closer to that actual moment of recognition.
Only sometimes, in the middle of the night, she wakes up with a picture in front of her eyes, a picture different from the grainy Polaroids of the police photographer, with their careful evidence markers and harsh floodlit lighting."

Overall, It Girl is an unputdownable college-based thriller that will appeal to fans of Pretty Little Liars or The Girls Are All So Nice Here. One highlight of this book is how action-packed it is. At about the midway mark, the action ramps up higher and higher until the explosive finale. Another highlight of this book were the nonstop twists and turns. Just when I thought I had everything figured out, the author inserted twists that I did not see coming. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of thrillers in general, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in July!

One of my favorite books of 2022. I loved the before and after aspect of the chapters and how the whole story unfolded.. So much suspense, so many emotions. .

I have some mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand the plot was pretty good and left me guessing as to who the real killer was. But the characters and the motive for the murder left me feeling underwhelmed about the whole thing.

Hannah was a typical lead character in this type of book. Appears or thinks of herself as weak but proves that she can muster up the strength when needed. She is also naive, innocent about how the world works and makes many questionable life choices. She also puts her health and that of her unborn child at risk because of all of the stress. Speaking of the pregnancy, it was mentioned way to often and felt like we were beaten over the head with it. Which would have been okay if it had been central to the story, but it wasn’t, so it just became annoying.

Hannah’s relationship with April was also a bit annoying and kind of a weak link in the story. April was not a very nice person, and did not particularly show kindness to Hannah, so why should she be tormented by her murder? Also the man she accused, while innocent of this crime was not a good person, in fact he was a perv, who sexually harassed and assaulted Hannah. Should she feel guilt for sending an innocent man to prison? Maybe, but she certainly saved other women from his torment by doing so.

There were many other characters in this story, most of them from the time Hannah was at Oxford, and almost all of them were suspects at some point in the story. The real murderer was a bit of a surprise, as they had the best alibi, but not too surprising. Although I felt that the motive was a bit weak. The ending was also kind of weak, as Hannah finally puts it all together after accusing her husband of the murder.

The dual timeline worked for the most part, until 2/3rds in when the past timeline stops and the action takes place all in the present. The past is where we meet all of the suspects and their relationships with April are revealed. I never felt like we fully got to know April and as I said before the motive behind the killing was weak and not very believable. If April had been a bit more developed, I might have felt something about her and Hannah and the many other characters.

I think I am sounding a bit harsher than I mean to in this review. This wasn’t a bad book, in fact it will make a pretty good beach read. How the killer pulls off the murder was intriguing and not what I saw coming. The pacing was good, and it was somewhat compelling and hard to put down at times. If you are looking for a standard psychological thriller to read on the beach than this is the one you should pick up.

What really happened that night? A snotty rich brat was murdered. The only reason I cared about the killer was the affect that night had on the main character, Hannah. As the only one of a group of friends who had no money, she seemed like the only one with a soul. The murder victim got what was coming to her.