A good not great mystery. Lots of red herrings, two of my favorite settings (Oxford & Edinburgh) but too much of a lackluster main character for me to be completely invested.

I really enjoyed reading The It Girl. I was surprised and caught off guard multiple times, and just when I thought I had it all figured out, the book twist caught me off guard again. I switched between reading and listening to the audio and the entire time I was at the edge of my seat waiting for what was next.

I liked this book. Maybe not my favorite by Ruth Ware, but still solid. I would share this book with others.

Now when accused mureder of a Oxford student dies and still not addmiting a guilt Hannah started qurstioning herself as a main vitness to Aprils murder. All Hannahs friend from college dealt with murder and finished school but onlyshe could not. Are her friends privliged kids who think they can get away with a murder or are they true carring friends. Can Hannah find a truth or is she going to be ignorant ?

"The It Girl" by Ruth Ware is an exhilarating and suspenseful novel that will keep readers on the edge of their seats from beginning to end. This book tells the story of a young woman named Anna who is invited to work at a luxury hotel on a remote Scottish island. Anna is thrilled at the opportunity and excited to start her new job, but things quickly take a dark turn when she discovers that the hotel has a sinister history and the other staff members have secrets of their own.

One of the strengths of this book is the well-crafted plot. The story is expertly paced and full of twists and turns that will leave readers guessing until the very end. The characters are also well-developed, with each one having their own unique motivations and secrets that add to the complexity of the story. Anna is a particularly likable protagonist, and readers will find themselves rooting for her throughout the book.

Another standout feature of "The It Girl" is the vivid and atmospheric setting. The remote Scottish island is beautifully described, with Ware's prose bringing the rugged coastline and wild weather to life. The hotel itself is also expertly rendered, with its faded glamour and creepy atmosphere contributing to the sense of unease that pervades the book.

Overall, "The It Girl" is a fantastic read that will appeal to fans of suspenseful, character-driven thrillers. Ruth Ware has once again demonstrated her skill at crafting engrossing and entertaining stories that keep readers hooked until the very last page. Highly recommended.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I’m a fan of Ware, so I was excited to read this oneZ I think it might be my favorite of hers so far. Lots of twists, great characters, a fast-paced story.

I felt it did go on a little bit longer than it had to at the end, but was still a good read.

Not my favorite Ruth Ware story but I will read whatever she writes. I love how phycological her character development is, it immerses you into the characters mind.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for allowing me an ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.
I so enjoy Ruth Ware!! She 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 believe the book was a little longer than it needed to be. However, I can still remember parts of it 6 months later. I usually forget most of the book a month after I finished it.

April, the It Girl, is found murdered at Oxford. Her roommate Hannah is sure it was the Porter, John Neville. When John dies in prison ten years later, Hannah finds herself doubting her memory of the night April died.

The It Girl focuses on the death of April, Hannah's college roommate. Ten years later Hannah is pregnant and should have put it all behind her, but the death of the man convicted of April's murder, reopens the case for Hannah. She starts questioning everything that she thought she knew from that last night, and begins to review the case.

Overall, a decent thriller, but it could have been significantly shorter and been more enjoyable. It moved very slowly.

Kirkus Reviews: "...the mystery disappoints."
The Wall Street Journal: "...may well be her best book yet."

Guys, I'm sad to say that I fall closer to that first comment than the second. What I've come to expect from Ware is a book with a fish out of water heroine, a constant sense of danger, and a book that keeps me spellbound from maybe 100 pages in on to the ending.

This one has the first.

But, I'm sad to say, I didn't feel much of a sense of danger until nearly the end and the suspense only arrived, for me, about one hundred pages before that. And, in the end, the "why" of April's murder fell flat.

I didn't care much for April or Hannah. Oh, heck, I didn't care much for any of the characters but that just called to mind Donna Tart's The Secret History which is the predecessor of all murders/college setting thrillers. Tart pulls that off better.

And I'm really sort of over dual timeline stories.

And yet...

I still raced through this book. Because Ware writes terrific settings and the question of who can you trust was compelling. Every one of Hannah's friends seemed to have some potential motivation for killing April and you couldn't be too quick to write any of them off. So, for me, not Ware's best work (that still remains The Turn of the Key) but it was worth the reading and just what I needed in a book when I read it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

I just haven’t seemed to love Ruth Ware. I will absolutely keep giving her chances because I don’t think I’ve read her most popular books still even. I also really love a good female thriller writer.

This one also just felt so king? The beginning of it went pretty fast, but the second part of it went by really slowly.

I liked overall what this book was trying to do, but it just didn’t do it for me.

"The It Girl" by Ruth Ware is an enjoyable, albeit predictable, thriller that kept me engaged until the end. The protagonist, Deidre, is a likable character who is easy to root for as she navigates her way through a prestigious boarding school in England and the secrets that come with it. The setting is beautifully described and adds to the overall atmosphere of the story.

However, the plot itself is fairly predictable and lacks the level of suspense and tension that I was hoping for. The twists and turns are fairly easy to anticipate, and the climax of the story was underwhelming. Additionally, some of the characters feel underdeveloped and their motivations are not fully explored, which left me feeling unsatisfied with the resolution of certain plot points.

Despite these criticisms, "The It Girl" is still a fun and easy read that fans of Ruth Ware's other works will likely enjoy. The writing is engaging and the pacing is well-done, making it a quick read that will keep you entertained for a few hours. Overall, while it may not be the most memorable thriller out there, "The It Girl" is still a decent choice for fans of the genre.

Adore Ruth Ware. Had recommended her pieces for quite some time and this will be a new one to add to the list.

Recently caught up on long overdue NetGalley ARCs. The It Girl was a textbook Ruth Ware thriller, however you take that. I, for one, like all her hallmarks: anxious heroines thrust into tense situations, where your stomach twists with worry for them over and over. Personal stakes, including romantic, that spark the imagination. Well-drawn casts of characters who feel dynamic, real, and messy. And killer settings/set-ups that tick all my favorite trope lists.

But. To that end, well, The It Girl was textbook Ruth Ware. I could see the seams of this one, and two particular narrative cheats that, having finished, I'm not sure how I feel about. I do think the ride makes up for it, more or less--I enjoyed the dark academia-adjacent vibes a LOT, and the back and forth in time narrative style. Lots of compelling and fun red herrings. I cared about Hannah as much as I wanted to bonk her on the head more than once.

If you read The Maidens and hated it.. read this as a do-over. It hit almost every point of the same tropes, with almost an identical setting (Oxford instead of Cambridge), but more effectively and via an actually organic female lens. THAT SAID this is NOT a Gothic, so that's not an itch it scratches, but it does just enough of the dark academia tropes to satisfy.

Hannah and April are suite-mates at Oxford and April introduces Hannah to their group of friends: Will, Ryan, Hugh, and Emily. April is "The It Girl"- everyone wants to be around her, date her, she is "charming" and vivacious - by the end of the term she's dead. Hannah is the one who found her after she witnessed John Neville leaving the girls' rooms. He is quickly tried and convicted. Fast forward ten years later, Hannah and Will are expecting, Neville has died in prison (still proclaiming his innocence) and there is a reporter/podcaster who agrees Neville is innocent. Hannah gets roped in revisiting the night April died and it is becoming clear that everyone BUT Neville had a motive...including her husband who happens to be April's ex-boyfriend...
Told from Hannah's POV, the narration switched from "Before" and "After" April's death, which Ruth Ware does masterfully. Ware also has the ability to flesh out each character where they seem distinct from one another. Although April is supposed to be the girl who has everything, she was just plain awful: she is manipulative, plays really terrible pranks on her "friends," and has very few redeeming qualities. I enjoyed going through Hannah's list of suspects as she explores their alibis and motives and I really did not see the twist coming up until the final moment and then the SECOND twist where Ware literally gave me chills.
Ok, the bad: -the pacing was a bit slow
-there were a lot of details that feel left out (the timeline of Hannah's investigation, even some of Hannah's details where she kind of felt like a pregnant person-shaped grey outline).
-The choice for Hannah to actively investigate while pregnant, ok fine, I can accept that, but not telling the authorities at all....not the brightest idea.
Overall, 3.5 stars rounded to 4, it was an enjoying read with an unexpected ending.

I can go either way with Ruth Ware. Some of her books I am just not interested in reading, some I can devour. This one was a good one - I plowed through it and will be giving it a solid 4 stars. Good pacing, interesting plot and characters.

Now I can see why this book was nominated by readers in the Goodreads Choice Award Best Mystery & Thriller category last year—it’s a killer psychological thriller! The It Girl is told in alternating before and after chapters beginning at Oxford University (did you know Oxford comprises 39 separate colleges?) when freshman Hannah Jones meets her new roommate. April Coutts-Cliveden is sophisticated, wealthy, the ultimate “it” girl.

“She had the kind of beauty that hurt your eyes if you looked at her for too long but made it hard to tear your gaze away. It was, Hannah realized, as if a different kind of light were shining on her than on the rest of the room.”― Ruth Ware, The It Girl.

April also has a malicious side, and by the end of the second term, she is dead.

Fast forward ten years and John Neville, the man Hannah helped convict of killing April, has died in prison. When a journalist contacts her, claiming Neville was innocent, her world is upended. What really happened that night?

Ruth Ware’s book is beautifully written with great flow and pacing, and I flew through the pages. She created unforgettable characters—the good, the bad, and the downright evil—and crafted a twisty plot rife with trauma and tension. If you prefer audiobooks, you might want to take a pass; the before and after construction is confusing. The book, though, is terrific. 4 stars.

Ruth Ware wows us with another mystery that you can't put down. When Hannah Jones goes to Oxford to study, she is dazzled by her roommate April Clarke-Cliveden. April brings her into her group of friends, Will, Hugh, Ryan and Emily and Hannah feels like she is in the popular crowd. But by the end of the year her friend April is dead and the group disperses. Ten years later, a reported knocks on her door and reveals that the convicted killer is really innocent. She tries to find out who the killer really is and cannot believe what she finds out.

Being a huge Ruth Ware fan, I dove into this one head first, ready to be in it to be win it. I love a dual timeline approach, but only when I feel equally invested in both stories. Sadly, one fell a little flat for me, and I found myself speed reading through those chapters to get back to the other storyline. I do love the author’s writing style, and I look forward to any and all of her next books.