Ruth Ware has done it again with this one! I loved this book, and was kept guessing throughout the whole book.
I enjoyed all of the characters, and understood their choices, and the suspense was so well developed.

RUTH WARE IS BACK! The queen of thrillers. Very spooky vibes. Highly recommend for a book club. Loved it.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of The It Girl.

I'm normally a huge Ruth Ware fan so I was very excited to read her upcoming novel, The It Girl. Generally, alternating time lines are totally my jam, but in this case? Nope. I get it, Oxford, super smarties, super elite, super exciting for those attending BUT we get a lot of of the same inner monologue OVER and OVER about it.

Several parts of this mystery didn't work for me and the ending wasn't great at all. It dragged in the middle and some of the decisions that Hannah (past and present) makes are just so completely stupid, that I cannot.

3 stars for the ability to keep me guessing about the killer, but that's mainly because this ending was utterly mind boggling and makes zero sense.

I am a huge fan of Ruth Ware and went into this book with high hopes. Sure, the plot may not be new but I thought this author would put her signature twist on it. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. Hannah is the narrator, and the story is told in two timeframes - during her time at Oxford and in the present, ten years later. She's just found out that the man serving time in prison for murdering her college roommate, April, has died and the memories of that time come flooding back. Not that they've ever left, because she seems to spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about April, even all these years later. April of course is the "It Girl' of the title who had it all - money, looks, and brains. Winning personality? Not so much.

That's the problem I had with this book, that April is terrible. Even someone like Hannah who never had close friends, wasn't born into money, etc. would realize pretty soon how horrible of a person April is. But you would think she's heaven on earth the way all of the characters fawn over her, even the ones that supposedly don't like her. But maybe that's because the majority of this group of friends are also terrible. I didn't feel that any of the characters were likeable, either because of their actions or their limpid personalities. Not only does April cheat on her boyfriend from the start with seemingly everyone, but her main attribute is her love of 'pranks' that aren't funny and are just vicious. Even after she pulls these malicious jokes on her friends, they still hang out with her, because she's 'just that magnetic' of a girl, so beautiful and charismatic...ugh, please.

But anyway, in the present time, the killer that was put away based on evidence given by Hannah has died and so NOW a journalist decides he may not have been guilty after all, and he's going to investigate. He contacts Hannah who refuses to meet with him yet eventually meets with him. Her old friends (one of which is now her husband) want to leave these events in the past and not stir everything up, because someone was convicted after all, so that's good enough for them. Not for Hannah, and even though she's heavily pregnant and prone to fainting, she spends all her free time investigating April's death. But what she uncovers is going to tear her world apart.

I did enjoy the ending and think other readers will too, even if they saw it coming like I did. This was the Ruth Ware that I enjoy, and I wish the rest of the story was as cleverly constructed as the murder. I'll take this book as a one-off and look forward to her next captivating thriller!

Ruth Ware's best book yet, in my opinion. I loved the Oxford and Edinburgh settings and Hannah’s decade-long questioning of a murder she believed she had solved. Could not put this one down!

I begged and pleaded for The It Girl . Never in my life did I think I would get the early approval from netgalley, but here we are .

Typically I read books in an order of release date BUT when its a long anticipated book that I have been dying to get my hands on I skip the line like a 5th grader and read the book.

Normally, anything over 400 pages is automatically blacklisted but it’s Ruth Ware, so of course she is the exception to the rule .

I had to mentally prepare myself for this one . I had pined after this one for so long I needed to make sure I could appreciate each page in entirety.

This started out as a slow burn and I was not quite sure where this book would lead me . It flashed from college days “before” to present day “after” . It’s told only from Hannah’s point of view. This made is easy to follow along with .

Throughout the book, secrets are revealed and many different characters had motive for the murder . I went back and forth with if Neville really was the killer . Either way, he creeped me out .

There is no way you could anticipate the ending . You are lead to believe it could end in so many different ways but the ending not only held a major twist, it was truly satisfying and brought everything together.

As always, I could never ever rate a Ruth Ware book with less than 5 stars.

I know everyone is anxiously awaiting this incredible book. All I can tell you is that I promise it is worth every bit of the wait.

Big thank you to Netgalley, Ruth Ware, Gallery Books, and Scout Press books, for allowing me to read and review this book prior to the big release!

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery/Gallery Book Press for the eARC.
Hannah Jones is attending Oxford and shares a suite with April, a beautiful, seductive, lively young woman who does have a bit of a nasty streek. They become best friends, even though Hannah secretly adores April's boyfriend Will. Then the unthinkable happens and Hannah. heartbroken, escapes to Edinburgh, where she meets Will again. They marry and are expecting a baby. Then comes a surprising
and upsetting item on the news. It's now a decade later, and Hannah, who's still heartbroken, sees her life upended again. This time she's determined to seek out the truth, despite Will's pleading to leave the past alone.
There were a few niggles in.my mind about the story: why Hannah loved April so much and also, why she was so intensely upset after all these years. It seemed excessive to me.
That said, I couldn't put the book down and was totally flabbergasted at the end; I never saw it coming! Definitely recommended!

Ok, more like 3.5 stars, but The It Girl is definitely not Ruth Ware's best.

I was absolutely thrilled to receive an arc of this book from Netgalley--I am a huge Ruth Ware fan. This story about the murder of a poor little rich girl who is part of a group of first year students at Oxford starts out well enough when the alleged murderer of April Clarke-Cliveden dies in prison, and best friend Hannah wonders if her testimony convicted the wrong killer a decade earlier.

Pregnant Hannah sets off to investigate, much to the dismay of her husband and her friends. The story is told in alternating Before and After chapters that tease out the story and various clues unti the twist ending.

Perhaps one problem with The It Girl is that Hannah is not a particularly likeable main character and repeatedly endangers herself and her unborn baby in her quest to unravel what really happened to April--not to mention that she consistenly disregards the wishes of her very understanding husband, Will. In addition, the denouement relies on a lie about Will's actions that could have been very easily dispelled and would have been ascertained by police at the time of the murder.

Ware is an extremely talented writer and knows how to keep the reader engaged. The It Girl, however, doesn't quite live up the level of her previous works.

Full Disclosure--NetGalley and the publisher provided me with a digital ARC of this book. This is my honest review.

Ruth Ware transported me right to Oxford and made me feel like I went to college with these characters too. The character development in this was phenomenal. While I did guess most of the plot twist early on, it was still a riveting read, and I second guessed myself multiple times as the story developed. I definitely recommend this one!

Thank you so much to NetGalley & Gallery Books for allowing me to review this ARC!

I have read a large number of thrillers over the past year, and it is quickly becoming my favorite genre. That doesn't mean I automatically like every thriller I read - some are nonsensical, some are so predictable that they're dull, some have twists that stretch believability and some have characters I care nothing about. I am happy to say that for me, "The It Girl" was the kind of thriller I couldn't put down, that left me second-guessing, and whose characters I was actually somewhat invested in.

I tend to enjoy a narrative that goes back and forth between past and present as long as it's done well, and that was this story's format as we go from the present and back to Hannah and the gang's first year of university, when her roommate was murdered and all of their lives changed. It was interesting to see the validity of the alleged murderer's conviction revisited because of the questions brought up by a potential podcast, which seems like a very true-to-life premise these days.

I think the pace and mood of this book was more mystery than heart-stopping thriller, but that was just fine with me. I enjoyed the ride as Hannah questioned what happened and slowly unraveled the identity of the true killer.

An enjoyable and well written read, though not my favorite Ruth Ware novel. The details of the story take most of the book to build and I didn’t get an atmosphere of suspense or creepiness that usually builds along with the story. Just more of a whodunit. But the story and the protagonist do get there eventually. It all comes together brilliantly and is arguably worth the wait.

Two stories, 10 years apart, weave slowly together in The It Girl, the new psychological thriller by Ruth Ware, master of the genre. They are both narrated by Hannah Jones, former student at Oxford University, now an expectant mother. At Oxford, Hannah’s roommate is the fey, charismatic, sometimes cruel April Clarke-Cliveden. Together with Emily, Will, Hugh and Ryan, they form a close friendship. But at the end of the second year, Hannah discovers April’s dead body in their rooms. She has been strangled, presumably by eccentric University porter John Neville. Now, Hannah is married to Will and expecting their first child when she learns that John Neville has died in prison. The memories of the night April was murdered and the ensuing trial where she was the main witness plunge Hannah into the past. And when a reporter comes to her with information showing that Neville may have been innocent, Hannah questions her memories. She and her friends have very different recollections and all have secrets they do not want to share.

The It Girl is the perfect psychological thriller. Two compelling plots, multidimensional characters and locations at Oxford and Edinburgh quickly pull the reader into to this fast paced mystery. 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, Gallery Books and Ruth Ware for this ARC.

I'm a sucker for mysteries set on a college campus, and this latest novel by Ruth Ware (while not her best, IMO) is a satisfying addition to this subset. Plus it is set in Oxford, with all the added romance of turrets, gothic dining halls, and posh British students. Infinitely better than the ridiculous The Maidens by Alex Michaelides, another recent Oxbridge suspense.

Our emotionally damaged, and, rather annoying protagonist, Hannah, is haunted by the murder of her roommate April, a decade earlier. April is the "It Girl" referenced in the title... beautiful, wealthy, charismatic. But like the month she is named after, often cruel as well. Hannah, meek and solidly middle class, is besotted with this glamorous creature, who swills pricey champagne out of the bottle and leaves her designer wardrobe crumpled on the floor. They become unlikely "best friends" even though Hannah witnesses how April plays mean spirited pranks on their mutual friends and cheats on her boyfriend Will (who Hannah secretly yearns for with unrequited passion).

Without giving away too much of the plot, Hannah comes to believe that her incredibly creepy stalker, Oxford porter John Neville, was wrongly convicted of April's murder, mostly due to her testimony. So the plot travels back and forth from current day Hannah, now married to Will and expecting their first child, to when they were all first year students.

This novel was a tad slow moving for me, and as mentioned earlier, I did find the character of Hannah rather unsympathetic at times. But overall a good read. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my review.

If you’re looking for a fast paced, obsessive novel-look no further! My dreams at night were about Pelham and this group of friends and the shocking murder than changed their lives for ever. Ruth Ware never lets us down.

3.5 stars from me!!

This is a very typical Ruth Ware book. It keeps you going and the the last 1/3 goes fast! I would recommend it for anyone looking for a quick read that keeps you on the edge of your seat!! Thank you NetGalley for my copy!

I'm a HUGE Ruth Ware fan and have read every single book she has written. I have not loved all of them but have liked them all. This was not in my top choices for Ware novels but I did like it and would recommend.
Imagine you move to Oxford for school and your new roommate is the glittery, seductive April Coutts-Cliveden who entrances all the people she comes in contact with! Including you. That is what happens to Hannah Jones when she gets into her dream school. April is enchanting and addictive like drugs. She's rich and fun to be around and of course- she ends up dead!
A decade later April's alleged murderer dies in prison, This brings up a string of emotions for Hannah in her new life. Hannah is pregnant and deeply wants to put her past behind her. Suddenly this brings up old memories and someone is questioning if April's murderer is really the man who died in prison.
The setting is atmospheric, the characters are well written and the pace is quick! You will like this book, hopefully love it. I didn't find the plot to be as entrancing as some of Ware's other work (In a dark, dark wood is my fav!).
It's good and I give it 4 stars.

Ruth Ware's titles sell themselves at this point, but long-time fans and new readers will not be disappointed by suspenseful mystery that is also a study in social relationships and friendships and how well we really know even those with whom we are the most intimate.

Ruth Ware writes another great novel with great twists and an awesome plot line. The book flashed from the present to the past in a great way.

I'm a big fan of Ruth Ware and was excited to read her upcoming book. I thought I had this one figured out pretty early in the book and was thrilled when I ended up being wrong and the story took a different direction in the end that I had anticipated. Well done and well written!

I love a book that will keep you guessing until the very end, and The IT Girl by Ruth Ware delivers! I love the way the author constructs the story of April’s murder by weaving the reminiscences of our main character Hannah with her present-day life. The overlap between her past and present creates an eerie, unsettling feeling throughout the book, and will keep you flipping pages until the very end!
 
  The one piece that I was not quite as fond of was the villainization of the murdered student, April. Yes, she is a rich, self-absorbed college student with a pension for practical jokes, but I felt like that was where the author left us. Perhaps there could have been more development as to why she behaved the way she did beside the casual innuendo that her home life was not the best.

  Overall, very enjoyable! 4 stars for me!  
 
Many thanks to Gallery Books and Netgalley for this title in exchange for my honest review.