As usual, Ruth Ware does not disappoint! This book is great, it has a slow but steady build to the story becoming more fast-paced as it gets more involved, it keeps you interested (and wondering!).
I liked most of the characters well enough, and found it mostly relatable. It's been a long time since I was in college, and it is quite different in America, so I didn't quite get everything, but enough to get the bigger picture.
Really I would say this book is more 4.5 than just 4.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes suspense, mysteries, and "who'dunnits".

A group of students become inseparable friends as they navigate their way through their first term at prestigious Oxford. By the end of their second term one of them is dead. A seemingly cut and dry case of murder come back to haunt them ten years later when a reporter finds evidence that the convicted person may actually be innocent. Leaving the friends to contemplate that could quite possible be one of them.

I have devoured every Ruth Ware book since reading, The Woman in Cabin 10. Ware’s captivating stories keep me up all night reading, and sleeping with the lights on. The It Girl is no exception.

In 2016, Ruth Ware’s The Woman in Cabin 10 was a big hit, and I was among those who enjoyed it – a LOT. 2019’s Turn of the Key was a 3-star “meh” for me, then 2020’s One By One was a solid 4 stars. So I was eager to see whether her latest, The It Girl, would make me a solid Ware fan again – thanks to Gallery Books and NetGalley , (for providing a copy in exchange for this honest review) I am once again a fan of Ms. Ware.

Hannah was a student at Oxford when her best friend and roommate April was murdered. The main suspect was convicted largely as a result of Hahnnah’s testimony, and the whole experience left her traumatized to the point she dropped out of school. She receives a phone call about the murderer, John Neville, who has just died in prison. The past comes back to haunt Hannah, even making her question whether what she thought she witnessed was truly Neville leaving the murder scene, and if she may have contributed to an innocent man going to prison.

The story is told in alternating timeframes, both present day and back in her college days. Once again, Ms. Ware has written a terrific thriller with lots of possible suspects and motives. There is a nice slow buildup of tension until the murder (which is revealed early on in the book). The resolution is perhaps surprising, but made perfect sense.

I admit I did wonder why Hannah viewed April in such a positive light, years after her death. April wasn’t very nice – in fact I found her selfish and cruel. April’s status as the “it girl” dazzled Hannah when they were young college students, but she seems to not ever change her mind about her “best friend” (as she still refers to her, after all the years and time for reflection/growing up. But it was a fine way to escape the news for a day or so. Four stars.

Hannah has carefully put together a life for herself: married, pregnant, and working at a bookstore, far from the world that existed at Oxford. But all of that comes crashing down with one phone call informing her that John Neville has died in prison. The man her testimony put behind bars, guilty of killing her best friend and roomate years ago, at Oxford. Alternating between the present and the past at college, we find that April was an "it" girl: rich, beautiful and demanding. Becoming friends more on circumstance than anything else, Hannah is swept up by this girl who is so different from herself. Soon they fall into a group of friends, dealing with the normal love, school, and other issues that come with college. That is until Hannah finds April dead one night in their dorm, murdered. Her statements implicated Neville but now the past is coming back to make her question: did she point to the right killer? Or is April's murderer still out there?

Ruth Ware writes another compelling and twisty thriller with lots of possible suspects and motives. April was a complex girl who could be as generous as she could be cruel, leading to no shortage of people who may have wanted her dead. The slow buildup of tension to April's murder keeps you reading long past your bedtime (guilty!), which is impressive given you learn very early on in the book that April is killed. The conclusion is well balanced: surprising but also not, with enough clues that it's not a person out of left field.

The only issue I had was that I often wondered why Hannah viewed April with such affection, even years after her death and having the chance to reflect. April was sometimes nice to Hannah but was so very clearly prone to be cruel and selfish. As a young college student I could see Hannah being dazzled by her and overlooking this, but even as an adult she never seems to taken those blinders off. Even when confronted with some of the worst things April did she still refers to her as her best friend.

Ruth Ware never disappoints! I loved the story and it kept me guessing. I loved the back and forth from past and present.

Another terrific thriller from Ruth Ware. Although this was suspenseful it was also a great character study of Hannah and her friends. I liked how the time would go back and forth from the past to the present.

Another great read from Ruth Ware! In her classic thriller style that we've all come to know and love, readers follow Hannah on her journey to make sense of the tragedy that impacted her entire world in college.

You can't go wrong with a delicious whodunnit by Ruth Ware. this one does not disappoint. As a bonus, almost everyone can identify with at least one of the characters! Really fun.

I fell in love with THE IT GIRL. The characters are deep with wonderfully complex and entangled relationships. The writing soars. At the heart of it all, there’s a great and memorable puzzle.

New Ruth Ware? Yes please!  The It Girl did NOT disappoint. The setting was different from other Ruth Ware books and had me hooked from the beginning. This fulfilled my love of dark academia and dueling timelines. Hannah and April were a duo I just couldnt get enough of. I found myself rooting for Hannah through the very last page. This book kept me guessing for quite awhile, so many suspects! Also, the cover is just striking 🤩

Many thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the advanced read.

Hannah met her roommate April her first day at Oxford and could tell immediately she was far from extraordinary. April was devious, intelligent, and captivating, and quickly creating their inner circle of friends. But Hannah comes home one night to find out university It Girl has been killed; Hannah is the only thing close to an eye-witness, but years later when the convicted culprit dies in prison after steadfastly maintaining his innocence, Hannah is beginning to question if he had really been the one to kill April.

This book had twists and turns, multiple possible suspects, and an ending that I thought I had predicted but threw me for a loop. Ruth Ware’s story is alike in theme to “In My Dreams I Hold a Knife” so if you’re looking for a similar thrill this is a perfect pick.

Hannah can't believe her luck, a place at Pelham and new friends who accept her as one of them. Her roommate April is the Best friend Hannah never had, and tragedy strikes. Hannah knows who did it, her words sent him to jail, but ten years later new to her information may change her mind. Did she really know her "friends"?

I couldn't put this book down. The setting and characters drew me in as chapters switched between "before" and "after" April's death. As the book switches to primarily "after" chapters, the pace intensifies as Hannah begins to uncover secrets and questions the guilt of the man convicted by her testimony. Well-written, with well-developed characters and shocking twists and turns, this book is a captivating read.

Academic suspense of the type where a group of friends at an elite school experience a trauma that comes back to haunt them years later.

The past storyline is the most interesting, following Hannah, a middle-class student from an average school, as she enters the hallowed halls of Oxford and is befriended by her posh roommate, April. This is pretty standard fare but I enjoyed it. Most of the suspense is generated by a creepy porter who seems to be stalking Hannah, while the girls and their friends have the usual teenage dramas -- until April is murdered.

In the present timeline 20 years later, the porter who was convicted of the murder dies in prison, professing his innocence until the end. Hannah agonizes about her testimony and goes over and over and over possible scenarios in her head in a way that I found repetitious and frustrating, especially since I figured out the mystery early on and anticipated the grand finale.

Enjoyable but not Ware's best, in my opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the review copy.

I’ve enjoyed all of Ruth Ware’s books and think this is the best one yet. The writing and dialogue seem to have improved a lot and the plot is the usual twisty narrative we’ve come to love from this author. I like a campus setting and Oxford is a wonderful location to revisit in grand detail in these pages. The two timelines introduce us to characters then and now and the murder mystery did have me guessing even though my first guess was correct. For some reason, I didn’t believe in Hannah and Will’s relationship and maybe that was intentional on the part of the author. I suspected him but that seemed too simple. It was hard to tell if the narration was unreliable or not. I enjoyed all the characters and their back stories and had moments when I thought each of them was the murderer. This is definitely a page turner and a very entertaining read; the plot was compulsive, and the switching timelines kept me on the edge of my seat. I read obsessively until I was done. Thanks for the advance copy and I will read the next one from Ware as soon as I can!

Having read every single book that author, Ruth Ware, has written, I was thrilled to be approved for an early read of her latest, "The It Girl". It certainly lived up to my expectations! The academic setting in Oxford and shifting time lines were very well done. I found the story, about a past murder of a female college student, April, and her murder, fairly engaging, but perhaps a bit derivative. Still, I would recommend it highly & think it should do very well. My thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for the complimentary DRC, the exchange of which did not affect my opinions.

A suspenseful who done it, that I couldn’t put down. Well developed characters who were as likable as they were untrustworthy.

This book was great! I really like Ruth Ware but don’t always feel like her books live up to my expectations for thrillers. This one though definitely did. The characters were compelling the story line was interesting and kept me guessing. I definitely would recommend it.

Another plot twister from this author. I’ll be honest, she’s in my head at this point, so I think I was mostly messing with myself - is it the husband? That feels too obvious but maybe she’s going to fake me out. Or is it the narrator? Or what about the friend? I did figure it out around 80% of the way through, although it was someone I’d suspected earlier and then eliminated. I should have known!

Anyway, I liked the time hopping and the overall plot. I did find it a bit slow to start, but as with all of her books, it picked up steam about halfway through. A solid 4 star thriller.

I am a huge fan of Ruth Ware! This book was amazing! It reminded me a lot of the lying game because it jumps back and forth from past to present. It was hard to stop reading! I think throughout the book I suspected every single person as the killer! But when it was finally revealed I was in complete shock! I would have never guessed that one! I loved it!