So many twists. I didn't trust my gut on this 'who-done-it.

Hannah Jones arrives at Pelham College, Oxford and finds she's landed a unique room and a surprise roommate. though from very different backgrounds they become best friends. They even like the same boy.

April's relationship with their circle provides a large pool of potential murderers.

Ruth Ware has written another page-turner!

I am a huge Ruth Ware fan, and this was easily one of my most anticipated releases of the year. So to say I was excited to receive an advanced copy is beyond an understatement.

I absolutely LOVED the dual timeline from the single POV and I was seriously questioning everyone in the friend group and then some! This had some serious IMDIHAK vibes and I am here for it since that's easily my fave dark academia novel!

Huge thanks to NetGalley & Simon & Schuster Canada for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I finished The It Girl late last night because I could not put it down~ Hannah is shocked when the man convicted of murdering her best friend dies in jail, still maintaining his innocence. The event sets off a spark in Hannah to find out if her memory of that night is correct, because if it's not, then the killer is still out there.

Thank you to Net Galley for giving me this opportunity to read/review this book.
It took me a bit to get into this book, but once I did I had to keep reading.
The story is a dual timeline 'befoe' and 'after'. A group of young adults late teens early twenties meet at Oxford. One of the five friends ends up dead before their first year ends. The five main characters are Hugh, Ryan, Emily, April and Hannah.
April and Hannah ended up being roommates at Oxford.
April had everything going for her. She was also a prankster. Before the end of the year she is dead, but who did it? It could have been any of the other four friends as each had their own reason for wishing harm to April.
I kept on reading because I wanted to find out who actually did the crime. I thought one of the four did it but as I kept reading I had changed my mind and thought a different friend did it.

I have loved all of Ruth Ware's book that I have read, this one fell flat for me, and was ironically one of my top picks for most anticipated summer reads.

The story took far too long to grip me and pull me in.

This fell flat for me!

The newest thriller from Ruth Ware held my attention! From the very beginning I was positive I knew who had done it and was very surprised when it came to the end and I was wrong! That definitely has not happened in awhile.

I really enjoyed The It Girl, even if it was a bit to long at over 400 pages. For the most part the story was pretty fast paced, but could have cut some of the very descriptive portions.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the advanced eARC. This will be a great binge worthy summer read.

The It Girl comes out July 12, 2022.

The setting of this book was really excellent, I always love a dark academia. Also the character of April was well written, I almost felt like I knew more about April than I did about Hannah.

Looking back Hannah really isn't a strong main character or person at all, and I found her almost unlikeable because of that.
The twists were entertaining, but this book could've been 200 pages shorter in my opinion, I was ready for the reveals to start happening around 50% in, and had to wait until about 80% to actually get any action going.

Overall an enjoyable read.

Wow! Such a great thriller! I love crime/suspense fiction and I really enjoyed this one from Ruth Ware. It was the 5th book I read from this author and I love her writing and how she brings pieces of evidences gradually. It's a gripping read!

Thank you to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster Canada, and the author Ruth Ware for this ARC copy of The It Girl

Another solid thriller from Ruth Ware. I have read all her work and enjoyed each one, but I have to say that when compared to authors like Riley Sager and Sandie Jones I don’t see much growth in Ruth’s writing. I mean that’s not necessarily a bad thing as she is a very good writer. The big reveal left me a little underwhelmed. I can’t say I saw it coming, but I didn’t not see it coming… if that makes sense. I ended up skim reading most of what came after the mystery was wrapped up. I wasn’t invested enough in Hannah to really care how it all worked out for her in the end.

This is my review: I loved it ❤️⁣
⁣
𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐚 + 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 + 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 + 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐎𝐱𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐔𝐧𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬. ⁣
⁣
𝘓𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯. 𝘗𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳, 𝘱𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴𝘬, 𝘱𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳. ⁣4.5 stars

“𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙷𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚊𝚑. 𝙷𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚊𝚑 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕. 𝙵𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜. 𝚁𝚘𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚜. 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚊𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚜.“

On the surface, this new read from Ruth Ware presents as a straightforward, captivating mystery told in two parts: Before & After. We are introduced to Hannah, who tells us about her time as a college student in the Before and her life as a wife and mother-to-be in the After. Through this account, we quickly learn that Hannah’s roommate and best friend, April, was brutally murdered during their first year.

“𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚢? 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚝𝚑? 𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕 𝚑𝚊𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚊𝚗 𝚞𝚗𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚎𝚝 𝚐𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚝?“

In actuality, what this book is really about is how we react to others and to the way they treat us. Do we trust our gut and avoid those who make us feel uncomfortable and fearful? Or, do we acquiesce to our ingrained urge to please?

“𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚜𝚙𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚝𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚞𝚌𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎. 𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚏𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚍𝚊𝚖𝚙, 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚞𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚛𝚊𝚠 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚍𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑.“

Do we allow others to bully and demean us? What if those individuals are our “friends”? Do we stand up for ourselves or do we take it & take it until all of that anger, hurt, and resentment builds up enough to explode?

“𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚕𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝚙𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚔 - 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚌𝚔𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚏 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎.“

The first half of this story was necessarily slow burning in order to introduce us to Hannah, April, and their friends: Will, Hugh, Emily, & Ryan. The second half speeds up like a freight train, careening it’s way through multiple suspects and red herrings, leaving the reader questioning everything. Who really killed April?

A very interesting, well written thriller. Action packed and captivating, The It Girl follows Hannah, a shy, book-smart girl who dives deeper into the mystery of her friends death. Definitely an enjoyable read, despite feeling too long.

Just finished reading THE IT GIRL by Ruth Ware.

Another Ruth Ware that you won't be able to put down! You will devour this one, but in my opinion not her best. I saw the ending coming & for a thriller to be a 5 🌟 for me, it needs to blow my mind 🤯. But totally worth the read.

Read this one if you like the sounds of an Oxford school setting, with beautiful people, and lots of drama!
(🌟🌟🌟💫/5)

This book is written with two timelines, "before" and "after", following Hannah Jones and her time at Oxford, when her best friend and roommate was murdered. Although Hannah was the one to find the body, she begins to question if she really got the events of the night correct.

I liked this book, but I did find it moved slower than other books by Ware. This could have been partially because of the slow build from the dual timeline format. It really didn't pick up until the ending when suddenly there was quite a lot going on, and then I couldn't put the book down. I enjoyed trying to guess the true murderer, and didn't really figure it out until it was happening. I do think it could have been about 100 pages shorter and still managed the same outcome.

Have I read too many of these college murder mystery books? After reading this, I'm starting to think so. This book felt like the Oxford version of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife but add in themes of motherhood.

The It Girl is about Hannah who found her best friend murdered when she was in college. Now, she's married and having a baby with her best friend's boyfriend and when she discovers that the man she accused of murdering her best friend is innocent, she starts investigating her group of college friends for things she missed.

At first, I was really put off by the British slang. This is my first Ruth Ware book so maybe that's common in her books?

I think I got really interested in the book around the halfway mark because that's when Hannah really starts questioning her old friend group and making progress on solving the murder. The end was fast-paced and while I guessed who did it, I didn't know the why or how and that was fun to learn.

I think if you liked In My Dreams I Hold a Knife or any other mystery mysteries set in college and want more of the same thing, you would like The It Girl.

Another best seller. The It Girl is packed with suspense and page turning action. Ruth Ware keeps emotions high and twists a plenty. A fast entertaining read. Give me more.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

I really wish I loved this. I went into it so excited because of the “In My Dreams I Hold a Knife” vibes. A decade-old death that happened at an elite college? A group of friends who were ripped apart by the murder? A true-crime podcaster with a new angle on the case? All the makings for a great thriller!

This just really didn’t work for me. I don’t think the suspense factor was built well (I was bored), and some parts just seemed too repetitive, like the book was following a certain formula.

It just seems very basic to me, way too long, and not very exciting. I know a lot of Ruth Ware fans will probably love it, but if you’re not sure about this…proceed with caution.

*3.5 Stars rounded up to 4.
Ruth Ware’s talent for writing suspenseful novels continues! The IT Girl centers around a group of friends attending their 1st year at Oxford when April, Hannah’s effervescent, beautiful best friend was murdered! Flash forward 10 years to Hannah, now pregnant, finds out the man convicted of murder has died in prison. Hannah starts to question all she thought she knew when new evidence comes to light regarding his innocence. This starts her journey to uncover the truth.
I found myself seconding guessing all the suspects as each one was reveled to have been hiding things from her all these years! I thoroughly loved the beginning and ending of this book, however I found that it lagged in the middle with Hannah second guessing her memory and questioning her pursuit of the truth. Worth reading for the gripping ending!
Special thanks to NetGalley and Gallery Books / Scout Press for sharing this amazing digital reviewer copy with me in exchange my honest thoughts.

Familiar plot. Familiar twists. Familiar characters.

The IT girl. The boyfriend. The quiet, unassuming best friend. The socially awkward buddy. The loud jock-type. Creepy campus staff. Sleezy profs. You get the picture… nothing surprising here.

Fans of Ruth Ware will likely be disappointed to find that this is not her standard creepy-crawling-at-the-edge-of-your-seat fare. This is not a thriller so much as a slow-burn whodunnit.

Murder on campus. Missing pieces. Questions popping up after a decade. Betrayal, deceit, rich kids, poor kids, etc. Again- nothing surprising here.

Not bad. Not amazing. A very middle-of-the-road read.

Regardless, it’s Ruth Ware, so this book is destined for the best-sellers list.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my fair and honest review.

You can't get much better than a Ruth Ware book.

This had great character development. The two time frames kept me wondering what really happened. It also gave just that edge of an unreliable narrator, which is one of my favourite to read. Both present and past follow a fairly tight timeline, adding to the tension.

This one didn't keep me on the edge of my seat as much as some of her others, but followed more of a contemporary women's fiction thriller format (one I also very much enjoy reading).

There was one character that might have been a bit heavy handed at times (not saying who as it could be a spoiler), but the book kept me up well past my bedtime and I'd definitely recommend it.