Name: brie's review of The It Girl by Ruth Ware
Item: The It Girl
Rating: 4
Author: brie

Ruth Ware

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the “claustrophobic spine-tingler” (People) One by One returns with an unputdownable mystery following a woman on the search for answers a decade after her friend’s murder. April Coutts-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford. Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the second, April was dead. Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide…including a murder. “The Agatha Christie of our generation” (David Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author) proves once again that she is “as ingenious and indefatigable as the Queen of Crime” (The Washington Post) with this propulsive murder mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The It Girl

ruth ware i see your red herring im not going to be fooled

reading books set in academic colleges with a lot of history behind them never fares well for me i want to study literature there too the mc is also a bookseller and the descriptions of the customers + the recommendation process i want it

ok instantly im wrong because i trust ruth ware

how many bets that john neville is behaving in this odd way because he sees his daughter in hannah"

putting it out into the world : hannahs husband is the killer

Nancy Regina

brie

3.5 stars! i really enjoyed reading this and was pleasantly surprised because i went into it with very low expectations. i got immersed in the story and the characters and even though i normally hate dual settings, i didn’t mind one bit that the story was split between their college years and after those years.

the twist was predictable for me but i still liked how it was revealed. the fmc was way too trusting even after the clues were staring at her and waving red flags. regardless, i am glad i liked this one because the last ruth ware book i read was BORING AF.

Denaiir

This one needed editing... It was longer than other Ruth Wares and that was absolutely not necessary. With a hundred pages scraped out, it would probably have been more engaging. Probably all the parts about Hannah being pregnant and touching her baby bump and having high blood pressure; they were completely useless and if all of that had been taken out, it would have been an easy and clean cut.

April was the typical annoying rich girl, absolutely nothing to like about her even though the narrator loved her, I really wonder why. The fact that April played pranks on everybody was so cliché and annoying, I didn't understand at all why the others were attracted to her orbit. 

I didn't care for the twist so it's a middle-of-the-road Ware for me, too bad. It didn't help that the narration was over-the-top; I generally love Imogen Church but this one really increased my annoyance at April, Hannah, Emily because all their voices were too much (too much whining, too much insecurity, too much haughtiness).

Middle of the road thriller. A bit repetitive for the main character’s drive to do things (“I can’t live knowing the killer is out there”), as well as lacking a strong conviction when trying to figure out who the killer was (too much flip flopping about who to panic about that day). Ending was not overly crazy, wanted more of a twist. Overall just okay. 

Paige Paul

Lara Engle

I only read 9% of it, but I just didn't care. I'm pretty sure I'm done with Ruth Ware this time. The only one I really liked was The Death of Mrs. Westaway.

Elizabeth Wood

Very lengthy for a thriller - but I did enjoy the setting (Oxford), the friend group, ALL the red herrings, and the twist at the end. The writing was very good, intriguing, and hard to put down. 

I was a little disappointed with the ending, but she certainly didn’t need to make it any longer than it already was. 

Between 3.5 and 4 ⭐️ - I rounded up.

This book was far too long! I disliked the main character (narrator). It was not very creative and kind of predictable. 

Megan Gaydash

this book was super slow in the beginning but it was interesting how everything wrapped up

Kate W

Mae Erceg

A roller coaster ride for sure, The It Girl was good! The plot twist was exciting, there was so much exciting mystery throughout, the book kept me anxiously awaiting the conclusion, and I enjoyed the family of characters. I have to minus 1.5 stars because the main character Hannah was a bit over dramatic for my taste but it fit the novel. Also, it felt a bit too long. There was a few times where I’d read a page and a half or so and wonder why that wasn’t taken out or what it actually added to the story. Overall, I guess I’d recommend! 3.5/5 stars

Charlsy Sekyere

⭐️2.5

Having wanted to read this book last year, I must say it was not for me. 

A book with an overly character-driven plot, I didn't particularly care for the characters, which made reading tedious and unsatisfying. It was also frustrating how slowly the mystery surrounding April's death was unravelled. It was made worse by how long the book felt. You could literally finish several chapters and think that you have made a huge dent in the book or made significant progress, but in reality you haven't. The book drags and it’s very easy to lose focus. In many ways, the book was tedious and dull, especially since we are privy to Hannah's inner thoughts.

Lastly, I was underwhelmed and unimpressed by the mystery and the culprit reveal; everything seemed so predictable and meh. 

Overall, this book was a miss for me personally, but as it was my first Ruth Ware book, I would be interested in reading another one. Hopefully, the next Ruth Ware book I read will be better.

My favorite Ruth Ware book so far!! Didn’t see it coming - genuinely shocked when the plot twist was revealed. Lots of red herrings in this book too. I kinda love that! 

Harlee K

Victoria

** spoiler alert **
           Oh my god this book had me on the edge of my seat! Towards the middle I thought that we were given the blaring obvious suspect. And I wasn't mad at that because I knew there would be a plot twist and I was excited. So I was so confused and even more intrigued when it was "confirmed" that Will was the real murder but that made me want to keep reading because there was so much left. And OH BOY I was not expecting Hugh!! But I really want to know what was up with Will because he's still a little sus to me. Like was he really on campus? If not what was happening in his room? Did he really just come back early?

Boothby

If you cut out all the filler, this would be a novella, but probably not a good novella.

All yes, and the moral is the story is: don't report the creepy middle aged man following you around, because if there's a murder, he'll be blamed, and it will definitely be your fault when he dies in prison

Vilandra

I think this is the best Ruth Ware book yet. I loved the setting and the characters were well-defined. The killer wasn’t completely obvious, even if it was a little Christie-esque. The explanation did fit though.

Alyson Schoenwolf 

This book was good but kind of a slow burner.

Melyssa Tromberg 

Jennifer mitchell

This book quite literally put me in the worst reading slump of my life. I went from reading 15+ books a month to not even reading a single book in 2 months.

I started this book AGES ago and finally finished it after continually forcing myself to pick it back up. It just wasn't interesting at all to me. I didn't care about any of the characters and didn't really care about the mystery presented.

The only good thing about this book was the plot twist at the end, and that's only because I genuinely did not see it coming. But... a bad book can't be salvaged by one good twist. The other 98% was simply boring and impossible to get through.

Take my advice and skip this one.

Ruth Ware's latest writing is much more my vibe, this book had predictable elements, but I was along for the ride. Set across a past and present split narrative, we see some of the main character's experiences at Oxford university and her current experiences; pregnant and married and investigating the murder of her best friend, ten years in the past. 

Going back and forth between these two frames made the narrative fast-paced and gave us a retrospective look at the characters from the present timeline. Hannah is clearly haunted by her past and may have made a big mistake, we see her past experiences and how she came to be where she is now. I enjoyed being able to figure this out alongside Hannah and this certainly gave me a goosebumps moment, which is always a win for me from a thriller! 

I like the relationships Ruth Ware writes about and how flawed and unreliable some of her characters are, it always makes for a fun and intense read. 

Beth Bartholomew

Ruth Ware's latest writing is much more my vibe, this book had predictable elements, but I was along for the ride. Set across a past and present split narrative, we see some of the main character's experiences at Oxford university and her current experiences; pregnant and married and investigating the murder of her best friend, ten years in the past. 

Going back and forth between these two frames made the narrative fast-paced and gave us a retrospective look at the characters from the present timeline. Hannah is clearly haunted by her past and may have made a big mistake, we see her past experiences and how she came to be where she is now. I enjoyed being able to figure this out alongside Hannah and this certainly gave me a goosebumps moment, which is always a win for me from a thriller! 

I like the relationships Ruth Ware writes about and how flawed and unreliable some of her characters are, it always makes for a fun and intense read. 

Molly Morgan

The plot to this felt way too similar to a book I read a few weeks ago (In My Dreams I Hold a Knife). So it was really hard for me to get into this book.

Amy Thibodeau

This book and it’s protagonist were infuriating. Not great.

Raphaëlle

Mabel Palomera

This is my first Ruth Ware book and it was good, I enjoyed but it was just good.

The writing was good but this didn't start to feel like a thriller, until near the end of the book. I wish Authirs wouldn't liable a book as a thriller/mystery when the thriller is just about 15 percent. 

I found it obvious who the killer was amd felt the Author tried to push us to believe it was a certain character to much. It was obvious where it was going and easy to work out  I wish there would have been a twist I didnt see coming. 

I will say I got emotional nearer to the end of the book and the book kept my interested. I wasn't bored but It was easy to work out and I would have like a few twists and more of the thriller side to have been through yhe book rather than at the end.

Also I don't know if we were supposed to like April but I couldn't stand her. Not saying she deserved to be killed but she wasn't very likable and Hannah herself bothered me at times aswell.

But I did enjoy the book I was good but that's all.

Samantha King

This is my first Ruth Ware book and it was good, I enjoyed but it was just good.

The writing was good but this didn't start to feel like a thriller, until near the end of the book. I wish Authirs wouldn't liable a book as a thriller/mystery when the thriller is just about 15 percent. 

I found it obvious who the killer was amd felt the Author tried to push us to believe it was a certain character to much. It was obvious where it was going and easy to work out  I wish there would have been a twist I didnt see coming. 

I will say I got emotional nearer to the end of the book and the book kept my interested. I wasn't bored but It was easy to work out and I would have like a few twists and more of the thriller side to have been through yhe book rather than at the end.

Also I don't know if we were supposed to like April but I couldn't stand her. Not saying she deserved to be killed but she wasn't very likable and Hannah herself bothered me at times aswell.

But I did enjoy the book I was good but that's all.

sophia n

far FAR too long to be trapped in the head of such an obnoxious narrator

Cheri McElroy

A decade. That’s how long it’s taken Hannah to build a somewhat normal life after finding her roommate strangled all those years ago. April, the golden girl, so loved by everyone. 

Now Hannah has a husband, job, and baby on the way. But when the man convicted of killing April dies in prison, and new evidence comes to light that he might not have committed the crime, life begins to unravel again.

This is pure, perfect Ruth Ware. I love that Ware has gone bs k to the single narrator format, and uses that voice to create a chilling atmosphere. Read this novel.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #Edelweiss for the ARC.

Nancy Regina &
The It Girl by Ruth Ware

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The It Girl by Ruth Ware