The It Girl
Ratings138
Average rating3.6
I love that this book had me engaged and interested throughout the whole story! Not once was I bored of the storyline so I love that. It left a weird taste though that I can't explain lol
3.5 ⭐️
I wasn't wowed. I wasn't shocked and I wasn't thrilled but I did find this to be an interesting read with an unpredictable ending.
At her first year at Oxford Hannah develops a fast friendship with her roommate April Clarke Clivedon. By chance at dinner they meet Will, Hugh, Ryan and Emily and form a tight-knit friend group. But,at the end of the term Hannah comes home to find April dead.
Ten years later Hannah has moved forward with her life despite the pain and grief. She's happily married to Will and they're expecting their first child.
Then she learns that John Neville the man convicted of April's murder has died in prison she finally feels the past is done and dusted and she can finally move on.
That's until a journalist reaches out with evidence that John Neville may have been innocent. Hannah becomes determined to uncover the truth once and for all. As she reconnects with her friends and digs deeper into April's mysterious death Hannah begins to realize that maybe she doesn't know her friends as well as she believed. And maybe just maybe they're capable of murder.
This mystery thriller is most definitely a slow burn. It didn't feel action packed and it took its time building and establishing the story. Maybe too much time at some points. For example the “will I won't I” , “should I shouldn't I” back and forth with Hannah regarding deciding whether to look into April's death took more time than we needed.
Ware did a good job of throwing suspicion at multiple characters making it impossible to accurately pinpoint who the culprit could be. I truly suspected everyone at some point. Well everyone except the actual killer because I had that figured out all wrong.
And the conclusion was ok. It wrapped everything up. We identify the actual killer and get a makeshift motive as to why they did it.
Overall, this book was good I was invested til the end and liked the story but it just didn't stand out to me.
First half of the book is really slow. Second part gets better with several good twists. It was just much longer than it needed to be. So relieved when I finally got to the end.
Slow slow SLOW. Slow and boring for almost all of it. Almost DNF'd, but stuck it out because I was curious enough to see where it was going. What hooked me was the way it highlights an imperfect victim in April. Messy girls deserve dignity too, and this book does a great job exploring that idea.
I guess it did pick up in the last, like 1/5 of the book.
Didn't like that the motivation for the murder was only given to us through the main character's speculation. And then the motivation itself was lame. It feels lazy to leave things open to interpretation in a book like this.
I did like how the pranking thing came full circle.
At the very least it all made sense, the reveal was plausible if not necessarily believable, didn't leave any loose ends that bothered me.
Really liked all the twists and turns. Everyone was a suspect at one point. My only qualm is about Hannah feeling SOOOOO bad for Nevil as if he wasn't still a creepy stalker?? Idk still a fun read
This book was way over detailed and unnecessarily long. I felt the story did not move forward in a lot of places where it should have. To give an example, I was 150 pages into the book and I felt like I went no where with the story. The second half is a little better and the twist is pretty good. However, after reading all the detailing and dialogue the payoff to get to the climax and ending is not the most satisfying.
If you're looking for a college murder mystery with twists and turns, this is a good book to pick up. I really enjoyed the twists and turns, but there were too many dead ends to the “investigation”. By the time I got to the ending I was like finally we made it! It felt unbalanced, there was a lot of build up for an un-explosive ending. I'm not saying the ending was bad, in fact I think it was solid, there was just too much filler to get there.
Bonus points for the audio book using different voices & accents for each character.
That was okay for a beach/summer reading. I actually picked this book in my hostel in Santa Eularia in Ibiza.
i enjoyed this more than i thought i would. i really wasnt bored for any of the book and the twist towards the end shocked me. i understand why its hated but i fall into the category of i loved it and the dark academia vibes were everything overall i'd say a solid thriller
Oh my gosh I loved this book so much. The way Ruth Ware articulates and describes scenes and characters is beautiful. I cannot wait to read more by her. And oh my gosh the twist at the end, I was completely shocked.
I can't believe I found this book... average? I didn't expect to love it but at least I expected to be surprised with the twist but no, no, thank you
I don't know how I feel about this book. I enjoyed it, but the writing was lacking. SHOW US, DON'T TELL US!!
I don't know how I feel about this book. I enjoyed it, but the writing was lacking. SHOW US, DON'T TELL US!!
Intrigerend en voor het grootste deel een meeslepend verhaal, maar misschien een beetje te langdradig.
Ik vond het heen en weer schakelen tussen het heden en het verleden een goeie keuze, maar het feit dat onze hoofdpersoon er geen probleem mee had om plotseling iedereen te verdenken die ze ooit had ontmoet behalve de persoon die ze aanvankelijk beschuldigde, maakte het een beetje te ongeloofwaardig.
Sommige rode haringen lagen er ook een beetje te vingerdik op of werden nooit bevredigend uitgelegd, wat toch wel wat ten koste ging van de eigenlijke grote onthulling.
Dat gezegd hebbende, was ik grotendeels geboeid door het verhaal en vond het moeilijk om het neer te leggen, omdat ik wilde weten hoe het zou aflopen. En dat is eigenlijk alles wat ik van een thriller verlang, dus missie zeker geslaagd!
I skipped about 100 pages to get to the end. The characters are unbearable and this is 150 pages too long. There was absolutely nothing to keep me engaged or even care about the mediocre ending.
I've read two Ruth Ware books this year and i'm actually in love with her.
Didn't like a certain part of the ending (which does majorly impact how i view the book) which does lower the star rating to a 4.. everything else is a 5 star read though!
i'm a pure genius so i guessed who done it and how it was done but it didn't take away from the book at all, i still enjoyed the twists!
I love all of Ruth Ware's books but this one took me ~50% before I was hooked.
It's not my favorite but I was confident in my 3 star rating until about halfway through when I realized I kept reaching for the audiobook to continue. I was so eager to figure out who did it, as well as learn the future of Hannah, Will, and the baby. It was a good ride.
Note the audiobook quality is not great. The narrator is good, but half the book sounds like it was recorded in a stadium; it is echoy.
It kept me guessing until the end, and even when I questioned some characters, it was probably because I was considering them as the perpetrators.
This will be the last book I read from this author.
I disliked profoundly the character work, the lack of development, the non-existent set up for the motive, the pace of the story, the way Ruth Ware beats me over the head with the same phrases until I grow to hate them.
And all of that wouldn't have been so bad, but for the fact that I am tired of contemporary domestic drama being sold to me as a thriller.
3.5 ⭐️
This was only my second Ruth Ware but I liked it slightly better than One By One. The academia aspect was interesting and I enjoyed the flashbacks much more than the present day portions. Looking back, I think I just didn't feel like most of the characters were fleshed out enough for me, which made it difficult to feel invested in the outcome. This would have done well with some more revision, it was definitely a bit too long and the pacing was off at points. Overall though, it's a perfectly fine thriller that doesn't sway me one way or the other on Ware's work.
2.5 stars
Very middle-of-the-road story to me.
It was entertaining, I'll give it that. The mystery was interesting but it became repetitive, the pacing was off, and Hannah's stupid decisions started to annoy me from a certain point and I started to lose interest. The twist was interesting, but the motives were lacking.
I was expecting much more from this one.