The It Girl – Ruth Ware

Title: The It Girl by Ruth Ware
Publishing Info: July 12, 2022 by Simon & Schuster
Source: Audiobook borrowed from library
Genres: Adult, Mystery/Thriller
Date Completed: July 26, 2022
Find it on the web: Buy from Amazon // Goodreads

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.

BOOK REVIEW

I always enjoy Ruth Ware’s writing and this book was no exception. I also really enjoy Imogen Church’s narration as well, so it makes for a fun read no matter what. THE IT GIRL was a little long for me and I felt like a lot of the set-up and things that happened in the “before” could have been cut out. Like, a LOT of it. We could have easily gotten the point with much less time at college and developing relationships, or the whole book should have taken place in the “before” time line at college and we didn’t need a present day timeline because that didn’t really offer much either except for the fact that everything Hannah has put forth has sat with her much longer. I’m glad April still had some redeeming qualities as the “It Girl” and wasn’t total mean girl. She wasn’t the nicest but Ruth Ware did have a way of making sure the reader still liked her and in this case, she wasn’t the villain of the story. She did get her way, she did use people, but she also did still have that charismatic quality that made you feel for her.

The ending of the book was exciting but still fell a bit flat for me. I wasn’t sure I totally bought where they were going with it but at least I went through a number of suspects before finally landing on the right guilty party!