On one of my harder days, I comforted myself by buying books. Yes, I said that I would not buy any books in 2022, but it’s my form of retail therapy. Truly, it could be worse (like gambling or animals or something). I was, of course, seeing so much hype for The It Girl that I just had to have it. In case you’re wondering, the other book in this purchase was Stanley Tucci’s Taste.

The Story

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 #1 New York Times bestselling author of One by One returns with an unputdownable mystery following a woman on the search for answers a decade after her friend’s murder.

My Thoughts

After reading One by One and The Lying Game I was about ready to give up on Ruth Ware. She had been one of my favorite female authors who I go back to, but those two books were massive duds for me. Would The It Girl be the book that makes me fall back in love with Ruth Ware?

In short, no. However, I’m not giving up on her just yet.

Overall, The It Girl felt long, which is never what you want from a book (even if you’re reading something epic like Ken Follett). I’d say there was a solid third of the book that was unnecessary overall. It felt like the equivalent of pacing: You’re still moving, but you don’t actually get anywhere.

I think this is a hallmark of Ruth Ware’s writing, but I had a hard time with some of the entitlement in the book. A lot of her characters (across all of her books) either have money or marry into money. Yes, it’s nice to read about a world different than your own, but can we write about some normal people sometimes? Give me this same story but with a crew of people who fought their way to get to school and are on scholarship or working to put themselves through school.

As for Hannah, I will say that she kind of fits into what I just asked for. However, she folds herself quickly into a community of affluent people, so you lose the “hard worker-ness” of her character. Overall, I think she was pretty meh as a character. I do think she was a bit extra hysterical at some points, but I’d say it was “written away” by her pregnancy. The most redeeming part about her was her love of books, and the fact that she works in a busy bookstore in Scotland. Isn’t that the dream?

The other thing that led me to cut a star (or two) from my overall rating was that the ending was predictable. I did see it coming. I gave the book to my sister and, after she was about 25% through, she got a hunch about the end (and she was also correct).

Overall, I’m glad that I read The It Girl, though I do wish that I had gotten it from the library instead of purchasing the hardcover. I’ll be sure to pass it on to some friends, and make sure everyone can read it.

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