Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - The It Girl

I am not someone who typically enjoys mysteries and thrillers, but I’m trying to get out of my comfort zone more often. I picked up The It Girl by Ruth Ware for a transatlantic flight, thinking it would pass the time.

Although I’ve seen some people complain about the slow pace of this book, I appreciate the fact that this book takes its time to develop its characters and their backstories. The depth of its characters saves the book from being irredeemably unoriginal (a wealthy and sexy popular college student at Oxford is murdered! I haven’t heard that one before /s). The protagonist, Hannah, is not exactly the most dynamic main character on the planet, but Ware writes her trauma in a believable and sympathetic way. I especially like that Ware gives Hannah a good reason for revisiting the murder several years later—there’s nothing I hate more than main characters who play detective for the fun of it.

In short, I found myself enjoying the story for the first 80% or so. It is more grounded in reality than other thrillers I’ve read and is decently well-written. However, I know from experience that thrillers rarely impress me with their endings. Usually, thriller and mystery endings ruin the stories for me; why do thriller and mystery authors feel so desperate to add so many twists and turns to their story at the expense of narrative cohesion? Unfortunately, The It Girl is no exception. The ending and its twists are stupid, unbelievable, and ridiculous. I can think of a handful of alternative endings that would have made more sense than this one.

The Run-Down:

You will probably like The It Girl if . . .

· You like thrillers that take time to build up their characters

· You don’t mind “slow-paced” thrillers

· You like dark academia settings and vibes

You might not like The It Girl if . . .

· You want a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time

· You don’t like bland protaganists

· You dislike the twisty/turny nature of thriller endings

Content Warnings

kaylamoran's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I can't lie, I thought I figured it out, and I was wrong. So that's a plus. But this book was so repetitive. I lost track of the number of times "it was too much" and Hannah "simply could not do it". Just constant throughout the book.

Content Warnings

allisonplus's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content Warnings

amberlfaris's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

taliatalksbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Ruth Ware’s The It Girl didn’t pack the same punch as some of her other novels, but I loved the way details unfolded to keep you guessing for a large majority of the book. While I feel like the end was more of an “out-of-left-field” twist than a carefully planned “hidden-in-plain-sight” twist, I still really enjoyed it. I think this book as a lot of fluffy information, but it still flows pretty quickly. This is one of few instances where I actually liked the non-linear plot line, since I think it was the perfect framing device for the story. I think this story would have been much more boring if it was told through flashbacks, but making the action present and forefront (and juxtaposing that with the older versions of the characters) was incredibly effective in the pacing and movement of this story. Overall, not my favorite Ware book, but definitely a mystery you don’t want to miss.

Content Warnings

katymat18's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This one felt eerily similar to In My Dreams I Hold a Knife plot-wise, and while I gave that one 5 stars there was something missing in The It Girl for me. I pretty much love everything Ruth Ware writes, but this book just felt super slow to me and the motive felt a bit weak. The ending is really where this story struck gold - I had my suspicions and was super thrilled to be proven right! However the amount of times Ware and our narrator made me question so many characters got a little irritating. In the end another solid who-done-it mystery by Ware, I did enjoy it despite some misgivings.

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