Reviews with content warning for Stalking - The It Girl

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Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

74 reviews

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.

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becandbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

While this wasn't the most mind-boggling Ruth Ware novel, it was glorious to read her contribution to the sphere of dark academia mysteries. The It Girl takes place at Oxford, where a rich girl who bought her way into the college is roommate to the book's main character, Hannah. Hannah is a small-town girl who has worked her way to get into Oxford's English program.

While cliche, it is incredibly entertaining to dive into this popular trope of an English Oxford student dealing with the murder of her IT girl best friend and roommate. There are many players throughout the story - most of them lovable - and while readers may guess the whodunnit before the final page, the uncertainty truly sticks around until the end. This is a pretty classic mystery, with good pacing, great characters and the ever-engaging writing style of Ruth Ware.

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kzkoni's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.75

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yvo_about_books's review against another edition

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2.25

Finished reading: July 2nd 2023

“Don’t let yourself get caught up in what-ifs. That way madness lies.”

WARNING: it's unpopular opinion time again!!

I somehow tend to have a love-hate relationship with Ruth Ware's books. Some of her titles are on my list of favorites, while others fail to hit the mark completely instead... I tend to love her gothic thrillers most, so part of me was a bit hesitant to pick up The It Girl because I wasn't sure how I would react to it. Most people seemed to enjoy the story and I did like the sound of the blurb, so I still had hopes that I would enjoy it... But in the end it just wasn't ment to be. I think part of the issue was that the pace is considerably slow, and it took a LONG time for anything substantial to happen. Add the fact that I didn't like any of the characters, which is always an issue in a character-driven story, and I struggled considerably to find the motivation to keep reading. Sure, we have the mystery around April's death, but I honestly couldn't care less who did it and I personally thought she had it coming. Hannah was very frustrating as a character, both the past and present chapters. The It Girl is mostly a story of toxic friendships, characters not standing up for themselves, infidelity and a not exactly credible hunt for the truth in the present. By the time things got a little more tense near the end, I had already long given up on the story... And I didn't find the reveals exactly worth the wait either. In short, The It Girl was overlong, way too slow and had a disappointing cast of unlikeable and frustrating characters. This is probably one of my least favorite Ruth Ware stories to date... I do hope she will return to the gothic thrillers at some point, because otherwise I might just have to leave her books be in the future.

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jesssuth04's review against another edition

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mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A

4.25

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kamrynkoble's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
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 was a solid thriller! I listened to it on audio, and I loved how the narrator brought each character to life, especially across multiple accents (mainly British, so that’s fun).

The dark academia setting was great. The main success here is the author convincing me that multiple different characters were actually guilty. The end was QUITE the trip.

I wish I was more connected to the main characters, especially Hannah. It did drag some and I don’t think it needed to be quite so long. But all in all this was atmospheric and really kept me guessing/surprised.

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