Reviews tagging 'Gun violence'

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

53 reviews

sarabook's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Violence, Toxic friendship, and Gun violence

Moderate: Drug abuse and Murder

Minor: Stalking and Sexual content

theonlybaillie's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, and Stalking

Moderate: Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Murder, Rape, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Alcohol, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Suicide, Violence, Drug use, Gaslighting, Gun violence, Pregnancy, Sexism, Vomit, Classism, and Emotional abuse

foldingthepage_kayleigh's review against another edition

adventurous challenging 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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Infidelity, Classism, Toxic friendship, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Drug abuse, Alcohol, and Gun violence

0ldoini's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, Toxic friendship, Violence, and Stalking

Moderate: Gun violence and Pregnancy

Minor: Eating disorder and Death of parent

lovelymisanthrope's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book was on my radar because I am quickly becoming a Ruth Ware fan, but then it was announced that it is the Literally Dead Book Club pick for September, so I HAD to pick it up. "The It Girl" follows a young woman named Hannah. In college, she was paired to room with this amazing "It Girl" named April. April's personality was electric, and she seemingly had everything she could ever want, and more. Unfortunately, Hannah found April murdered in their dorm room. There were no leads on suspects except for Hannah's testimony that she saw porter John Neville leaving the dorm right before she came in. Because of some complaints John had against him, he was convicted and sent to prison despite a lack of evidence. Now it is almost ten years later, and Hannah is happily married to April's ex-boyfriend, Will and they are expecting their first child together. John Neville has made headlines again because he has passed away in prison, still claiming his innocence. Now Hannah is on a mission to uncover what truly happened so many years ago and find out what really happened to April.
 

Although this book is only told through Hannah's perspective, the timeline jumps around and as the story progresses and Hannah learns more in the present, we are able to get more information about what happened while they were in college. I loved slowly seeing the story come together simultaneously in the past and present. I was also happy to see that Hannah did not "fall into" April's life and become the new It Girl herself. Hannah and Will had chemistry while April and Will dated, and Hannah never sought to replace April or take over her life. April is a really complex character, and it made it really interesting to read about her and learn more about how she was perceived by her friends. April was dazzling, strong, intelligent, and entirely enticing, but she was also mean, ruthless, and cunning. Hannah did not know April as well as she thought, and it really changed the narrative for the better as Hannah saw that April was just a girl, not an idol.
When the killer was revealed, I was shocked, and I really enjoyed the twist. I do think it may be polarizing, because we do not get a true motive from the killer as to why they murdered April, but I enjoyed the ambiguity of it! 

 
I really, really enjoyed this book and I cannot wait to continue to enjoy Ruth Ware's backlist until her next novel comes out. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Toxic friendship, Violence, Pregnancy, and Physical abuse

Moderate: Gun violence

raphynette's review against another edition

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Bullying, Drug use, Gun violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Death, and Grief

brandilovesbooks's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Ruth Ware does it again.  An ending you won't see coming.  Red herrings everywhere!  Great character development.  I could picture myself as a student at Oxford and at Tale Tales Bookstore.  I bet you won't figure out who did it.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Cursing, Drug use, Grief, Gun violence, and Stalking

emilydamron's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Murder, and Gun violence

sylvestra's review

dark mysterious fast-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Death, and Murder

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Miscarriage, Medical trauma, Gun violence, and Alcohol

avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-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

3.25

 The narrator was amazing, and overall the story was good. But I knew who the killer was very early on. I didn't know how or the why, but I knew it. So I did like finding out the how and why, plus I thought the MC being pregnant at the time of the time when the story starts to be interesting, added an extra element. But overall just meh.  

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Toxic friendship, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Murder, Alcohol, Medical content, Grief, Gun violence, and Death

Moderate: Blood and Drug use

Minor: Death of parent