The It Girl by Ruth Ware

Hello everyone.  I hope you are doing well in the heat wave that is hitting much of the planet.

There are a few things I have a love-hate relationship with, pancake batter for example.  Oh yes, pancakes and waffles do make their very own delightful food group, absorbing all the sticky goodness of maple syrup.  Ever try and clean dried batter off your counter tops?  I'll make it short, you have two options, move or dynamite.  Disney World is another topic drawing great passion.  While I'm there under their possibly subliminal spell, I'll hand over all my money.  All I care about is one more time on Pirates of the Caribbean, hearing the Yo Ho song and seeing that little guy sitting on the door frame hanging his hairy leg down...you know the one.  Perhaps it's the "ghost host" or hearing the "Welcome to the Walt Disney World monorail" fellow.  I am putty in their hands, poor putty.  I get home and realize I just spent the equivalent of an addition to my house on some moving dolls in a warehouse with a fake front on it.  What about the time I taught my niece how to create a vacuum in her drink straw and dump the contents on the table, but then my sister yelled her head off?  No, sorry, that doesn't work, not love-hate, still totally worth it.

I recently read The IT Girl by Ruth Ware.  I have a love-hate relationship with Ruth Ware's books.  In general, I have loved all her books, with my all-time favorite being The Death of Mrs. Westaway.  However, I really disliked (mom said don't say hate) One by One.  I knew who "did it" in the first ten minutes and the descriptions of snow almost drove me to the booby hatch.  The It Girl, I really enjoyed.  It is the story of a bunch of kids at Oxford and one of them, April, is murdered.  In a dual timeline, we also follow the kids years later. Hannah and Will are expecting their first child.  Hannah was the key witness in convicting Neville of April's murder.  After learning that he has died in prison, she is contacted by a reporter who believes that Neville was innocent.  Hannah becomes obsessed with wonder.  Could she have made a mistake?  She must find out.  This is the story of what happened in the past and Hannah's present-day discovery of the startling truth.

I have heard this called a thriller, fast paced, a quick read.  I don't think it's any of those.  For me, this is a mystery.  There is not much heart pounding, page flipping here.  However, this book is loaded with character development.  You really get to know each person, because of that, the book kept calling me back.  I'd put it down and find myself picking it up just five minutes later, I couldn't resist.  While it could have been a bit shorter than it's more than 400 pages, it somehow is an engrossing read.  If you are a mystery lover, this is a must.  My faith in Ruth Ware restored, I am certainly all in for the next.

Darn, now I want pancakes.