Down the Rabbit Hole

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.

Another Ruth Ware, so of course I just had to get my hands on it. I heard some mixed reviews on this one, but I personally really enjoyed it! Overall it was quite the thriller, with all the expected literary baubles that I have grown accustomed to from Ruth Ware.

The IT girl revolves around our protagonist, Hannah, who was once friends with Oxford’s IT girl, April. Hannah came from a humble background but unexpectedly gets swept up with Oxford’s elites by virtue of being friends with April. All this comes crashing down when April is found dead and Hannah is never the same. The perpetrator is supposedly now dead, but everything changes when new facts come up suggesting that he may have been innocent. Hannah goes on a quest to discover the truth…which may lead to something she wished she didn’t know.

The characters were all excellent in this book. There were characters of all types among the friend group, and it stays as basically a closed room kind of scenario, so all the suspicious people are in sight (of course, everyone is suspicious). Most of the characters were well developed, and I felt that for the most part any or all of them could have been involved, and the plot was always thickening. I certainly enjoyed the character development and the intrigue surrounding all her friends.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Favourite Ships and Quotes

November 15, 2022November 15, 2022 Andge @ Down the Rabbit Hole

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

I’m switching it up this week for TTT as I don’t really recall specific moments in books unless I’ve reread it multiple times. Too many stories, you know? I’m not an annotater by any means ‘cause that feels too much like homework to me. Reading is for fun, but the significant things do stick out and stay with me for years.

That being said, I’ve decided to highlight my fave ships from books and the quotes that represent their relationship to me. Essentially, why do I feel they’ve touched my heart without trying to give away any spoilers.

Hope you enjoy!

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discussion

Let’s Talk Bookish – Do You Use Your Local Library?

November 11, 2022 Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Aria @ Book Nook Bits will be the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

November 11:Do you use your local library? (Mikaela @ Mikaela Reads)

Prompts: Do you have a local library you go to often? Does your school/did your school have a library? What are your favorite things about libraries? Are there certain books you borrow from your local library more or less often than others?

Welcome to another week of LTB here at DTRH everyone! Today’s topic is submitted by Mikaela, and it’s all about going to your local library. Libraries are great, as they are a resource that helps keep our shelves just a little bit tidier, but I’m sure there are good and bad things about them too. Can’t wait to see how you all make use (or not) of your local libraries!

Libraries I have recently gone less often, but mainly because of the pressure to read and return a book by a certain time. That is obviously still a viable option, but in terms of library I tend to like using my library app more! However, I do wander into a lot of second-hand bookshops, that’s somewhere where I’ll try and go often just to see if anything perks my interest. I do have a couple of libraries close by though, and I don’t often pass up the chance to go inside if I do happen to be in the area.

My school did used to have a library (both in high school and university), and while I could probably often be found in both, I rarely made use of my library (student) card to really check out books. I was literally there often enough that I could finish books in 2 (maybe 3) sittings if I just go back, so I never really felt the need to check out books. But I did go and read whenever I had the spare time, because why not?

My favourite things about libraries is that they’re quiet, and they’re often just full of possibilities. You can literally go in and read anything you want, from something you were looking forward to, to something you never expected. Either way there’s no expectations on you and you can really go with your heart’s desire. And because it’s so quiet, I find that my own thoughts can be quite loud and really helps to drive my own whims. There’s something nice about not being disturbed by others too just by virtue of being in a library. It just feels…safer? than reading somewhere like a park bench (though that of course has its own advantages too).

Like I said, I don’t often borrow books physically from the library anymore, though I do do a lot of e-borrowing. If the library (or even bookstore, really) is truly local to me and I can access it any time, I almost don’t feel the need to borrow anything; I can really just read it there whenever I want! Or at least that’s how I feel about it. I’ll borrow a book if I need it for a bookclub or something, but other than that I just default to online borrowing or reading on site a lot.

What about you all? How do you all employ your local library? Or are bookstores more your jam? Let me know in the comments below!