Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

8 reviews

albon's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Outing, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, Grief, and Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Death of parent, Car accident, Child death, Rape, and Blood

Minor: Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, and Incest

imstephtacular's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Sexism, Blood, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Misogyny, Lesbophobia, and Murder

Moderate: Sexual violence, Mental illness, Body shaming, Death of parent, Rape, Sexual assault, Panic attacks/disorders, Pregnancy, Classism, Cursing, Sexual content, Dementia, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Infidelity, Fatphobia, Sexual harassment, and Alcohol

Minor: War, Vomit, Pandemic/Epidemic, Gun violence, Racism, Kidnapping, Incest, Religious bigotry, Stalking, and Physical abuse

mollywill's review against another edition

dark emotional medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Lesbophobia, Rape, Murder, Outing, Emotional abuse, and Sexism

Moderate: Forced institutionalization, Eating disorder, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

kelleywithanextrae's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Murder, Death, Kidnapping, Grief, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Medical content, Alcohol, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, and Mental illness

Minor: Sexual assault, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Sexism, Gun violence, Eating disorder, and Lesbophobia

micasreads's review against another edition

4.0

Two women's lives are devastated when the same serial killer kills the women they care for. Pamela is the person in charge of her sorority when the unthinkable happens. She hears someone running upstairs and tracks their movements until they are at the front door and she realizes he is a stranger. She is the only living witness to the damage the serial killer brings. Tina has been looking for the man who she believes murdered her girlfriend. Together they look for the evidence to make the killer pay finally. 

 

This book is based on the killings and timeline of "America's Sex Killer." The main focus of this novel is the murders of Florida State University and the murders at Lake Sammamish State Park. The author does well with the timeline and what is proven or believed to have happened to the women.  I also applaud the fact that the author never uses the killer's name, he has been mentioned enough. She merely calls him The Defendant throughout the book. This is a slow burn of a book with moments of writing that made me stop and re-read a paragraph. There are also times in this book when the contempt the characters feel toward the killer shines through their witty remarks and biting sarcasm. These women saw the killer for exactly what he was…a coward with mommy issues who just happened to be good-looking. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Dementia, Death, Homophobia, and Murder

Minor: Violence, Body shaming, and Death of parent

sarahsbookss's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Incest, Infidelity, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Kidnapping, Violence, Child abuse, Murder, Outing, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Death, Body horror, Death of parent, Gore, Gun violence, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, Lesbophobia, Medical content, and Stalking

aileron's review

dark emotional 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Gore, Grief, Murder, Sexual violence, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Blood, Emotional abuse, Death, and Rape

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Medical content, Death of parent, Sexism, Child death, Violence, Dementia, and Pedophilia

Minor: Child abuse, Gun violence, Infidelity, Car accident, Incest, Animal cruelty, and Eating disorder

pomoevareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Thank you to @simonschusterca for sending me an ARC of Bright Young Women for me to read and review. This is a winner!

Author Jessica Knoll has written a fresh perspective on the killings by serial killer Ted Bundy. Bundy has always been glamorized as the handsome and intelligent man who killed many women in the 1970s. In Bright Young Women, the reader is asked to see the man for who he really was and he wasn’t all that bright. The focus of this story is from the perspective of one of his victims (Ruth), an important person in her life (Martina) and a friend (Pamela) of two women murdered at a Florida university. The two women come together to see if there is a connection between the murder in Issaquah, Washington and the sorority murders in Tallahassee, Florida. With so much distance between the missing person case in Washington state and the murders in Florida, Tina and Pam don’t have much support from officials in linking the cases but that doesn’t stop them from continuing.

This book is marketed as a thriller but I would say it reads more like women’s fiction/historical fiction.  There is an emphasis on character development and shifting the perspectives of people who have been made by media and those in positions of power to see Bundy as clever and “Kennedyesque.”  While The name Ted is only used once during the entire book those who know the case will recognize the details. I thought it very smart to refer to him as The Defendant thus further minimizing his importance.

I will not be shocked to see this one picked up by celebrity book clubs and now want to pick up this author’s previous novel, Luckiest Girl Alive, which has been made into a Netflix program. 

Bright Young Women is in stores September 19, 2023 and I recommend this one to fans of thrillers, true crime, historical fiction with a more recent focus (1970s) and character driven stories of strong women. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Sexual violence, Dementia, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Rape, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Mental illness, and Homophobia

Minor: Incest and Death of parent