A review by bookish_words
When We Were Bright and Beautiful by Jillian Medoff

dark mysterious tense 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

I had to do a double take with this book more times than I can remember. On the one hand, the author got incredibly immersed in the creation of the characters and she captured the rich and white privilege extremely well.  Or, she created the most unlikable set of characters to ever exist. I couldn’t for the life of me tell if something was intentional or not. These characters made the worst choices, yet they were presented as being so self aware that in the end they took the moral high ground. For example: Cassie sums up everything at the end saying, “Maybe I’m wrong. But I want to believe we are more than the worst things we’ve done.” That to me is just so incredibly dismissive of a lot of the sensitive topics covered in this book. 
  By the end of it I was just “hate reading” it because at least it was entertaining. The quality of the writing itself is great, I think the author did a great job writing a believable court proceeding. I would definitely recommend audiobook for this one.
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