Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

77 reviews

boop123's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was interesting to read as it tackles on the way women are perceived during 70s to 90s, the incompetency of the police force, and how the media portrays serial killers in a sensational way which in turn can be used as an advantage for the police force to create the narrative that they are so methodical in their ways that it's hard to track them when in actuality, they just can't do their job right. 

Loved the message behind it but at times, it was hard to keep up with the stories since it's an alternating views. I recommend reading this when you have a lot of free time to really immerse yourself to the story since that wasn't the case for me. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, and Grief

izzy_v's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

I devoured this book — it might be the first book I ever re-read (it was that good and there were a bunch of details I might pick up on better the second time). 
I’m not usually a thriller/scary book fan and there were definitely very dark parts of the book but it wasn’t so graphic and detailed or suspenseful that it kept me up at night. I really enjoyed the tone shift away from glorifying the killer, and instead empowering the women involved. Really phenomenal, would read again (which I never say). 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Animal cruelty, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Incest, and Death of parent

martinjen98's review

dark emotional informative inspiring

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Murder, and Lesbophobia

dishajetly_123's review

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Child abuse, Cursing, Deadnaming, Emotional abuse, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Violence, Pregnancy, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

rachaelreadthat's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Biphobia, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Misogyny

lexcellent's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

mbgibson825's review

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Drug use, and Blood

biladhaa's review

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual violence, and Blood

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Misogyny, Kidnapping, and Death of parent

emmajh91's review

challenging tense medium-paced

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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Blood, Dementia, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

stellahadz's review

dark slow-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? No

4.0

This book tells the story of several women whose lives were impacted by the crimes of an unnamed serial killer in the 1970s. It's a well-written, slow-burning story told from multiple points of view and in multiple timelines. It's not a mystery or a thriller, but rather an unraveling of events the reader learns about from the very beginning. I liked that the focus was not on the crimes, but rather on their impact, and the "complicated grief" they caused for Tina and Pamela.

My only complaint about the book is that it mixes reality with fiction in a way that I think undermines its purpose - it is extremely obviously based on Ted Bundy's serial murders. There's a mention of a true-crime movie starring Zac Efron, and some of Bundy's presumed real-life victims (Caryn Campbell and Georgeann Hawkins) are referred to by name. If the purpose of the book is to focus on the victims and not glorify the misogynist murderer, why base the story so obviously on what he did? The book was extremely well-written, and the story would have been equally as compelling if the author had changed certain details or avoided certain references so it wasn't basically a play-by-play retelling of Bundy's crimes. This was the same complaint I had about Eliza Clark's Penance, which I also read recently. I understand and appreciate the necessity of literature that criticizes the true-crime industry and the way victims of violent crimes are treated, but I sometimes wonder about the ethics of essentially fictionalizing horrific things that happened to real people. 

To Knoll's credit, it seems like she did speak with a survivor of Bundy's violence; putting aside the ethics of the basis for the book, it really is a powerfully written story with an important message. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Sexual violence, Blood, and Murder

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Forced institutionalization, Dementia, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Eating disorder