When We Were Bright and Beautiful: A Novel by Jillian Medoff

 You can have everything, and still not have enough. 

Cassie Quinn may only be twenty-three, but she knows a few things. One: money can’t buy happiness, but it’s certainly better to have it. Two: family matters most. Three: her younger brother Billy is not a rapist.

When Billy, a junior at Princeton, is arrested for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Cassie races home to Manhattan to join forces with her big brother Nate and their parents, Lawrence and Eleanor. The Quinns scramble to hire the best legal minds money can buy, but Billy fits the all-too-familiar sex-offender profile—white, athletic, and privileged—that makes headlines and sways juries.

Meanwhile, Cassie struggles to understand why Billy’s ex Diana would go this far, even if the breakup was painful. And she knows how the end of first love can destroy someone: Her own years-long affair with a powerful, charismatic man left her shattered, and she’s only recently regained her footing.   

As reporters converge outside their Upper East Side landmark building, the Quinns gird themselves for a media-saturated trial, and Cassie vows she’ll do whatever it takes to save Billy. But what if that means exposing her own darkest secrets to the world?

Lightning-paced and psychologically astute as it rockets toward an explosive ending, When We Were Bright and Beautiful is a dazzling novel that asks: who will pay the price when the truth is revealed? 

Review with some spoliers:👇🏼⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.💫 Read by ME!! 📚🎧

 

Let’s just say I read & listened to this book though the Libby app. I was up late lots the past week with my daughter being sick so when I couldn’t sleep I read and listened to this audio.

I was definitely captivated by this story line. I thought I knew where it was going but for me, it took a huge u turn. The characters I was rooting for had me shaking my head. Then saying omg more then I can count. It was unlike any books I read in quite awhile. It was a page Turner for me but in the end I will be honest, I didn’t end up liking really any of the characters especially Cassie. This book hits heavy subjects so if you have triggers, I would advise to precede with caution. I absolutely love the narration of this book. I think the narrator through Libby, or if you would buy the audible version was definitely a good choice and made the characters come alive as you in my circumstances, read along with listening. I definitely say give it worth a shot reading but like I stated before it does hit heavy, and hard subjects so be prepared ahead of time. Like I said, minor spoiler, I may be in the mind already compared to some of the reviews, I’ve seen on this book, but I really did not end up liking any of these characters, so understandably if you read the book, you will understand why inform your own opinions, but my thoughts definitely changed on them from beginning middle to end. This is my first novel by this author, and hope to read some more books from her in the future. 

Lastly, I’ll add the author did a fantastic job of making you if you like me by reading this, feel the dislike of the characters in this book, so bravo and hats off to the author because she definitely did her job.