Name: Lauren Attaway's review of Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll
Item: Luckiest Girl Alive
Rating: 4
Author: Lauren Attaway

Jessica Knoll

HER PERFECT LIFE IS A PERFECT LIE.

As a teenager at the prestigious Bradley School, Ani FaNelli endured a shocking, public humiliation that left her desperate to reinvent herself. Now, with a glamorous job, expensive wardrobe, and handsome blue blood fiancé, she’s this close to living the perfect life she’s worked so hard to achieve.

But Ani has a secret.

There’s something else buried in her past that still haunts her, something private and painful that threatens to bubble to the surface and destroy everything.

With a singular voice and twists you won’t see coming, Luckiest Girl Alive explores the unbearable pressure that so many women feel to “have it all” and introduces a heroine whose sharp edges and cutthroat ambition have been protecting a scandalous truth, and a heart that's bigger than it first appears.

The question remains: will breaking her silence destroy all that she has worked for—or, will it at long last, set Ani free?

Luckiest Girl Alive

Lauren Attaway

Traumatizing and heartbreaking on so many levels but such a beautiful read at the same time! 

Alicia Evans

Abbie Duggan

** spoiler alert **
           Well, this book was…. Interesting. I can understand it’s popularity, but for me it was overdone. The synopsis was very misleading and the “twists” felt obvious for me. Ani is insufferable, even if her faults can be explained away through the experiences she’s endured. I struggled to connect to the characters, who could be substituted for one another and felt extraneous at times. The story felt like trauma for trauma’s sake. 

A few positives: Ani’s reckoning with her experiences was well-written, as well as the perspectives of teenagers. I liked how even though this book was trauma porn, it approached topics head on. Ani and Arthur’s relationship was my favorite part of this book, it’s complexities were incredibly well done.


TRIGGER WARNING SPOILERS BELOW—




***this book contains themes of violence, sexual assault, gaslighting, manipulation, eating disorders, homophobia, and school shootings***

armoni mayes

i’m sorry but what the hell was the twist

Megan

This book was very good. At some points I felt kind of lost in what was going on, but the story itself was intriguing. It held lots of twists and turns and I was definitely caught off guard by every new surprise.

Arianna scasino

It was a very good book, but I wasn’t blown away 

Georgia 

Mellanie Ann Duque

Forgiveness may cause lot time but once you have it, it's a total success. 
 for me Ani's life was very inspirational.

This book tackles such a heavy topic in such an accessible formative way. 

Impactful and engaging, the narrator starting off slightly annoying (who wants to hear the rich complaining about how rich they are?) however after learning about the events that happened leading up into that point it created a sense of character development and I felt real pain for the mc. 

This book highlights the importance of not minimising your experiences and the pressure put on young girls growing up in high school. 

jaz ☁️

This book tackles such a heavy topic in such an accessible formative way. 

Impactful and engaging, the narrator starting off slightly annoying (who wants to hear the rich complaining about how rich they are?) however after learning about the events that happened leading up into that point it created a sense of character development and I felt real pain for the mc. 

This book highlights the importance of not minimising your experiences and the pressure put on young girls growing up in high school. 

Jenna Pascale 

In typical “me” fashion, I picked this book up faster than anticipated because I wanted to watch the movie but refuse to watch until I read the book first. 

This was really just a stellar read and a perfectly curated debut novel. This one pulls on the heart strings, covers extremely important topics, and keeps a steady pace throughout. 

My only gripe would be that I would have loved to see more into Ani’s life after her groundbreaking decision. 

Regardless, any book that turns up the amount of emotions this one did is worth a read in my world.

It was a good book. I wasn’t amazed by it.

Tiago Fernandes

Alyson Schoenwolf 

Very good. Had not a lot of info to go on when I started reading this book and I got sucked right in. I really felt for the main character. This is a book that will stick with me.

It kept me on my toes, but I didn't like the ending. Excited to watch the movie though!

Julia Kane

GRIPPING!!! Such an amazing book, waaaaay better than the movie tbh. The plot is so good and builds so well! I actually didn’t mind the jumping between timelines and felt that it helped to buffer intense scenes. I would recommend to anyone wanting a page turning read who is ok with trigger warnings! 

Kyra Cracchiola

It was the movie trailer on Netflix that caught my attention and sparked my interest in reading this book. Both the trailer and the book synopsis gave me the impression that it was a thriller but I would classify it as solely contemporary. I was expecting something suspensful and gripping with a mastermind protagonist but was disappointed. The book spends a lot more time in the past than the present which made me feel like it was essentially one big flashaback as opposed to a developing series of events. I never had that "oh shit" moment I love where the author just inverts everything you thought you knew. I also didn't find TifAni particularly likeable and attachment to the main character weighs pretty heavily on how I feel about fiction novels. 

The themes is explores are definitely relevant, I just wish it told the story of the rape without the school massacre because the rape is really what affected TifAni. The school massacre plotline could have been its own novel and should've been told by Aurthur/Ben. Ultimately, I feel like it took a contemporary story and tried to add elements of a thriller and the two just didn't mesh well. 

Julia

*contains spoilers

It was the movie trailer on Netflix that caught my attention and sparked my interest in reading this book. Both the trailer and the book synopsis gave me the impression that it was a thriller but I would classify it as solely contemporary. I was expecting something suspensful and gripping with a mastermind protagonist but was disappointed. The book spends a lot more time in the past than the present which made me feel like it was essentially one big flashaback as opposed to a developing series of events. I never had that "oh shit" moment I love where the author just inverts everything you thought you knew. I also didn't find TifAni particularly likeable and attachment to the main character weighs pretty heavily on how I feel about fiction novels. 

The themes is explores are definitely relevant, I just wish it told the story of the rape without the school massacre because the rape is really what affected TifAni. The school massacre plotline could have been its own novel and should've been told by Aurthur/Ben. Ultimately, I feel like it took a contemporary story and tried to add elements of a thriller and the two just didn't mesh well. 

This book has everything within it and handles some really dark topics in a genuine way. There was never a moment where I was bored 

Melissa Clark 

Nicole Dykeman

This was an interesting read. I don't really know why it's been advertised as a comparison to Gone Girl, because really, the two books are not similar at all. The plot was great, and the characters were okay. Similarly to the Girl on the Train, I didn't really like any of the characters all that much (besides Mr. Larson he was pretty cool). I also got kind of uncomfortable reading it at points because it's pretty vulgar and graphic, definitely not for those who are weak of heart.

Brittney Browne

Loved it. The juxtaposition of strongly disliking a protagonist while simultaneously identifying with them was perfect and honestly a little unsettling. At her surface, Ani seems to be vain, shallow, and most likely diagnosable (borderline personality perhaps?). However as more of her story is revealed, she becomes something deeper, something more damaged - desperate to succeed not solely due to vain motivations, but more-so because if she can fool everyone around her, she may be able to fool herself into thinking “she’s ok”. Overarching themes of fitting in, the American dream, consent/feminism/#metoo and just wanting someone to understand us are well developed and tie in cohesively with the dramatics of the storyline.

Amy Vicknair

First half was really slow and I kinda couldn’t stand anyone. It got better so 3 stars

Jordan /

honestly never got into the book. WAY too much anti feminist bitchiness for my taste.

Emma Friedheim

I HATED THIS BOOK. Unoriginal, comically bad writing, and with nothing to say. Entertaining, I will give it that, but that is all.

Brigid prior 

Wasn't a bad book but I wouldn't recommend it. Thoroughly disturbing.

Sarahi Flores

It was a page turner for me. However, I was more interested of her past rather what she’s facing in the present. In my opinion this book is nothing compared to Gillian Flynn’s work. 

It didn’t have the suspenseful vibe I imagined it would have. 

A good book to read since I love to hear about high school drama.

Emily Espinosa

The first half of the book had me feeling uneasy and uncomfortable (not sure if that’s a good thing or not) and the characters weren’t very likable. I felt annoyed with Ani, Luke and her mom. The only character I liked was Mr Larson. This book overall is pretty dark, but kept me interested and I wanted to know what happened.

Skye Sherman

Still can’t decide if this was a thriller or what... but, a good and engrossing read. I do feel like it started strong (I was hooked!) and just sort of fizzled out toward the end. Regardless, I love Knoll’s voice and writing style, so it was a pleasure to devour this one!

First, thanks to Net Galley for the ARC. I first heard about this book after the articles about Reese Witherspoon optioning the film rights and the unavoidable Gone Girl comparisons. 

I really enjoyed this book. I wouldn't say that I loved Ani/TifAni, but I felt for her. If Ani were a man, her likeability factor wouldn't ever come into question, and I appreciated that she recognized it so The chapters revolving around her wedding plans and life in NYC felt recognizable, and the chapters about her struggle to be accepted in high school were even more so. Ani spends so much time posturing herself as she seeks to be accepted that I found myself speeding through the pages in an effort to find out what the terrible moment in high school was. To my delight, I found myself caring about what happened to her after the big reveal and pleased with how everything turned out. I appreciated the effort that went into giving an ending that felt appropriate for all that had followed. Definitely going to recommend this one, so I can hear more opinions on TifAni/Ani.

Lauren Attaway &
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

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Lauren Attaway &Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll

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Lauren Attaway &
Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll