Simon & Schuster is really hitting it out of the park for me this year. The Bright Years is another 5* read by one of their authors that I will be thinking about for a long time. And it will certainly be among my favorite books of the year.

This is a beautiful novel, so very well-told. I went into it mostly blind without reading the publisher's summary, only knowing that it was a sad story. It is indeed sad, but it so much more - love, loss in many different forms, forgiveness, suffering - told from several characters' points of view. We follow the members of this family through the difficulties of life, secrets, addiction, which made me emotional while reading this story.

Many thanks to #Simon&Schuster for access to this digital ARC in exchange for my honest review. I highly recommend this debut novel and can't wait to read Sarah Damoff's future writing. Sensitive readers should look into potential triggers.

This book really may be my favorite of the year. It is very very sad, sometimes sadder than it needed to be. But you will root for these characters from beginning to end. I loved this with my whole heart and also cried ugly tears.

An absolutely incredible story and Sarah Damoff has nailed the experience of living with, loving, and setting boundaries with and/or as an alcoholic. Her writing is phenomenal and this one will stick with me for a long time to come - definitely one of my favorites of 2025!

A heart-aching at times, yet wonderful debut that follows four generations of family members as they navigate and overcome the impacts of alcoholism. While tissues are needed, this is one I didn’t want to end.

I really enjoy an inter-generational family drama, so I liked this a lot. But it was very heavy and depressing so be warned!

I don’t care that there are still 5 months left in the year, this book right here will be one of the best novels I’ve read in 2025.

I’m gutted. You will cry when you read this. But you will also experience writing that is so stunningly beautiful you’ll forgive the author for tearing your heart to pieces. Honestly, I don’t know the last time I was this blown away by a debut.

Told from 3 points of view in a stunningly creative way, it’s a story of family, secrets, love, forgiveness, tragedy, hope, and a raw and unflinching look at the devastation of addiction on one family.

I can’t recommend this book enough.

When it comes to reading a family saga, I only have one requirement: I want it to destroy me. But I want it to destroy me in a way that feels true and not manipulative. I want it to be authentic and relatable and full of characters that are rendered with sensitivity and moral ambiguity, and that I feel for so deeply that their circumstances sends me into an emotional tailspin. Yes, it’s only one requirement, but it’s a very specific one, LOL.

When it comes to The Bright Years, it did some of what I was hoping it would, but not everything. Told in a non-linear timeline from three perspectives, it tells the story of the Bright family: Lillian, Ryan, and their daughter, Georgette (Jet). Ryan is an alcoholic, so Jet grows up with a tumultuous home life, watching her parents’ marriage disintegrate and then stitch itself back together. But then something happens that changes their family forever, and Jet must choose whether she’ll give in to her trauma, or move forward with forgiveness and love.

Sarah Damoff’s writing is lovely, with some gorgeous turns of phrase and deep insights about family, addiction, and generational trauma. It’s an important story she’s telling, shining a light on the devastating, reverberating effects of alcoholism on not just the alcoholic, but also on their entire family. It really strives to show how difficult it is to love and support someone struggling with addiction. But try as I might, I just could not connect with The Bright Years on an emotional level. And as the child of an alcoholic, I expected to be deeply affected by this book, so no one was more surprised and disappointed about that than me.

It was partly due, I think, to the way the story is told – chapters that read almost as vignettes, jumping around in time (with clunky pulp culture references to try to place the book in a particular year), making me feel like I could never settle into the flow of the narrative – and partly because the character development just wasn’t there for me. This is a relatively short novel, and I think it could’ve used 50 more pages to really dig into these characters. The book almost reads like Damoff was just rushing down a list, checking off plot points without taking the time to wring every last ounce of depth and detail out of her scenes and characters. I felt like I was supposed to care about these characters only because of the bad things that were happening to them – not because of actually who they were as people.

I can certainly understand why so many readers are enjoying The Bright Years, and while it didn’t emotionally wreck me like I’d hoped, I certainly appreciate Damoff’s message. Thank you to Simon & Schuster for the complimentary reading opportunity.

Immediately after finishing The Bright Years,
I said to my husband, “This book made me feel so connected to the entire human experience.”

And honestly, that is the magic that Sarah Damoff brings to this family story. With tenderness and purpose, she guides us through the painful minutiae of the messy parts of love while never forgetting to shine a light on the small moments of hope that linger. For a story largely about addiction, grief, and heartache, I’m somehow left feeling a renewed feeling of gratitude for all of the emotional little moments that make up a life.

My only critique is that I wanted more; at just 288 pages, I was so sad to reach the end of this story. It is told from three perspectives, spanning decades, and the POVs Damoff chose were perfect. We move quickly through the years and the moments, and there were some points where I wanted to slow down just a bit. But it’s honestly a minor critique; part of the magic of this book is the quick pace, which mimics the way life passes by so fast.

Overall, this was a beautiful read that I couldn’t put down (I finished it in less than 24 hours.) I can’t believe this is a debut and I hope Sarah Damoff has a long career of bringing challenging family stories to life with hope and tenderness.

Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this title!

Oof. This is brutal but SO well-written. The characters have depth, are relatable, and aren't reduced to stereotypes; it's easy to tell that the author interviewed multiple people to get their first-hand experiences with addiction and abuse. Although there's lots of death, there's a sense of hope at the end of the novel as well.

I went into this one expecting family drama, and sure, I got it, but I wasn’t prepared to feel this much. This is such a tender, beautifully-written debut about the ways people break and build each other back up, sometimes without even knowing it.

We follow Ryan and Lillian Bright, who are messy and deeply human, both keeping secrets from each other—his drinking, her son she never told him about. And then there’s Georgette, their daughter, caught in the middle and trying to make sense of all the wreckage.

It’s raw but hopeful, sad but soft. If you love generational stories that are honest about pain but still believe in second chances, I cannot recommend this one enough.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC.

This one was difficult to finish as unfortunately, I wasn’t in the right mindset to read a book about family ties and difficult relationships. The parts that I did read were incredibly poignant and well written. The author put so much emotion into her characters and I could tell that if I was in a different place, this would have been captivating. For me it was a little heavier than what I needed at the time. I just personally needed something lighter and fluffier. I hope to turn back to something like this in the future.

This book did nothing for me. The premise had promise and I really wanted to like it, and it should have worked for me because I love family dramas, but I did not. The pacing is super slow. Everything bad that could happen, happened. But there was no emotional impact. The middle has a bunch of WTF moments…and not in a good way. Passive action style that doesn’t engage. Some of the phrases were eye-roll inducing.

I liked Lillian and Shauna and wanted more of that, and honestly, less Ryan. He was not appealing or interesting, sober or not, and really not believable. One example…How did Ryan’s gallery survive and thrive? The economy, the fickleness of art, his drinking, management changes… I did not find that to be authentic at all.

Overall, I guess I just don’t see the appeal.

Please note: I received a digital copy from NetGalley & Simon & Schuster in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are strictly my own.

The hype is worth it for The Bright Years! This book is about a family and how addiction morphs lives through three generations. This was a beautiful story of a family really trying to do the best they can for each other. Damoff’s writing about grief, shame, addiction, and fear but also love despite all of those things. This is a book that is sure to resonate with people of all ages and backgrounds, as I think we all relate a little too much to the content. It does get to be a little depressing, but sometimes that’s life.

There was a lot of writing and emotion packed into this relatively short book, with great character development. This is someone's story. Yes, its fiction. But somewhere out there, this is their story. It felt almost voyeuristic to be reading it at times. So much real life stuff here - addiction, secrets, love, guilt, mistakes made and corrections attempted. And the very real need that so many of us have to give second, third and fourth chances ("Maybe this time ..."). The pacing felt off at times and was occasionally confusing, but I did enjoy that the overall story was told from different POV's of the main characters - it kept the story from being too stale or one-sided.

It not make me cry or leave me sobbing. I don't feel the need to gush over the book or the story. But it was a pretty damn good read, and props to the author for an excellent debut novel. I look forward to reading future books from her.

*The Bright Years* by Sarah Damoff was such a warm, hopeful, and heartfelt read! I loved the way it captured all the big and small moments that make life so meaningful. The characters felt so real, and I found myself cheering them on the whole way through. It’s one of those stories that leaves you feeling lighter and a little more grateful. Such a beautiful, uplifting book — I absolutely loved it!

The Bright Years is an incredibly touching story. Through the hardships of life these characters snd family were developed and their stories told. It was an emotional read, tender, and heavy on the heart. Beautiful writing and storytelling… a favorite of the year!

I really enjoyed this debut. I liked how it was split into three sections, each from a different character's point of view and I also thought the idea of organizing the narrative into years helped to move the story along. It seemed to be an honest portrayal of addiction, survival, and the many ways people, and families, can show their love for one another. My main reason for giving it 4 stars instead of 5 was that I felt as if the story was flat, meaning there wasn't much of a climax. I am a big fan of stories that follow the old-school "plot mountain", and this one was heavy on the character development and light on the plot. Still enjoyable, but I wanted more to happen.

📚 Title: The Bright Years
Author: Sarah Damoff
Genre: Contemporary / Multigenerational Family Drama

“A mother stays even when she's gone, like a muted moon in the daytime sky.”

A tender, heart-wrenching family saga that explores grief, memory, and the silent bonds between mothers and children. Spanning four generations, The Bright Years follows a family's reckoning with addiction, loss, and the secrets that shape them. As they navigate both beautiful and painful moments, the novel reveals how inherited trauma and resilience live within us all.

Mood : 🌕💔🔗🌱
🌕 (Full Moon): A maternal presence that lingers long after she's gone
💔 (Broken Heart): Grief, pain, and raw emotional connections
🔗 (Link): Generational ties and inherited experiences
🌱 (Seedling): Healing, growth, and hope emerging over time

This novel is emotionally immersive and beautifully written—readers describe it as “a roller coaster of emotion” with both tears and cathartic joy . If you love rich, character-driven family dramas that explore how the past shapes us, this one will stay with you.

This novel is a touching multi generational story. Unfortunately the story lacks a bit of depth for me. It felt cold to me even at some big turning points. The ending though was exceptionally touching.

This is a heart wrenching character-driven novel that spans 4 generations. It starts with the whirlwind romance of Lillian and Ryan. Lillian has lost both her parents but Ryan’s mother, Elise, treats her like her own. Eventually, Georgette (Jet) arrives bringing joy to her new parents… But her birth also unleashes Ryan’s hidden demons and Lillian’s shocking secret from her past.

The story explores the bonds of love, parental, familial and marriage as alcoholism tears a family apart that is desperate to stay together. There are multiple threads of loss that run deep through this novel and each of the characters deals with it in their own way.

Think of this novel as a journey with these characters, imperfect as they are, but full of complexity and depth. As a reader, I could empathize with them all even when I questioned their decisions. Told in multiple perspectives but not alternating ones, brought an interesting shift in the way the story was told. It will break your heart but also bring about hope. This novel is a gem. And the audio was absolutely fantastic with the 3 different narrators.