Thank you so much to net galley and Simon and Schuster for the opportunity to read this arc in exchange for an honest review. This was an incredible debut from Sarah Damaoff!
What a brilliant family saga spanning the 1950's-2019 ! A story of love, heartbreak, and hope in this multi-generational family. Lillian falls instantly in love with Ryan after suffering heartbreak and loss of her own. Their love story is told amidst grief, addiction and broken hearts. It is a very honest depiction of a family suffering in turmoil but founded in love. Beyond this relationship are the mothers. fathers and best friends who see these characters through this difficult path that they travel.
The stories are told in several parts and voices which was key to the reader to have an understanding and empathy to each person. I loved the Bright family and all who surrounded them. What a beautiful story that I will carry with me. A must read if you enjoy generational literature! Truly Beautiful!!!

This book encompasses so much! Love, hurt, hope, and family. No family or parent is perfect, we all do the best we can with what we have in the time we're in. Thanks #NetGalley #Simon&Schuster

This novel was so unbelievably good. The author handles the topic of alcoholism with so much compassion, empathy and honesty. I was profoundly moved, and so attached to these characters. My heart was broken, but also mended by the love between all of these masterfully crafted characters. Five stars.

Four generations of trama beautifully told by a former social worker, this author handles grief, adoption, miscarriage, alcoholism and multigenerational families so very well. Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance copy for a honest review.

This book was gorgeous, devastating, and truly unforgettable. Following a couple and the people in their lives through the years as they deal with the power of addiction, I read it in 2 days and will be thinking of it for a long time. Loved it and highly recommend.

Ryan and Lillian are in love and have just married and had a daughter, but they both have secrets from each other that their daughter is left to unravel.

This is definitely one of my favorites of 2025 this year. It’s hard to believe this is a debut. Damoff has a way with words. My book journal was filled with quotes that filled my eyes and touched my heart. The book is on the shorter side, but amazingly we get three generations that show how trauma is passed down, and how we heal. I dare you to finish this one without a tear.

“Through choices made and not made, you entered this world like a starburst, and you let me ride your trail of light through the sky.”

The Bright Years comes out 4/22.

The Bright Years is a story about family, told in three parts with a span of about 60 years. It is a story of love and resilience with some very strong characters. Lillian and Ryan Bright have both had a lot of pain in their lives but also so much love for each other. However, their path together is somewhat circular. The first part of the story is told from Lillian’s perspective and part three is told from Ryan’s. Part two is from their daughter Jet’s perspective and she was my favorite character, with her strengths and vulnerability.

This was a quick read but packed a lot of emotion and drama in its pages. I enjoyed the different narratives and the movement of the timeline as the background was revealed. Readers of family sagas will surely enjoy this book as well as the author’s note in the beginning.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

4.5

The bright years is about a family bound by generational addiction. The writing is really profound and I found myself saving many passages. I even read one aloud to my daughter about friendships in middle school that I found so poignant and so relevant for her since she's in sixth grade. I loved that the book had rotating perspectives, and by the end, I was just absolutely heartbroken. Ironic to feel a book hangover after reading a book about addiction.

The Bright Years is a beautifully written, deeply impactful debut novel by Sarah Damoff!

The book begins with Lillian’s story, her life filled with tumultuous ups and downs. Through it all, Lillian demonstrates copious amounts of perseverance. Lillian and Ryan’s love story is both touching and heartbreaking at the same time.

When the POV changes and we get to see the story through the eyes of Georgette, we see a shining example of how strong women raise strong women! Facing love, loss and the impact of generational addiction and shaping her into being the person she becomes.

The last POV shift leaves us with Ryan’s perspective. His experience as the son of an alcoholic is incredibly raw and you will find yourself living this right along with him.

This book is a family drama that follows 4 generations. The author does an amazing job of weaving a story of love, loss, addiction, found family, pregnancy and pregnancy loss and so many more of life’s most difficult challenges in a way that manages to be uplifting, encouraging and introspective!

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

This book wrecked me and deserves all the stars. It reminded me of a modern day Tree Grows in Brooklyn. Add this to your upcoming TBR because this book has characters you definitely want to meet and every word is meaningful.

I wish I was able to highlight passages as there was beautiful lines about grief and love. This was compulsively readable and I definitely got lost in this book.

My heart is broken though… and this is a debut. She will be an auto buy author for me!

What a stunning debut! This book is a triumph and a brilliant family saga told over the course of 65 years from the perspective of three members of the Bright family. It beautifully tells their story that is caught in the repercussions of alcohol addiction. There is beauty, hope, redemption, and love threaded throughout and woven into their hearts. It is heartbreaking and heartwarming and I loved the many insights about life, love, family and more sprinkled throughout the narrative like confetti. I will be thinking about these relatable characters for a long time. This is a must-read that I highly recommend!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Simon and Schuster, and Sarah Damoff for an advance reader's copy in exchange for my honest review.

#TheBrightYears #SarahDamoff #SimonAndSchuster #NetGalley #LiteraryFiction #FamilySaga #ARCreview #bookreview #bookrecommendations #bestbooks #booklover #booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookclub #TBR2025 #AnticipatedBooks #read

The first half of this book definitely read like a debut. Some of the writing was clunky, and while at times there were overly flowery prose, (e.g. "I shrug myself into [the sweater] as the sunset coats us in an orange film of relaxed contentment." 8% of the way in), the poetic illustrations seem to come and go, and wane as the book progressed.

The benefit of a book that covers three generations, is getting to grow with and love the characters. However, since the book covers a large span of time I had whiplash from some events going by too quickly—some major events that would have benefited from more exploration, and some smaller events that could have been detailed more to add depth to the story.

Also, I felt like the readers were beaten over the head with pop culture references to ensure we didn't forget the timeframe we were in. That could have been done more subtly.

Damoff won be back with the love story and character development in the last quarter of the book.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

I think the writing style is extremely strong and beautiful. The author did an incredible job weaving a sad and complex story about the lasting effects of trauma and grief. The opening chapter is stunning. Her prose is so lyrical and descriptive. The main reason I am giving this book 3 stars is the story pacing and development. The plot is very interesting and intense but I had a difficult time connecting with the 3 main characters. Georgette was my favorite character but Ryan and Lillian felt wooden and stiff. This novel deals with some heavy topics like addiction and depression but I felt disconnected from the characters which made for a unfulfilling reading experience. I would highly recommend this book though because the writing was simply breathtaking.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book, releasing April 22nd!

I liked this book but to me this was basically the platonic ideal of a three-star read; I liked it as I was reading it, it was engaging enough to move along quickly, I generally liked the characters, but some things didn't work great and I didn't feel an overall deep connection with the content. The book follows the story of three (four-ish) generations of a family in Texas and the ways in which addiction and trauma are passed down throughout the years. That makes this book sound pretty dark and it has its dark moments but overall I found it a likable family drama. The constant dropping of events to mark our place in time (ie "9/11 happened," "I heard the Spice Girls on the radio," "What do you think of the new Wes Anderson movie?") was distracting-I understood what this was trying to do but it felt pretty forced. There's also some elements of the book that happen what feels like out of nowhere and are dropped quickly or never really expanded on. The writing occasionally felt a little overwrought, but overall I liked it and I'm always softer on debut novelists with writing since harshly judging the first pass at anything feels unfair. Other readers REALLY seem to like this, so if you connect with the description I'd say to give it a shot, and I'd definitely read something else by Damoff in the future!

“There is goodness ahead of you. I know this because I know you. You don’t hide from pain or from play. Your joy is obstinate, yet you are brave enough to break. You have open eyes and an open heart—a rare combination in a world where one of those usually closes the other. You are your mother’s daughter, who is her mother’s daughter. You are, and you will always be, radiant.”

5 Stars ⭐️ So lucky to have read and reviewed this eArc before official publication on April 22, 2025—thank you, NetGalley and Simon & Schuster!

What an incredible read. I highlighted so many beautiful, big-hearted passages within this debut (!!) novel from Sarah Damoff. I have a feeling Ryan, Lillian and Georgette’s impactful story will resonate with many readers for years to come. Could not recommend this one enough!

Thanks again, NetGalley and Simon & Schuster.

A touching story of love, addiction, friendship and parenthood.

The story is split into three different perspectives, starting with Lillian the mother. She has her one secret, which for a good majority of her portion I didn't think bothered her. Her and Ryan's relationship started off like any other and I wondered where it could be going. But then I saw the struggles with Ryan, and her life as basically a single mother, which really started to pull at my heart strings. When the perspective switched to Jet, I knew something was going to happen but I didn't imagine like that.

Jet's portion is sad. And happy. And sad. I felt many emotions. And Ryan's? I was just happy he found peace.

I really enjoyed this more than I thought I would. It was moving and would cause anyone to be reflective. I look forward to more from this author in the future.

What It’s About:

The Bright Years is a quiet and gripping novel about the ways, big and small, that addiction can grasp a family in its clutches. Ryan and Lillian Bright are young and in love, but both harboring secrets from each other that have the power to change the trajectory of their marriage and the life of their daughter. The story is told through 3 separate POVs, all equally impactful and introspective, as the family is ripped apart and put back together in the way that only something truly broken can be - in a completely different way than it started.

Why I Liked It:

I’m drawn to so many aspects of this book — stories that span a long period of time (6 decades in this case), stories about addiction, multi POV, multigenerational family sagas — and it also had some contrasting elements to the books I typically read, such as the Texas setting. It’s readable, relatable (in ways both good and bad), full of richly developed emotion, and the characters will draw you in to the point that their disappointments feel like yours. I highly recommend this one — for fans of Claire Lombardo.

This was a beautifully written story about collective trauma and the expectations we place on each other to heal us. Given all of the time jumps and short chapters, it reads more like a short story than a novel and is definitely something you'll want to read in a day.

Being said, it was a little hard for me to get into for the first half of the book. A LOT of Lillian's story centers around pregnancy, her children as her identity, and pregnancy loss. As someone who's never been pregnant and never wanted children, I found it incredibly hard to relate to and feel any sort of emotional connection to her, because that was her entire personality. So if you're like me, this may not be for you.

I do wish the story had been told in a more linear timeframe as well--constantly going back and forth between "Present" Lillian and "Past" Lillian didn't really add anything to the story, and if you're not remembering what years fall into which timeline, you're going to get lost pretty quickly.

Being said, this is an incredibly emotional story and definitely not something you're going to want to read if topics like addiction, abuse, miscarriage, and child loss are troubling for you. Damoff has done an incredible job cramming a LOT of emotional impact in under 300 pages--if I was a crier, this definitely would have gotten me if I connected more with Lillian.

THE BRIGHT YEARS
BY: SARAH DAMOFF

About 4.5 Stars!

This is a debut author, Sarah Damoff's character driven narrative that is called, "THE BRIGHT YEARS," which it's evident that she draws a lot of depth to her storytelling potentially from her vocation as a social worker. It's not a long book but it took me longer to read as I lingered over parts of the trials, and triumphs of the Bright family over four generations. My favorite characters were Elise who is Ryan's mother, and Lillian who is married to Ryan. Sarah Damoff infused these two women as having an endless supply of love, but she doesn't shy away from the tougher parts of life with exploring adoption, love, hope, grief piled on top of grief, loss, friendship, and many other themes. It is very impressive for a debut to cover such a wide range of the very large cast of characters, but it's very easy to keep them straight, and I was truly engaged throughout the entire novel which I read in one sitting. I had things to do which I neglected since I wanted to keep reading, and this is quite an accomplishment how this is the type of family saga that feels all the more powerful as I type this review and reflect back. It's a memorable piece of literary fiction that will stay with me for a long time.

It starts out with Ryan as a young child coloring underneath the table while he can hear abuse from his alcoholic father towards his mother Elise. She coaxes Ryan to play a game to quickly leave their home at night on foot. This is the late 1950's and cultural references are woven into the story.

Lillian who is at the library sitting down at a table reading is approached by Ryan who sunlight's as an artist and works at a restaurant at night has dreams of opening his own Art Galley so he can be free to paint and photograph his own preferences. Lillian welcomes him to sit down when he recognizes her from the bank where he has seen her while trying to secure funds from a loan. Eventually they go across the street to a Greek restaurant where she witnesses Ryan do an act of kindness which they are into the future newly married without a courtship. They are both newly married only Lillian hasn't disclosed to Ryan that she had a son that she gave up for adoption. I could feel by the lovely writing Lillian's loss of that child who she didn't seem to want to part with her son. but her musician boyfriend turns out to be indifferent, and she and him went separate ways. She never forgot her son even though Ryan has no idea.

Her and Ryan have decided to try to have another child, and it ends with grief that is palpable how deeply she feels the repercussions. After quite some time they try again for another child who they are rewarded with a baby girl named Georgette, who they nickname Jet. Sometimes husbands change when they buckle under the pressure of children, but in this case it's one child and Ryan starts drinking and he leaves them since Lillian and him have what seems like history repeating itself and Lillian seeks refuge from Ryan's mother Elise who I loved for her empathy and kindness she showed towards her daughter-in-law by welcoming them to stay with her with understanding. Elise had been close to Ryan, but her handling the situation was admirable. Lillian only planned on staying a few days so you can imagine her heartbreak when Ryan calls her and tells her that he's moved out. These two women were my favorite characters for their resilience and strength of their character who handle disappointment with such kinship towards one another.

Lillian is a wonderful mother to Georgette as she is a single parent who meets another mother named Shauna who has a son the same age as Georgette, named Kendall who both mothers are supportive while their daughter and son are just as close. This really reflects and focuses how the power of friendship can help you get through hard times. Ryan who continues to be unreliable and he supports Georgette financially but is afflicted with alcoholism, and between his mother Elise and Shauna Lillian and Georgette show strength in how they handle the inconsistent behavior of Ryan's choice of alcohol, but there isn't any bad feelings towards the author's depicting Ryan as disappointing, but not painted as a bad guy as in this author's vocation she obviously has a deeper understanding of addiction than I do.

This is a beautifully written novel that as heartbreaking as it is, it's never depressing showing well developed characters who have the necessary layers that show her characters as gray instead of sketching them as black or white. There's so much more to this story that I will leave for you to discover when you read this. It explores Georgette's character whose dynamics towards her parents is explored with the same expertise and I can't emphasize enough how realistic this is written with all of the costs that are visited on this family, but it is written with this author's empathetic eye towards balancing out the tragic with hope and love within these pages. I didn't think it was predictable with that aspect keeping you intrigued from start to finish. The range of emotions that I'm left feeling is that I know I won't forget this saga of how these lives were captured so remarkably intimate told through three points of view which is Lillian's, Georgette's and Ryan bringing it full circle. It definitely covers four generations within a lot fewer pages than those who this author's writing with comparisons are made to in the synopsis. There's one who I've read whose first book was one that is a good 400 pages longer which has been more educated in writing that was much more frustrating with this never gave me that feeling once. I highly, highly recommend this to literary fiction fans who enjoy realism incorporated into the big picture that I know will impact most readers. This novel deserves to reach as wide of an audience as possible. I'll be recommending this to all readers, and I cannot wait to read whatever this author writes next.

Publication Date: April 22, 2025

Thank you to Net Galley, Sarah Damoff, and Simon & Schuster for generously providing me with my ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own, as always.

#TheBrightYears #SarahDamoff #Simon&Schuster #NetGalley

This book absolutely WRECKED me. I haven’t cried this much reading a book in a long time. A full blown stream of tears. This book fully encompasses the imperfections of life and how beauty and messiness can coexist. I enjoyed how the author incorporated the layered complexities of generational trauma that happened between multiple characters and one family. Truly a stunning novel about life.

I am so blown away that this is a debut novel. Some people are just born to write and Sarah Damoff is one of them. Bravo!!!!!

Thank you Simon & Schuster, NetGalley and Sarah Damoff for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I feel so privileged to have read this book.

TW: Addiction, miscarriage, adoption