This story centers around the titular character Jade, who is a young mixed race lawyer pushing ahead to become a valuable partner in England. She straddles multiple cultures, classes and the ever present sexism that all women face. Everything sharpens when Jade wakes up the day after a holiday party at her firm. She doesn't exactly remember what happened or how she got home. The flashbacks and feeling of dread heighten as rumors fly at work threatening her good standing and her long term relationship. What can Jade do, what should she do, and what can she live with?

The processing of sexual abuse by the main character, Jade, was beyond accurate: with the conflicting feelings, with the doubt, the second thoughts, fear and immense shame, and all the lies we tell ourselves just not to accept the harsh truth.

I found myself crying more than I expected, at certain times for Jade and others for both myself and for us, survivors as a collective.

Although the book might not have a plot, characters, or language like no other, I argue that it comes with something of higher importance — a conversation.

I’ll start by saying that I learned so much from this book. While it covers topics like consent, power and sexism, it was the commentary surrounding race and identity that made the biggest impact on me.

Our main character, Ceyda, who goes by Jade, is the daughter of Turkish and South Korean immigrants living in London. Her story shows us some of the complexities that come with being a mixed race individual navigating society as a minority and trying to climb the corporate ladder.

From examples in social settings with “friends” and romantic partners, overt displays of tokenism at work, and ignorant cultural references, the author shows us how challenges show up for those in minority groups every day. I learned so much from Jade’s POV about the nuance to these situations as well that can bring conflicting emotions.

The other major topics in this book are consent and sexual assault. Jade’s experience will shatter your heart into a million pieces, especially as she tries to carry on as if nothing happened 💔 Because not speaking it into existence means she can deny that it happened a little longer 😢

With Jade, we go through denial, anger, depression, unhealthy coping mechanisms, and the devastating resignation to the fact that justice for so many women never comes ⚖️ More often, the victims who speak up often face worse repercussions than their abusers. But somehow they still have to go on and pick up the pieces.

This read will take you on a roller coaster of emotions🎢 It’s a tough one, but an important one. Despite these salient conversations, I did have a few issues with the writing style that kept this from being a 4+ star read for me. But overall, a book I’d definitely recommend picking up. I think it would make some excellent discussion for a book club! 🌟

Jade Kaya is Turkish-Korean, born to immigrant parents. She is a young lawyer trying to make her way up the ladder in a big-name London-based global service Law Firm. She is in a long-term relationship with her boyfriend Kit who hails from the upper echelons of white gentrified British Society. The morning after a lavish work gala dinner she finds herself waking up with no memory of what happened the night before but a horrid feeling that something terrible definitely did. And so begins the unravelling of the carefully crafted life Jade has tried to build for herself. The story is a classic portrayal of the racist and sexist undercurrents prevalent in work culture as also modern society. Through a series of flashbacks, we also get an insight into the Turkish and Korean cultural influences of Jade's home environment, her parents' struggle to make it despite the societal prejudices against immigrants and various economic meltdowns, the fallout of Brexit (novel is based in 2018) as well as snippets of the British political scene. To my mind, these made the story drag out a bit and detracted from the main plot. Although the plotline is a bit cliched, this is an easy, quick, candid read for anybody who is interested in stories based on the #metoo movement.

Thank you Netgalley, Simon and Schuster and Ella Lee for the ARC.

Here is my review of Jaded, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to read jaded early! I truly loved this read and can’t wait to see what Ela Lee writes next

Thank you to Simon & Schuster for an ARC of this book!

When this book was likened to Disorientation, Queenie, and I May Destroy You, I had very high expectations. Disorientation was my favorite book of 2022 and it remains one of my favorite reads of all time. So when I picked up Jaded by Ela Lee, I frankly was not expecting it to captivate me in the way that it did: I stayed up until the early hours of the morning devouring it. I simply couldn't put it down. It was heartbreaking and rageful and hopeful all at once.

Jaded follows a Korean-Turkish woman in London climbing up the corporate ladder of her law firm. Ceyda (or Jade, her Starbucks name, because all children of immigrants have a Starbucks name) is in control of her life until the worst happens after a work function. Her life is upended--from her relationships to her identity to her career.

We readers walk with Jade as she navigates through what's happened to her. Lee does an excellent job of portraying the nuance of processing trauma through all stages of grief. We see Jade in denial, constantly repressing the events of that drunken evening, rationalizing why she feels the way she does. We see her internal struggle through the microaggressions she faces from her peers, but most especially how she justifies how her boyfriend treats her. Her boyfriend Kit is a white man who seems to truly see Jade for all that she is. Except when his mother throws culturally insensitive parties or when his best friends make prejudiced comments around her. He is a self-proclaimed feminist who calls out injustices against marginalized people; he knows all the right things to say. Watching Jade go back and forth between defending and vilifying Kit was all too relatable.

One of my favorite things about this novel was Lee's portrayal of Jade's parents. Her South Korean mother and her Turkish father are the quintessential immigrant parents who shower Jade with indirect love. Her father bringing her fresh cut fruit while they watch true crime documentaries, and her mother praising Jade for being so good at her job.

Finally, the most poignant part was the different philosophies of actionable justice for women. Jade's two closest friends offer different perspectives on Jade's situation: one is so biased against society that she believes that the only people who can protect women are themselves while the other is adamant that Jade advocates for herself by speaking up. While neither approach is right or wrong, the conflicting perspectives highlight what survivors face every single day.

I cannot stop thinking about this book. It's thought-provoking and nuanced, and eloquently tackles the intersections of race, power, and gender. I hope more readers pick this up and it incites action and hope and rage and compassion for all those before and all those to come.

As always, please check content warnings before picking this one up.

Jaded by Ela Lee is out 3/19.

Oh this book is so good but it will make you angry. After a drunken night at a work party for the law firm Jade works at, she has no idea how she got home or what happened to her. As the weeks go by, she starts to have broken flashbacks and her fears have come true…

Her life is turned upside down. She doesn’t feel safe, she’s constantly having to persuade her boyfriend to believe her, all the while trying not to let her parents down

Trying to cope and survive the trauma she endured, will she be willing to leave her old life behind on a journey to fully heal?

This is a #metoo story that includes moments of racism, hope, anger, betrayal, corporate power, and Jade’s battle of finding herself. Tough to read at times but definitely recommend

"Jade isn't even my real name. Jade began as my Starbucks name, because all children of immigrants have a Starbucks name."

Ceyda (Jade) lives her life trying to fit into this 'box' of what everyone else thinks she should be. This novel has themes of cultural identity struggles. There is complex relationships between Jade and her mother as well as Jade and her boyfriend.

There is also SA that happens and Jade is traumatized and is facing some really conflicting feelings of guilt and shame while also trying to figure out the right way to approach the situation. She feels like she could lose everything and fall out of the mold she has tried so hard to shove herself into.
I enjoyed Jade's perspective, her humanity was raw and real. It felt like talking with a friend who has been through a traumatic event with a lack of real support. Jaded covers some difficult topics and is really thought provoking.


Special thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.

TW: sexual assault

It’s so easy for writers to ineffectively describe sexual assault. It’s such a complicated and emotional topic, and not everyone knows what it’s like to experience that kind of trauma (which leads to some inauthentic depictions). So, I always approach these kinds of novels with a little trepidation. Luckily, I was in good hands with Ela Lee. Her novel, “Jaded,” is a powerful piece of fiction that succeeds in realistically describing the aftermath of an assault.

The book follows Jade, an up-and-coming lawyer at a big-wig law firm. She’s madly in love with her long-term boyfriend, but she still finds time to maintain her relationship with her immigrant parents (who sacrificed so much to ensure that Jade became the successful woman she turned out to be). When Jade is sexually assaulted by a co-worker after a company party, her carefully curated world falls apart. Few people can write descriptions of flashbacks, panic attacks and nightmares as well as Lee has done here. As the reader, I felt like I was enmeshed with Jade’s struggles, especially as her body remembered much more of the assault than her brain did. This haunting and devastating event wreaks havoc on Jade’s life – not only damaging her mental and physical health, but also tearing apart her relationships as well.

But this isn’t just a story about assault and the horrific ripple effect this type of trauma has on a person. It’s also about Jade learning to challenge people’s perceptions of her, as a child of immigrants, as a mixed-race individual, and as a woman. While some of the events in the book made me literally shake with anger, it was a powerful reminder how much discrimination still exists in our world for anyone who isn’t born rich, white, and male.

I feel like this novel is sort of quiet in its brilliance, so I’m really hoping it doesn’t fail to appear on people’s TBR lists. It’s truly deserving of a place on your bookshelf. As a survivor myself, I’m grateful that Lee took on this challenging subject matter, and I’m even more grateful that she did it with so much skill and heart. I know Jade isn’t a real person, but her story (and all of the stories like hers) matter so much, and it’s truly a credit to Lee’s stellar writing that it had such an impact on me.

I had to DNF. Based on the description I didn't anticipate the story being as heavy as it was. It was just different than I expect but by no means is it a bad book.

Thank you netgalley and Simon & Schuster for the arc.

review ✨

This was such an incredible debut about Ceyda, the daughter of a Korean mother and Turkish father. Known by her “Starbucks name,” the book follows Jade working at a high-stress big law job and navigating a traumatic assault and the aftermath

Despite the very heavy content warnings, this was a very engaging coming of age—with such important messages on identity, microaggressions, misogyny. I adored this main character and her resiliency. This would be an excellent book club pick as there’s SO much to discuss here

This is out next Tuesday, March 19! Thank you @simonbooks for this gifted copy in exchange for my honest thoughts #simonbooksbuddy

✨ my rating: 4.75🌟
📖 384 pages
💓 read if you liked Maame or The Boys Club

This felt like....a very in-depth and deep episode of Law and Order: SVU. There are topics like race, racism, misogny and sexual assault so it's not going to be a book for everyone.

Overall this is a story one woman trying to do everything, living for everyone's expectations, and then what happens when the facade starts to crack and crumble away.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for an electronic advanced readers copy of this book.

Jade is an up and coming young lawyer who seemingly has the perfect life - a spot in a top corporate law firm, a dutiful boyfriend, loving parents. But that all changes after a boozy work party where she is seemingly saved from harm by a fellow co-worker, only to have him rape her once he takes her home. Dealing with the aftermath, Jade tries to piece together her memories and heal while still trying to maintain the facade of normalcy.

Jaded by Ela Lee deals with the harsh realities of being a young woman today. Race, sexual politics, class inequity are all touched upon. I wouldn't say this is a fun and breezy read, it's definitely disturbing at times and uncomfortably realistic. It's hard to be a female, and this is another harrowing and unfortunately truthful tale of what it's like.

Powerful story of women in the work force dealing with things men don't have to deal with everyday. It's also about dealing with a trauma and how it affects a person in their life. Definitely feel like there needed to be more warning on what was going to happen in the book and how long it was going to be discussed. This could be extremely triggering for some people. It's also about a minority woman making her way through the word. It was a difficult read with the extremely heavy topic but might be needed for some. Please label this with a trigger warning before putting it out there.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for advanced copy, and I give my review freely

A thoughtful look at the impact of an assault- a trauma that sends Jade to look at how she's been living her life, She's a hard worker who has subsumed much about her past as she moves up the ladder and through her relationship with her caucasian partner Kit. She's trying to live up to the expectations of her immigrant parents. And now, she's coming apart. There's a lot going on here and some of the territory might feel familiar but Lee has created a terrific character in Jade- the Starbucks name of Ceyde. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. An impressive debut and a good read.

This book is going to take me a while to process. I would certainly be aware of a trigger warning for rape/sexual abuse. It takes on a lot – racism, classism, corporate politics, family structure and support, how women who report sexual abuse or rape are handled by various members of society. It is based in London, but I feel like a lot of this can be translated to the US with very little change in the story. I honestly felt there was a lot of realism in Jade’s experience and could easily see it happening to myself or people I know in just that way, especially when I was younger. Lee did such a great job of exploring all of Jade’s relationships and how each one affected her healing from trauma. This is not a book afraid of the hard topics. I will say the story at times felt a little chaotic and disorganized to me – that would be my only complaint.

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

This was quite the read. It hurt to get through. What a triumph of a novel.

4.5 stars. The content is a 5 star but part of the writing didn’t flow super well/needed rewriting especially in the first half (4 star writing) so 4.5 overall.

This book hurt to read. I almost put it down multiple times because of how painful and raw it left me. Like the title and the main character, I’m feeling jaded about the world after reading this. It chronicles the all-too-real path many women face after sexual assault.

I am so glad I read this book. While it’s not one I enjoyed per se I don’t regret reading it one bit. I highly recommend to anyone who wants to better understand what women face in today’s society. That being said, the trigger warnings are numerous so please read them and only read if it is safe for you to do so!!

TW: rape/sexual assault, racism, sexism, classism, eating disorders, self-harm

If you've ever been a person who isn't a straight white man in a corporate environment (or really any work environment), you will know what the fuck is up with this novel from the jump. It's an unflinching portrayal of one woman's experience being harassed and assaulted by coworkers at a high-profile law firm — but more than that, it's about how she copes (or doesn't) and how the people surrounding her react. To me, every single response — from foolishly trusting the company to act to believing she should forget and move on to victim blaming to pure rage — was all too realistic. This was a tough read at times but worth it for the ending, in my opinion.

4.5 stars rounded up.

"I mean, how can something I don't properly remember hurt this much?"
"Our bodies remember, even if our minds don't."

This was one of the most compelling, emotionally engaging, and beautifully written books I've read in a long time. The fact that this was a debut just makes it even more incredible. I connected with Jade, the narrator, almost immediately, and it felt like I was a friend going along the journey with her, hoping she'll spot the red flags in her relationship, wanting so much better for her and wanting to take away her pain. This book was crushing in a way that is all too realistic, with one thing spiraling into another spiraling into another and so on until it seems like it just can't get any worse. Then, somehow, it always does.

A lot was tackled in this book: sexual assault, domestic violence, racism, sexism, the laughable state of DEI in corporations, immigration, etc. I worried it would be too much to take everything on in a way that does these very serious topics justice, but Ela Lee did it and she did it in a way that read effortlessly.

This is not a hopeful book. This book hurt and enraged and provided little moments of joy. This is a painful book to read, and for some people it will definitely be too much so please check CW and TW, but it was oh-so worth it.

What a ride this book was. Jaded follows the story of Jade, a first generation immigrant child in the UK who apparently has it all: a boyfriend who adores her, a successful career as a lawyer and friends that support her. It was very interesting to read from her perspective the experience of being mixed race and how she conceals herself to appease other people, especially on her job at a big London law firm. Jade's dad is Turkish and her mom is Korean, which is a very interesting couple. I liked reading about how they blend their traditions and cultures. I also enjoyed the female relationships Jade has with her friends Adele and Eve.

One day, Jade wakes up after a work party without remembering how she got home, with a painful hungover and bleeding that she assumes is her period. I loved a quote at the end of the book that said along the lines of "I don't know why it hurts so much if I don't even remember." And the other part responds, "The body remembers." That is so true, that's why is so important to treat trauma even though we feel like we're fine. This book touches very important matters that we as a society don't talk about enough. Jaded tackles them in a graceful and engaging way. Definitely check trigger warnings before picking up this book, but if you do pick it up, you won't regret it. I can't recommend Jaded enough.

Thank you very much Netgalley and the publishers for the eARC.