This was such a heavy read & difficult to get through but I loved it.
Cried the whole ending.

Note to self: it’s ok to ask for help !

Jaded, by Ela Lee, is a remarkable novel. I was immediately engrossed and did not put this book down for two days. Jaded is a novel about family, identity, trauma, race, and getting everything you want in life and it not satisfying. It reminded me of Disorientation, but for lawyers.

The novel is about a young lawyer called Jade, her real name she never uses. As a child of immigrants, she’s changed her name to be more palpable to others. After a night at a work party, Jade’s life is changed by something she can’t remember. All of her relationships suffer her relationship with her boyfriend, her family, and even her work. As Jade begins to grapple with what happened, she begins to come to terms with what she wants out of her life.

The content of this book is heavy, but it is buoyed by Jade’s loving parents and friends. It is a non-romantic love story, and those are the very best. Lee manages to infuse humor and lightness into a story that deals with quite a lot. I loved it.

Ela Lee has an absolute stunning and heartbreaking debut with Jaded. In it, the audience is introduced to Jade—in happy long-term relationship and dedicated to her career as a lawyer. However, after a work event, she wakes up with bruises and very little memory of what transpired the night before.

This novel was difficult to read—not because of any fault of Lee's but because of the topics covered. Not only does Jaded work through sexual assault and rape, but also classism, racism, and the intersectionality of one's own identity. It's clear how much love was poured into the novel.

While it was difficult to read, the prose itself flowed easily—I was quickly engrossed and flew through the pages. All of the characters were well-written and flawed in the most realistic way.

I was blown away, to be honest. Jaded truly covers and exposes the struggles and horrors that so many women go through and have to live with every day. I finished the novel with tears and a lump in my throat but also so proud of our characters. Jaded is already one of my favorite reads of this year.

Wow! This is a powerful story. This book is painful and beautiful. One of the best debuts I've ever read. I highly recommend reading it, but be aware that it may be triggering in some places. It is a very important story and should be read.

This debut novel by Ela Lee is a complex character driven story about the aftermath of a sexual assault.

Jade is a young lawyer working at a prestigious law firm. The morning after a work event, she wakes up having no memory of how she got home. She must now try to put the pieces of her life back together.

The author takes us through the story that is centered on sexual assault in the corporate world and how a young woman navigates against very powerful men. Jade learns who she can trust and who she cannot.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster, NetGalley, and Ela Lee for my ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Jade had done everything right and has the life to show it. After a work event, she wakes up with no memoirs of the evening. As she tries to find out what happened, her carefully build life starts falling apart.

It took me a bit to get through this one. It’s one that you’ll want to read slowly and really savor. It is also hard to watch Jade as she struggles deeper and deeper in her trauma. This felt like a realistic portrayal of trauma and should be required reading. Jade’s experience leads to every aspect of her life changing. There was a lot that went into this story, societal and parental expectations, mixed race relationships, among gender and class issues.

“They say justice is blind but why did a brown woman’s chances against a white man feel insurmountable.”

Jaded comes out 3/19.

Gorgeous, thought provoking, tackles a lot of important and notable issues. Thanks for the arc! I really enjoyed jt

This was such a great complex story. It's slow paced and character driven. It follows Jade and the aftermath of her being sexually assaulted. The story was so well written and covered so many different topics of consent, race, and identity. The characters were so well written. I loved Jade and was rooting for her the entire time. This was such a good debut novel, and I look forward to reading more from Ela Lee.

Jaded is the story of a young lawyer of mixed race named Jade. On a night out with her office, she gets raped by a Cabinet member at a higher position than her, and that's when her life takes a turn foe the worse. This book exposes the difficulty to navigate society as a woman of foreign background; how they have to regularly deal with racism. What makes it worse is being raped by a person working in the same office as they do: are theyvsupposed to report it, go to the police, keep it quiet,..? What about your boyfriend? Should you share it him? What if he doesn't understand? Could it lead to an eventually breakup? All those questions are to be experienced by Jade. We all survive such traumatizing life events. Just like any experience, we need to learn from in.order to move forward in life. A nice book, well written, I could feel the pain and struggle Jade went through, but it did not touch me more than that.

This book is excellent. It is a sad and poignant reminder that stories like this are still so true for women in 2024. Jade is a character who is both relatable and realistic. She is a young professional eager to forge an identity in both her work and personal life, and it all comes crashing down after drinking too much at a work event. I would not dream of giving away more than this - you have to read it for yourself. Many will see themselves in the unravelling and rebuilding of Jade's life. She is strong, and you want her to succeed. I cannot recommend this book enough, kudos to Ela Lee for telling this story.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an eARC of this book via NetGalley Simon & Schuster. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating: 4/5 Stars
Publishing: March 19, 2024
Pages: 384

Jaded is a first time read by author, Ela Lee by this reader. I thought the beginning of the story started off quite slow and was somewhat difficult to read. For a debut, I thought it was well-written and presented a lot of dynamics that could relate to those who read this story (i.e., racism, sexism, identity). This is a unique story that is heartfelt as the main character, Jada had to endure and overcome struggles that are quite real today. Ultimately, the story does pick up and diverts you away from reading a mundane story. Although it was hard to follow the characters, I managed to complete until the end.

This was such a good, yet utterly difficult read. I hope none of the readers found the story too relatable, but I’m afraid that’s not the case here. I’m afraid this book will hit home for way too many and will hit home way too hard. Racism, sexism, trauma, consent, identity, who you are, what you are, what shapes you as a human, what makes you the unique you, how to live in the world that is the way it is, society and its standards, oh, it’s all in there. It’s raw and it’s emotional.
Overall, it was a really, really good read. Deep and profound, and very well-written.

A little bit slow at the beginning but I ended up really enjoying it. Many relevant themes (sexism, racism, consent, power, multiculturalism) are present in the book. Very good read, highly recommend!

I received an ARC from the publisher.

I wasn’t quite sure what to think of this book when I read the cover, but once I started, I was transported back into my 20s, working my high profile job. The struggles that our main character goes through are not only real, they’re very heartfelt as I endured many of the same. The authors writing, not only invokes all of the pressure ,and the fears, as well as the excitement, of this time in our lives. What was so well written was the internal struggle of how well do we really know ourselves. Now that I’m in my 50’s, I can still relate to the internal struggle of who do I want to be.
This book was an amazing journey of self discovery. Equipped with a phenomenal set of best friends, I thoroughly enjoyed reading every word. A definite must read for all.

Publication Day 3-19-24
Thank you Ela Lee, Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for a chance to read Jaded. There are several topics within this story that are real life and should be discussed and understood on so many different levels. I really enjoyed a relevant suspense thriller. Jade, a young female attorney born of immigrant parents has faced several challenges growing up, but one night bad decisions were made. Bad decisions that she doesn’t remember and that involve a senior partner in her law firm. Jade is left to pick up the pieces of her life after this sexual assault and decide how to handle her future. Highly recommend this as a buddy read or book club adventure. I ended up talking to my daughters in depth about how easily something like this could happen to someone they know or even to them.

"Jaded" was a smart & nuanced exploration of the aftermath of a sexual assault: what's remembered, what's believed, what's traumatizing and triggering, what lingers. Everything rang true, especially the ways in which women -- especially young ones -- get "punished" while the aggressors move on. A great debut

While this book definitely needs to have a content warning, it is a powerful book beautifully written about the trauma and reality of living and surviving assault in a culture that is designed to allow rape and misogyny to go unchecked. From her doubtful boyfriend to the stoic silence of her mother, Jade is left to navigate trauma and grief along as her perpetrator is given the benefit of the doubt. Lee pulls back the curtain to show the ramifications for individuals and society of the refusal to really acknowledge women's experience of sexism and assault.

It took me a bit to get into this book as the start was quite slow and mundane, however, as Jade’s story began to unfold it began to capture my interest. I found myself rooting for Jade as she grappled with the aftermath of that mysterious night she has. Ultimately, this journey helps her discover who and what is truly important.

Jaded is a story that tackles many important themes while keeping the reader interested in a gripping character driven story.
The main character Ceyda goes by Jade as it is easier to spell and pronounce than her given Turkish name. Jade was born to two immigrant parents, her dad from Turkey and her mom from Korea. They worked hard to give their child the "American dream" which she achieved when she became a lawyer. On the outside, Jade seems to have it all, the job, the boyfriend, and the social circle. But Jade is a child of two immigrant parents, she's biracial, and she's a woman. She has to try to fit into these categories while ignoring or rationalizing bias, racism, misogyny that comes her way.
Everything is going well for Jade until one night at a work mixer. Jade is seated next to one of the main executives and she takes this as an opportunity for advancement. However, this man is only interested in using his power to get her to come home with him. She dodges a bullet when a "friend" pulls her away and offers to get her home safely. She wakes up the next morning with a hazy memory of something terrible happening. You follow Jade as she goes through her daily routine the next several days after the assault as the memories start to come back piece by piece.
Eventually Jade breaks, unable to bear the weight of it all. She tries turning to her parents and her boyfriend but they both are unsure what to do to help. Jades friend, Adele, is the only one able to empathize with Jade and offer her some sort of assistance and clarity. Jade and Adele's friendship was one of my favorite parts of the book. It was a warm light in a dark story.
This story is about sexual assault and the aftermath that affects the victims mental and physical wellbeing as well as relationships, jobs, and quite frankly day to day functioning. You get to know Jade so well throughout this story and are just heartbroken with every barrier the world throws at her but at the same time you are uplifted by personal growth and resilience.

This is one the first books I was unable to finish. Entertaining at first, the story of Jada Kaya, young attorney living and working in a London law firm during current times. As a mid-level attorney, her career path is moving in the right direction for growth . As an only child from Turkish-Korean parents living in London, she has had an intense focus on achieving success and unexpectedly love with her fellow-college mate, Kit.

Then, it all goes bump when she finds herself obviously physically abused the next morning after a mandatory law firm staff dinner at the very tony Savoy. And her realization of what has been done to her without her consent.

While the subject matter is very important, I could not see the story through because I found the lifestyles overwhelmed my ability to stay interested in the characters. I am sure the author's point is the female abuse take place anywhere - corporate worlds or more day-to-day environments. And that suppressing the abuse, or the lengths to cover up and blame the victim, is happening all the time.

I just could not empathize with the characters and follow the story to the end.