4* Young Women by Jessica Moor is her second novel after the excellent debut The Keeper (which was a nominated New Blood at the Theakstons Festival).

Emily, fresh from working as a solicitor in a silver tier corporate firm, has now taken on a role in a ‘not for profit’ practice concentrating on women’s rights. When she is arrested at a protest, she is befriended by enigmatic Tamsin; a Canadian actress who seems to have a cool and untroubled life, does little work, doesn’t want for money but there is the hint of something in her past.

Juggling her new friendship, Tinder dating and the relationship with an old school friend, Emily confronts issues of consent, sexuality and trust from several angles, albeit sometimes to close to the detail to appreciate what had happened in front of her.

The backdrop is a little stereotypical - lawyer and actress in cool London. Yet beyond that this is a great book. The characters and dialogue are smart and sassy, the plot zips along and the themes are well articulated. Often intense but not heavy, I would thoroughly recommend this book.

I listened to the audio, which was narrated by Tanya Reynolds, who does a sublime job of bringing the book to life without acting out the characters.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an advance copy of the audiobook.

This story surrounds the whole #metoo movement, which is a very important topic and I’m glad books are picking this up more and more. I really enjoyed the first 50-something pages and then everything pretty much went downhill. I really loved Tamsin but absolutely disliked Lucy. Her character really annoyed me and she just wasn’t the girl power type women you root for (which I thought she would be). That, and a few choices in the story, just made me give less stars than I originally thought I would've. I feel like the synopsis steers you into a different direction than what this book is really about…

Even though I was disappointed with the book, I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook narrator!

Overall, I really enjoyed this. I raced through it and was immediately compelled from page one – I needed to know what happened to the two central characters. If you have lived in London, it is richly vivid and a sort of love letter to the city, Soho in particularly. In terms of plot, Young Women is a thought-provoking exploration of feminist issues: ideas around consent, abuse and women's responsibility towards each other. Towards the latter half of the book, I did find the central character, Emily, increasingly difficult. She is struggling to come to terms with something in her past, but all the same, she is often a bad friend, selfish, and makes some quite horrific decisions, and I'm not sure she really repents or changes enough by the end of the book. All the same, she felt like a very real character, and though not always likeable, always relatable.

It's also an excellent reading, and I'll definitely look out for more by this narrator.

Emily met Tamsin in jail - after being arrested at a climate process. When she left that cell, she had no idea how much her life was about to change. Her new friend was an actress, living a life of glamour, excitement and extravagance that soon had Emily lured in and forgetting everything about who she was before as she basked in the warmth of Tamsins spotlight and friendship.

But then, their shiny new life shatters as awful traumatic secrets from Tamsins past claw their way to the surface and the darkness even her shiny spotlight can't keep away takes over all over again.

Early on this book, Tamsin says 'It's gross, and it's gorgeous. And they can both be true at the same time.' - that is exactly how I feel about this book. It's simply gorgeous, beautifully written and striking, but enters the gross, dark and uncomfortable parts of reality in bold and uncompromising honesty.

Young Women takes this world that has been created for men and puts it under a microscope - asking us how we've been conditioned to survive in it, how we can further it or be complicit without even realising it. It asks us to see our privilege in different ways, and realise how it can decide our path in life.

Even in it's perfectly imperfect, somewhat haphazard storytelling, you can't ignore the deafening messages that jump from the pages.

With a bold, arresting look at female friendship and solidarity, this novel speaks some harsh realities about the unspoken truths of living as a young women today and the blurry lines between retribution and revenge. Anyone who has ever been a victim of abuse will be able to understand the shame we are forced to feel, the undeserved guilt and terror - and just how blurry something so clearly wrong can be.

Emily and Tamsin were flawlessly flawed - their friendship was stunning. Tamsin described herself as an 'Artsy stray cat' - whereas Emily is solid, dependable, predictable - and she doesn't quite fit in with the upper echelons of society. Of course, we've met pairings like this countless times in novels, but the charm of these two women is undeniable.

I previously read the ARC of this title and absolutely loved this audiobook version - the narration was clear and understandable, but with emotion and wit to get you really into the scene.

This speculative piece will leave you reeling - and if you're willing to forgive the brutal murder of an innocent Ferrante novel for notepaper, Young Women will be the book you just have to share.

“When we’re least like ourselves we reveal the most.”

I’d seen this one all over Instagram and got severe FOMO, so I was dead excited to get stuck in.

What started as a seemingly obsessive and toxic friendship forming between two women, suddenly turns into something very different. Although I wasn’t expecting this shift, I actually quite enjoyed it. It was fast paced and engaging throughout.

The writing was really well done, I was totally captivated by it - probably why I’d devoured it in 24 hours! The topics it touches on are prevalent and thought provoking. It really gives a all round view from all these women’s different scenarios and opens up a lot of conversation about consent and the way we see/think about it.

The book deals very well with the subjects of woman’s struggles with the patriarchy and a whole range of abuse from unsolicited touches to grooming and full on sexual assault. It laid bare some ugly truths and although I felt it could have delve further and got really into aspects, it still did a good job at showcasing things.

I did this one on audio and I really liked the narrator. She managed to give both Emily and Tamsin their own unique voice, as well as giving us all feelings and emotions through the narration.

Really good read, poignant and thought provoking - would definitely recommend. It does discuss some heavy topic though, so be sure to check CW/TW’s.

5 stars for being so well written that I struggled to fully inhale throughout, and struggled to exhale through anger, sorrow and tears at the end. Crushed with the knowledge we all have a story. Whether we opt to tell it or not.

T/W sexual assault, grooming, rape abuse of power.

The writing itself is simply stunning, the narration crisp and clear. Set firmly just before, yet inspired by the #metoo movement, so convincingly infact that i believed the story. The characters are something other, they are flawed, they are raw, they are loveable and intensely dislikable.

Emily is doing good work, but good work doesn’t necessarily make you good people, I swung often between respecting her solid moral compass, pitying her lack of compassion and insight, her sheer bloody mindedness and without spoiler being absolutely furious and outraged by her actions. Tamsin is something of an enigma throttled by how life changed for her, an outwardly free spirit yet railing against living in fear of anything or anyone, any more. The relationship between the two had so much promise. Emily wants to be her almost, I don’t think there’s a sexual element to the friendship, just admiration swaying into jealousy.
Lucy, who has been a very misunderstood lifelong friend who needed the same respect as Tamsin, yet was dismissed by Emily for being “always ok” yet she found her voice in the end.

This is deep for sure. It’s unsettling because there’s more than a grain of truth in the fiction. These characters are all of us in some way. The complexities of right and wrong reactions laying always with the woman, and always with the fact we all have a story. An outstanding if intensely unsettling read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Manilla press and Bonnier books U.K. for granting my wish to listen to this audiobook in return for an honest review.

This is the kind of book that you want to devour in one read, and could easily be swept away by it and do so. I think this has the potential to appeal to a large audience, as it exists at the intersection of the disaster milennial woman novel that is so popular today and the #metoo novel. This lulls you in with the promise of a story of being in your twenties and adrift and falling in love with the interesting people you come across, unable to not fall into their orbit, but then it slowly transforms into a novel about becoming desensitised to real life instances of injustice while getting lost in the theory of legality, perfect victimhood and respectability politics. This is very voice-y in the best kind of way, and each character is offerred depth and care and comes across as someone that could easily be real, someone you might stumble across in the city.
Added points for the fantastic audiobook narration, which really made it all come together perfectly.

I lived in London for a short while when I went to university there, and I was transported back atmosphere-wise throughout this book. It got it spot on! On top of that, the writing style and flow of the book worked perfectly. Though not much was happening, I was always interested in the moment. The character voice was relatable and clear. It’s also very contemporary British, which I liked. I don’t get that out of many books (the last one being Open Water).

How feminism is utilised in this book was great – not too serious or preachy, but ultimately ever-present, naturally brought into conversation, and topical. What's more, just because the characters talk about these topics doesn’t mean the adhere to them religiously – the opposite. Emily’s thoughts about Tamsin are often flawed, the result of socialisation in patriarchy. She also judges her long-time friend for wanting a baby – saying she expected more from her – is blind to things in her past that were wrong, etc. Her views aren’t consistent because humans aren’t consistent, no matter how hard we try. You get the idea that Emily wants to do the right thing but is also trying to be adored/desired/seen as interesting, so is caught somewhere in the middle. It was a position I could relate to.

What I loved most was that Tamsin, though she is strong in herself and her opinions about men and how they may treat her, has a moment of feeling small because of one man’s perverted actions. It was a moment of her humanity, a soft spot in her armour. And then that builds to something much bigger and serious.

And then Emily comes into her own, and it is amazing!

The narrator for the audiobook, Tanya Reynolds, is outstanding. If you get the opportunity/aren’t sure if you want to buy the book or audiobook, the audiobook is worth it.