Luckiest Girl Alive: A Novel

I first read Luckiest Girl Alive back in 2016, and it still stands out as one of the most intense psychological thrillers I’ve ever read. This was my introduction to Jessica Knoll’s writing, and from the very first page, I was completely hooked. The story of Ani FaNelli—a woman who appears to have it all but is hiding deep, painful secrets—unfolds with razor-sharp wit, raw emotion, and shocking twists that I never saw coming.Knoll creates an incredibly complex and layered protagonist in Ani. She’s sharp, ambitious, and at times unlikable, yet her story is deeply compelling. The way the novel unpacks trauma, reinvention, and the pressure to project a “perfect” life is both unsettling and thought-provoking. The tension in this book is unreal—I flew through it, completely addicted to unraveling Ani’s past and discovering just how much she was willing to risk to reclaim her truth.I haven’t seen the Mila Kunis adaptation yet, but I can only hope it captures the depth and intensity of the book. If you love dark, twisty thrillers with a powerful emotional core, Luckiest Girl Alive is a must-read.

📚BOOK REVIEW📚Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica KnollRating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5Genre: Mystery ThrillerTropes: dual timeline, secret past, fake life, childhood traumaAni has a glamorous job at a magazine, a conventionally beautiful body, and a good looking fiancé from a wealthy family. On the surface, she looks completely put together.But it’s a lie. After a traumatic incident that occurred when she was a teenager at a prestigious prep school, she completely reinvented herself. She meticulously chose new features of her personality based on what would get her ahead in life.As her wedding draws near, she is invited by a documentary producer to speak about the incident that occurred at the prep school. She struggles with figuring out what to tell them, because telling the whole truth would destroy the “picture-perfect” life she has worked so hard to create.Throughout the story, we get to learn about what exactly happened to her as a teenager and how much of it she has lied about to everyone (including her family and the police).~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~This one was a very solid read. I think it definitely could be relatable for a lot of people, but also possibly a bit triggering. It definitely touches a lot on the bullying dynamic that can occur in schools.I really like the author’s writing style; it’s very entertaining. The way she weaves analogies into everything really adds to the story.Ani, the main character, is very interesting. She is definitely very multi-dimensional. This is one of those books where you end up not really liking any of the characters because everyone is kind of problematic.Overall, very solid read. If you like thrillers with an academy setting and where the details are slowly unveiled throughout the book, you’ll probably like this one.

I guess many of those who read Gone Girl will like this book, but it's really not that similar. To me, this book was more like a dark chick lit novel. Just like so many of those I've read, she's pretty, very fashionable, and is engaged to a dreamy, charming and rich Mr. Perfect. Oh, and she also writes for a big name women's magazine. (Why is it that the protagonist in chick lit novels is almost always a writer or an editor for a beauty / fashion / women's magazine of some kind???)Except this book has a very deep, dark story from her deep, dark past. I agree with other reviewers that "TifAni" wasn't very likable. I thought she was kind of snooty, pretentious, spoiled, whiny and annoying. Just a few pages in, I was getting really sick of her obsession with her weight, same with her obsession with designer labels and keeping up appearances...trying too hard while trying really hard to not look like you're trying too hard, lol. But then keep reading, and you begin to understand how she got that way. Ok, so this part is similar to how Gillian Flynn writes: the characters are made unlikable for a reason- so you can see how damaged they are and why.The rest of the characters seemed one or two dimensional at best. I think the author could have given them more depth. The story itself didn't seem all that believable to me.Having said that, I bought this book last night and read it in just a few hours. The book had a good story line, held my attention and I couldn't put it down. To me, this still makes for what I consider a "good" book, because it served that purpose and took me away into another world for a while.When I think of Gone Girl, I think of a story that is being told from different viewpoints with more well-developed characters. The characters in Gone Girl aren't likable either, but you see much more to them. Also, Gone Girl has more unexpected twists and turns and practically does a 180 about halfway through. In Luckiest Girl Alive, the story just develops further and you find out more about what happens in Ani's sordid past. But you expected it to be sordid to begin with. Don't get me wrong, it kept me reading and it was done very effectively, but I'm kind of over just about every new book out being compared to Gone Girl...