Grown

i know i previously lauded tiffany d. jackson as a pyschological thriller master, but i made a mistake in not crediting her commentary on social issues enough. i don't want to backtrack too much, but the social commentary that monday's not coming and allegedly made were just as impactful, if not more so than their plot twists.

i urge you to read this book not for the thrill of finding out whodunnit but for the commentary on the abuse of power and how young people learning how to navigate relationships are often the victims of it. this book should scare you and make you feel sick, especially knowing that this is a fictionalized insider view of an abuse that many young people have suffered at the hands of older partners.

now please excuse me, i still feel sick and need a minute to collect myself again.

As soon as Korey appeared in the story I had a look of disgust. I can smell a predator a mile away and I just knew that man was trash. I wanted to punch him so hard in the neck.

“You know, I got to keep my location on the low. Remember, baby, I'm not your average dude.”

Yeah Korey, you're a damn creep. I swear I hated this character with every fiber in my being.

If a grown man takes interest in you he's a damn creep. No damn near 30 year old man has anything in common with a 17 year old high school student. Everything about this made me sick. He was a creep and I'm glad that everything bad happened to him. Also his entourage? Jessica? Tony? Trash people.

Everyone should read this book because it shows you how people can be wolves in sheeps clothing. Manipulative as hell.

Awesome read.

Thanks #NetGalley for the eAudio ARC. Whew, prepare yourself for this. Even knowing what it was about, as an adult reader I felt physically queasy, especially in the first third as you see all the grooming taking place and you know where's it leading and that it can only get worse. Jackson has said that she loosely based this on the R Kelly story (every trigger warning here) but it's truly about misogynoir and how we as a society don't believe, trust, and protect Black girls. As is expected in her books, the twists keep coming right up to the very end. I liked that she told some of the story through outside perspectives, like a group chat and police interviews. The audio was well read and compelling to the last sentence. I will be stocking up on copies because this one is going to fly.

Umm... WOW! Once again, Tiffany D. Jackson has written a powerful novel that explores some very touchy issues. This is another one of her novels that will stay with me and beg for a reread. The plot moves quickly and has many thrilling twists. I was truly questioning the outcome and the main character. A must read.

This is an important book for people to read.
Why? Because it deals with a subject matter that for far too long we have closed our eyes and ignored. People taking advantage of others with no voice.
As a black woman, I really felt that I could relate to the main character Enchanted. Not being believed is an everyday occurrence. Add an abuser who takes advantage of that fact, and you have a situation where people are always questioning your common sense and comparing your experiences to their own.
This book was an easy read, and kept me on the edge of my seat.
The only reason I gave it 4 stars was because I felt that the end became too rushed and there was so much more that I thought could have been explained that went unexplained. I.e. the end. Whaaaat?!
Other than that, this was the first book I have read by Tiffany D. Jackson and I am definitely interested in reading more of her work.

This is the kind of book where I got actively furious when I had to put it down. SUCH a page turner. I feel like all of Tiffany Jackson's books have that hugely compelling page turner quality and yet also at least one extra plot twist where if you did put the book down and stop to think about it for a second you'd be like, wait, what, that doesn't make sense? But you don't actually need to think about it because you just have to keep reading baby!!!!!!

Anyway, the “ripped from the headlines” R. Kelly-ish vibe here is obviously upsetting, and there's some really interesting explicit textual criticism here where the main character, Enchanted, loves Disney movies and Twilight and justifies a lot of Korey's bad behavior by thinking it's romantic like Edward Cullen or that it's okay that she's only 17 because Ariel the Little Mermaid was only 16 when she got married. It's interesting commentary but also having Enchanted explicitly think lines like that makes her sound extremely young. Which I guess is the point, she is!

This is a great one for fans of thrillers/mysteries.

4/5 - Wow! This is my first book by the author and I am impressed! The story kept me entranced as I was starting to believe Enchanted (FMC) actually was losing it. I deducted a point because the steps taken to come to a resolution at the end was far-fetched. But the story was still great.

Edit: I know he meant well, but I absolutely LOATHE that Malcolm X quote. I do not subscribe to that type of negativity when it comes to black women. And I hate that we continue to quote it 60+ years later!

I absolutely adored this book. It was heart breaking and positively gut wrenching. But it was phenomenally written. I could not get enough of this book. All I wanted to do was keep reading. The content matter was really tough, it was hard to read at times but Tiffany D Jackson handled it all so well. I felt the pain from this book in my soul, and I loved every minute of that pain.

I'm going to go back and forth between 3 and 4 stars here. I loved what this novel did: it showed how power is used against young black females. Enchanted (17) is lured into a romantic relationship with an almost 30 year-old man under the guise of starting her recording career. Jackson lays it out in such a way that everything happens in small bits, easy to swallow and then when it become obvious that Enchanted is trapped by a predator, everyone is shocked that it happened.
To begin, to the average person it seems as if celebrities live in a different universe, with different rules. Secondly, Enchanted is a 17 year old who has stars in her eyes. I don't believe she was in any way emotionally mature. I believe she was sheltered and her obsession with Disney movies was symbolic of her limited exposure to reality and the dangers that are out there.
Third, her predator had YEARS of experience doing this- Enchanted was not his first, or even 20th victim. This whole system was a well-oiled abuse machine. And he kept her drugged most days.
Here is why is loses a star or two:
The whole Gabriella subplot confused the hell out of me. At first I thought maybe Gab was in the US illegally and had to stay hidden for fear of being discovered and deported? It took something out of the story for me, I get that Jackson was trying to show how the police and the authorities discredited everything Enchanted said, but this was...extra?And I am not in any way a crime or thriller lover. I don't watch any CSI's but even I know that breaking into a crime scene and removing evidence (even evidence that could exonerate you) is illegal and should have resulted in the nanny cam being thrown out of court). It was just over the top nutty behavior.Also the big reveal at the end is unclear. Did she kill him or not?
In the end, I think this is an important read because we live in a “blame the victim” society and it needs to change. It needs to change now. I appreciate what this story had to say.