This book was extremely thrilling. You find out immediately that Enchanted Jones woke up in a room with Korey Fields’ dead body and after that chapter, you’re taken back to where it all began. Finding out what led Enchanted to that place was binge-able, but also awful.

Because what I didn’t realize from the synopsis is that Enchanted was 17 and Korey was 28. He groomed her, alienated and isolated her from her loved ones, manipulated her, gaslit her... it was really horrible. And she thought it was love. It was a really brutal look at how a girl can be ruined by someone she thinks she can trust.

There’s another layer in this book specifically, because Enchanted is a Black girl. Historically ignored, disbelieved, and mistreated by a system that’s supposed to “protect” them. No, white girls aren’t always believed when they speak out against their abusers, especially when their abusers are in positions of power. But Black girls in the same situations often don’t even get their story told. And I don’t fall under this representation, but there is also focus on the Black community and how even other Black people tend to disbelieve or blame Black girl victims. The title of the book hints at this - Grown. Many people in the book chastise Enchanted behind her back for thinking she’s “grown” and running around with an adult. Very few people stop to even think the 28 year old is in the wrong for dating a 17 year old. It’s a good examination of the way that girls, Black girls especially, are led to feel shamed into silence.

This was a tough read but it will be really helpful in showing young people how to see red flags when older people interact with them. I don’t want to say I enjoyed this but it was a fast-paced and easy read and I’ll be recommending it.

Tiffany D Jackson has brought her flawless style, amazing twists and fascinating characters to the R Kelly/#MeToo movement in Grown, out this September wherever books are sold.

Enchanted (aka Chanty) is a middle-class Black girl growing up in Westchester. She loves to sing, but she also has to take care of her siblings, try and deal with a very white school, and try and find a future--but then, at a singing audition--she's introduced to singer and superstar Korey Fields, this world's version of an R Kelly meets Justin Bieber. Or maybe that's what R Kelly is like for some people, or was like years ago. Anyway, Enchanted quickly becomes...wait for it..enchanted by him, the promises he makes her and her career, and she and him start working on music together. But I don't need to tell you, or link the TMZ stories, for you to know this is going nowhere good.As Enchanted becomes more caught up in Korey's world she starts to see a side of him she never expected, and it becomes harder and harder for her to escape...until someone ends up dead.

This book...wow! The pacing is a bit weird, but it make sense because we have to cover a lot of ground. This kind of situation doesn't happen overnight. I've only briefly followed the R Kelly sage (and the only song I know is Remix to Ignition?) but I recognized a lot of the same threads I'd read in TMZ stories, but this book also feels unique in its own right. It's clearly got some inspiration from that, but R Kelly isn't the only predator and abuser out there, and Jackson does a great job of bringing her usual gut punches and twists in this book. You'll be on the edge of your seat to see what happens!

Also...this cover, am I right??