Cover Image: Grown

Grown

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Member Reviews

Grown is a hypnotizing story of a young girl trying to be a star, who gets mislead and mistreated by an older celebrity. Reminiscent of R. Kelly and Weinstein, Jackson weaves together a story of love, anger, and fear into a lesson about vulnerability.

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This books is disturbing, well-written, and deserves to be talked about.
Enchanted has a dream of being a music star and when she meets a famous idol, she thinks this is her break. As Korey begins to mentor her their relationship becomes less and less professional. Soon Enchanted knows that she is in over her head, but is unsure she has anyone that can help her.
Told in flashbacks from the present this novel explores exploitation, trafficking, and what it means to be "grown".

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Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson had to be one of the most uncomfortable reads of 2020 for me. That said, it should be required reading. With similar veins to the true life stories of survivors of singer R. Kelly's abuse. Grown follows Enchanted Jones, an aspiring singer, as she's discovered by platinum artist Korey Fields and her dreams of fame begin to unfold up to the murder of Fields for which she is a prime suspect. What is so powerful about Jackson's title is how she paints exactly how easy it is for young people to fall prey to predators like Fields and get trapped in incredibly dangerous situations they can't escape, even with help. Joniece Abbott-Pratt's narration for the audiobook captures the hopes and fears put forth by Jackson wonderfully for a haunting listen.

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After having read Monday’s Not Coming, I thought I would be prepared for Jackson’s narrative twists and her ability to fully submerse readers in the story. I was wrong in the best way. Jackson’s language is not only beautiful, it captures your attention and makes the story come to life. Her characters are flawed but learn, the plot dynamic and believable, and the themes so very important and easy to connect to the world around us.

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Wow! This book makes you think about the ugly side of mega-stardom. What happens when a very rich, charming, and talented man uses that power, in the guise of charity and mentor ship, to feed his own desires? How easy is it for a girl to lose herself in the games he plays and the glitzy, glamorous cage he pits her in? What is real? Who really cares? How will she escape him? Suspenseful and frighteningly believable since it seems to have been ripped straight from recent headlines! Definitely a worthy addition to any young adult collection.

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I wanted to like this book much more than I actually liked it. The basic premises of the book being an exploration of abuse done by men of power but I didn’t feel like that is the book we got. This book was part of an exploration of women’s role in society and part a confused narrative that needed a little more direction. Enchanted’s experience with Korey is chilling and very realistic filled with important messages that teen girls need to read. However, there is another part of this book that felt like it had an identity crisis. What is the mystery? Why is there a weird gaslighting storyline that isn’t actually a gaslighting storyline? Why doesn’t Enchanted fully tell people what happened to her? Why didn’t I ever really care for Enchanted? Grown had the potential to be a powerful commentary on society however its message got muddled in the meandering narrative.

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3.75 stars. It was a little too heavy-handed at times and it was hard for me to feel like I really knew Corey. It was also hard to follow when everything was going down at Corey’s place. The premise is intriguing, but there were mature thematic elements that made it inaccessible for many teens and school libraries. Some elements were also explained away too easily or dealt with in too basic of a way.

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This was an absolutely fantastic examination of the abuse and erasure Black women face not only in the music industry, but in every day life. Parts of this story were so hard to listen to, and it's heartbreaking to know actual teenage girls suffered this kind of abuse. Tiffany D. Jackson has a way of writing main characters that you just fall in love with and sympathize with; my heart broke throughout the story when Enchanted was gaslighted by everyone around her and made to believe that she was "going crazy."

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This book is different. It illustrates how young black women are overly sexualized from a young age. Jackson, also illustrates how isolating it is to date someone who is older and controlling. The narrative is extremely relatable. Many young girls will see their expiriences and the expiriences of their friends here. This is necessary reading for all young women.

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For anyone who has loved all of Tiffany D Jackson's books, you will continue that love with this book! Enchanted Jones wants to be a singer as she gets to the end of her high school career. As a big time R&B artist comes around, he starts to win Enchanted over. She learns real quick though that being a singer and being a part of the business isn't all that she thought it would be. Being on the road, making decisions all on her own proves to be tough but as things start to get scary and unsafe, who can Enchanted turn to? She's away from home and doesn't feel as though she has her voice anymore as she starts to see another side of Korey Fields. This book will keep you interested from the first page to the last!

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Trigger Warnings: Grooming, Sexual Assault, Rape, Physical Abuse, Mental Abuse, etc.

When teenaged singer Enchanted Jones runs into her favorite R&B star, Korey Fields, she’s starstruck, and when he wants to mentor her, it seems like a dream come true. He’s polite, he’s cool, he’s interested, and he seems to really care about her. Oh yeah, and he’s waaaaay older than her seventeen years. When Enchanted wakes up with no memory and blood on her hands, the burning question on everyone’s mind is, “Who killed Korey Fields?” The book flashes back and forth between the present and the horrific events that led up to the night of his death.

I couldn’t put this down. I finished it in a single listening session over the course of a day. The author points out in her notes that this is not the story of R. Kelly, rather it’s the story of a bigger, systematic problem of men in power being able to groom and abuse young girls for decade without being checked on their behavior or punished for their actions.

Stop. Blaming. Girls. Stop victim blaming. Stop defending gross men who keep getting away with this. Stop listening to your problematic fav even though he’s been raping girls for decades. Hold people accountable. That means punishing the perpetrators, but it goes further than that. Punish people who know about it and do nothing, even if they don’t actively take part. Stop excusing this behavior. Stop demanding dozens of accusations before an investigation begins.

Fiction is so important. No, this isn’t exactly R. Kelly’s story, but there are many parallels. People knew what was going on and they let it happen. Fans knew what was happening, and they defended him. Parents blamed other parents for “letting” their children be abused in this way. This book shows how bad things can happen to people even when they are safe, even when they do all of the right things. Know why? Because it is the fault of the abuser and the abuser only. People criticize others because they think that makes them safe from such atrocities, because they aren’t “those kinds of people,” that it could never happen to them.

This book shows exactly how it can happen to anyone. This is how lobsters die, little by little things get worse until they are a nightmare and there’s no way out. I implored you to read this book if you aren’t overly triggered. It humanizes a sensational story and helps those of us who have never been in that situation (and hopefully never will be) to better understand and empathize with people.

It’s out now, and the audiobook is beautifully narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt, who also narrated Legendborn, which I’m also currently listening to.

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I ended up getting approved for the book and the audiobook (which I didn’t expect) and I prefer books so I chose to read and review the book. This is that review “Tiffany Jackson does it again. Her work is always amazing! Can’t wait to see what she publishes next :)”

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Wow! This book is hard. It starts in beet juice and ends in blood. It is as real as real can get. And it pisses me off. Not the book, the subject. The author did an amazing job in writing a hard subject that is often neglected. It’s about a young person in an abusive relationship. So many youth think this can't happen to them, but it can and it does. I knew nothing about this going in. I was listening to it as an audiobook and it was absorbing, but you did have to take breaks. It feels too real. In my head I kept seeing R. Kelly and that situation. I really like how the author states in her note at the end that this is not a story of R. Kelly, but a story of similar situations. In a way I think the author chickened out having the story end in blood. It’s almost too easy. Because I see the R. Kelly story in this, I think of his victims who have to live day in and day out not watching their story be retold, rehashed every time a new charge arises, or he gets bailed out and continues his habit. Death gives a solid ending, and while for the character it is not an easy ending, for the reader it is. The bad guy is gone (that is not a spoiler, you know from the beat juice beginning). For the reader they can say this is just a book, that’s not me, that’s not my friend, that’s not my family, that’s not my idol. Overall, this book is excellent. It will live in my mind for a long time to come, but I expect nothing else from Tiffany Jackson. An excellent book, a hard book, a necessary book.

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Grown was a hard read but incredibly important and compelling too. Tiffany Jackson is a master storyteller, and her author's note at the end of this book is not to be missed either.

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THANK YOU, TIFFANY D. JACKSON! She once again hit a homeroom with her novel "Grown." From Allegedly to Monday's not Coming to Let me Hear Ya Rhyme, she can not write a bad novel. Each of her novels shares an important message, and Grown shares one of the most important messages for our times.

Grown follows the story of Enchanted Jones (Chanty), who is an aspiring singer when she meets the critically acclaimed singer Korey Fields. When the novel opens, the reader is shown Chaunty in a room with blood all over it, and we are taken on a trip back in time to piece together what happened to her. We follow her from her first meeting with Korey, who begins grooming her from the beginning. He convinces her parents to let him give her singing lessons, even though there is a huge age difference between them. Chaunty is 17, and Korey is 29 years old. I don't want to give away too much of the plot because this is a MUST read. Jackson really writes about a part of our society, sexual abuse, and grooming that many authors have not really written about. She allows the readers to take this trip with Chaunty and really feel her pain as she is abused by Korie and convinced that he is a good man.
I can not recommend this novel enough, and I would like to thank Netgalley for the ARC.

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for early access to this audiobook!

First off, there are MANY trigger warnings for this novel. They are all listed at the beginning of the book. Please take care of yourselves and only read what you can handle.

Hm. This was a tricky one. I’m really torn. Let’s break it down.

Things I liked:

-This covered a VERY important topic. Grooming, like depicted here, occurs every day. I am glad that this novel has shown light to it. I know that reading this can be very hard but I also know that this story can help so many people.

However, personally, I had some issues with it in the context of a novel that is being read for enjoyment.

Things I didn’t like:

-if you closely follow the R. Kelly case or have seen the documentary series then this book may be a little boring for you. I felt that the story was exactly like the real case for 75% and then the last quarter got a little too crazy Lifetime movie for me.

-I did not find that the main character was fully flushed out. I did not feel any real sense of connection to her.

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This book, loosely based on the R. Kelly story, was a really tough read. It covers a lot of emotionally charged subjects and is very timely. The grooming and abuse of young girls is not new, but Enchanted's story really brought these horrors to life for me. It was easy to see how Enchanted was dazzled by Korey's attention and thought that he could make her dream of being a famous singer come true. The way he ended up treating her was the stuff of nightmares, especially for the parent of a teenage girl. I appreciate that Tiffany D. Jackson doesn't shy away from really hard topics because we all need to be aware of them and fiction is a great vehicle for that. Unfortunately, it seems like with this particular book the plot was neglected near the end and there were some parts of the story that didn't really add up (ex. Gabriela).

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did an excellent job. Each character had his/her own unique voice and it brought the story to life. I would definitely recommend the audiobook. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC of the audiobook.

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Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with advanced copies of both the book and audiobook.

This book was a slow read for me, simply because it's heavy and hard subject matter. I'm very glad I switched to the audiobook after the first couple of chapters because I think Joniece Abbott-Pratt's reading of the book brought so much to Enchanted's story. One of my favorite reads and listens of 2020.

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Grown was such a dark and impactful read!!

We follow 17 year old Enchanted Jones, an inspired singer who gets her opportunity to try out at a singing competition where she meets 28 year old Korey Fields. Korey, a famous singer himself, decides to take Enchanted under his wing, promising her a gateway to her singing career.. As their relationship dynamic shifts into unexpected territory, Korey begins to reveal a darker controlling side of himself. One day, Enchanted wakes up in a hotel room that’s covered in blood and with Koreys dead body. As the story unfolds we begin to wonder, what really happened that night? Who killed him? Was it Enchanted? 

This is the first book I read by Tiffany A Jackson and I absolutely loved it. The book was beautifully written in four parts with a then and now storyline, discussing heavy topics such as abuse and manipulation. We watch Enchanted's life before and after her involvement with Korey and the trauma she experiences. She was a raw and retable character. It was painful to see her go through the pain she endured. The story reflects on the power older men have on young women, the mistreatment that black women endure and how the media portrays them. The book also highlighted and important messages that I connected to in correlation to the story it involves the title itself: Grown. With Grown, many teenagers and young adults see themselves as mature and having the capability and mindset to make their own discussions when they don’t. 

Highly recommend this read, thank you Netgalley for this audiobook/ARC, 4/5 stars

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This book was frustrating, haunting, and so important. It follows the story of Enchanted Jones, an aspiring singer who meets one of her idols. What follows is how that man uses his power, charm, and influence to abuse her and countless others. Even though the subject matter is very intense, Jackson's writing is never sensational and there are moments of levity and hope that shine through Enchanted's situation. This book has the potential to lead to important conversations between young people and adults about consent, abuse, and age differences in romantic partners. A list of resources at the back also make the book valuable. The audiobook is highly recommended.

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