Author Tiffany D. Jackson doesn’t shy away from the hard issues. In her laest work, Grown, Jackson explores child kidnapping and sexual abuse. 

All seventeen year old Enchanted Jones wants to do is sing. When she meets superstar Korey Jones, she believes all her dreams will come true. Instead, her dreams turn into a nightmare. 

Korey is eleven years older than Enchanted. He promises her love and a record album but only delivers lies, isolation, and mental, physical and sexual abuse. 

When Korey is murdered, Enchanted is the main suspect but she knows she didn’t do it. She must find out the truth and learn to heal. 

This is a chilling story of a predator who manipulates his victim and how those around him enable him. Jackson’s writing is crisp and she keeps the story moving. The narration by Joneice Abbott-Pratt is excellent. She makes it easy to distinguish each character. She strikes the right tone for Enchanted, a girl on the verge of being a grown up and yet still a kid.

I would definitely booktalk this to students in grades 9 through 12. It is a compelling and cautionary tell that could help girls see the some of the sings of manipulation and abuse and also give hope to be able to escape and start to heal.

This was my first book by Tiffany D. Jackson, and it won't be my last. It is a young adult book but definitely for a mature audience. The narrator was amazing; this story is full of emotional highs and lows (mostly lows, unfortunately), and her voice really conveyed the doubts and insecurities of the main character. Highly recommend on audio.

With shades of the R. Kelly case, Grown is a Me Too book for all girls, but especially empowering for the black and brown girls- their voices silenced even more when they try to speak up about abuse and rape. 

Enchanted Jones is a seventeen year old girl with a love for swimming and a passion for singing.  Her parents work hard to send her and her siblings to private schools where they are well educated, but definitely the minority among their mostly all white classmates.  When a chance meeting with music star, and 28 year old, Korey Fields, gives her the chance to achieve her dreams, Enchanted is all bright eyed with hope and the spark of attraction. 

Korey offers to mentor her, but soon their relationship turns dark.  Korey has a thing for young girls, and a way of keeping them silent.  One morning, Enchanted awakens covered in blood, next to the body of Korey Fields, confused, scared, and the pounding on the door signals the arrival of police. 

Grown explores how society often blames young women over the powerful, older men they become entangled with.  Tiffany D. Jackson brings the mystery and thriller elements to the story as well, as even the reader is unsure what went down that night until the very end.  

This is my first audiobook narration by Joniece Abbott-Pratt, but it won't be my last!  She perfectly captures the ups and downs of Enchanted's story, from shy school girl, to hopeful star, from first love to scared love, from terror to strength.  

Also, that cover!  I loved the audiobook, but I'm totally buying a physical copy for my shelves too.

So unbelievably good! I had high expectations for this and it definitely lived up to those expectations. This is for sure going to be in my top books of 2020 because of how much it resonated with me and made me feel. This book discusses so many important topics including how we need to protect Black girls and believe them when they say something happened to them rather than questioning them on it. It was so frustrating to see how Enchanted was treated and to know that happens and is happening to real people right now. This was difficult to read at times but the conversation is so much more important than feeling uncomfortable for a while. I think if you can handle the triggers in this book (listed below) then I would highly recommend this to you. Every twist/reveal was done so well and at the perfect time that it took me by surprise. I love Tiffany D Jackson’s writing style and the narrator of this did a beautiful job conveying the story along with the emotion of it.

TW: sexual abuse, rape, assault, child abuse, kidnapping, addiction to opioids, grooming

Wow. This is the second book I've read by Tiffany D. Jackson and it seems that her books are consistently difficult to read but impossible to put down. I stayed up WAY too late finishing Grown and I don't regret it.

Enchanted Jones dreams of being a singer and she has the voice to prove it. After attending an audition in Manhattan, she unexpectedly meets Korey Fields, a world-renowned superstar musician. Korey is 28 to Enchanted's 17 and while her gut sometimes questions Korey's motives, she is happy to be caught up in Korey's whirlwind. Enchanted starts taking singing lessons with Korey and with promises of recording an album, she goes on tour with him. Their relationship turns intimate, but Korey becomes more and more controlling. He cuts off contact with Enchanted's parents, takes her phone, and drugs her on a regular basis. Eventually she loses all sense of self and is completely trapped in Korey's nightmare world. The book begins with Korey's murder and Enchanted having no memory of what happened to him. We then flip back and forth between 'Then' - the time leading up to his murder and 'Now' - the aftermath.

Jackson is masterful at building tension and suspense. I really couldn't stop myself from reading on and on into the night. She tells a story that I haven't seen before in Young Adult fiction that is both compelling and heartwrenching. However, her writing does have weak spots. The dual timelines have a few points of confusion and time jumps that weren't quite clear. I also found the confusion around Gab's character to be unnecessary and unrealistic. I think the narrative fell apart a bit during the final third of the book - it's reflective of Enchanted's mental state but not in a way that works for readers. Overall, however, this is an important book that will absolutely draw readers in and keep them. I would recommend Grown for slightly older teens as the depictions of abuse and assault were intense even for me.

I've heard this narrator before and I liked her quite a bit! The audio was an enjoyable experience.

This was hard to get through at times because of the subject matter, but wow was it worth the listen. It is inspired by the allegations of abuse and sexual misconduct against R Kelly, and it deals very, very heavily with grooming, sexual assault, and emotional manipulation. If you're at all sensitive to those things, I would recommend treading with caution as it explores those topics very deeply on page and doesn't really pull any punches as it does so. However, I think that if you can handle the subject matter, this book is a must read. I listened to it via audiobook and I LOVED the narrator's portrayal of Enchanted and I thought it was extremely well done. Overall- this book was just incredible and I highly, highly recommend.

TW: grooming, emotional manipulation, pedophilia, sexual assault, rape, child abuse, kidnapping, addiction, revenge porn, suicidal ideation

Wow.
There is so much incredible stuff going on in this story.
The main character is instantly likeable and relatable. We all remember being a teenager with big dreams. This is a girl with talent and the drive to succeed. 
She finds herself in a terrible position but the story makes you understand how she got there.  It is such a great portrayal of the abuse of power and celebrity. I think this story is so important for teens of today and I think every teen will be able to connect with this book. The book is very timely. Celebrities are more accessible than ever because of social media and teens are more at risk because of it. The book does a great job of showing the red flags while still showing why a young girl would fall prey this type of abuser.  
The book tackles a huge, depressing issue and handles it with care. It also has a mystery element that starts to get a bit excessive near the end but I think that it might help keep teens interest.
The narration was really wonderful. She really did a perfect job. I listened to it all in 1 day which is something I never do.
Compulsively readable while delivering an important message.

My most anticipated YA book and it lived up to the five stars as I thought it would be! I loved this audiobook so much, it definitely told the story, I listened to it in a day. I ate this book up! I loved the story and characters as a whole. Men truly do take advantage of young girls especially rich ones that know they can buy silence. 
I loved everything about this book, the only compliant is I wish it was a little longer. However I still enjoyed this real story through the work of fiction. 

Thanks to Netgalley & Harper Audio for the opportunity to listen to the audiobook! I also did already preordered this book a while ago!

Even though I just finished this, I instantly want to re read, annotate and listen to the audiobook again.