Reviews

Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

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Enchanted just wanted to sing and Korey took advantage of that. A grown man taking advantage of a young black girl. This story gave me “R. Kelly” vibes. Everyone around Korey knew what was going on with him and nobody did nothing, if anything they made it easy for him to prey on those young girls. This was a heavy read but it was good!

shante9700's review

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5.0

Whew

linnaboobooks's review

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5.0

Trigger warnings for grooming, abuse, kidnapping, rape, addiction to drugs, revenge porn (of an underaged girl).

Let me start with praising Tiffany D. Jackson for putting trigger warnings in the front of the book because while I knew what I was getting into when picking up this, it's so important to have those in here.

Now to the harder to discuss aspect of this review: how young women of color, especially black girls and women are often not believed by our justice system and are preyed on because of their home life, poverty, the color of their skin. How abuse is about power and control. In Grown, it's especially about power and money. Korey had all this, and the girls were never believed, dismissed as wanting his money, and everything warped to follow the narrative he created against them. And it's absolutely heartbreaking and anger-inducing.

janagaton's review

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4.0

I listened to this one on audio, and I really wish I read it physically because it's a lot harder for me to internalize and retain audiobooks. This book discusses several very important topics and has numerous trigger warnings, such as sexual harassment, verbal abuse, statutory rape, etc. I totally didn't realize I was missing the climax until I was listening to the aftermath of it all, which most definitely wouldn't have happened if I were reading it physically. That's obviously my fault and probably the only reason why it wasn't a full 5-star experience for me. Tiffany D. Jackson always does a great job weaving tragic realities of this ugly world into the lives of fictional characters, and Grown was no exception.

mercykill's review

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4.0

This book was incredibly powerful and had me on the edge of my seat, despite how harrowing, disturbing, and raw the subject matter was. I didn't enjoy the book in the traditional sense (because this was not a happy book) but was thoroughly engrossed and couldn't put it down. The story is well crafted and has such care and dedication behind it, which I could feel through the words. The story of Enchanted Jones is powerful and important, and I would recommend this to anyone willing to give it a try. I know I am leaving this reading experience feeling stronger.

chloreadthat's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

shyster's review

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dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.25

tatyanavogt's review

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5.0

I knew this was going to cover heavy topics but I didn't realize how thrilling and gripping it would be. We have our main character grown who at the beginning of the book wakes up in a penthouse covered in blood. then we jump back in time to find out how she ended up there. It was upsetting, it was gripping it was really good!