Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

22 reviews

kyrstin_p1989's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book had me holding my breath the whole time I was reading it. While predictable in a lot of ways, it is still a story that demands to be told. I couldn’t even get emotional until the very end. Loosely based on R. Kelly’s abuse of young Black women, this book is a devastating portrayal of all the ways money and power allows men to get away with whatever they want to do to women, especially Black ones. This book is an homage to all the women who’ve been abused and haven’t been believed. Believe them. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Violence, Classism, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Mental illness, and Trafficking

jessicaludden's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“My wounds are invisible, weeping invisible blood. Can anyone see the black-and-blue marks painted on my heart?”

I really enjoyed this. It was really hard to read at times, but I also couldn’t stop reading it. It’s such an important book and it was really interesting to read from the perspective of a character who has been a victim of abuse and other trauma. I loved the commentary on believing survivors. I loved the inclusion of mental health and how that plays a role in believing survivors. This book made me sad and angry and that’s what it was supposed to do. The part where her dad was cutting her hair and she broke down crying thinking everything was her fault really got me. It was one of those moments where you just want everything to be okay for a character. At the end of the book Enchanted saved herself and too many times in our society survivors are forced to save themselves too. I loved the side comments from outside characters. I feel like it really accurately portrayed the discourse that occurs around situations like this. Overall, this story broke my heart, but I’m glad I read it.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body shaming, Death, Addiction, Alcohol, Blood, Gaslighting, Murder, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, and Sexual assault

kaitlynnnng's review

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.0

It’s difficult for me to rate this book.

I read the entire thing in roughly 24 hours, which I’ve never done before. It was incredibly fast-paced and I was hooked on every page.

Korey Fields is a walking red flag adorned with even more red flags. He’s abusive, he’s manipulative, he’s predatory, he’s a liar. Even though Korey himself is fictional, everything about him is painfully real.

Even though it was a quick read, it was a heavy read. I was forced to reflect not only on my own experiences as a young woman, but also to reflect on the bigger issues: the systemic disregard for and discrediting of black women, the disgusting abuse of power by wealthy men, etc. It was uncomfortable! But it was meant to be, and it was well-done.

There were a few moments and plot points that confused me and took me out of the story (at least the parts of the story that truly mattered).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Adult/minor relationship

Moderate: Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Sexual assault, Addiction, Infidelity, and Mental illness

zombiezami's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicidal thoughts, Classism, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Stalking, Dementia, Trafficking, Confinement, Sexual assault, and Violence

Moderate: Bullying, Cursing, and Vomit

Minor: Abandonment, Infidelity, and Medical content

Saneism, Misogynoir, Police Presence

_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Gut wrenching, searing, lightning fast book. The best friend dynamic is so beautiful and endearing and Gabriela is an incredible character. Enchanted is an affecting MC, too. In fact, all the characters add to and affect the plot. I didn't know where the story was going and was literally shook by the twists. My heart both raced and ached reading it. Tiffany D. Jackson has become one of my favorite authors. Grown is yet another impactful and confronting read that doesn't disappoint. Also, loved reading the acknowledgements page and discovering that Proverbs verse. I've been having some struggles lately and finding that was literally godsend. 


(p.s. Shout out to user @ravenlily for creating the 2022 Read Your Bookshelf Challenge March prompt bc otherwise I wouldn't have found this book and read it. Thank yoUu!) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Gaslighting and Bullying

charlie_hill_17_04's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Infidelity, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Rape, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Cursing

Please read this book only if you are ready to. It is extremely heavy, and deals with many difficult and triggering topics.

brookey8888's review

challenging dark emotional sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow this was hard to read but powerful. I highly recommend this if the tigger warnings aren’t to much. This is such an important topic and I’m glad she wrote about it. I really liked enchanted I though she was really strong. I do wish there was more of the familiar aspects though. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Confinement, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Stalking, Torture, Toxic relationship, and Violence

bookybadger's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Trafficking

Moderate: Addiction, Blood, Confinement, Drug use, Excrement, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Racism

Minor: Body shaming and Bullying

marxlee's review

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

2.75

First, I'd like to say that I do recommend this book and there's a lot people can get from it to learn and use as examples to other people and that is a good thing.
Now, the reason why my rating is this low is because despite that I had a hard time reading this; the topics, the scenes, sometimes the writing, the gaps in the plot, a mix of it all. See, this has some good poetic things about water, sea and stuff like that which is beautiful and the chapters are short which is helpful to the reader. But the gaps and the immense uncomfortableness I felt reading this is what I think the most when rating this book. Well, if you plan to read this please look at the trigger warnings.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic relationship, and Violence

Moderate: Body shaming, Cursing, Drug abuse, Murder, Sexism, Stalking, Alcoholism, Misogyny, and Blood

lilifane's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Uff...
The 17 year old Enchanted Jones has a dream: she wants to become a singer. At an audition she meets Korey Fields, a 28 year old superstar, who is impressed by her voice and wants to help her achieve her goal. In the end Korey is dead and Enchanted found next to him with blood on her hands and no memory of what had happened.

Through flashbacks from Enchanted's perspective you get to know what lead to this moment. And it's so painful and disgusting to read, I thought about not finishing the book multiple times. The beginning was a little rushed and therefore didn't feel as believable but the more I got into Enchanted's mind, her situation and feelings became more and more realistic. 

There are a lot of important themes discussed in the book like growing up too quickly, being taken advantage of, being a victim of rape/abuse, not being believed as a black girl/woman, etc... That was not easy to read. As for the mystery aspect of the story I really liked it (although it was a little chaotic in the end). But the Gab storyline was a too much for me. I get what the intention was, but I didn't like the execution.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Blood, Body shaming, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Violence