Rating: 2.5/5
What It’s About:
When legendary R&B artist Korey Fields spots Enchanted Jones at an audition, her dreams of being a famous singer take flight. Until Enchanted wakes up with blood on her hands and zero memory of the previous night. Who killed Korey Fields?Before there was a dead body, Enchanted’s dreams had turned into a nightmare. Because behind Korey’s charm and star power was a controlling dark side. Now he’s dead, the police are at the door, and all signs point to Enchanted.
Goodreads
The Review
Trigger warnings: rape, kidnapping, drug abuse, physical and emotional abuse
Grown deals with so many difficult topics to read. I appreciate what this story set out to do. It raises awareness and prompts discussion about abuse in multiple forms, use of power, and sexual predators. This book provides a safe pace for older teens and adults to unpack the complexities of what Enchanted goes through. It was also interesting to explore how society treats victims of abuse and how victims pick up the pieces of their lives.
However, the author’s execution of the story just didn’t work for me. I struggled to connect to any of the characters in the story and the mystery/thriller aspect seemed underdeveloped. The author added several things towards the end that just didn’t mesh well and it felt rushed. I couldn’t tell who actually killed Korey Fields…It left me questioning what really happened but not in a good way. And honestly, I had so little investment in the characters that I didn’t even care.
Looking at Goodreads reviews, a majority of readers Grown high ratings, so I don’t want to discourage others from reading it. It could be that it just wasn’t the book for me. Or maybe I’m just not a fan of the author’s writing style. (I have read Jackson’s book Allegedly and liked it. You can read my review on it here. My negative points were actually a bit similar for both books.) Either way, if the topic has some interest to you, you should still give it a try!