Week 48 Review: Grown

From Goodreads:
Korey Fields is dead.

When Enchanted Jones wakes with blood on her hands and zero memory of the previous night, no one—the police and Korey's fans included—has more questions than she does. All she really knows is that this isn't how things are supposed to be. Korey was Enchanted's ticket to stardom.

Before there was a dead body, Enchanted was an aspiring singer, struggling with her tight knit family's recent move to the suburbs while trying to find her place as the lone Black girl in high school. But then legendary R&B artist Korey Fields spots her at an audition. And suddenly her dream of being a professional singer takes flight.

Enchanted is dazzled by Korey's luxurious life but soon her dream turns into a nightmare. Behind Korey's charm and star power hides a dark side, one that wants to control her every move, with rage and consequences. Except now he's dead and the police are at the door. Who killed Korey Fields?

All signs point to Enchanted.

Award-winning author Tiffany D. Jackson delivers another riveting, ripped-from-the-headlines mystery that exposes horrific secrets hiding in the limelight and the power of a young woman's voice. 

My Review:
Wow, this book was really amazing! I just loved watching Enchanted and her journey, it was hard, that middle section, when she was under his control. It was such a great read on relationships and power, and I loved the way it was told, going between flash forwards to the present when he's found dead, and the story of how they met, developed a relationship, how it fell apart, and to after his death. Such a great read!  

One thing that the synopsis doesn't say, is that Korey is 27 when the book starts. And Enchanted is 17. And that age gap is a pretty big part of this plot, in the author's note at the beginning, it seems like this is the driving force in this book having been written, what it's about. And it's pretty timely, given some of the headlines and other media I've consumed recently, about grooming, which is defined as "someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them."

How Enchanted is questioned by the police is a big issue. They basically make Korey out to be the victim, even though she's 17 to 18 over the course of this book. And I don't know what percentage this takes place (the other is her age) but the biggest part of this treatment is because she's a black female. And that's just not okay. On top of that, they seem to forget that he was a full grown ass man, and she's a teenager, and he should've known better, and what he did was criminal.

I really enjoyed that ending, it was really satisficing. Really enjoyed that final chapter, because it was just that extra bit of oomph to this book. It's something that I'm coming to expect from Tiffany D. Jackson books, and I love it! 

This was such a great book, I really enjoyed reading it, and I've now read all of her full length (and I think all of her short fiction) published works, yeah! 

Author: Tiffany D. Jackson
Read: November 27th, 2020
Source: Edelweiss
Reason Why: Sounded really great, and it's a SAC 2020 Book and a WoW Book!
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books
Published: September 7th 2020

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars