Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

E-Audio, 08:19:15
Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt 
Release Date: September 15, 2020
Published by: Katherine Tegen Books
Read from: October 23-27, 2020
Stand-alone
Source: Library (Overdrive)
TW: Death (not pictured),Violence, mentions of sexual abuse, rape, assaults, child abuse, kidnapping, stalking, and addiction to opioids
For fans of: Realistic Fiction, Music, Contemporary, Thriller, Good Audios, Sparkly Covers, DEAR, Diverse Authors, Diversity, Favorites, Own, Own Voices, POC on Cover, POC MC, YA

    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.

*MY THOUGHTS*

I don’t even know where to start with this one. I knew it would be good, because we all know (according to me anyway) Tiffany Jackson can do no wrong lol but I was not expecting it to be like THIS. I didn’ want to stop listening! Trust me, you don’t want to miss this powerful book.

Korey Fields is dead. And Enchanted wakes up in a room covered in “beet juice” and his body, with no recollection of anything that happened. She’s been in the news for getting her big break in stardom with Korey, but also in the more recent months, they were in the news for something completely different. She’s been star-struck by all the attention she’s been receiving from him, but she doesn’t expect things to take the turn that they do. Korey, the sweet star that everyone loves is not who everyone thinks he is. But who killed him?

The best part of this is the same across all of Jackson’s books. Her intricate writing style is always a way to suck me into her books. Every time I pressed play I got sucked into her words time and time again. And with this one, I kept constantly listening because there were so many times I was rooting for Enchanted to finally “get it.” The way the story was told was also pretty cool. Normally back and forth stories make me crazy because of the back and forth, but this one was easy to follow and I didn’t get lost at all. And I was listening to it sped up.

I also loved the characters. Jackson did a good job of hiding the real Korey. I thought it was a super accurate representation of how Hollywood really is. So many are seen as stars to the public, but are hiding demons that are dangerous to so many people. This is exactly why this story sounds so much like a #MeToo Movement book.

This book hit hard for me because I was around when the R. Kelly story finally broke. She said this isn’t the story it’s based on, but there’s so many parallels to what his victims have said happened to them. It was so much harder to see what was happening, I guess because I’m older now. I didn’t follow it much when I was younger, but now this hit me so hard. It made me hurt for the victims so much more.

Last but not least, the narrator was amazing. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. This is the power of Own Voices. The accents, the way certain words are expressed, and so much more. It just always amazes me how just the right author or even voice narrator can “make” a book like an Own Voices author/narrator does.

I tried to make this review as vague as possible because it’s a thriller. I wouldn’t want to spoil this for anyone. That’s why I stayed far away from the ending. But let me tell you, you won’t see it coming. I can normally guess it, but even I didn’t this time. And I didn’t even think of HOW it happened. But I think that’s Jackson’s fault. I was too into the story to even worry about guessing whodunit.

This book was so much more than what I was expecting. Jackson’s writing style and the ability to write a story, keep the reader engaged, to love and hate someone at the same time…. It’s not hard to see why she can do no wrong.

Overall, I give this