Book Review: Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson tells the story of Enchanted Jones, a seventeen year old girl who is groomed by famous singer, Korey Fields. When she manages to escape his control and he subsequently ends up dead, she is framed for his murder. Can Enchanted clear her name and stand up for herself and all the girls that came before her?

This book was incredibly hard to read but it is extremely important and very relevant. The topics covered in this novel are very prominent in the media, and quite often the cases are not ruled in favour of the victim. Jackson considers why this is the case while asking questions about race, gender and power and how all of these factors play into the results of most of these cases.

Enchanted Jones was a fantastically written character. I could feel her discomfort around Korey Fields emanating off the page. She felt so real that her fear around Korey became mine as I was reading, which made it all the more harder to read but even more impossible to put down.

Finally, I liked the format and how the chapters switched between what was happening currently and what happened in the past. It really made the book very complex and compelling.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a relevant and timely book on a very important topic with an excellent main character.

Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson is available now from Katherine Tegen Books.