Reviews

Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

khess38's review

Go to review page

emotional mysterious tense medium-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

3.0

thriftylibrarian's review

Go to review page

4.0

I'll always read whatever Tiffany D. Jackson writes.

Believe Black Women.

lilly_koonce's review

Go to review page

4.0

I had high expectations since I love Tiffany D. Jackson's books and was NOT disappointed. The subject matter in Grown is sometimes hard to get through, but I couldn't stop reading. This book is a well-written story about an older man taking advantage of a young girl and all the consequences that follow. Highly Recommend.

marsbookreviews's review against another edition

Go to review page

4.0

4.25 ending wasn't my favorite

perusinghannah's review

Go to review page

3.0

 (5.8/10) - ⭐⭐⭐️

I know that, on average, books by Tiffany D. Jackson firmly fall under the mystery thriller and horror umbrella, but unfortunately Grown couldn't make up its mind on whether it wanted to be a hard hitting contemporary or mystery thriller. In my opinion, it really weakened itself that way. 

However, that's not to say there isn't a lot of things in Grown that were done exceptionally well, because there definitely are. For one, and perhaps most importantly given its intended audience, Jackson did a great job of illustrating what it's like for a late teen to be preyed upon by a grown adult. While the setup of the story was a lot more over the top than most cases in real life would be, I think the author got a lot of the general mechanics in there in a way that will make sense to young adults. And even though I wish the descent into active abuse had been a bit more subtle and nuanced, Jackson did nail the description of the aftermath and how it affected both our main character and those who know her. 

All the aspects around the abuse (apart from one or two underdeveloped side characters) would've made a very strong YA contemporary by themselves. But, as I said, Grown also wanted to be a mystery thriller, and that's where a lot of the impact fell away for me. In my opinion, it introduced twists that sensationalized an abuse plot unnecessarily, and in a way that breaks down the credibility of a story that is hard set on speaking out against victim blaming. Not only that, but a lot of the twists went absolutely nowhere in the end, and were altogether pointless on top of taking away from the other sides to this book. 

So not a book I loved or necessarily appreciated as a whole, but one that gave me enough accurate abuse representation to warrant a passing rating. Whether or not others will enjoy this will depend entirely on if and how they prefer to read about these topics. 

misskayleareads's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

unifrost_8824's review

Go to review page

dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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? No

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

saramelanson's review

Go to review page

2.0

Where do I begin?

Firstly, I want to talk about why I wanted to read this book in the first place. This book has a beautiful cover and it’s yellow!! (shout out to my obsession with yellow books) And when I heard this book was about sexual assault and child grooming I was even more excited to read.

However, I cannot tell if I liked this book. It was not a bad read, and was very entertaining at times. But it isn’t the best book i’ve ever read. The best comparison I have for the majority of the first half of the book, is it felt like reading a wattpad novel. (no disrespect, I used to love those) and could be very confusing at times. Nevertheless, I will say the book does wrap things up quite nicely, and things that were confusing make more sense.

I definitely enjoyed the last half of the book more. And even though I say that this book wasn’t my favorite. I still suggest you read it, because it tackles an important issue such as rape and the power imbalance that exists in child grooming relationships. It talked about the trauma and experiences women, especially black women, face after being raped, including assumptions that they are lying.

All in all, still would recommend.

zeegee26's review

Go to review page

emotional sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix

5.0

netflix_and_lil's review

Go to review page

4.0

The first part of this book was one of the most disturbing recounts of grooming I had ever read, and I started this month with Lolita. An important Post-MeToo read, written to be accessible to the people (young women) who need to read it most.