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YA
Enchanted Jones wants to be a star, but her life is ordinary, until a real-life fantasy unfolds when superstar Korey Fields sees her sing at an audition. It seems her dreams of stardom are within reach, but the dream gradually turns into a nightmare, and one morning, she wakes up with blood on her hands next to Korey's dead body. Enchanted has to endure the character assassination (and victim blaming) that ensues with Korey's death. In another ripped-from-the-headlines novel, Jackson (Monday's Not Coming, rev. 7/18; Let Me Hear a Rhyme, rev. 7/19) takes readers through a heart-pounding thriller exploring physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, misogynoir, and rape culture. Enchanted's first-person narration shuttles between the past and the present, commanding readers' attention with its nonlinear structure. The story also taps into the adultification of Black girls, who are often seen as older than they are (see the book's title, Grown). In light of the #MeToo movement and of the many Black girls whose stories of abuse and assault are not told or not believed, this novel is sure to initiate important conversations while delivering an engrossing story.
Reviewer: Monique Harris
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
September, 2020