![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Verdict: Rife with crucial issues, Jackson’s newest YA bestseller will require multiple formats to satisfy audience demands. Just as effortlessly, Abbott-Pratt drops to Korey’s sly wheedling and rage-filled growls, and quickly ratchets up to parental disbelief-turned-desperation. Her versatile voice catches just the right pitch: straddling Enchanted’s naivete and sudden maturation, the doubt-filled frustration of her elusive friend Gabriela, and the bitter bite of additional victims. Jackson is the critically acclaimed author of Allegedly, Monday’s Not Coming, and Let Me Hear a Rhyme. Narrator Joniece Abbott-Pratt has no easy job here, but her raw, emotional involvement offers an affecting enhancement to an urgent performance. Reality proves to be a never-waking nightmare, as Korey’s initially sweet, thoughtful façade reveals a manipulative monster preying on young girls. True to her name, enchanted she hoped her life must be, to receive his generous financial support for her struggling family. She might have thought she was grown when she insisted on building a singing career with Korey as mentor. Jackson’s ( Let Me Hear a Rhyme) latest has all that and worse: the gruesome opening chapter introduces 17-year-old Enchanted Jones as she confuses the blood of murdered megastar Korey Fields for beet juice. Before the story even begins, the recording opens with a content warning for sexual abuse, rape, assault, child abuse, kidnapping, and opioid addiction. ![]()
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