Mundie Moms

Thursday, January 12, 2017

ALLEGEDLY by Tiffany D. Jackson / Book Review


By: Tiffany D. Jackson
Published by: Katherine Tegen Books
To Be Released on: January 24th, 2017
Pre-Order from: Amazon | B&N
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A copy of this book was provided by the publisher, in exchange for my honest review

Orange Is the New Black meets Walter Dean Myer’s Monster in this gritty, twisty, and haunting debut by Tiffany D. Jackson about a girl convicted of murder seeking the truth while surviving life in a group home.
Mary B. Addison killed a baby. 
Allegedly. She didn’t say much in that first interview with detectives, and the media filled in the only blanks that mattered: a white baby had died while under the care of a churchgoing black woman and her nine-year-old daughter. The public convicted Mary and the jury made it official. But did she do it? 
There wasn’t a point to setting the record straight before, but now she’s got Ted—and their unborn child—to think about. When the state threatens to take her baby, Mary’s fate now lies in the hands of the one person she distrusts the most: her Momma. No one knows the real Momma. But does anyone know the real Mary?

A gut-wrenching debut. This is a story about what happens when the whole world is against you, and you have a new reason to find your own voice. You take a stand, and prove to them you're more than they think they know about you. 

Mary B. Addison's story is an emotionally jarring read, and one that leaves you rooting for the girl who by the world standards, doesn't stand a chance. Jackson's powerful debut proves that this one girl is more than a stereotype. She's more than what people have said about her. More than what a system has ridden her off to be, and more than someone who should have been there for, thought she was. When the world has been against Mary, she's got nothing left to do, but fight back. 

This is the second emotionally jarring book I've read this week. Not only do I usually try and limit myself with reads like this, like really limit myself. I have a hard time emotionally detaching from stories like this. There was something about Mary that I wanted to know more about. Like the very few people who have been on her side through her young teen life, I believed there was much more to her story than the reports were saying. I liked that Jackson used prior articles, interviews, and reports and infused those into the book to help tell Mary's story. It paints a back story, as well as leads up to the shocking conclusion of Mary's choice. 

Mary's story is vital in a world that needs more diversity. Diversity not just with it's characters, but also with it's realistic settings that portray the harsh realities that exist within our world. Jackson doesn't sugar coat a broken system, flawed protection, and the harsh realities of what girls in Mary's situation face, and deal with. For all the wrong in this story, there is resilience, hope, endurance, courage, and a character who fighters back in her own way, and doesn't give up, no matter the cost. This book is gritty, realistic, and lends a new voice in the YA world that will open your eyes to a part of our real world we don't often see in YA.

This book does contain language, abuse, sexual content, and sensitive scenes that may not be suitable for younger YA readers. 

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