Tiffany D. Jackson

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?

Allegedly

Lindsay

It’s easier to keep an animal in a cage than to play with it.

Figures of speech are luxuries convicted murderers are not allowed to have.

As someone that worked in a group home for 3 years, this hit really close to home because I saw these characters and this situation so many times. Once again, Tiffany D Jackson has this way of writing characters in a way that makes us truly feel like we are them. Her ability to get inside the heads of these main characters is fascinating to me, and I will continue to applaud her. This wasn’t as gripping as the rest of her works, in my opinion — hence the missing star. Additionally, the ending was slightly lackluster to me, but overall, it was still very enjoyable.

Nik ✨

As someone that worked in a group home for 3 years, this hit really close to home because I saw these characters and this situation so many times. Once again, Tiffany D Jackson has this way of writing characters in a way that makes us truly feel like we are them. Her ability to get inside the heads of these main characters is fascinating to me, and I will continue to applaud her. This wasn’t as gripping as the rest of her works, in my opinion — hence the missing star. Additionally, the ending was slightly lackluster to me, but overall, it was still very enjoyable.

Check trigger warnings before reading!

3.25 stars - I was so excited to read this book but after finishing it, I had to sit with it for a while. It started strong and I love the author’s writing - she compels you to a story and keeps you on your toes through 300+ pages. 2/3rds in the book I was SAT, until the last pages. The ending has loose ends imo (I’m left with a lot of questions), it wasn't really shocking to me (Mary needs SERIOUS help omg) and some language throughout the book was questionable: “Black as tar” “She’s too dark to turn pale”. Not to mention Mary’s boyfriend’s secret was alarming - especially since she just shrugged it off?! HELLO??? Your bf tells you he witnessed a girl getting graped while he stood and watched, and alarm bells didn’t go off???. Aside from that, I absolutely hated what Mary went through and the adults in her life just turning to look the other way. All in all, a good book, but just a bit on the fence about it. Also, Mary was giving me Maddy vibes (The Weight of Blood).

Joy KBA

Monicap

** spoiler alert **
           So, I really, really loved a LOT of this book. The exploration of motherhood and cycles of abuse through not only Mary's relationship with her mother and Mrs Richardson, but Mrs. Richardson and Alyssa, Mary and Alyssa, even new girl and her mother, just nuanced takes out the wazoo. Mary's pursuit of the SAT and higher education, her relationship with Bean and Ted, abuse in the way prisoners are treated both at baby jail and in the house... Like, good, good book.

That all said, I also really, really thoroughly dislike the implication at the end (view spoiler)[ that not only Mary did kill Alyssa but she's likely to kill Bean as well, possibly out of some misguided reaction to Juniors death?? And that Mary's actions are motivated by her mothering her mama??? I mean, there's something there. But I don't like it.  (hide spoiler)]

Sarah Sammis

The writing is raw, emotional, and will leave you on edge. There are no happy endings here. No story threads tied up in neat little bows. It's messy story about a terrible situation. 

http://pussreboots.pair.com/blog/2017...

Melissa Palmer

Book #63 Read in 2017
Allegedly by Tiffany D. Jackson

This is a gritty, realistic fiction young adult novel. Mary is in a group home, after years in a juvenile detention center or "baby jail". Allegedly, Mary killed an infant that her mother was babysitting. But did she? Her mother is not exactly mother-of-the year material. Mary wants to get an education, go to college and form some sort of life for herself but will that really be possible? High school and adult readers will be drawn to this book.

Lara Engle

I had a really hard time getting into this book. Part of it was that I was only reading in very short spurts. Part was that the content is disturbing. And I think a big part was that this book isn't really my jam. The inclusion of interviews and articles about the original event, giving multiple perspectives, spiced it up a bit. I guess I just found it somewhat predictable and every time I thought the story would redeem its predictability, it just didn't. I think a lot of teenagers will like this book, but I just wasn't so into it.

Sam Gonzalez

I was obsessed with this book for the first 97% of it. The writing style was fantastic and I really enjoyed the plot. 

But the ending ruined it. 

If the last chapter had been left out, this would easily be a five star read. The end felt forced and didn’t fit with the character development throughout the book. Even some conversations ended up making no sense when the “twist” was revealed. 

Overall, I was very disappointed with the book because I had such high hopes for it.

Allegedly ()

Victoria

What in the… that was… truly something else. Exceptional!

Writing this just to say I disagree with people being upset by the twist/ending. If anything, I believe it adds even more depth to the story. We just spent the whole book feeling sympathetic towards Mary for all that she has been through and is working toward, and learning her truth does not at all discredit that for me. She, just like everyone else, still deserves rehabilitation, a more functional state system, and a chance. Regardless of anything else.

Alexa M

3.5/4 ish. i really loved this book but the ending ruined that for me. just felt very cheap & contrary to the entire story. :/

4 starred reviews! 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?

lulaa

** spoiler alert **
           i cant believe after all that TURMOIL and STRESS she just was like nvm.

Anna Cashman

** spoiler alert **
           left me feeling all sorts of things... my heart was with mary the whole way and that ending though!? 

i really wanted a happy ending. i wanted the fictitious storyline arc where she fought the system that was holder her down and her mother who was pointing the finger and playing the christian card .. but what the author gave us was real, raw, and damaged. nothing happens smoothly in real life. nothing is black and white. there are always more sides, more stories, more truths to know. 

loved all the excerpts too

I was hooked on this book the second I started reading. It was very easy to connect to the character and become immersed in this painful story. As some parts were a little dry, I was originally going to rate this book a 3 until I reached the ending. It’s the type of ending that leaves your jaw on the floor, re-reading the pages in disbelief. I will be thinking about this book for a long time!

Caitlyn 

Amanda Kordeliski

Wow. Intense read with a lot of dark twists and turns.

Alexa Jade

Actual rating: 4.5 stars. 

Oh holy shit. I should’ve seen it coming but I didn’t.

Jen Estrella

Actual rating: 4.5/5
Dammit. I feel so conflicted about this one. I was so sure I would give it 5 stars. It had all the good elements - a compelling story, complex/unreliable characters, and issues worth thinking about. It packs an emotional punch too. It would suck for anybody to be stuck in juvie for something they didn't do, let alone to experience what Mary had to experience. 

I was mad at everyone while reading this book. I stayed mad at everyone until the end, after which I was ready to throw this book out the window and create a discussion post titled "what the fuck just happened, and why did it go that route?!" 



I was so ready to talk about racism and prejudice and mental illness... and then that ending. that freaking ending just had to happen. Ugh. I can't even explain how frustrated I am. It just felt so out of place. 



But but but! I still encourage you to read this book. Minus the ending, it has everything you'd want in a YA/mystery/thriller book. Come to think of it, a lot of people might dig that ending too. But well... here's the real reason I didn't quite like that ending:(view spoiler)[Because I've read Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas and Allegedly's ending did not feel as natural or as believable as that mind-blowing ending Haas pulled. (hide spoiler)]

Alexia

3.5 stars. Much better than I expected, specially for a debut novel.

Jeni Enjaian

I don't know how to feel about this book or even how to review it for multiple reasons, one of which being almost any sort of review, unless crafted extremely carefully, will give away crucial details about the book.

Jackson hooked me with the tragic story and strung me along the entire book, all the way until the end which left me with my jaw on the floor, closing my kindle not knowing what to think or how to process the novel.

Well written for sure. Recommendable? Not so sure.

Ashley Moncayo

I’m leaning more towards a 3.5. 

This is not for the faint of heart. Please read the triggers prior to picking this one up. You will most likely be uncomfortable.

However, like any Tiffany D. Jackson novel, I was gripped from beginning to end. She just has such a way of writing stories and doesn’t hold back. Also, I love the gray morality present throughout this book.

While this is not my favorite of her works, I can appreciate how much her writing has improved since she wrote this one, and for her first novel it’s still very compelling.

One teeny, tiny pet peeve that kept occurring though is the misuse of the Spanish. One of the characters is Latinx and she insults the other girls in Spanish, but in the book they appear with the wrong gender ending. For example, she called one of the girls “Estupido”but it should’ve been “Estupida”. It happens a couple more times throughout with other words too, and like I said, not a big deal, but it kept taking me out of the moment the fact that neither the author nor the editors caught this and corrected it.

Trigger warning: sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse, murder

Mary killed a baby. Allegedly.

This book is intense. It brings up so many issues that I appreciate it so so much. If anyone needs a really good discussion book this is it. Just beware of the feelings okay?

Mary's story is one that would make many people curl up into a fetus position and never get up again. She has been convicted for murdering an infant. She lives in a group home run by an overweight demanding woman and a number of incredibly violent and relentless young women. She has to sneak around with her boyfriend Ted. 

And then she gets pregnant. Which is a whole can of worms for any 15 year old, let alone someone in Mary's position. 

Her circumstances are presented in such a raw, unforgiving, no sh** way that it's admirable. Because this is a life lived by some people and nobody needs to sugar coat it. 

I personally found a little slow and am glad that I read this one as the audiobook version. The narrator is truly great at her rendition of the story. 

There is also an event near the end (view spoiler)[ involving New Girl and a set of stairs (hide spoiler)] that kinda threw me off a little. It felt a bit forced and the plot was too distracting from the main storyline for me. 

Though the actual ending was perfectly executed in my opinion. I thought it truly brought home all the conflicted, ugly feelings this book is forcing you to experience. 

A truly good book about the child protection system, juvenile justice, and the American justice system. 

See my full review and more over at my blog!.

Ciska van Bokhorst

Weer een boek waar ik meer van had verwacht. De opbouw van het boek zit verder wel goed in elkaar maar het was meer het verhaal wat mij telleurstelde. Nu ik het uit heb zit ik nog met best veel dingen die ik niet af gewerkt vond. En vond het niet spannend of creepy zoals vele het noemen.

Hayley 📖🌈💜🌸

Oh man, I don't know how to feel about this book. 
2.5 stars? (Sorry, ETA a few things, not trying to bump my review five times.)

There were parts that I really liked/enjoyed reading, the writing style was good - especially for a debut. I liked probably the first half of the book. 

But for the second half - I sort of hated it. There were so many moments where I was so frustrated, the creepy girls at the home, the shitty adults, but especially that Mary wouldn't talk to someone (but I guess that's my privilege talking, I've never been in any situation like this, and I have a completely safe and loving family/home that I don't feel uncomfortable talking about safety, or fear for my safety, or even have any reason to not think that people wouldn't believe me.) 
Plus, I hate the unreliable narrator trope. UGH NO GO AWAY. 
There weren't really any characters that I liked, not even Mary, really - she was kind of annoying? Ugh, I think this is probably my reaction to the ending, which (view spoiler)[OMG WTF I cannot. I saw it coming a bit, but not to that extent? UGH I don't know, but I hated it. (hide spoiler)]
I felt like the book kind of stalled a bit in the middle, and then the end seemed so sudden. 

Anyway - it was well written, but I didn't ~enjoy~ reading it, I need happy endings or at least somewhat less mindfuck-y endings. I didn't realise this was going to be so- Gone Girl.

Kate

3.75*

Well this was a ride. Allegedly had me hooked from the first page and thoroughly enjoyed Tiffany D. Jackson's writing style. It was a compelling, devastating read and one I felt was equally as informative as it was uncomfortable (in a good way) especially having not personally gone through any of the experiences the protagonist did. I though Mary's voice came across brilliantly. She was multidimensional and I was constantly questioning her and my feelings towards her. I'm not 100% sure how I felt about the ending. It felt a little bit predictable in the sense that, although I'd not known what was going on throughout, I was hoping it wouldn't end in the way it did as it felt *too* obvious (I have no idea if that makes sense?!) Other than this, my only other criticism would be the body shaming/fatphobic and ableist comments, which I wasn't a fan of. With that being said, I loved the discussion of the legal system and how it affects each individual differently, depending on their background, race etc. and also how it treats minors. I've not read anything quite like Allegedly before and I'm incredibly excited to read more from Tiffany D. Jackson in the future. 

TW - Abelist, homophobic & fatphobic language. 
Physical, sexual & verbal abuse.

Allegedly

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