A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty book review

A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilyn Jackson
My rating: 2/5 stars

Goodreads Summary: A GROWN-UP KIND OF PRETTY is a powerful saga of three generations of women, plagued by hardships and torn by a devastating secret, yet inextricably joined by the bonds of family. Fifteen-year-old Mosey Slocumb-spirited, sassy, and on the cusp of womanhood-is shaken when a small grave is unearthed in the backyard, and determined to figure out why it's there. Liza, her stroke-ravaged mother, is haunted by choices she made as a teenager. But it is Jenny, Mosey's strong and big-hearted grandmother, whose maternal love braids together the strands of the women's shared past--and who will stop at nothing to defend their future.


My Thoughts: I was a little disappointed with this novel. The idea of three generations and a huge secret totally enthralled me. As I read it though, it just did not sing. I spent the first forty pages figuring out who the characters were within the generations. "Big"... who was Big? Grandma? Ma? I might have missed a clue somewhere and did not figure it out until well into the book. Then, the time period switched a lot from the present to the past and was not always clear cut. For someone who was not always really into the book, this was rather difficult to surmise until after the first few paragraphs.


Overall, I felt that the plot was more of a white trash soap opera than a touching story, and the cover is not indicative of anything about the book.