Reviews with content warning for Classism - Do What Godmother Says

Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Do What Godmother Says by L.S. Stratton

4 reviews

hollowspine's review against another edition

dark hopeful informative mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Told in two perspectives, one in the present day and the other during the Harlem Renaissance. Both involve talented young black women and their talent being noticed by rich white people who promise to compensate them, but instead trap, tokenize and attempt to control them. The narrative switches back and forth between the two characters, revealing plot points in the past, then letting us bite our nails waiting to see how the present day narrator will be affected and what twist will happen next. The end twist/reveal was pretty easy to guess, but I didn't mind, it felt like a battle won for the narrator (and the reader) when she gets there.

This would be good for readers who like creepy thrillers that comment on the current and past history of racism in the United States. If you liked When No One Was Watching by Alyssa Cole, Lakewood by Megan Giddings, We Came to Welcome You by Vincent Tirado.

Content Warnings

minimicropup's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

This stalled out until a blur of things happened at the end. I struggled to stay interested. Avoid the audiobook, it’s terribly produced and does the book a huge disservice 😒.

Energy: Guarded. Hesitant. Stately.

🐺 Growls

Repetitive, dull romantic ponderings. Current day romance felt forced. Too contradictory… Shanice is suspicious and prone to over-thinking, but at convenient times she’s a totally different person blindly trusting strangers and ignoring huge red flags. Spotlighting plot twists with character inaction.

Terribly edited audio was so jarring, what was that? There were huge differences in volume mid-sentence from muffled (standing in a different room?!) to WAY too loud (like standing too close to the mic) and parts were obviously re-recorded but not spliced in properly.

🐕 Howls

Gaps in the story that were hard to overlook. Switched tone and style in an erratic way at times (felt unfinished?). Didn’t get any gothic or horror vibes from this.

🐩 Tail Wags

The concept. Intriguing 1920s timeline. Estelle’s character arc.

Scene: Set in Washington DC (current timeline) and New York City (past timeline).

Perspectives (2): An unpaid intern trying to get into the magazine industry after giving up their well-paying job to follow their dreams. A talented artist confined by racism gets a chance to invest in their work with a too-good-to-be-true offer.

Timelines: Current (2020s). Harlem Renaissance (1920s).

🔥 Fuel: Emotional investment in characters. Foreshadowing. Crossing paths and layered mysteries. Past meets present. What’s the story of the painting? Would someone kill to get it? Why? Will Shanice get over her break-up and trust again? Is Estelle in danger as a commissioned artist?

📖 Cred: Blended historical suspended disbelief

Mood Reading Match-Up:

Metro card. Grandma’s bungalow. Art appraisals. Coast-side mansions. Parking garage.

New romance while getting over the old
Family heirloom with a past
Deep in their minds character studies
Dual timelines
Snippets of Harlem renaissance
Mentally yelling at characters
Multiple suspects stalker suspense
Horror Lite though horrific things happen
Occult, omens, ghostie séance energy historical fiction romance
Commentary around race, gender, what we inherit, and class inequality
Ancestral connections cozy mystery

Content Heads-Up: Racism, classism (prejudice, bias, slurs, exploitation). Murder. Relationship Break-up. False accusation. Theft, burglary. Panic attacks, hyperventilation (on page). Unemployment, financial insecurity. Generalized anxiety disorder. Car accident (fatal). Loss of parent (as child). Loss of family. Confinement (in room). Abortion (discussion). Forced pregnancy. Stalking, home invasion, threats. Sexual content (consenting).

Rep: Black, White, Indian American. Nutmeg-hued, brown, peachy, pale, and freckled skin tones. Cisgender. Hetero. Generalized anxiety disorder.

📚 Format: Everand Audio

My musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶

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avm917's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

First the cons:

Unironic use of “favs” not faves, not favorites. Not my cup of tea linguistically.
A very uncharitable depiction of mental illness. Untreated mental illnesses can obviously be debilitating but this is so gratuitous and it does feel like it’s used as an excuse for a lot of questionable choices Shanice makes. The generational trauma and mental illness can play into the story (and obviously make Shanice second guess her reality) but something about the way her mental illness is portrayed really doesn’t sit quite right with me.
I think I saw just about every twist coming except two. Obviously you also feel vindicated when that happens, and surprises without breadcrumbs and foreshadowing are often ridiculous, but I wanted to be a little more surprised.
Because of said gratuitous use of “I’m mentally ill!”, a lot of Shanice’s choices and how on earth she’s made it this far in life baffled me.

Otherwise, I really enjoyed this book. The tension was consistent and the shifts between perspectives/timelines made sense in the context of the story as a whole, rather than shifting for the sake of shifting. I could’ve easily devoured this book in a day or two. The writing was compelling and definitely made it easy to read quickly. This was a good choice to reintroduce me to thrillers in my adult reading renaissance.

I read this book through a free eARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

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kaelizaco's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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