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A review by scoodle42
Token by Beverley Kendall
challenging
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? No
2.0
Kennedy gets laid off and is doing temp work at an apparel company when she gets an offer from the CEO--pretend she's upper management and break up the monotony of white faces so they can attract a client who wants to work with a "diverse" brand. And for that, she gets paid $10,000. But then, they want to hire her full-time and Kennedy gets a better idea. What if she and her crisis management lawyer best friend start their own business, helping companies diversify instead? So she declines the job, but takes the apparel company as the first client of their new company, Token. And then, her best friend's brother gets sued for discrimination and needs help. But Kennedy hasn't moved easy around him since she fell in love with him and never fell out.
Okay, so I had to walk away from this and come back because... wow. My first issue: this book is about a light skin woman with light eyes and there is a DISTINCTLY medium brown woman on the cover, which feels misleading. That may not have bothered anyone else but it bothered me. Second, this is more contemporary with some romantic elements than an actual romance. Also, I have some issues with the language the author uses as she introduces people to the story in certain places. This is a Black woman, and the focus should be her world. But some of the language "others" Black people and it didn't sit all the way right with me. But that's something that could just be me. So let's get to the plot.
Given what we know about DEI and it's pitfalls, this plot didn't hit like I thought it would. It never felt like she gave a damn about diversity or inclusion. It just felt like she was in the business of helping white folks manufacture redemption instead of facing consequences. And she had that epiphany at the end (or something like it), but it felt like she walked into it with that intent and her epiphany felt disingenuous. And it seemed like her underlying motivation in finding a way to give these white folks a pass was to feel better about this white man she was in love with. Also, when the hack happened and the emails were exposed, Kennedy was so wounded learning what the executives of the apparel company really thought of her. But these are the same people who had no problem paying you to help them look diverse without actually being diverse. They've been underhanded since the start! Her shock was wild to me. Did you really think they were good guys? But maybe she didn't. Maybe she just thought she was "special." Which is a whole nother problem. But anyway. Let's move to the "romance."
Kennedy and Nate's banter fell flat for me. It was just a whole bunch of back and forth of them asking each other questions and then the other person not answering. It took them way too long to express how really felt... in every instance. Also, the lust was present and accounted for. They had passion. But not a lot of this felt romantic. And whenever they reminisced on their past, it always went back to the fact that they had sex. Everything was reduced to that. Nate even used the fact that he took her virginity (a DECADE before, mind you) as a basis for them "knowing each other," and a way to lean on her for help. Nothing about that was romantic. Kennedy feeling like she stepped into some inner corner of Nate's mind because he read one book on anti-racism was corny, I'm sorry. And he clearly wasn't applying it to his life, as shown by his voluntary blinders where his racist best friend was concerned--a best friend that he KNEW had racist parents.
Anyway, sigh. Big sigh.
Okay, so I had to walk away from this and come back because... wow. My first issue: this book is about a light skin woman with light eyes and there is a DISTINCTLY medium brown woman on the cover, which feels misleading. That may not have bothered anyone else but it bothered me. Second, this is more contemporary with some romantic elements than an actual romance. Also, I have some issues with the language the author uses as she introduces people to the story in certain places. This is a Black woman, and the focus should be her world. But some of the language "others" Black people and it didn't sit all the way right with me. But that's something that could just be me. So let's get to the plot.
Given what we know about DEI and it's pitfalls, this plot didn't hit like I thought it would. It never felt like she gave a damn about diversity or inclusion. It just felt like she was in the business of helping white folks manufacture redemption instead of facing consequences. And she had that epiphany at the end (or something like it), but it felt like she walked into it with that intent and her epiphany felt disingenuous. And it seemed like her underlying motivation in finding a way to give these white folks a pass was to feel better about this white man she was in love with. Also, when the hack happened and the emails were exposed, Kennedy was so wounded learning what the executives of the apparel company really thought of her. But these are the same people who had no problem paying you to help them look diverse without actually being diverse. They've been underhanded since the start! Her shock was wild to me. Did you really think they were good guys? But maybe she didn't. Maybe she just thought she was "special." Which is a whole nother problem. But anyway. Let's move to the "romance."
Kennedy and Nate's banter fell flat for me. It was just a whole bunch of back and forth of them asking each other questions and then the other person not answering. It took them way too long to express how really felt... in every instance. Also, the lust was present and accounted for. They had passion. But not a lot of this felt romantic. And whenever they reminisced on their past, it always went back to the fact that they had sex. Everything was reduced to that. Nate even used the fact that he took her virginity (a DECADE before, mind you) as a basis for them "knowing each other," and a way to lean on her for help. Nothing about that was romantic. Kennedy feeling like she stepped into some inner corner of Nate's mind because he read one book on anti-racism was corny, I'm sorry. And he clearly wasn't applying it to his life, as shown by his voluntary blinders where his racist best friend was concerned--a best friend that he KNEW had racist parents.
Anyway, sigh. Big sigh.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism