Do What Godmother Says by L.S. Stratton

e-Audio, 13:10:41
Narrated by:  Aure Nash & York Whitaker 
Release Date: June 11, 2024
Published by: Dreamscape Media
Read from: June 8-10, 2024
Stand-alone
Source: Netgalley App (I received a copy of this e-audio from the publisher’s audio app in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Stalking, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Drug use, Incest, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Abortion
For Readers Interested In: Racial/Ethnic Diversity (Black), Historical, Nonlinear Timeline, Thriller, Adult, Neurodiversity (Anxiety)

     A modern-day writer and a Harlem Renaissance artist are connected by a painting with a deadly secret in this gripping dual-timeline gothic thriller.
     Shanice Pierce knows better than to heed bad omens. But it’s hard to ignore the signs when she finds herself newly single and out of a job on the same seemingly cursed day.
     Then, while cleaning out her grandmother’s house, Shanice comes across a painting. Drawn to the haunting portrait in a way she can’t explain, Shanice accepts her grandmother’s offer to keep the family heirloom.
     She soon uncovers the story of the artist, a Harlem Renaissance painter named Estelle Johnson. The young woman was taken under wing by the wealthy art patron Maude Bachmann—or “Godmother” as she insisted her artists called her—and vanished shortly after Bachmann’s brutal murder.
     As Shanice digs deeper, the paranoia that’s haunted her for years returns. She becomes convinced she’s being stalked, and that the deaths happening around her are connected to the staggering offer she turned down for the painting.
     But the truth hiding in plain sight is even more shocking—and deadly—than Shanice could possibly have imagined . . . 

*MY THOUGHTS*

This was a weird one. It was said to be a horror book, but it wasn’t exactly. It seemed like it was supposed to be a gothic book, but it just didn’t get that dark. BUT nevertheless, it was really, really effing good.

Ok so the main thing I liked about this was the timeline. Idk what it is, but I LOVE anything that has anything to do with the Harlem Renaissance era. And this one has a lot to do with the art. The flashbacks to when the original painting was finished to the present was pretty cool. I loved the way that Stratton was able to pull the two timelines together. And the way the parties in this were described seemed so much like everything I’ve ever heard or read about that time.

The plot tho seemed weird and all over the place. There was a lot that I wished was explored more. Like the house and what exactly that little group (?) was? Like I didn’t understand why it had such a huge part in the plot but it was only mentioned in passing. And the things they were doing or why they were doing it wasn’t really explained either, so I just didn’t understand why she wouldn’t develop that part of the plot more.

The writing style was the thing that got me for this book tho. Idk what she put in this, but it really had me like stuck in this story. I remember starting this at night and listening to it until like 2 am. I had to get to the bottom of why this painting was so important. And let me just tell you, I was NOT expecting what I got. Idk how Stratton made me feel all the things the main character did and then turned it into what she did, but I seriously tip my hat to her. She really had me going but tied up everything so nicely with a bow. I think I said out loud, “WTF?!” LOL

I didn’t care for the anxiety rep tho. ONLY because it was tied to something else and she kept saying, “I know you think I’m crazy.” And I just wish we had better language to surround that. Anxiety is already filled with enough intrusive thoughts. I just wish they didn’t make us feel this way. And when it does, I wish we had someone that believed us. There is someone who believes in this book, but we don’t know how or why until the ending. And that didn’t help me throughout the rest of the story.

This was a pretty fun book! This is my first book by this author and I can’t wait to read more of her work! I already went and put a hold on Not So Perfect Strangers lol That one sounds like another thriller that’s going to have me going, WTF in the middle of the night again….. And I can’t wait lol

Overall, I give this