Do What Godmother Says

People are way scarier than any fantastical creature or paranormal entity. This story proves that.
Shanice and Estelle both have battles to fight and obstacles to overcome to find a safe place for themselves and their work. I liked those challenges and I was glad to be right about a couple of the twists. I was also glad that there were a couple that surprised me. One of the ways that Shanice found out important information made me roll my eyes, but one convenient plot point with all of the complicated relationships and motives is pretty good. The strongest part was definitely the characters and the fight they had in them. That will stick with me for a long while.

I just finished Do What Godmother says by L.S Stratton audiobook - narrated by Aure Nash; York Whitaker and here is my review.


Shanice has been taught by society to ignore the seemly bad omens around her, even when her Grandmother tells her to watch for them but when she finds herself out of a job, she can see the bad omens everywhere.

Her grandmother asks her to come and help her declutter her house ready to sell and while she is there, she finds a portrait, a haunting painting she can't seem to take her eyes off of.
Her grandmother insists she takes it so Shanice starts to do research on the painter.

She finds out the painter, Estelle Johnson was taken under the wing of a wealthy art patron, a woman, Maude, who insisted upon being called “godmother” by her artists but Estelle disappeared right after Maude was brutally murdered.

The more Shanice learns the more paranoid she becomes and she starts to have anxiety attacks like she hasn't had in years but when people around her start to die and wealthy men are offering her obscene amounts of money to own the portrait.... Shanice doesn't realize just how much danger she really is in.

YIKES!!! Right from the start I was dragged into a story so intricate and nail biting that I didn't stop listening to the book until it was over. The narrators were right on the money and I couldn't get enough of this book.

This book straddles two timelines. We get Shanice's story with the painting and we get Estelles' story about how she ended up with godmother and the situation that had her painting her portrait and how it ended up with Shanice's grandmother in the first place. I loved both timelines. I was absolutely riveted. The pace was perfect and I felt the balance between both timelines and the mystery surrounding that painting was executed with brilliance you rarely see this kind of gothic mystery.

The ending was great and I was highly entertained from start to finish.

4.5 stars

Thank you @netgalley and @dreamscapemedia for my gifted copy

READ THIS BOOK OH MY GOSH I AM SO IMPRESSED, I am so thankful the author sent me an ARC of this book because it was so unique and the build up was absolutely amazing. I was BEYOND SHOCKED by the twists and I was very impressed and this was one I didn't see coming to be a favorite of the year but it for sure is gonna be in that spot this book has me in a chokehold and I will be thinking about it for a while