Someone Had to Do It

by: Amber and Danielle Brown
published: Dec 27, 2022
genre: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction
352 Pages, Paperback

Brandi is looking for her shot in the fashion world and her first step was earning an internship with Van Doren! She’s so close to her dream of working for them, she just has to get past the bureaucratic bullshit and the microaggressions from her white counterparts. While Brandi is trying to work her way up the corporate ladder, she has a chance encounter with the owner and CEO of Van Doren, Simon, by way of her boyfriend who just so happens to be old high school buddies with Simon’s daughter, Taylor. When Brandi and Taylor’s worlds collide, everyone in their orbit gets shaken up.

Brandi has dreamed of nothing but working in the fashion industry and is very knowledgeable however, when she doesn’t fit with the company’s “culture” she’s put on probation and is at risk of not being chosen as an intern to go to Milan with the company. At the insistence of her boyfriend, Nate, he introduces her to Taylor hoping that his connection to the Van Doren family will solidify Brandi’s position with the company. Taylor invites Nate to a party that her father is putting on at their home. While Brandi is snooping around the house, she overhears a conversation and her whole world comes crashing down.

Final Thoughts:

Brandi is not as “street smart” as she thinks she is. She annoyed me for 90% of the story. Trusting the wrong people and focusing on the wrong things.
Nate seems like a good guy but, his emotions swing wildly like a pendulum. He was with Brandi, why is he questioning his own reality?
Taylor says all the shit you would think rich white girls say about black women and POC. She was unlikable and racist.

What I liked about this story: There definitely is a plot twist in the end that (albeit I saw coming) I wasn’t sure how they were going to swing, but I actually loved it. I also loved how realized each character was, there is real development for Brandi and Taylor. I would have loved a little more into Nate but, I get it — only so many pages and he’s not a main character. Although this storyline is not new, it is refreshing the way it was written. The dialogue and writing style was very good.

With the likes, comes the other side of the coin… I’ve said it before and I’ll say it every time, I hate stories with incompetent cops! I dislike stories where the protagonist has to do all the police work themselves, I think that takes the “reality” out of it for me. While reading, I was visibly annoyed at all the holes in the detective’s “investigation”. Holes that they should have been out there looking to fill and instead, they went for the low-hanging fruit.

All in all, I liked the story, the writing, and the characters. I would definitely pass this off to others to read. It also doesn’t hurt that this story is about a black woman navigating the world in spaces where we don’t often get a second chance — it’s also written by two black women. Much like Issa Rae, I’m rooting for everyone black!