The Downstairs Girl Review FT. Brianne From @briannethebookworm

Thank you briannethebookworm for partnering with us to read The Downstairs Girl! Brianne is an educator who started her account as a way to connect with the reading community. She is always trying to authentically get her students to love books and reading. Check out her Instagram @briannethebookworm! 

Synopsis: Chinese American Jo lives in the basement of a newspaper office. One day, she overhears the upstairs occupants discussing their concerns about the low newspaper subscriptions. Jo takes the initiative to save the newspaper by anonymously publishing a radical advice column under the name Miss Sweetie. Her writing has become popular in Atlanta, and everyone wants to know who she is. However, when Jo receives a mysterious letter, she goes on a search to find out who she really is

MILD SPOILERS IN THE REVIEW AHEAD

Our rating: 3.5

Overall, it was a decent book. The history of Asian Americans is often overlooked, so I was glad that this book was able to shed light on the struggles that these minorities had gone through during the 1890s in Atlanta. The Miss Sweetie columns and Old Gin scenes were the best to read. I was so happy that Jo and Nathan were able to find a happy ending. 

We did find a few issues with the book and writing style. We felt like the author overused the use of similes and metaphors, and this definitely made it harder to stay interested in the book. Another thing was the introduction of way too many characters. It was so hard to keep track of which character was which, but at least this issue went away towards the end of the book. We think that the author spent way too much time talking about some of the plots like horse racing. We did not need 3 chapters dedicated to that plot. Lastly, I feel like the author had unrealistic plots in the story, specifically when the Bells’ found out that Jo and Old Gin were living underneath them, listening to every private conversation, and were strangely cool about the whole scenario. Like, Jo and Old Gin were extremely lucky with how everything turned out...

I had so much fun reading with you, Brianne!