My Dear Friend Janet

Southern Belle Insults #1

by Keke Palmer (Narrator), Jasmine Guillory

* Duration: 27 minutes *

Poor Janet and fifty shades of beige. At least her inner voice, the sensational Lady Miss Jacqueline, is coming out in an outrageously finny short story about magic, courage, and - oh honey - the wigs!

Janet Williams is practically invisible. If only she had the pluck to speak up at work, flirt with the handsome barista she sees every day, and realize how special she is. When a magical wig offers Janet a chance to shake things up, will she dare to try a bold new style? The voice in her head - flashy and fierce, with an unbridled southern drawl - tells her to go for it. And once she does, there's no turning back.

'MY DEAR FRIEND JANET' by Keke Palmer with Jasmine Guillory is part of Southern Belle Insults, a fiercely finny series of short stories set in the fully realized world of Keke's viral phenomenon. Take Lady Miss Jacqueline's advice: read or listen to them at once, without stopping, the whole way through. You're welcome.


©2021 THAKIDZ LLC. (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook, Short Stories, Humor, Contemporary, Fantasy, Magical Realism

1 pages, Audible Audio

First published November 9, 2021

Reviews

[Melki]

I think everyone knows a woman like Janet.

Quiet, and mousy, she's a gal who doesn't deliberately try to fade into the background, but she doesn't do anything to try to stand out in a crowd, either. The poor dear is a doormat, and you might spend some time wondering how she got that way . . . if you bothered to think of her at all.

Then one day, something catches Janet's eye, and . . .



You'll get no more from me.

This is a borrowable freebie for Prime members, and the story continues in the next volume.

I think I'll listen to that one rather than read it. I'm expecting the author's inflections will make the rest of Janet's story even funnier.

[Obsidian]

Not a great start

This story just had me feeling bad for Janet good lord. The short story to seems to imply that everything that's going wrong and Janet's life is her own fault and apparently all she needs is a wig? I don't know y'all.

[Lindsay]

I'll be honest this probably would have been a much more fun book if I had a clue what world Keke made had gone viral. But as I am not on TikTok and I don't stalk celebrities on Twitter I was just confused. I grew up with Keke Palmer on the screen with movies like Akeelah and the Bee so I wanted to try it. I was very lost. So I'll be judging this purely on the story on the page. At 25 pages, I don't feel like my time was wasted. Ultimately, this made me feel sorry for Janet which sucks because I am Janet most days. You don't have to flirt with anything that walks, it's okay to be a little shy.

I struggled with the idea that physical transformation like getting Janet a wig is gonna change her personality. And it shouldn't change someone's entire personality. Now the right clothes can make or break your confidence but it's not the beauty it's how you feel. The wig is a huge cultural symbol in the African American community so I likely don't understand the gravity of Janet's wig experience as a reflection of her place in society.

I'll probably not continue the series but definitely consider this short story if you know Keke's viral situation or are more into Contemporaries. This was definitely not in my comfort zone so I can't tell if it was the writing or just my lack of interest that made this a 2.5 star book.

[Hillary]

I think I'm enjoying listening to her narrative & character voices more than anything 😂👏🏼

[Akona]

24 pages long but barely tolerable. Why are we being mean to poor Janet? If it weren’t for Keke’s narration I’d give it a 1 star. It’s a no for me. Will bow out of the rest of the series.

[Regina the Constant Reader]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ -Amazon Original Stories Collection: Southern Belle Insults

I love Keke Palmer and listening to her narration of this book about a woman who needs a little help getting her life together is just pure gold.

[Howard]

3 Stars for My Dear Friend Janet: Southern Belle Insults, Book 1 (audiobook) by Keke Palmer read by Jasmine Guillory.

This was fun jump into southern culture with some great style and lots of coffee.

[Nella ☾ of Bookland]

Ha! This was ah-may-zing and fabulous and so funny! Keke Palmer really delivered with this audiobook, yes girl!

[akacya ❦]

date read: 2021.12.24

[Erin]

With the return to school and a few other things going on in my life, there hasn't been a lot of time for reading. Thank goodness that I have a dog who insists on his 6 a.m walk on the weekends.

This short which I picked up on Prime Reading introduces us to Janet. A woman, working in an office building that has let herself fade into the background. But when she stumbles into a wig shop, Janet's life is about to get a whole lot more exciting.

A fast read and now that I have met the character, I am reaching for the next one.


Goodreads review published 11/09/22

[K. ♡]

It was a fun story! Listen to the audiobook because it’ll definitely give you the full effect of the story and Keke’s interpretations of the different characters is spot on!

[Keith Book Korner]

Keke Palmer killed the audiobook for this one she was incredible at the way she delivered the story.. it felt like a short film.. Can’t wait for book 2. I will definitely be doing the audio if she is reading it.. Based on this she should be doing a ton more voice overs in her career…

[Shanell]

Lady Miss & Janet are portrayed exactly the way Keke Palmer re-enacts them in her Southern Belle insults videos on Instagram (going back to 2018). You'll feel bad for Janet if you're not familiar with Keke’s IG/Tik Tok videos, but it's nothing Lady Miss can't fix.

[Plus Size Bibliophile]

It's a no for me.

I believe listening to this on audio may have influenced my opinion of this story. Poor Janet is a hot mess. I think we all know someone like her that just struggles through life. Lacks confidence and the ability to stand up for oneself.

I was mad on Janet's behalf; this poor woman just needs a darn back bone. I wanted to give her one of mine! I liked the plot twist in the end. It was unexpected and probably the highlight of this story.

However, Keke's dramatic voice just was painful. I love Keke, I have been her fan for years. But listening to her insult Janet over and over was painful. I felt like she was bullying her, I felt like listening to her talk made me an accomplice in said bullying as if I was 13 again hanging with the mean girls at the lunch table. I just couldn't enjoy myself.

[Mairy]

Nerve-wracking audio performance

I am as confused by this story as the protagonist, Janet. I wasn't expecting the fantastic twist at the end and the audio was exceedingly annoying. Keke Palmer's performance was not made for an audio book, rather for a Disney TV show character.. you know those characters that keep speaking loud and go on and on and you wish you can reach through your TV screen, smack them across the head and tell them to shut the fuck up.

Not interested in reading the rest of the serie.

[Mahoghani 23]

A witty & passionate story about a young woman.....no more than that otherwise I'll spoil it for others. The book is short & light-hearted reading. The narrator was funny and kept an easy going banter throughout her narrative.

[Keeshell]

I think I liked Keke Palmer’s voice acting skills more than the actual storyline lol

[Kait Nolan]

This first installment of the Southern Belle Insults is freaking HILARIOUS and Keke Palmer's audio performance is top notch. I was snort laughing in my car the whole time.

[Bibliophile Diaries]

don't know what I was listening to because Keke was just too dramatic and distracting I felt like it took away from the story for the next one I will just read it instead of listening to the audiobook

[Nyssa]

One: This is an introductory chapter, not a story.
Two: The narration isn't as funny as it wants itself to be - it gets a bit annoying, actually.

Despite the previously stated misgivings, however, the introduction to Janet is amusing - I chuckled. I am intrigued and am looking forward to seeing where she goes from here.

[Sasha Elise]

there are days i feel like a janet...

[Bam cooks the books]

This is more of an introduction to the series than a short story. Poor mousy Janet is a real mess and needs a makeover of her entire life so Lady Miss Jacqueline magically steps in and takes over. Pretty humorous. Of course I now have to download From the Desk of Lady Miss to see what happens next.

My daughter and I are attending a library-hosted author's evening on Zoom with Jasmine Guillory who is listed as coauthor of this story along with Keke Palmer so I downloaded it to get a quick taste of her writing.

[Michelle Boyer]

Janet is a boring girl – the kind who wears dresses that match chairs, has not had her hair done professionally, is meek, etc., and therefore people walk all over her. Boo. She gets her ideas stolen by Brad at the office (Brad is a perfect name for a jerk at an office, actually). Here, our sassy narrator actually feels bad for her. But then Janet’s life changes when she sees a wig shop calling to her – a wig can change your life! I like how there really is a positive twist here at the end because I felt really bad for poor Janet. But once she finds herself, yes girl! Lady Miss is here and here to stay.

[books_over_bs]

Utterly Ridiculous

I was telling my friend about this series and decided to give it a try. What a waste of time. This was so silly and uninteresting. I’ve seen some good reviews and I’m wondering what they saw that I didn’t. I absolutely will not bother with the rest of the series. The only saving grace is that it’s a very short story. Ugh!

[Chere' Brady]

Quite cute. Lady Miss takes over a boring Janet and she's about to set the world on fire!

Oh how cute this was. I feel as though the world will have a new tilt. Hold on to your husbands girls!!!

[Freda Mans-Labianca]

I went into reading this with no expectations, since I don't know much about the author anyway.
It was a fun little story about a lady named Janet. She happens upon a once-in-a-lifetime chance. One she clearly has to take. There really wasn't much else to it. It didn't wow me, make me laugh. It did make me think she was a wimp and should stand up for herself though.
Hopefully the next one's are better.

[Eva]

I liked the idea of the book, but it turned out it wasn’t it for me. It felt too fast pasted and too incoherent, however I am looking forward to read the next book in the series maybe it’s more what I was hoping for.
All in all only a 1⭐️ star read.

[Nay Pages]

There are a lot of Janet's in the world, and I wish a wig really did help them be new, but this was a fun read. I definitely had to check my girl Keke out.

[Ricardo Garcia]

JANET PLS

[Nikki Long]

Very short and not enough depth to get me invested.