Book Review | Genuine Fraud
From the author of the unforgettable New York Times bestseller We Were Liars comes a masterful new psychological suspense novel–the story of a young woman whose diabolical smarts are her ticket into a charmed life. But how many times can someone reinvent themselves? You be the judge.
Imogen is a runaway heiress, an orphan, a cook, and a cheat.
Jule is a fighter, a social chameleon, and an athlete.
An intense friendship. A disappearance. A murder, or maybe two.
A bad romance, or maybe three.
Blunt objects, disguises, blood, and chocolate. The American dream, superheroes, spies, and villains.
A girl who refuses to give people what they want from her.
A girl who refuses to be the person she once was.
What I Thought
When I first heard about Genuine Fraud, I was instantly intrigued. I had read We Were Liars, so I already knew how great E. Lockhart’s writing was and that she was a risk taker. So, when I received Genuine Fraud for Christmas, I was super excited to read it. I’m happy to say it did not disappoint, either!
First of all, this book was wild! It’s a full-on thriller, which, for some reason I didn’t fully expect, even though the book said it was. I think I was thinking that, because there aren’t a lot of thrillers in YA. Adding on to that statement, Genuine Fraud actually felt a bit like a New Adult book. The characters are out of high school, and living on their own, and it just gave me that vibe.
One thing I really loved about this book was the format! The story is told backwards. It was really unique, and I loved seeing how all the random details connected. I will say, because of that though, I would recommend reading this book when you have the time to fully dedicate yourself to the story. Because it is told backwards, I feel like this is a book where you could become easily confused, and so I would recommend taking no more than a few days to read it, or plot points and characters might get mixed up.
I really don’t want to say anything about the characters or plot, though, because this is a thriller, so I don’t want to spoil anything. I admit, I did see some things coming, but other aspects I was completely blindsided by!
Overall, I really enjoyed Genuine Fraud. It took me on a wild ride, and I never wanted to stop reading! I would definitely recommend this book to fans of thrillers.
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I’m glad you liked this book! I read it last year and really enjoyed it. I LOVED that it was told backwards and we had to guess where the story was going 🙂
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I am too! 😉 Yes, I loved the backwards story telling aspect! I had never read a book like that before, and I loved being able to put together the pieces!! Someday I might like to read the story back to front, just to see how the story would be and connected if it was written normally. 😁
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You are absolutely right, there aren’t many YA thrillers and most don’t really work out. I am really happy this one does! Great review!
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I was really glad to read that this book actually worked well, too! Thank you!! ☺️
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