ARC Review: Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

Title: Genuine Fraud Written by: E. Lockhary Published: September 5, 2017 by Delacorte Press (Random House) (Amazon / Goodreads) Synopsis: 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.

**** I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher at ALA in exchange for an honest review. This fact has not changed my opinion. ****

This is one of the most unique books I have read in awhile. I enjoyed We Were Lies and I was interested in reading more of E. Lockhart’s books. And I am so glad I did because this was a super interesting read with unlikeable characters, plenty of surprises, and a plot that kept me on my toes.

The thing to keep in mind about Genuine Fraud is that it is definitely a thriller. I wouldn’t really call it a mystery because there wasn’t anything to solve but it was full of twists and turns and plenty of thrills.It had all the trappings of my favorite kind of a thrillers too. It had me guessing from beginning to end and even when I thought I knew what was going on it had me doubting myself and the characters. I love when books are like that. I love being surprised and confused and this book definitely did that.

I think the biggest thing that kept me confused though was the structure of this book. It’s not your typical narrative style. No, you read the book backwards. You start at the climax, the last chapter, and then work your way to how it all began. You would think this would mean that there weren’t any surprises, but there were. Sure, you could piece together the big picture stuff but there was still a lot of drama and surprises. I have never read a book like that before. It took a little while to get used to but when I did, I was so into it. It added to the drama of the book and made it all the more interesting.

The other really interesting thing about this book was the characters. These are some truly unlikeable characters. I am one of those readers who likes when the characters are terrible people, and that’s a good thing because that is exactly what had happened in this book. These characters were seriously awful. They were self-centered and awful. But they were also really complex. Jule was a character that I had empathy for even when she did the most terrible things. I mean don’t get me wrong, she was absolutely awful and out control but interesting. She was also an unreliable narrator. So much of my confusion and doubt came from not knowing or trusting Jule. If you are like me and you like unlikeable characters then you will love the characters in Genuine Fraud.

The thing I really appreciated about this book is that it’s uniquely written and weird but it’s also a quick read. It’s a book you could read in a day if you read fast and/or have the time to devote to it. It’s only about 260 pages and the font is pretty big. But it’s also such an engaging read that you will want to find out what is going to happen, or well had happened. I really couldn’t put it down. I flew through this book. It was really interesting.

I really enjoyed Genuine Fraud. It wasn’t a perfect book but it was incredibly engaging. It was a thriller that kept me confused, a uniquely written book, and unlikeable characters.

I give Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart 9 out of 10 stars

Buy/Borrow/Bypass: Buy/Borrow. I think this is probably one of those books that either you love it or hate it kind of book. I in particular loved it. It's a unique book but it was good. If you like YA thrillers or want something completely different then check this book out.

Have you read Genuine Fraud? What did you think? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by and HAPPY READING!

Crossing Over - Contemporary With a Twist

This is the meme formerly known as "Recommending Adult Books." I haven't done one of these in awhile, but when I thought about doing one today I decided that a name change was in order. There's been so much YA hate going on lately and I didn't want to imply one was better than another. For me there's so much crossover. Young Adult is a marketing tool based often just on the age range of the MC. You often appreciate a book even if you aren't it's target audience.

So here are two books with crossover appeal. They have similar tones and characters, both are Contemporary with a twist.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Amazon  -  Goodreads  -  My Review
We Were Liars is the story of a wealthy family with a dark secret. The book takes place over the course of two summers at the family's beach front mansion and explores the idea that upper class families may not have it all together. Told from the perspective of an unreliable narrator trying to find out the truth the book has a dark and ominous tone leaving the reader questioning everything and wondering what in the world could be going on here!

The Infinities by John Banville
Amazon  -  Goodreads
The Infinities is the story of a wealthy family with a dark secret. The book takes place over the course of a summer day at the family's country mansion and explores the idea that upper class families may not have it all together. They come together as their patriarch is on his death bed to learn the truth and comfort one another despite the fact that they have never been very good at that. But there is so much more going on here. The narrator for most of the book is not quite normal and while he's not unreliable you still get a sense of ominous confusion.

When I was reading We Were Liars I was instantly reminded of The Infinities which I had read a few years before. They are both great contemporary books with gorgeous writing and interesting twists. We Were Liars is much more of a mystery then The Infinites but they both kept me interested and hooked from beginning to end. If you liked We Were Liars check out The Infinities or vice versa!

And check out my other Crossing Over posts where I recommend Mystery and Science Fiction novels with crossover appeal! HAPPY READING!

ARC Review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

Title: We Were Liars Author: E. Lockhart Published: May 13, 2014 by Delacorte Press (Random House) Amazon Goodreads Synopsis: A beautiful and distinguished family. A private island. A brilliant, damaged girl; A passionate, political boy. A group of four friends - The Liars- whose friendship turns destructive. A revolution. An accident. A secret. Lies upon lies. True love. The truth. We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from Nation Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. Read it. And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

*** I received an eARC of this book via Netgalley in return for an honest review. My opinion has not been changed by this fact ***

Everyone who has read this book says the same thing, go in blind. Don't read the synopsis, don't read reviews, just read the book. I did my best to do just that and I absolutely agree with this statement. This is the kind of book that is made better by lack of knowledge. So therefore I would advise you that if you haven't read We Were Liars stop reading this and start reading that! Suffice to say, it's fantastic!

The book on the whole was incredibly well-written. Like all good Contemporary novels it balanced the deeper moments with the light-hearted and romantic. This one however hovered more around the dramatic. The writing style was poetic and deep and it really set the scene of a wealthy family living their summers on a private island. Like the island itself the book felt part gorgeous and part mysterious. The tone of the book gave a sense of uneasy confusion that kept me intrigued from beginning to end. In the interest of trying not to reveal too much about this book I will only mention two of my favorite things, the characters and the mystery.

First is the characters. We Were Liars is full of interesting and complex characters. First we have our narrator and main protagonist Cadence or Cady. Cady is a unreliable narrator in the vein of Holden Caulfield. When we are first introduced to her we find out that she had an accident that messed with her memories and throughout the rest of the story she is trying to remember what happened to her. She is an interesting character who is easy to sympathize with, you want to help her figure out the truth and come along for the ride. But Cady is quick to introduce us to her complicated family, the rich and perfect Sinclair family, but we learn pretty quickly that their perfection is merely an act. There's no real villain in this story and instead there is a bunch of people keeping secrets and trying to act like they are better than everyone around them. Cady's only real friends and confidants are her cousins and her love interest Gat, the Liars. They were good friends and helped Cady deal with the rough patches. All of the characters were interesting and complex. They all seemed to be hiding something, the truth.

But that hidden truth was the major part of the book after all. The book was full of mystery and intrigue. Add an unreliable narrator to a world full of secrets and that kind of thing is bound to happen. This was the kind of book that had me curious and intrigued throughout the entire novel. It had me asking so many questions and at one point I had the incredible urge to skip ahead to the ending to find out what happens. Then about a third of the way through the book I figured out the big mystery, but that didn't mean that the story felt predictable or uninteresting (come back Wednesday for a discussion post about this topic). In fact it had me instead searching for clues to prove my theory correct, and those clues where there for the taking.

And when everything was all said and done I was still emotionally effected by the ending. In fact I was surprised by how affected I was. I'm a crier to begin with and while I did shed a few tears it was a deeper sort of effect, I felt the emotion deep in my soul and when the book was over I couldn't feel feelings anymore and I mean that in the best possible way.

I give We Were Liars by E. Lockhart a 9.5 out of 10

Between the beautiful writing, complex characters, and heart-breaking mystery I loved this book. With an unreliable narrator and a mystery that was intriguing and solvable I definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries, thrillers, and contemporary novels.