I have to admit, I didn't gel with this one. Let's start with the positives, the opening of this book was FANTASTIC. In fact, if the same kind of elements were employed throughout this would have been 4/5 stars easy. However, it didn't work out that way. Having discussed with other bloggers/read reviews, I find that a lot of people who didn't favour this one didn't like the timeline, this wasn't much of an issue for me. As long as your reading/listening carefully, you can keep up and understand and it does give a fast-paced feeling to the story. However, I couldn't live with the overused and unoriginal 'plot-twist' of the unreliable narrator. 2/5 stars.

The plot of this book blew me away,I loved the entire idea. However I didn't care much for how this was written. I found the back and forward from different time periods confusing,the constantly trying to remember who she was trying to be even more confusing and in the end I felt exhausted. Very disappointed as the whole idea of the book is amazing.

Typical of E Lockhart, this is a teen psychological thriller told backwards. That took some getting used to, piecing the threads together the wrong way! While I did like this story, it was a little predictable – which is either a comment on Lockhart’s writing or my detective skills, I’m not sure which! Saying that, there were still a couple of shockers and the overall story of Jules and who she really is was very interesting to read and unpick. Jules was a fascinating character – so obviously a psychopath, she cleverly adapted to any social situation and used disguises and accents to get what she wanted. She was also truly horrible, but also had a pretty good reason for acting as such, which we discovered near the end of the book. As for Imogen – well, yet another spoilt rich kid who wants to discover who she is by lying to her parents and running away. Their dynamic was quite toxic and I really must applaud Lockhart for writing characters that I simultaneously love reading about but hate as people. Another knockout from Lockhart, as far as I’m concerned.

I really enjoyed this bizzare modern take on The Talented Mr Ripley - it is very different to We Were Liars but a great holiday read full of glamour and suspenseful twists.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for a copy of this book.

As a big fan of We Were Liars, I had high expectations for Genuine Fraud. Unfortunately, I didn't like that.
I didn't like either Jules or Imogen, the ending too open and ambiguos and... pretty much everything else.
Despite this, I appreciated the basic idea and narrative structure.

I’m really sad and disappointed but I will certainly give another opportunity to the E. Lockhart.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for a copy of this book.

This is my second E. Lockhart book, the first being We Were Liars. This one took a very different approach to story-telling, the main piece being that it was told in reverse chronological order. This can be super difficult for some people (like myself) who don't always pay attention to those 'time/date/location' pieces of info. However, once I was able to get that straight, I really enjoyed it being told in that perspective.
Genuine Fraud is also one of the more quick-paced books that I've read, which was another thing I enjoyed. I read so much that is slow burn build up that it was refreshing to get something new.

Unfortunately that's where my positives end. I *think* I overall enjoyed the story, thus the three star rating, but I didn't like any of the characters - not even in the love to hate them way. I was also confused about the overall ending. Like why did this all happen? It just felt slightly incomplete. Was that part of Jule's sociapathic character? I don't know and I don't have enough information to figure it out, so that's disappointing.

As a big fan of We Were Liars, I was very excited about this book but also a litlle bit worried because my expectations were high and guys, it was worth it, Geniune Fraud is a catchy, complex and dark book, told in a unique way that will keep you hooked from the first page. An incredible job!!

4 stars
Is it a talent to recreate yourself and assume someone’s identity?
Julietta West Williams makes up a story about her origin, her unusual education and her life until she no longer knows what shape her own self was, or whether there really was a Jule at all or only a series of selves she presented for different contexts. She believes the more you sweat in practice, the less you bleed in battle; the way you speak is often more important than anything you have to say and that you do whatever’s required to stay alive. She meets Imogen Sokolof, an orphan adopted by a loving couple from New York, who refuses to strive for greatness or to work towards other people’s definition of success and so drops out of college and is living off her wealth.
Imogen struggles to wrest herself from men who want to dominate her and women who want her exclusive attention and Jule becomes her closest friend and confidante, jetting around the world together. Does Jule also want her exclusive attention or does she want more?
I found the progression of the book a bit confusing, it is written backwards towards the beginning with lots of information in the middle and I got a bit lost at times. It was only when I was going through it for the purpose of this review that I actually noted the timeline in writing and it then made sense. So, I suggest that if you read this book, note the timeline down each time it is mentioned and notes what happens at each time, it may be a bit less confusing then. On the whole, I enjoyed the book, but it is one that needs to be read twice for it to all come together.
Saphira
Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

This book will keep you guessing. The best way to read this book is to know as little as possible. It's not quite as good as E Lockhart's best of We Were Liars but it is a thrilling ride.

I wanted to like this book so badly! The concept is great, the characters are interesting, but overall I had a hard time really feeling connected to the story.

I'm sad that I wasn't able to read this book, because it was too much at the same time. I guess that his book was amazing and I would love to try and read it.
Now i will have to buy one!

I have had this book sitting in my TBR list for so long, but I finally got round to reading it this week to kick off 2019. I went into it not really knowing anything about it at all, probably because my request was approved so long ago, but I think this actually became a positive as it is one of those books that are even more enjoyable the less you know about them. I had already read and enjoyed We Were Liars before reading this, and hoped this would live up to it. It did, in a way, but it also didn't. That's not to say I didn't still enjoy it though - I loved all the twists and turns in the plot and the style that it was written it. It isn't my favourite book I have ever read, but I didn't dislike it either. It sits in a secure spot in the middle ground. I would still recommend this to my book-loving friends.

I am currently working on expanding our school library's senior section after years of a dismal and uninspiring selection of books that our older readers never checked out. My job has been to seek out much more diverse, gripping and modern books that will get them into reading by appealing to as broad a range of readers as possible. This really appealed to me because of its fantastic narrative and sense of atmosphere, combined with believable characterisation and its page-turning nature. It's hard to get young people into reading and if the library is not stocking the kind of book that they might grow up to buy as adult readers then we are not really meeting their needs. I can imagine this provoking lots of discussion after finishing it and a long queue of people trying to reserve it as they've heard so much about it. Will definitely be buying a copy and know that it's going to be a very popular choice. An engrossing read that kept me up far too late to finish reading it. It certainly stood out from the other books that I was considering and I look forward to converting more Lockhart fans in future!

Plot: 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.

My thoughts: I read E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars in 2016 so I was super excited to be approved to read this new novel by the same author, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed, although it didn’t quite reach the same level for me – but only just! This was a totally absorbing read that I got through in a single day, which really shows how gripping the storyline was. It was dark secrets, crazy thrills and shocking twists galore – everything I love in a book, but a combination that makes it very difficult to write about without spoiling anything! I love a good unreliable narrator, particularly one that’s involved in an obsessive friendship with rumours of disappearances and murders floating around. All in all, an excellent read that I would highly recommend.

Eck! What a disappointment. After loving E. Lockhart’s We Were Liars a few years ago, the degree to which I disliked Genuine Fraud came as more than a bit of a shock. Firstly, there were far too many descriptions about the main character’s appearance (why on earth do I need to know the colour of the eyeshadow she was wearing?!) for a novel that was supposedly trying to critique the beauty pre-occupation in regards to the role of women in spy novels. Secondly, and most importantly, it was trying FAR too hard to be intersectional.
I know, I don’t who I am anymore either. Have I been kidnapped? Has my brain been warped? Am I trying to alert you to the fact that I am in danger?
No to all three.
Instead, the inclusion of intersectionality that should have sent the novel straight up to the very top of my favourite book’s list, left it to fall on its face. And that is simply because it didn’t feel at all as though E Lockhart cared about any of the things that would have made this novel truly inclusive and awesome but, just instead, she had googled what things young women are passionate about nowadays and pasted in meaningless sentiments.
It felt cheap, empty. It felt as though all of the meaning of all the things that so many people work so hard every day to change had been sucked out, only to then be sold back to us in a meaningless, commercialised package.
And although many things make me angry, this probably makes me the most of all.

It’s been a long time since I requested this book and I can’t remember why I requested this book, seeing as I was more frustrated with We Are Liars than intrigued and was wary about this author afterwards, but I’m happy to say my expectations were subverted. This is a really hard book to talk about in this review because anything I say about any of the characters or the plot could spoil something and this is definitely a book you want to go into unspoiled.

This book’s protagonists are Imogen and Jule, two girls who are interconnected in several ways. Jule is a bit of a mystery, a girl with a dark past and we’re never quite sure which story of hers is true, while Imogen is seemingly more open to the reader. This story is told backwards, giving us more and more pieces of the puzzle as it goes through the book.

This book has a non-chronological order, telling the story backwards, something which I have seen done badly, but this time it was done really, really well, showing us scenes of the past, paced really nicely to give us the information but not to dump it on our lap all at once. I didn’t get confused (except for maybe once in the middle) because they were all connected with each other. The reader is left with thinking they know what is going on but, as the book goes on, they find out that isn’t the case. The plot was done really nicely and I loved how it all fitted together in the end. This book would be a good one to reread so you can see what has to be worked out.

The main characters, Jule and Imogen, are not very nice people but they are great protagonists, uncovering hidden depths and layers to destroy the image of them we had from the first introduction. I disliked Jule as a person by the end but I really wanted her to succeed in her goal because that was just the kind of story that was being told. Despite seeing exactly how unreliable a narrator Jule was, you couldn’t help but root for her. A sign of a great protagonist, I think!

I did find this book sagged a little in the middle, but this is a 4.5 star book for me and such a pleasant surprise after Lockhart’s last book!

This book really messed with my head. As we read this book we get thrown from past to present and back very quickly which i found extremely hard to keep up with and i was hardly motivated to read it. The characters are so complex, i really didn't understand at all was happening and what their motives are. Jules and immie were the two main character and used each other in many ways in the book, Some of the scenes were very gruesome and frustrating and their are warnings for murder, sex and suicide. The book is written in reverse which i really didn't like even if the book is supposed to be a mystery. The ending is very quick and i didn't realise it was ending until the authors notes were on the page i turned too.
I gave this book 2 stars as i honestly had no clue what i was reading but there was some scenes that enjoyed to read.

It took me a while to get in to this book, it did keep me guessing but not sure I really enjoyed it, nor did I like the characters

Well... this was a complete surprise, a real 'wow' of a book that I really wasn't expecting. I expected a quite light, funny book, with someone who couldn't help singing at inappropriate times, and it was that.... but so very much more emotional than I'd expected

I enjoyed ‘We Were Liars” but found it hard going at times. The narrative style in this one seemed even harder. I liked the concept of the reverse chronology but found it irritating in practice. It meant that the first half of the novel felt under developed and deliberately confusing which is only ok up to a point. I’ve read some other reviews and realise this is a personal thing, just not to my taste. I did not finish the book, which may have meant I actually would get more satisfaction but I’ve grown tired of books that only provide satisfaction in the last chapter; I like to be immersed in what I read from the first page.