Kyla's a great writer and a force to be reckoned with! This was a very entertaining read and I've loved following Kyla publishing journey on social media too.

thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this eArc, but sadly I couldn't get into the story and struggled so much with the first few chapters that i had to put it down,

I enjoyed this and glad I took the time to check it out, it was really fun and I have already recommended it to me sister. Also love the setting

I really wanted to enjoy this one but unfortunately I tried multiple times and couldn't get through the first couple of chapters.

The blurb and the contents do not match each other, which was really disappointing as I had been so intrigued by this book. It reads a little younger than it was marketed, and I think would have been better marketed as a YA rather than NA or women's fiction.

This was such an interesting read! I found myself so engrossed in the story, the characters had such incredible arcs, and I can't wait to follow this author's journey!

This was a good book for a debut, but I felt the synopsis was a bit misleading and perhaps the story seem more than it was.

i thought i would be more onboard with this one. i'm an eternal heist and scammer fan, but the book didn't have the breeze or charm that makes them entertaining. i also thought the tone was kind of juvenile, it reads younger than it should

I'm not entirely sure that the blurb truly matches what is in the pages and I think that might be why I didn't love this as much as I expected to.
I wish that the Singapore setting would have come through more and been more of a character. I went into this expecting Crazy Rich Asian-style descriptions mixed with a Gossip Girl story but really didn't get either, which was disappointing.
I wasn't really a big fan of any of the characters either and the romance element felt incredibly forced.
This just fell flat for me, sadly.
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

a decent debut and a solid read. personally I felt that the pitch was a little misleading, since I didn’t really see much of the ‘gossip girl’ energy infused into this book. maybe that would’ve elevated it a little bit because I kept looking for more out of this. disappointed but it wasn’t a terrible read so I guess that’s a win?

Thank you Netgalley for this arc! It was a fast paced book and it had complex characters. I saw a lot of myself in Sam as i am working class too. The only thing I would have liked is a bit more cultural representation infused in the book. It is a really good debut.

Thank you to the publisher via NetGalley for the eARC of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Samantha Song has always coveted the socialite lifestyle, so when her work pal introduces her to the ultra-wealthy Timothy Kingston, she sees an opportunity break into the world she's always admired. The quid pro quo element of this is immediately ropy - Tim will help her fake a high-class background, and in exchange he can use her as some kind of case study to prove to his billionaire parents that his background shouldn't determine what he does with his life? This immediately felt like a slightly flimsy premise to me.

Unfortunately, this book starts as it means to go on, with juvenile and clunky dialogue and a shallow premise. I think I could have predicted the rest of the plot beat-for-beat (including the twist, which is glaringly obvious) from about page 20. The whole premise is derivative, pinching beats from the likes of Devil Wears Prada and Crazy Rich Asians (including the love interest, who is so clearly meant to be a Henry Golding type). Opportunities to engage in some real class criticism are passed over for 'socialites have it hard too'-type messaging, and the book is pretty bare-faced about revelling in the excess of brands and name-dropping.

I was disappointed that the Singaporean setting didn't come through more - the moments spent in the kopitiam with her friend Raina, and what little we got about her mother's work as a manicurist were just about all that could convince me that this book wasn't just set in L.A.. So much more could have been made of her mother's offer to do her nails, but the emotional potential of that moment completely fizzles. I also couldn't tell when exactly it was set - perhaps around 2009?

The best I can say for this is that it's well-paced and has some fun Pygmalion moments. I particularly enjoyed the early part of the scheme where Sam seemed to be Slumdog Millionaire-ing her way through high-society using details she'd picked out of magazine articles. I would have loved more of that!

Although what seemed to be an interesting concept, unfortunately, I did not enjoy the book on this occasion. It started off very confusing, and the writing became highly repetitive. The book's pace was not consistent throughout, and I felt it had the potential for more. It isn't personally to my tastes but may be to someone else.
⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book had a bit of everything I loved. It was wild from start to finish and at some points had me laughing out loud. There is romance at the centre of this book and it had me swooning. A beautiful written story!

Thank you to the publisher over on NetGalley for giving me an arc of this book, in exchange for an unbiased review.

What attracted me to this book was the cover and that it was set in Singapore. I get happy reading about books set in Southeast Asia. In reality socialites are meh...but I still like reading books that revolve around socialites. I kept forgetting this book is New Adult. It was nice to read a New Adult book that contains very little spice. It really focuses more on the character's ambition.

(Spoiler ahead)
I wanted to give this book a higher rating but the more I read it, the more annoyed I get at the main character and her friends. Samantha, as poor as she was, still received pretty privileges. Did I feel bad about her financial situation? Yes. But the way she used people to get her dream job, and still acted like a good person didn't sit right with me. She came up with the fraud idea, yet when she got found out, she played the victim. The way she got super mad at Tim...like what? Sam, you put yourself in the situation! You used him, but got mad when he used you too? She deserved everything she got after the stunt she pulled. The way she still got her dream job in the end 🙄

I'd recommend it if you like the sound of the plot and are looking to read NA with barely any spice. I may have been a little negative about the main character, but your experience in reading might be different ☺️

just felt this book to be very slow compared to a lot that i’ve read recently, couldn’t engage in it at all

dnf @ 23%

with a title like the fraud squad and a synopsis of 'a working-class woman infiltrates singapores high society', i was so excited to read this.

... and then i actually started reading it. from the get go, i found it incredibly implausible that the incredibly wealthy would let a normie infiltrate their circles, let alone no one questioning why they've never seen this socialite before since everyone who's somebody knows anybody (or however that phrase goes...)

the dialogue was incredibly clunky and was my main issue with this novel. it was so cringe and i was wondering if people actually talked like that. sometimes i wonder if authors have ever actually had a conversation with another human being.

the writing itself was meh. there were moments where i was like okay, yes setting the scene love that (though, while i can't comment on the accuracy of the singapore setting, it did feel very westernised for the benefit of readers like myself which is a shame) and then there would be about five different clothing labels being dropped within the same sentence and a shallow contemplation of topics randomly thrown in as an attempt to be woke. it all felt muddled and rushed.

i'm trying to stop forcing myself to read books i'm not enjoying, and this was one of them.

This book has been so hyped, and it is fully deserved. This is Gossip Girl meets Crazy Rich Asians in the best possible way. I have followed Kyla Zhao on TikTok for a long time and I have been waiting for this book because of the Gossip Girl vibes that this book gave me. It was fun and light paced as well as being full of fashion and glam. It presents such an interesting portrait of Shanghai’s high society although I cannot comment on how accurate it is.

This follows Samantha Song a writer for a magazine and a dreamer for the high life of Shanghai. When presented with the opportunity to create a persona and become part of Shanghai’s elite she forms the Fraud Squad. Alongside Tim, the son of Shanghai’s top business owner and Anya her socialite and co-worker. As they infiltrate Shanghai’s top events Samantha soon realises that the high life is not what she expected and her journey to write in the top magazine S, is not as smooth sailing as she expects.

I loved reading about the world in this book. Zhao did an amazing job about writing about a society which is so cutthroat and classism not only through the main character but also those already involved within high society. Anya, Tim and Samantha were so interesting to learn about their views on how society treated those depending on their social status. It was also so much fun to see all the brands being name dropped and used within the storyline. The vivid descriptions which were used throughout really added to the story and I devoured every part of them. I love books set in high society and it was so much fun to read this one.

The romance was so cute. Seeing their romance build throughout the book and the long drawn out looks which Timothy gave Samantha was adorable. The kopi scene was one of my favourites within the book and it ended in such an interesting way that I want more of their stories. However, it felt slightly rushed within the build-up, but I can understand why the author did that with the fall out of the book. Overall, it was really cute to read about and I would have loved more from the romance. As well as the romance though I really loved reading about the scheming between Samantha and her friends as well as how it affected those around her. I especially loved reading about Samantha and her best friend in the regular world.

The one issue I had with this book was that I felt as though there was several storylines that were unresolved. I felt like a few of the characters did not have an official ending and it was left open which I’m not sure if this is for a sequel or if it is for the reader to decide. I would like to have seen how certain parts of the story had ended. Either way if there is a sequel, I would love to read it in the future.

Overall, I gave this book a four out of five stars because I loved reading about Samantha and her story. It was a nice quick read with great character growth and the fashion aspect of this book was amazing. It felt like a guilty pleasure book with the added aspect of the fashion and luxury felt so fun to read about. I would love to read anything that Kyla Zhao comes out with in the future as this was such an excellent debut novel.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book!

This book had so much potential but it fell flat in my opinion. The romance felt extremely forced and I didn't connect with the characters at all.

Samantha Song has always dreamed of having her own by-line in a high-society magazine. But the death of her father and the constant struggle to help her mum make ends meet make it feel like a distant fantasy. Instead, she works at a drab PR firm and lives vicariously through her socialite co-worker Anya Chen.