Thanks for the advance copy!

This book was extremely difficult to get through. Though it is short in length, I found the plot also very short and not particularly interesting in many ways. The protagonist sees herself as an action hero, which I actually loved as a concept but which just feels like a waste of time in practise. The book also moves backwards which should reveal twists and turns but it's fairly predictable what will happen. I had a hard time with this book once past the first 20% or so when it became clear that there was no real strong plot. There is no indication that the protagonist really wants or needs anything and no obvious motivation for anything she does and all the other characters are so two dimensional that it's hard to care at all.

I loved ‘we were liars’ so was keen to read this new work. It didn’t disappoint. Told in a unusual way, your opinion on Jule is challenged all the way through. I just loved it!

I read my way through about one third of this book and gave up. I found it a bit confusing but, having said that, if it had been more interesting, I’m sure I’d have concentrated better. I liked none of the characters. I was so disappointed as I thoroughly enjoyed the author’s previous book, We Were Liars.

I didn't realise that this is billed as a YA book, but really that shouldn't make a difference. At first I was interested to discover the back stories of two women who meet 'by chance' in a hotel gym, but quickly found my credulity became stretched too far.
I didn't find the convoluted timeline as annoying as some earlier reviewers, but struggled to empathize with the characters or care what happened to them.
Perhaps I am just too old!

I haven't read We Were Liars so I approached this one without any kind of expectations.

From the synopsis, I could imagine this book would be messed up, but it didn't actually turned out the way I thought. The beginning was really twisted, I had no clue about what I was reading, but I imagined that in the end everything would be explained. Even though I now have a full picture of the story, I don't think it was well-thought and well-structured as it could have. Stylistically, the author decided to tell the story through flashbacks and throwback,which made it kind of difficult for me to follow up at times- I assume I am not a huge fan of this kind of setting!
I wasn't really enthusiastic about the story. And not because I don't like crimes books, I love them! But there were a lot of things lacking. First of all, I really couldn't get attached to the characters, the whole quick and messed up narrative made it impossible to just focus on the characters you were approaching. Jule, the protagonist, was a real mystery, but not one who gets solved in the end. Yes, you get to know her motivations and part of her past, but was it really enough to excuse everything that happens in the book? I ended the book feeling like she was just a strange character of a comic book, one who acts like crazy for no reason and that you never fully understand.

I give this book 3 stars because despite everything,I found it very easy to read, but I would not recommend it as something you MUST or SHOULD read. Just an average reading, to spend the afternoon.

"she didn't know if she could love her own mangled, strange heart"

* * * *
4 / 5

I wasn't really sure what to expect when I cracked open Genuine Fraud. I haven't read Lockhart's other well received book, We Were Liars, and I haven't read many thrillers or mystery novels. But I was very impressed by Genuine Fraud - it was short, a light 250 pages, and so didn't drag unnecessarily on, it packed a punch, had some weird twists, and really made me work for it. This is not an easy read - my brain really had to work to make sense of what was going on - but it was so worth it.

"she looked the same, looked just like anyone, but she saw the world differently after that. To be a physically powerful woman - it was something"

Jule is an athlete and shrouded in mystery. Her stories about her past constantly change and sound like lies. Imogen is a rich heiress, cheats on her boyfriends, and flighty. On the island of Martha's Vineyard, Jule and Imogen become fast friends having known each other at school. They trade clothes, gossip, and boys until they become so similar it's hard to tell them apart. We open the novel with Jule at a fancy hotel, relaxing on poolsides and benching weights, letting the summer pass her by. From there we move backwards in time, always backwards into the past, to discover how Imogen and Jule and Forrest and Paolo and Brooke are intricately tied together.

It's hard to say what Genuine Fraud is actually about. It's about murder and love and female friendships. It's about an author trying to shock a reader and about a girl who is a little bit psychotic. It's about people not being who you expect them to be, about mistaken identities, and how making one little choice can change your life massively in the space of a year. It's about feminism and action heroes and always thinking that we are right and the centre of our own stories. Reading this book made my head spin with wild theories: is Imogen even real? And so many questions: Who is Jule? What does she want?

"the gun felt hot against her back. she was armed. she had no heart to break. like the hero of an action movie, Jule West Williams was the center of the story"

If you have read more thrillers than I have, perhaps you won't find the plot particularly surprising. But the delivery, the bizarre and elusive main character, the choice to tell the story back to front, should grab your attention. I read this book in a couple of sittings over two days which meant I was able to pick up on a couple of small details and allusions to things that I think I probably would have missed had I read Genuine Fraud over a longer period of time. That and the emotional disconnect between myself and the characters, who enthralled me but who I was distant from - like watching a cool bug under a microscope - is why this book gets four stars, not five.

Overall, I really loved Genuine Fraud and devoured it. Jule is a great, if morally insane, character; she's wild and mysterious and violent. She is not a good person, but she's an interesting focus of a story.

My thanks to Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for an ARC of Genuine Fraud

I have come to find out that E Lockhart just isn't for me. This is the second book I've read by her and the second time I'm intrested in what is going on but the book just doesn't really grasp me. If you do like E Lockhart's writting and are intrested in this concept you'll love this.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a digital ARC to review in exchange for an honest review!!

Firstly, I know that the blurb is very vague and I also know that I'm going to struggle to review this a lot without spoilers. But I'm going to try my hardest.

I don't think I should go over what the plot entails because as I've already said, it's like impossible to do without spoiling something. The plot was basically told in reverse. We started the book in the present and then through a series of flashbacks to different times and locations, the story plays out like it happened. This was a clever way to tell a story but for me personally, I think it was so confusing. I'm actually sit not sure what the book was about.

I loved We Were Liars so it's safe to say I was disappointed when I didn't like it as much as I thought I would have. However, I am a big fan of E. Lockhart so there were some things I enjoyed about this book.

I loved how tense it was - that even though I didn't really have an idea of what was going on, I couldn't stop reading and found myself flying through it. As well as that, the plot twists in this thriller left me with my jaw dropped. Lockhart has a unique writing style that I just love and sometimes I do laugh out loud at some of the things her characters say.

I also really adored the characters of Jule and Imogen and in the best way possible, how they were totally stone-cold bitches. I loved the various references to Victorian novels like Dickens and I loved the mystery behind these characters and their backstories. But at the end of the day, I only wish this book was more coherent so I could understand the story more and enjoy it.

I haven't read We Were Liars yet but heard all the hype, of course it's on my tbr. So when this book came on Netgalley I jumped at the chance of reading.
Firstly, let me say I'm not a big reader of thrillers but I will literally read anything.
I loved the gimmick of this being told in reverse (but did get a bit confused in parts) but sadly I HATED the main character, she really, really got on my nerves. And that put a damper on reading it for me, a lot.
I'm sure this book will appeal to many but sadly not to me.

“It was like being able to fight, she realized. And being able to change accents. They were powers that lived in your body. They would never leave you, no matter how you looked, no matter who loved or didn’t love you.” 

Thank You to NetGalley or the opportunity to read this book.

This is my first . Lockhart book, and I'm so excited, I've been seeing it everywhere, and it's been so hyped for me, that I could only wish I got a change to read it.

Genuine Fraud follows Jule, who's intelligence lead her into a charmed life. With so many lies and reinventions of who she wants to be, it is only a matter of time until it all catches up with her. With an intense friendship, murder, bad romance and a girl who refuses to be the person she once was.

I loved the writing style, E. Lockhart kept me guessing for more and more, I could not put it down since I started, and I was always guessing what would happen next.The way that is writen complements the suspense of the story. Without spiling anything, I can say this is full of mind games, and plot twists with some flashbacks, that work perfectly for this story.

I loved Jule although she's a different character than we normally see in YA, this difference made me care more about Jule, however I can see how it may seem that it is not relatable to any one who reads this book.

“Do you think a person is as bad as her worst actions?...I mean, do our worst actions define us when we're alive? Or, do you think human beings are better than the very worst things we have ever done?”

At first it was fun and different but then the style of the rewinding story got very old very quickly. This is down to the almost clinical way it was set up so it felt like I was flipping back through a book instead of just going to the beginning and starting from there. It made sense in the beginning but once we started learning about how Jule found herself in that situation it would have been a nice change of pace it the story started to unfold chronologically.
It felt like I was taking two steps forward and one step back and by that point you have already figured out the story and just want your suspicions confirmed.

The story in general was pretty cool. Not really knowing or trusting the protagonist and watching her characteristics become undone and seeing how she reinvents herself - all that jazz was fun to watch and even imagine whether you could do the same, but not really knowing Jule came at the cost of not caring about her. I realised I wasn't too concerned with her past, with whether or not she was telling the truth or with what her damage was and once that happens it's a drag to get through the rest of the book.

Despite how short this book was... it was still too long for the plot. If more happened or less was written it would have kept me intrigued for longer, but by half way I was pretty much ready for it to be over.

This is a short book that I read in about 3-4 hours.
It's really gripping and there are loads of twists and turns that keep you hooked.
At first I really admired the character Jule. I loved how tough but smart she was and wanted to get fit and strong so I could take care of myself like she does. Lockhart really drew me in to the character which make the revelations about Jule even more shocking!
I found the writing easy to follow and I loved that the story was written going back in time, it was a great change. Unfortunately, there were a few moments where I had to reread sections to clarify certain events in the book. I was also able to predict a few events in the book which is why I couldn't give it a higher rating. I would rate this 3.5 out of 5.

I received an advance copy thanks to netgalley. I really enjoyed the backwards timeline which slowly revealed the reason for everything. The plot isn't terribly original though, but it was a quick, fun read.

I read We Were Lairs by this author a few years ago and flew through the book although I didn’t feel that it quite lived up to the hype – some how she never quite created the atmosphere she was trying to evoke, in my opinion. However, I saw this on NetGalley and was excited to try something new from this author.

Genuine Fraud focuses around the friendship between two girls, and it becomes apparent very early on that our narrator, Jules, is obsessed with Imogen and that something has gone very wrong with their friendship. The narrative works backwards until the truth, and all of Jules’ lies, are revealed.

In the first few chapters I thought this seemed like an adventure/James Bond style novel and I was concerned that this wouldn’t be the book for me, however this quickly changes when the narrative starts going back in time and we begin ti get an inkling of why Jules is on the run. The pace is fast and you are constantly reevaluating Jules and everything she tells you – in the intro the author says that she was heavily influenced by Dickens’ Great Expectations, you can clearly see the unreliable narrator trope in this novel.

Whilst I enjoyed the fast paced story-line the narrative structure really bought this book to life for me. I hadn’t realised that the author had released another book last summer but I’ll definitely be looking out for it.

E . Lockhart is a bit of a hit or miss author for me. I love her contemporary series The Boyfriend List, but found her other novels to be underwhelming. I feel kind of the same with this one, it is enjoyable and fun, but nothing more.

Just as experted, perfect! Loved the intensity of the caracters.

Sorry I didn’t finish this book, I didn’t enjoy it. I just couldn’t get into it at all.

Many thanks to Netgalley and E Lockhart for the copy of this book. I agreed to give my unbiased opinion voluntarily.

In an author’s note, E Lockhart lists her sources of inspiration for Genuine Fraud. They include Victorian orphan stories, con artist tales and narratives of class mobility. She talks about stories told backwards and tales of female ambition. Much of this filters through into Genuine Fraud, the story of Jule West-Williams, a young con woman who exploits friendships for personal gain. Jule is rather like the orphans in Dickens who engage in crime out of necessity. She sees herself as an action hero, physically and mentally strong yet she’s also vulnerable, living on her wits and in constant danger of being uncovered as a fraud.

This is a story of good and evil, privilege and want, elite and envy. It’s dark and twisty — a tale of self-invention and self-deception. Jule spends a lot of time worrying about her origin story — struggling between what she tells herself and what she tells others. Is she disturbed or is she simply dangerous? That’s the question you’ll need to ask yourself if you decide to read Genuine Fraud.

Two girls, two identities, mix them up and what do you believe?
Told backwards from June 2017 to June 2016, this unusual story confuses yet beguiles. How easy is it to change identities and disappear?
Imogen, rich, adopted, craves freedom.
Jule, orphaned, athletic, homeless.
Both girls have secrets yet some are darker than others.

The following brief review appears on Goodreads, but I hope if possible to write a more detailed one for my blog. (My life is just being slightly eaten by university right now.)

wait, that's the end? BUT I STILL HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS

I mean this definitely isn't a book for people who always like to know what's going on because I spent most of it not having a clue what was going on. In a good way. Mostly. Literally nothing in this book is as it seems, so every time you think you've got to grips with it, the rug gets pulled out from under you again. It's very effective, but also very confusing.

I think my ability to keep track of things suffered slightly because I was reading an ARC and some of the formatting was out of whack, but also I have a terrible memory for things like dates so the fact that the headers told you when something happened didn't allow me to keep track of things very well -- I couldn't remember what the previous one had been in order to know if these were before or after. I settled into it more as it went on, but it did make it super confusing at first.

I'm also still... really confused. I'd hoped for some kind of explanation at the end, but all I got was more questions, because all the answers I thought I'd been given turned out to be fake as well.

Rating: 3.5*