Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Wow, what a thrilling read! I haven't read anything by Ms Bourland before, but I will definitely do so in future. This was a good read, recommended.

This was another great read by Barbara Bourland. It takes a deep dive into the art scene while centering around flawed and real characters, all while an unsettling undercurrent runs throughout the whole narrative.
It was a brilliantly crafted and obviously well researched work of literary fiction with a sprinkling of mystery.

I absolutely loved Barbara Bourland’s previous book, I’ll Eat when I’m Dead: it could have been specially written for Clothes in Books with its crime story combined with fashion and magazines. I loved that she took her subject seriously: this is what I said then – ‘Bourland knows that people want there to be no sweatshops, but they also want cheap clothes. She faces up to women’s desire to do great things in the world, and their equal interest in the way they look and dress.’

I probably thought Fake Like Me would be set in a similar world, and I came into it knowing nothing of the subject matter, which is always good in my view. And in fact while still being roughly contemporary, and pivoting round young people in an upmarket sector of New York – in this book she goes full-tilt for the art world rather than fashion.

I was her, that weird depressed young temp in your office who when pressed says she’s thinking about applying to law school because it’s something to say, but she’s taking cooking classes, too, and maybe working for an NGO abroad is the next step, helping people, but she’s also always wanted to do hair,and you think to yourself as she talks, I might be unhappy, but thank God I’m not that lost.

It tells the story of a young woman, from a very non-privileged background, trying to make her way as an artist. She is inspired by and chooses as a role model one Carey Logan, an artist who is a few years older. Our protagonist – who is never named - becomes almost-obsessed by the high-profile art collective that Carey is part of, called Pine City. Eventually, after some success for herself and some worrying developments, she infiltrates them, and moves into their upstate art centre, a remote spot on a lake where the artists live in cabins and create their art in dream-like studios. She has a major, and secret, project underway, and gets to know the other artists. Across the lake live a very rich couple who run their own version of the art world, and have an extraordinary house, and parties.



That sounds Gatsby-esque, and the empty resort/camp far from anywhere, out in the woods, ghost-town-y (very American, we don’t have things like that in the UK) starts giving hints of The Shining. The book also has pleasing echoes of du Maurier’s Rebecca at times… there’s a dress, and this reader was yelling at her: don’t put it on. But our heroine, though equally unnamed, is no Mrs de Winter – she is forceful, curious, occasionally annoying, and very much wanting to get to the bottom of what is going on with Pine City. It is absolutely not a straight crime story, though it is full of secrets to reveal and mysteries to solve, and it isn’t afraid to tackle big philosophical questions about art and about the way we live.

Bourland says she is not an artist, although I found her descriptions of creating artwork convincing and absorbing (but what would I know?), in which case it is an astonishing achievement – I totally believed in the artist and her work. And the ultimate explanations and the way everything panned out were satisfying and thought-provoking. In the final sections I was desperate to know what would happen/had happened.



I absolutely loved this book, like the previous one: atmosphere and characters and plot were spot on. It could probably be compared to some other books eg Donna Tartt’s Secret History, but I think she should stand on her own: it is a work of art.

This was an early paragraph, which stuck in my mind because it needs so many footnotes – I only understood about half of it on a first read:

A poster for Carey Logan’s show, THE BURIAL PROJECT, had been wheatpasted on the side of the college’s non-ferrous metal forge two months earlier. Selling off meals from my dining plan at half price ginned up enough cash for a same day round-trip bus ticket in and out of Chinatown, and so – there I went.

Bourland’s critique of the art world - ‘everyone in here has an asymmetrical haircut’ - is beautifully done. There is the blatant privilege and entitlement for some – if ever there was a case of ‘to those that have, more will be given’ this is it. There’s her friend whose High School photos are being curated: ‘They’re calling it Just Kids meets The Year of Magical Thinking, but, you know, for our generation.’ Satirical and repellent but wholly convincing, not exaggerated at all. This art world holds a huge mixture of genuine talent and creativity, and pretentiousness and entitlement.






My only other comment is that I’ll Eat When I’m Dead was hilarious, full of wit and very funny lines, and this one is more serious, carried along with a driving force. But of course there are moments:

“DANNY, make dinner!” Max yelled… I was taken aback at her rudeness. The Max I knew was privileged, sure, but she would never yell at anyone, certainly not her help… Max laughed at me. “I’m talking to the house” - a smooth California lady robot.

There is one sideline here that I found fascinating: a (real life) Youtube video features, Stevie Nicks singing Wild Heart in an impromptu manner in 1981. The claim that ‘one third of American woman watch this every day’ is clearly hyperbole, but – not a Nicks fan but ever-curious – I went to take a look. And at first thought ‘this scrappy, amateurish thing can’t be it’ but then became completely sucked in and can understand why people become obsessed by it – and they plainly do. I have watched it over and over since discovering it. Honestly, even if I didn’t love the book, I would be always grateful to Bourland for introducing me to this video clip... It has huge viewing figures - increased quite a bit since I discovered it.

This article explains something about why it affects people. And I liked the description in the book:

There’s a video of Stevie Nicks getting her makeup done and singing her guts out on an early version of ‘Wild Heart’. Cady used to play it on her computer. ‘I watch this every day and so do a third of American women’ she told me. In the video, Stevie is sitting on a metal radiator in Annie Liebovitz’s studio, so young, and so blond, eyes like dinner plates. You can’t believe that she is ever going to be unhappy, or that she’s already spent a million dollars on cocaine, or that her heart has ever been broken. She is a miracle in action. And you don’t know why anyone would ever try to stop her.

And of course here it is for you, I will always go the extra mile:





(Disappointingly, the standard recorded version of Wild Heart sounds most unlike this – in the video clip she is actually singing a small section of the song to a different Fleetwood Mac tune.)

The description of Carey reminded me of Courtney Love, in flowered dress, which resembles one in the book, top picture. The studio is Ronan-Jim Sevellec’s – a French artist who makes tiny box dioramas. Our heroine makes huge industrial size pictures, but the look of the studio seemed like hers. Dress and leopard jacket again is from the book – the picture shows CiB style icon Kate Moss. The gallery opening party - in my old hometown of Seattle – was taken by Joe Mabel, who uploaded it to Wikimedia Commons.

An interesting premise with a fantastic twist at the end. The writing is beautiful and the settings are wonderfully vivid but I found it quite hard to going and had to persevere through the first ~30%.

I absolutely adored this book. In my top 10 reads of the year. Couldn't put it down.

The premise is a bit Rebecca x Girl On The Train, set in an 80s art collective in upstate New York. I don't even know how to describe it better but if you like Highsmith, this is one for you. I loved the sections where our main character talks about her art - I was so consumed by her passion and it's that obsessive POV that leads her down the rabbit hole that her envy and ambition takes her.

"Even though I knew there were no rules to this life, I wanted to know what they were. I wanted there to be someone like me who could tell you that yes, work was hard and sometimes your heart gets broken, and here is how you finish something."

A literary thriller set in the art world, Fake Like Me follows an unnamed narrator who, in the opening chapters has her apartment and all her paintings destroyed in an accidental fire. The paintings were going to be on display for her first major exhibition and with interested buyers also waiting, the protagonist needs to remake her work and fast (and they are huge artworks - the level of detail describing the way the paintings were made was amazing).

She manages to blag her way into Pine City, a retreat in the middle of nowhere, where an art collective she has always looked up to since high school live and work. Pine City are all still grieving the loss of one of their beloved members, Carey Logan, who has recently committed suicide. As Carey is one of the protagonist's heroes she can't help but delve deeper into the mysterious circumstances of what happened to her.

I really enjoyed reading this book, it kept me hooked and oh my god THAT TWIST!! 😱😱

I read this along with the wonderful #FakeLikeUs gang, for the Quercus buddy read. Fake Like Me is about a young painter (our nameless narrator) as she navigates her place within the New York Art scene, as a female artist. After a fire destroys all of her latest works, she is faced with a tough decision and then an even tougher task. Is is fraudulent to create replacements for all of these paintings (some of which have already sold), and how on earth will she manage it over one short, stifling summer?

This was my first ever buddy read, and I found it a really great way to read! Reading along with others is so fun – you get to share all your theories, see what other people picked up on and what you’d maybe missed. I also loved that it meant I had to read a section at a time – it meant that the suspense built more gradually over the weeks and by the time I reached the final segment, I was desperate to know EVERYTHING! It's truly testament to the plot and how well Bourland manages to keep all the secrets just under the surface that it made such a good buddy read.

It sort of took me by surprise how much I enjoyed this glimpse into the art world, as it is not a sphere that I know all that much about. I loved Bourland's explorations of what it means to be a woman in that world (in any world).

When the young aspiring painter arrives in New York to become a real artist, she encounters the already famous quintet that calls itself “Pine City“ after the place they work. Jes, Marlin, Jack, Tyler and especially Carey are the up-coming big names in the art world and all that the unnamed narrator dreams of: self-confident, relaxed, comfortable in themselves. A couple of years later, she is at the threshold of making herself a name when her apartment burns down and with it several pieces of work that were meant to be shown just a couple of weeks later. She had stored them at home, not at safe place as she tells her curator, thus, she has to act quickly and rebuild them. An impossible task, even more so if you do not even have a work place anymore. She luckily finds an interim solution: a friend brings her at the heart of the circle she once admired and which has been reduced to a quartet after Carey’s suicide. It was her especially that she looked up to and felt connected with. Maybe staying there might give her some insight in why she decided to end her life.

I really dived into the novel and was immediately hooked by Barbara Bourland’s novel. The young artist who is insecure and admires those who already succeeded. I also appreciated the insight in a painter’s work, how her emotions lead to results when she manages to channel them into the art. Interestingly also to glance behind the façade of the art and culture circus - you get the impression that it is just this: a façade, a cover-up to please, a pretence - without any solid foundation or walls. However, I got a bit lost when the plot developed too much into a love story.

I enjoyed the author’s style of writing and the combination of the art world with a touch of mystery. Yet, apart from the protagonist, it was hard to support the characters who were nor only shallow but pretentious and affected, and who took themselves and their work by far too serious. Just like the characters, the overall plot was also a bit trivial and lacked the depth and analysis or insight in the art work I had expected. The mystery surrounding the suicide of Carey, too, did not really show any suspense. An interesting read with a very strong beginning but a bit lengthy from the middle on.

Pine city, the young cool artists of the time, 5 sexy artists who live, create and love together. They are the centre of the art scene in New York, all specialising in different genres, sculpture, painting, metal work etc. but creating a gang who rule the roost and are the inspiration for many young artists. Long after moving to the outskirts in a massive lakeside complex where they host great parties and host exclusive artists, Carey, the big name, the face of the group dies. She is thought to have committed suicide by walking into the lake in concrete boots, Jack her once lover finds her and is devastated. Pine city closes down, almost everyone leaves, no more parties.

Our narrator, an unnamed young artist who has seen pine city perform, takes inspiration from Carey, creating great oversized paintings. Although her career is slow, nearly 20 years after her first dealings with pine city she has a break through and has a deal for 7 paintings. Two years worth of work and hopefully, a good payday to prove this was all worth it. But, a fire in her flat ruins her work, with less than 6 months to create enough for the show, will pine city help her out?

I actually really enjoyed this book, a great plot, plenty of drama and clues to the mystery of Carey's death. I think it's a good description of the Art scene, but it has made me feel like artists are just lazy, rich people so not improved my view of them (as a scientist I have always wondered why I had to work 9-6 at uni but the 'artists' went in for 4 hours a week!). The characters are well written however, I failed to really like any of them, perhaps I'm just not rich and self centred enough! The intense relationships between artists was exciting but I felt these were destined to fail, so much emotion and no escape I was not surprised by the outcomes. There are lots of themes covered in the book, a hint of sexism but I don't think it was ever a problem these women bothered about, they were strong and worked through it, unlike the mental health issues that were raised.

I would recommend to anyone who is interested in the art scene or likes a well plotted mystery.

This review is a little difficult to write only because I do not want to give anything away, it's best to go into it knowing as little information about it as possible. And then, find some friends who also read it so you can discuss it because it's amazing!

Basic plot:This book is from the point of view of the narrator who is an artist living in New York City. When her loft burns down, she loses 7 paintings she's been working on for 2 years that are due to be shown within months. The main thread of the plot is about her journey after she goes to an artist retreat upstate to recreate her paintings. Once there she is drawn into a mystery revolving around another artist who had a died a couple years before, and who also happened to be her idol.

My description of the plot really does not do this book justice. I was immediately drawn in. The narrator is interesting, and her work and interests as an artist were well-described and well-researched by the author, Barbara Bourland. It was such an intriguing read that was very hard to put down. I loved getting pulled along by the narrator and discovering the mystery, answers, and twists along with her. It is so well-written that the story progresses in such a way when mysteries are solved/twists are revealed, it feels natural. I didn't guess any twists or how the story would resolve, but it made complete sense within the context of the story and narration.

This is a really excellent story, very richly layered, interesting, and compelling. I finished it a week ago and I'm still thinking about it. I highly recommend.

After a number of years trying to make a name for herself in the art world, our protagonist meets one Carey Logan, another female artist and member of Pine City.  A talked about group of experimental artists. She is enthralled.

Sometime later, after a fire rips through our unnamed protagonists apartment/studio, whilst preparing for an upcoming showing of her work, she finds herself in desperate need of a work space and ends up on the Pine City estate.

It is at this point the book then takes us into the most marvellously atmospheric world of painting, creative obsession and the mystery behind the members of this well known group.

I found this a great read and a very absorbing novel.  Seen only through the eyes of our main character it really allows the reader to get under her skin and be transported to her world.  It is both interesting and informative but also deeply atmospheric and a believable thriller type novel.

I enjoyed all the characters, even though it is only our main character that is 'fleshed out' and whom we learn anything about until the end of the story. The lack of information about the members of Pine City adds to their mysterious nature.

For me the best part of this novel is it's descriptive writing of setting and the creative obsession and day to day life of this artist at this time.  I found it very interesting hearing of how she actually goes about making her art work, not just from a creative ideas point of view, but also the more practical side of things, like making up frames and the enormous amount of materials needed to obtain an effect or colour she is after for a painting.  The planning, time, and maths needed to do this are often mentioned.

The setting is wonderful and the heat and cloying atmosphere of the estate really came through.  The lake and often empty accommodation matched with the solitude of her work habits add wonderfully to this and creates a world one can really get lost in.  I also enjoyed the way this then lived 'next door' to the opulent world of her old friend Max with her parties, privileged up bringing and art collection.

A really interesting book and a good thriller that drew me wonderfully into its world.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced copy.

My thanks to Quercus Books/riverrun for an eARC via NetGalley of Barbara Bourland’s ‘Fake Like Me’ in exchange for an honest review.

Our narrator describes herself as a ‘no-name painter’ and indeed we never learn her name. Since her time in art school she has idolised Carey Logan, the wild child of the New York art scene. In 1996 she even travels to New York to attend Carey’s show, The Burial Project. There she briefly interacts with Carey and observes the other four members of the Pine City Group.

Our narrator graduates, moves to New York and slowly begins to build her own artistic career. She remains aware of Carey and Pine City. Meanwhile, in 2006 Carey abandons her sculptural work and devotes herself to performance art. Then in 2008 Carey commits suicide.

Move forward to 2011 and our narrator is poised on the brink of a major exhibition. Then a fire rages through her loft destroying her seven enormous paintings, titled Rich Ugly Old Maids and inspired by the seven virtues. In order to avoid ruin she faces the seemingly impossible task of recreating them secretly in three months. Happily her journal containing detailed notes of the artworks survived. Using the influence of a patron, she manages to secure a residency at the Pine City upstate retreat.

There she meets the remaining members of the collective and discovers that Carey’s death has left them haunted.

No more plot details to avoid spoilers but this is a literary thriller including elements of mystery that also shines a darkly satirical light on the fickleness of the contemporary art scene. It held my attention throughout.

While it is not necessary to have a background in contemporary art to appreciate it, my own experience was certainly enhanced by my study of art history. Bourland goes deeply into the technical details of her narrator’s creative process. It’s quite exhilarating and I could feel the excitement as she worked on each panel.

Bourland engaged all of the readers’ senses in her vivid descriptions, which heightened the feeling of immersion including her sweat and paint-stained body and clothing or the delight of swimming in the nearby lake. I always appreciate an author who weaves this kind of sensory experience.

Soon after starting I obtained its audiobook edition, which increased my sense of immediacy. It was powerfully narrated by Xe Sands.

I felt that this was an amazing novel with strong characterisations and some quite surprising twists. I found it very satisfying.

I joined with others for a group read, hosted by Quercus on Twitter, in which we read a number of chapters each week and discussed on the platform. It has been great fun.

Truly beautiful, I felt like I could smell the turpentine, feel the dried paint on my hands. I wanted to be part of Pine City too, that it was the place to be.

Though some of the characters I felt were best avoided, totally faking the niceness, I knew they would turn out to be not what they seemed.

The storyline is great, the main narrator carries the story through and is emotionally involved with her art - Barbara Bourland must have extensive knowledge of art and painting to elaborate as she does. Taking us through years worth of college, working bars and busting her arse to get through and still manage to create Art. Once she gets her big break and her next big show isn't far off, a fire destroys all her work, leaving her a set number of days to re-create the works shes already made, following her own notes she manages to find space big enough - At Pine City - where shes always wanted to be. Following in the footsteps of the famed Carey Logan, her artistic heroine, despite her suicide.

Being in her studio, being where she was, brings about a series of events that reveals the truth about Carey Logan and Pine City - No spoilers from me about that though, you need to read it yourself.

'They are objects that exist unto themselves, moving and beautiful, worthy of the space they take up in the world, political because they do not crouch in a corner, because their labour is obvious. Their weight is obvious. Their heft cannot be ignored or dismissed. They are the only part of me that is big'
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The story follows an unnamed protagonist, who creates massive abstract paintings, as she tries to make it in a heavily male dominated industry. She is due to show seven giant pieces at her own show in Paris, but when her flat burns down taking the paintings with it she is forced to frantically remake them. Desperate for a place to do her work, this is when she crosses paths with Pine City😯
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I have never read anything like this book before, and I loved every second of it. First of all, the art references were fantastic and how Bourland portrayed the difficulty of being a woman in the art industry was so raw, she really didn't hold back. I loved how the protagonist explained her practise and how hard she worked on each painting she did. The story was so gripping that I really struggled to put it down during this buddy read, hence why I've finished it over a week early😂 I did not see the twist coming and it wasn't just shocking, it was a very clever too.
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I highly recommend this to everyone, whether you love art or not, you'll love this book!

I really enjoyed Fake Like Me by Barbara Bourland. It’s told from the point of view of a nameless artist who is struggling to live and produce the art that she wants to make. Just as she’s building up to a huge show, her loft burns down containing all of the art she’s going to show. She tells the gallery and her agent that they are undamaged. She manages to secure studio space in Pine City where her art hero, Carey Logan lived and worked prior to her suicide.
I loved how the narrator was so passionate about her work; there are loads of descriptions of paints, colours, methods and textures. If like me, you know nothing about art, never fear! This is all about the mystery of what happened to Carey Logan. It’s also about loyalty, doing the things that you love and the sacrifices you will make to reach these ends. All of the artists in this story are passionate about their work. We also see that a lot of these people are already very privileged, and this is likely the reason why they are able to achieve so much in their careers - unlike the main protagonist who seems to have to fight and work really hard for everything she does.

I’d definitely recommend this book - I didn’t see the twist coming at all (I know that some people did), but maybe that’s because I enjoyed the journey of the story so much. Either way, it’s a really good read.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of this book.

Fake Like Me is a fascinating page turning novel set in the New York art world. A mid level artist loses her latest work in a fire and takes herself off to a retreat run by her teenage art heroes in order to remake the show she is contracted for.
Fake Like Me is a detailed exploration of the New York art scene and Bourland clearly knows her stuff. It is also a deeply interesting treatise in women in art, commodification, privilege and practice. The ending is a real surprise and overall I would highly recommend it.

An interesting read to say at least. I know nothing about art and painting but we all know or heard stories about artists that live in their own world and they are always moody and self absorbed,the fact that some of them have no inhibitions or have to use alcohol and other substances for their creativity to occur to the next news about their bodies found out of life and always the mystery around them.
The story is compelling and told only from the point of view of our heroine that has no name, I for one found it odd but interesting as well.
As a young artist who wants to make a break through the well known art society, we get to know a lot about how she struggles to become one, being unemployed and homeless, how her obsession with another woman artist grow so much to the point of living her life after said artist passed away.
A lot of new terms and interesting small things about art life to find in this book for which I was grateful to learn about.

I've always been fascinated by New York artistic scene and that was the main reason I requested this ARC.
It met all my expectations and I found it engrossing, exciting and enthralling.
I liked the characters development even if none of the character was likable, the unknown heroine is sometimes whiny and most of the time seems to have doubt about her own value.
The humour, the description of the creative process and the artistic scene are amazing and they picture something that is both harsh and enthralling at the same time.
The books is not fast paced but once I started I couldn't put it down.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Quercus Books and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

It was a very entertaining read. Quite thrilling romance story that kept me hooked from the beginning. I think . it's a perfect summer read. I'll definitely follow the writer for her future works.

Thanks a lot netgalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.
Umut