Lockhart, E. --Genuine Fraud informal buddy read starts April 5, 2020

[Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief]

This thread is open to discuss Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart.



Synopsis
From the author of the unforgettable New York Times bestseller We Were Liars comes a masterful new psychological suspense novel--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.

Praise for E. Lockhart's We Were Liars

"Haunting, sophisticated. . . . Twisty and well-told." --The Wall Street Journal

"[It] will leave you dying to talk about the book with a pal or ten." --Parade.com

"You're going to want to remember the title. Liars details the summers of a girl who harbors a dark secret, and delivers a satisfying but shocking twist ending." --Entertainment Weekly

"An ambitious novel with an engaging voice, a clever plot and some terrific writing." --The New York Times Book Review

"Thrilling, beautiful, and blisteringly smart, We Were Liars is utterly unforgettable." --John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fault in Our Stars

[Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief]

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[Moderators of NBRC, Challenger-in-Chief]

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[Dev]

so i did actually read about a third of this yesterday but didn't get over here to comment. i'm enjoying it so far but also not *entirely* sure what is really happening, with the weird timeline and unreliable narrator and such, i am enjoying it but i'm kind of wondering why (view spoiler)[she felt the need to like ...become a criminal? i mean she had the money and it seemed all legal and i can understand moving it around i guess just in case the mom decided later that she wanted to challenge the will or something, but i'm still like why was all this necessary?? you could have just bought a nice house somewhere and chilled out ... (hide spoiler)] clearly there is something we haven't been told yet (view spoiler)[i'm kind of wondering the MC actually killed her friend but that seems like the obvious twist so i wonder if something else actually happened (hide spoiler)]

[Dev]

about 2/3rds of the way through now and (view spoiler)[womp womp i was right lol. kind of disappointed honestly bc it seems at this point to be a fairly standard jealousy stolen identity murder thing going on but i guess there is still time left (hide spoiler)]. trying to remember if things skipped around more at the beginning bc now it seems like it is going directly in reverse order ...

[Cathy M.]

I started and only got thru Chpt 2 (18-17).

(view spoiler)[I'm not sure what to make of it so far. Like her whole origin story was a little too Marvel to be believable. Or maybe it's just that she called it her "origin story". I thought maybe I had her wrong (thinking she was some sort of con artist) when Patti came to tell Jule that Imogen had left her all her money. I thought she had an honest reaction to her friend's death, though I could be backwards and it was guilt instead? But then afterwards, with her cashing out all the money and then her theft string, feel a little confused on who this character is. And who is she running from? The cops? Because of Imogen's death? (hide spoiler)]

[Cathy M.]

Devann wrote: "so i did actually read about a third of this yesterday but didn't get over here to comment. i'm enjoying it so far but also not *entirely* sure what is really happening, with the weird timeline and..."

Yes, unreliable narrator!

[Dev]

ok i finished and gave it a 2.5 but rounded up. also i checked back through all the chapter headings and it does just move backwards linearly, think i was just kind of confused at first which is why i didn't necessarily pick up on it right away. gotta say the timeline is one of the things about the book i actually liked and i wasn't really expecting to bc a lot of my friends on here rating it poorly and cited the timeline as one of the reasons. usually im the first person to be confused by 'non linear' timelines but also like ...this was linear, just reverse linear lol

anyway, back to the actual plot (view spoiler)[it was pretty much exacty what you think it's gonna be once you figure it out so that's why i went with 2.5, but it's also extremely readable and it was interesting to see like just how far all of her deceptions went as more and more of the earlier timeline was revealed so that's why i bumped it up to 3 instead of down. (hide spoiler)]

it wasn't great but it wasn't awful and it was kind of nice as just a fairly quick read

[Claudia]

So I'm still at the beginning of the book and just like confused but kind of also guessing where this is going. I'm like a 3rd of the way through but I have to agree with Devann very unreliable narrator. It is so far interesting but it seems like a quick read if I can make the time to just sit down and either listen or read it. Hoping to finish this by tomorrow so will give my insights then

[Dev]

im guessing from the lack of comments that this was a total bust with both of you? not sure if you want to try something else or just take a break for a few weeks?

[Cathy M.]

Sorry, took a while to finish. And I had to make myself rush thru to finish it...

I'm not sure whether I'll rate it because while I can't say that it was poorly written or anything like that, I just did not like it - not the MC, not the way it was written backwards, not any of the other characters. I think if the author wrote Jule a little more likable maybe I would've cared more. But from the beginning, we all knew she was off and instead of caring what happened next, was just confused. It all just sort of left a bad taste in my mouth.

With not as much reading time, and trying to keep up with all the other challenges I'm in, I think I need a little break.

[Claudia]

yeah I didn't really enjoy this. I felt it was like meh. sorry didn't really comment but it's like last two weeks of school so got wrapped up in school projects. I'll be kind of wrapped up in it until like May 4th which is my last due date

[Claudia]

Hey guys I'm back. I have one paper left that is due next Monday and I'm done with school. I just wanted to check in with you guys and see if you guys were ready to start a series or try more stand-alone? We can start anytime after May 4th or take a longer break if you guys want. Really I'm just checking in

[Cathy M.]

Now that UNO's done, I can do another series!

Adding a couple more to our pot - I read the 1st book in the series and really liked them -Rivers of London and Three Mages and a Margarita. But they are both Fantasy.

[Claudia]

Well the whole The Guild Codex series is on Kindle Unlimited so I'm okay to read it since I can borrow them to read.

[Dev]

you guys might have to just go on without me for awhile because i havent really been reading anything except graphic novels or short stories lately and i don't think i can start a new series right now. also don't really see myself reading any urban fantasy for the foreseeable future and i know that's very much where we started and where you guys still are i think

[Claudia]

Hey Devann do you wanna read Deadly Class, Volume 1: Reagan Youth

I've been wanting to read it to compare to the show.

[Dev]

i think i tried to read that at one point and couldn't really get into it