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Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart (Review #168)

"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."

Review: 
What the hell was that, Lockhart???? I'm upset and not in a good way. E. Lockhart gave me one of my top ten favorite books ever with We Were Liars, so when I saw another thriller I thought would rock my socks off, I went and got it. What I got instead, was utter disappointment. I was so hyped for this book, I was ready for the twist of a lifetime, like I had gotten before, and walked away with absolute confusion and dashed hopes.

The set up was enticing. We have a girl on the run and pretending to be someone else. Jule was my favorite kind of character, she was unreliable and smart. I quickly learned not to believe everything she said, and every time I had a clue of who she really was, by the next chapter it is revealed to be a lie. I loved that! I anxiously awaited the big reveal, the big twist, and thought "wow, I have no idea what it could be! It must be so good!"

You may be asking, "well, was it?" And the answer was NO. NO IT WASN'T. In short, there was no reveal, no big twist. In fact, there was no real resolution of any kind. We are left right where we began, with a little more context, but not the answers we really wanted. For me the biggest disappointment was this whole scheme seemed so well thought out, so meticulously planned, only to come out as just happenstance of a compulsive liar. It completely diminished everything Jules did/accomplished throughout the book! 

I closed this book so confused and nowhere near any kind of understanding or purpose for this book. What was the takeaway? Why did Jule do anything that she did? I guess I'll never know. It is with a heavy sigh that I end this one.

Thanks for reading! Let me know you're own thoughts and feels in the comments below, because if someone can rid me of this muddiness, please do!


Want more E. Lockhart books? Check out We Were Liars!
(I promise this book is a million times better)


 

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