Genuine Fraud

2.5/5 stars
Going into this book I was pretty excited because I absolutely adored We Were Liars so I was really looking forward to reading something by the same author. I was really disappointed though unfortunately.

I listened to Genuine Fraud via audiobook because it was narrated by Rebecca Soler, one of my favorite narrators and she was good, like always. I just felt like Genuine Fraud was a bit of a letdown.

The format of the book in case you didn't know is basically told backward. We start out with chapter 18 and make our way to chapter 1. I personally found this format to be extremely confusing. I felt like we were bouncing around all over the place, and it was difficult for me to follow. I had read a few reviews saying that this format ruins the book because you go into the story knowing what happened, you just follow along figuring out HOW. Maybe I'm just super naive when it comes to books though cause I honestly didn't know what was going on from the beginning. I mean yeah I guessed things pretty quickly before they were actually revealed, but I didn't feel like the book actually told me. Maybe it was because I was listening to it rather than reading it physically that I felt myself getting lost in the backward telling, but something tells me I would have been confused either way.

I didn't know anything about this book going in. I didn't even read the synopsis, but as I read I thought it was interesting. I just think it could have been done better. I get that Lockhart was trying something different that not a lot of writers or at least writers that I've seen have done. I get that, but it just kind of missed the mark with me. Especially after something so amazing as We Were Liars which is one of my favorite books, in order to live up to that Genuine Fraud needed to be a masterpiece. And quite frankly it just wasn't. I didn't connect with any of the characters and I still don't feel like I even understand the WHY behind what was done. More confusion there. I get that Jewel is an unreliable narrator and that she's pretty much a psycho. But I wanted to at least get a why from her point of view, but I didn't feel like I did. Or maybe I just missed it.

Overall this book was just a meh read for me. I wouldn't reread it, I don't want to own my own copy of the book. It wouldn't be the first book I recommend to someone. I'd encourage someone to try We Were Liars over this one any day (and I mean I've been encouraging people to read We Were Liars since I finished reading it). If someone asked if they should read Genuine Fraud I'd probably say “Sure if you want to. But fair warning it's super confusing.” I guess this book just didn't really stand out to me and it was just a major confusing letdown.