Book Review⁣
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Cover Story by Susan Rigetti⁣
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 ⁣
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Synopsis: Lora Ricci is thrilled to land a summer internship at ELLE magazine where she meets Cat Wolff, contributing editor and enigmatic daughter of a clean-energy mogul. Cat takes Lora under her wing, soliciting her help with side projects and encouraging her writing.⁣
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As a friendship emerges between the two women, Lora opens up to Cat about her desperate struggles and lost scholarship. Cat’s solution: Drop out of NYU and become her ghostwriter. Lora agrees and, when the internship ends, she moves into Cat’s suite at the opulent Plaza Hotel. Writing during the day and accompanying Cat to extravagant parties at night, Lora’s life quickly shifts from looming nightmare to dream-come-true. But as Lora is drawn into Cat’s glamorous lifestyle, Cat’s perfect exterior cracks, exposing an illicit, shady world.⁣
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Review: The author took the intrigue of the Anna Delvy case, combined it with the action of Catch Me If You Can, and turned it into this delicious story. I am currently obsessed with Anna Delvy’s crazy story and was sucked right into this tale. This was a well written and deliciously reinvented story. The story was fleshed out well, was full of action and suspense … and that ending! Wow! I loved the use of Lora’s journal as chapters and how it gave the reader personal insight on top of the story. ⁣
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I had planned to rate this 3.5 stars but that ending definitely bumped it up to a 4 star read. If you enjoy a ripped from the headlines romp of a story, I would recommend this one. I hope to see this one on the big screen! ⁣
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Many thanks to @HarperCollins and @netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book.⁣
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5 stars⁣
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#CoverStory #SusanRigetti ⁣
#harpercollins #Netgalley #AnnaDelvy #scamartist #ElleMagazine #ThePlaza #NYCBooks #basedonrealitybooks

I thoroughly enjoyed this fun and twisty novel. Lara Ricci’s dream is to become an editor for a fashion magazine and best selling fiction writer on the side. She works her way through community college and then a year at Penn State before transferring to NYU to major in English and Journalism in the hopes of bettering her writing skills and achieving her dreams. Unfortunately she doesn’t do well academically in her Junior year, but nevertheless lands a job at Elle magazine as a summer intern. While there she comes under the spell of Cat Wolff, a charismatic and glamorous young editor with a shady past and dodgy present who recognizes her writing talent and convinces her to become her ghostwriter in the hopes that they can both break into the literary world.

The structure of the book is unique. We follow the story via Lara’s diary, internal magazine memos, emails between Cat & her literary agent, her agent and publishing houses and especially through through FBI investigation memos as they try to catch “Cat” in her ongoing schemes to defraud investment companies, agents and publishers, the Plaza Hotel where she is renting a palatial apartment and basically everyone she comes in contact with.

Some great twists and turns in this first novel by Susan Rigetti, who has quite an impressive resume as a software engineer, tech editor for the NYTimes, writer of a memoir about her time at Uber entitled Whistleblower. Thanks to
Harper Collins and NetGalley for the advanced copy.

What an amazing book, lots of unexpected outcomes. Couldn't put this one down. I would highly recommend this book.

I actually gasped on the last page. Didn't expect it to end this way at all. I can see this getting made into a series on HBO or Netflix.

Fast paced and compulsively readable. But. So unrealistic. Lora is incredibly gullible apparently. Cat is always multiple steps ahead of the police. Somehow.

And that ending. What? Ok sure it could have been an amazing reveal but I don't get it. Leaves more plot holes than a slice of Swiss cheese. 2.5 stars rounded up simply because of how quickly it reads.

Thanks to Book Club Girl and NetGalley for the electronic ARC copy of this novel.

The story follows an intersection between a naive college student and a woman with a similar trajectory of the scandal of Anna Delvey, the "heiress" scammer in NYC. The story is told in multimedia form with diary entries, emails, and instant messages. The diary perspective is from Lora, the college student, and I often found myself bored and annoyed with her rudimentary writing and naivete (I guess that's the point though right?). For a majority of the book I just wanted Cat Wolff's, the scammer, perspective rather than Lora's. The last few pages of the page ended in a clever way and somewhat redeemed the book for me. However, I didn't love the style of multimedia, didn't love Lora's voice, and found the scammer narrative to be so much like the real Anna Delvey story that it didn't feel that new to me. Overall, I'd rate this three stars. Thank you for the ARC and allowing me to share my thoughts.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was the biggest surprise of this year! Cover Story by Susan Rigetti is an unforgettable, unputdownable look into con artists. It will appeal to fans of The Devil Meets Prada and the real-life crimes of Anna Sorokin/Delvey. The story revolves around Lora, a new intern at Elle, who meets the glamorous contributing editor Cat. Everyone seems to have a story about Cat. When the internship ends, Lora drops out of college to become Cat's ghostwriter. As the two spend hours writing and editing short stories together, they become friends. But is Cat more than she seems? What secrets is she hiding?

Here is an excerpt from Lora's first diary entry, which introduces us to Lora:

"Tomorrow is my first day at ELLE.
ELLE.
I’ve been dreaming of this day for so many years and I can’t believe it’s finally happening.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve had one major goal in life: become the editor in chief of a fashion magazine. I wanted to be Anna Wintour or Miranda Priestly (the real hero of The Devil Wears Prada), and was determined to get any job I could at any fashion magazine, and then work my ass off and rise through the ranks until I was the obvious choice to lead the publication. I could picture myself walking into a glass-walled conference room in a Manhattan skyscraper, wearing a dress right off the runway, and deciding which articles would go into the next issue, which celebrity would be the next cover star. Over the years, the specific dress (and shoes) in my fantasy changed a hundred times, but everything else stayed the same.
For years this was my only dream. And then I discovered contemporary fiction."

Overall, Cover Story is an amazing book that I can imagine everyone and their book club talking about when it comes out in April! I have to admit that I first read the description, I wasn't expecting much. I typically read thrillers, which have a lot more action and suspense. But I was blindsided by this book. From the beginning of the book, I was glued to every page. I could not stop reading each word as the twisty story unfolded. I paid more attention to this book than I do to many thrillers that I read.

One highlight of this book is the author's writing style. At times glamorous, at times humorous, it was a fun read from start to finish. Another highlight of this book are the transcripts, emails, and other documents that are interspersed between Lora' s chapters. I found them fascinating and they added a new dimension to the book. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of books about high-society glamor, you won't regret checking out this book when it comes out in April!

I absolutely loved this book . Had me wanting more when i got oto the last page. The style it was written reading diaries, instagram feeds, FBI notes etc was different and entertaining. I couldn't put it down and could manage to read bits and pieces throughout the day rather than in a large sitting. Mind you I did finish it in one day. Kept me on my toes and I loved the final plot twist. I did not guess it at all. Love Love Love

Cover Story by Susan Rigetti is the author's first foray into fiction writing. I honestly wouldn't have known this due to her polished style and pacing. Cover Story swirls and swells to a crashing end. Suspenseful and twisty, it is a read I didn't put down. Literally I ignored everything and read it over a 24 hour period. It is that good. Definitely recommended reading.

This is a suspense that makes you flip the pages.

Lora Ricci is a student at NYU with an exciting internship at ELLE magazine. She is overwhelmed with an abundance of beautiful fashions and people. She makes eye contact with the contributing editor, Cat Wolff, who looks flawless with a sexy German accent. She is eager to please and when Cat needs help, she says yes. She does a few things for her at first with her regular assignments and then after the internship ends, Lora starts working full time for Cat - with the big benefit of living in her residence at the Plaza Hotel. Her parents are outraged that Lora quit NYU with a full scholarship. She told them she is doing what she loves: writing.

The book is set up with continuous notes: FBI reports, a diary from Lora Ricci and e-mail messages from Cat to various people. Cat Wolff or rather Olesya Dorokhova from Russia is proficient at telling lies. Lora is unbelievably naive in NY with big eyes admiring the life of rich folks where they have an endless access to food, drivers, laundry and salon services. Her new friend, Cat, tells her that her father is funding her extravagant life where beauty is everywhere. The old saying is: you see what you want to see. Of course, Lora is a target.

The modern format made the story flow at a quick pace without a lot of clutter and I suspect it would be attractive to young professionals. It made the reader think about how many people tell lies - some unlawful - to get ahead and how many books have been written by ghostwriters. The end -- well, it was not so hard to guess. The story is similar to what has taken place in the recent news with Anna Sorokin who created a false identity with Anna Delvey to defraud banks of thousands of dollars (with the story soon to be released on Netflix).

My thanks to Susan Rigetti, HarperCollins Publishers and Netgalley for allowing me to read this copy with the expected release date of April 5, 2022.

Cover Story by Susan Rigetti was an excellent and satisfying beach read! The pace of the story and character development were well done. Anyone familiar with Anna Sorokin/Delvey, a New York City socialite that scammed who tricked Manhattan elites will absolutely love this story.

Okay, holy crap, this book! I literally was totally wrong in terms of what I expected, which made this book so good! Told through FBI transcripts, diary entries, emails and more, via four parts, it was so compelling, captivating and so freaking mysterious that I was desperate to learn more! This book, much like a fictional portrayal of the Anna Delvey scandal, read super quick, and gah, I literally cannot stop thinking about it now that I finished it. Plus, that twist? Seriously, oh man, I think my jaw is still on the floor! Totally unexpected and mesmerizing. Seriously, this book is a special one. End of story. Period.

I really liked the premise of this novel. The cover was appealing, the story seemed like it would be one that would keep a reader's attention, and the delivery seemed like it would suit the story. I loved how the story was told through Lora's written communications. It kept my attention and was something that I have not seen in a while. However, the actual story was a a bit meh for me. It was not a bad read, but it also was not one where I felt like I had to read it right away.

I had to DNF this. Wasn't what I thought it would be, but that is probably on me not reading up on it closely enough.

3.5 stars rounded up solely for the surprise at the end.

The bulk of the narrative is diary entries from one of the main characters and I just didn’t jive with her writing style. I see how the diary was essential to the storytelling but I just didn’t like her voice. I did like the mixed media format overall though. Emails and chat logs are interspersed between the diary entries and give you little hints at the larger story as you’re learning about Lora and Cat.

This was compulsively readable and I devoured it in one sitting. The writing wasn’t anything special or particularly “literary” (whenever that even means) but it was a great story and the use of multimedia was genius. The final two pages literally made my jaw drop and it was totally worth it just for that.

This was a surprise . Cover and quick blurb appealed to me, but Cover Story wound up being much more complex than I’d expected. I enjoyed the way the story was told through Lora’s diary, emails, posts and articles only.

A totally fascinating idea straight up ruined by the POV. The meta-documents that surround the Scammer Slammer are really funny and oddly gracious. But the narrator ... why?!? Why do we have to see this story through the eyes of a highly implausible fashion magazine intern? This is barely a coherently cohesive human. Way too one dimensional. And how does she get a college internship at a VOGUE style magazine when she has terrible college grades, no published written work, and no references? This book totally failed for me. What a waste of a good story.

How did Rigetti dream up this delicious book about a very bad scammer and her dupe. I couldn’t put it down. Twists are endless, the plot is both unpredictable and unimaginable. I love the way it is presented, using a variety of narration devices.

Who is Cat Wolff? A genius scammer, a master criminal? Who is Lora Rocco? Is she an innocent dupe? Is she being manipulated or is she part of a much more complicated plot?

Honestly, I will be thinking about this book for many hours trying to unwind the entire plot. I often complain that novels are trite and easy to predict,,,not this one! I also loved the breezy style of writing, so entertaining.

Thank you for the pleasurable opportunity of reading and reviewing this extraordinary book.