This book revolves around a counterfeit luxury handbag operation, and the plot combined with the writing style made for a great reading experience. Definitely recommend this one for a binge-able read with lots of substance.
Ava Wong is close to ger breaking point. She put her career as a lawyer on hold to take care of her son, who is a handful! Her husband, a surgeon, is always busy, and as a result their marriage suffers. Suddenly, Ava's college roommate, Winnie, pops up into her life again. Winnie is now running a scheme in which she imports near replicas of luxury handbags and could use Ava's help for her illegal business; let's see how it all plays out.

Clever writing for sure! This was a really good read; definitely very interesting.

With thanks to the publisher for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

A fast-paced and propulsive thriller that kept me turning the pages--and made me smile with that final twist!

What fun! This was a buzzy, quick, and incredibly enjoyable read from an author I am looking forward to reading more from.

I found this book to be a quick read and highly entertaining.

This story follows the life of Ava. On the surface she has it all. She has a law degree from Stanford, a husband who is a surgeon, and a beautiful toddler. Underneath, she isn't utilizing her degree, her husband is never home, and her son still hasn't started talking.

Out of the blue, her freshman college roommate rings her up. She is hopeful that Ava's husband can help her friend who is in need of a new kidney. As her old roommate starts to slowly come back into her life, it seems like everything at home is deteriorating. Her husband is never home, her child has a stronger connection to her nanny than her, and she has no income of her own.

When her friend suggests she start working for her, Ava is appalled. How could she ever stoop so low as to committing fraud? Well it becomes easier than she thinks when she falls into a hard place.

I find the idea of fake designer handbags interesting, so I enjoyed the subject of this book. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick read.

Oh my gosh! I loved this!!! I went in knowing very little about the plot, which I’m so glad I did, so I’m not going to give anything away. Counterfeit hooked me from the first page and kept me wanting more! This was a fun, quick read. Thank you, William Morrow and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Ava is mom to a snarky toddler and wife to a negligent doctor husband, so when her old college friend, Winnie shows up out of the blue, she takes her up on her offer to join her in a counterfeit handbag scheme in China. Much of the story is Ava retelling her story in a confession to a detective.

This was like an Asian Finlay Donovan to me, where a mom gets herself caught up in a big scheme. I liked the format of her telling the story to the detective, but did have an idea where it was all headed. I thought it was overall a fun read and enjoyed the ending.

Pick this up if you liked Finlay Donovan

A wild look at the lives of two women who turn the American dream on its head, in this captivating and funny novel. I was impressed by the tenacity and cleverness of Winnie and Ava. The author's decision to write the story predominantly from the POV of Ava as she's confessing to her crimes is brilliant. It also makes Winnie's POV later in the novel far more interesting as you can't quite tell who's playing who anymore. I enjoyed this one, though at times it was slow, with lots of backstop and extraneous details.

I really wanted to enjoy this one but I continually found myself disliking the characters and the situations. The redeeming factor was the ending, I was not quite expecting the turn of events. The friendship felt fake which makes sense given the counterfeit theme of the book and how it seeped into the relationships too.

I went into this with fairly low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. This was an interesting novel about the counterfeit handbag industry, something I knew absolutely nothing about prior to this book.

Thoroughly enjoyed this one. A little drama, a little sass. It was an interesting look into a different "career" culture.

Counterfeit by K. Chen didn’t work for me. I don’t know if it was the formatting of the e-ARc but it was hard to decipher who was speaking and/or thinking. Also, the hustle or scheme was explained thoroughly enough for me to follow. I have heard that the audiobook is good and I may give it a listen.

I struggled quite a but with this one. I found the plot moved very very slowly, especially for the first half or more. I also found the format a little hard to follow in a ebook. I was really excited to read this one but it just didn't live up to my expectations. I found the whole scheme under explained and it didn't quite make sense how the characters felt like they needed to continue it.

Absolutely loved and for good reason! This is so brilliant and fun. It is the easiest handsell! My only regret is that it has a book club sticker on it.

This fast-paced, con-game story (think "Ocean's 11" meets "Hustlers"), centers around two Asian women, former college roommates Ava and Winnie, and a money-making scheme involving counterfeit handbags. Told in two parts, Ava is the primary narrator as she recounts to an unnamed police detective how Winnie forced her to become part of this illicit plan. Along the way we also learn about Ava's marital strife, her struggles with motherhood, and how disconnected she feels from her family following the death of her mother. But is this truly a "conniving friend takes advantage while you're at your lowest" story... or is everything not as it appears to be?

I really had fun with this one and flew through it in one day. More than just a story about the scam the two women are running, this book also touches on topics such as being an American-born child of immigrants, the expectations put forth by parents, marital struggles, the judgment mothers face when they are not seen as "perfect," and how the impossible standards put forth by the beauty industry (cosmetic surgery in particular) affect our own self-perception. While not an in-depth exploration of these topics, I was glad to see them included in a realistic way. Overall this was an entertaining novel and would make a great beach read.

Ava has always been a rule follower, but now that she’s married, the mother of a toddler, and not putting her hard-earned law degree to work, she worries that her life has gone off the rails. Enter her college friend, Winnie, who seems to be thriving and dripping in luxury goods. It turns out Winnie is dealing knockoff designer bags, and she needs someone like Ava to help expand her business without drawing attention. Can breaking the rules help Ava find happiness, or make even more of a mess of her life?

I really enjoyed this novel's tone, twists, and morally grey characters. It also showed me a whole new side of the luxury goods industry. I wanted to know more about Winnie, but Ava's story was definitely a wild and entertaining ride.

I enjoyed this book. It is a mystery and women's fiction mash-up with Asian culture and stereotypes mixed in. Counterfeit was unique and unpredictable enough to keep me hooked from beginning to end. The dark humor was a highlight! I could see this making a great movie or tv adaptation.

If you want an entertaining con artist story, Counterfeit is a solid pick!

Ava Wong lives as a bored housewife, who's all about given up her career in law. She spends her days taking care of her toddler son until she meets Winnie Fang, her college roommate from Mainland China who dropped out under mysterious circumstances. Turns out she's developed a counterfeit scheme peddling near-perfect replicas of luxury handbags and now she needs someone with a US passport to help manage her business. When success is threatened, Winnie vanishes again, leaving Ava to face the consequences.

This was a very unique read - such a different concept and story. I loved that it's narrated through Ava's perspective as she tells a detective what happened. It's interesting because it's also a real thing - this seems a bit more extensive than what happens in real life but I remember Canal St in New York being known for knock off handbags and accessories. I also loved the parts set in China - I learned about different regions there and it felt like we travelled with Ava & Winnie as we read along.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thank you to William Morrow for my review copy!

Counterfeit is an entertaining, unique book that I am so happy I got the chance to read! Its characters are ones to truly care about and become involved with, which propels you through the book!

if you're looking for your next lady-gang underground crime story in the same vein as the movie 'hustlers,' kirstin chen's novel 'counterfeit' is going to scratch that itch, one i didn't realize i had. i devoured this book in a day, like wow i couldn't stop reading. the premise of the novel is pretty straightforward: ava wong, struggling with motherhood to a terrible toddler and an absent husband who works long hours as a surgeon, and dependent on her husband financially, gets into "business" with her old college roommate in a scheme to sell counterfeit designer handbags. the story is framed by ava giving her "confession" to the detective who busted them, and is a ride from start to finish. i'll keep this review short, only to say that this book is meant for anyone looking for a plot story about women taking control of their own situations, no matter how dire the consequences.

I was totally drawn to this book for that pretty, eye-catching cover, I admit! But then the synopsis grabbed me and I was eager to check this story out.

It took me a while to get into this, though. I think I struggled because of the framing of the bulk of the story as an interview/conversation with the police officer. It kept Ava as a character at arm's length from me and was hard for me to get invested in the story.

The story was unique, but I felt like my interest in the book was just surface-level and perhaps because of the way it was told, didn't go deeper than just wanting to know what happened in the end, plot-wise. The characters never felt developed enough for me to be emotionally involved or invested in what happened to them.

And after the 'twist', it actually made it even harder to feel like Ava was a character that was fully formed, since I never felt like I was getting a look into her mindset. And I wanted to know more about Winnie than I got to.

So this was an intriguing premise, but it didn't really work for me overall.