Thank you for an advanced copy of this book! Sadly, it wasn’t really for me, and I didn’t finish it… However, I could see why people would enjoy it. I hope to pick it up at a later time!

Here’s what I thought this book was about - the ways in which the very rich are bad set against a number of shenanigans.

Here’s what the book was - the most unlikeable characters in the whole world consistently failing to show insight or compassion. The pacing was absolutely wild - I’m supposed to believe this takes place over three months when three weeks are skipped in a paragraph.

I thought The Fraud Squad by Kyla Zhao was a fun read. This book follows Samantha who wants to work as a journalist but instead is at a PR firm. She wants to get the scoop on high society. Unfortunately, Samantha is a nobody - her mom is a manicurist. This means that she has no chance at getting the society articles as she's not really one of the elite. That is, until Samantha's coworker Anya who is wealthy and Timothy who also comes from an elite family, agree to help Samantha fake her way in with a scheme they call the fraud squad. It actually works too! Soon she's rubbing elbows with the Singapore elite.

Zhao's book is escapist fun. Yes, there's some serious moments of course. It goes into covering class. I loved that it was set in Singapore, I don't read a lot of stories set there so this was nice to pick up something new to me. Samantha is someone I absolutely wanted everything to work out for. It's hard not being wealthy and wanting to be in a different life and chase your dreams. The ending wasn't my favorite but I got why things played out the way they did. The audiobook is narrated by Siho Ellsmore who was a new to me narrator. I had no complaints. Overall, the audiobook is 11 hours and 33 minutes long. I listened to it sped up with no issues.

This story is one that’s been done a time or twelve in the past. I’m sure you know it – the girl from the wrong side of the tracks gets a looky at how much greener the grass is on the other side courtesy of a "My Fair Lady" type of approach.

This time around our leading lady is not Eliza Doolittle, but Maddie – entry level in the PR world, Maddie dreams of hobnobbing with high society folks and writing for the illustrious “S” magazine. With help from her friend Anya and Anya’s billionaire heir friend Tim, Maddie’s dreams might just come true as she fakes it ‘till she makes it as an “It Girl.”

I’m sure there’s an audience out there for this one, but sadly it wasn’t me. This was sooooooo juvenile and the writing was simply not great. More than anything, the pacing was a real disaster. Weeks and weeks are skipped over (when the entire story has a firm expiration date of three months) while pages upon pages are spent on each detail of the superficial things like clothing and food. None of the characters were likeable or taken to task for being so – and of course everything ends up with a happily ever after for all.

Blah.

ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Samantha’s friends agree to help her make a name for herself on the Singapore social scene in order for her dream of writing for a high-society magazine to come true.

I think this was fine - I don’t remember loving it, but I don’t remember hating it. It didn’t make an impression either way, so I’m going with three stars.

This was so much fun!! This was entertaining in so many more ways than one. The characters were so loveable and fun and easy to get attached to and the plot was super fun to follow. Highly recommend!!

This book seemed really interesting based on the description, but I just couldn't get into it. I think I just wasn't connecting with the characters and wasn't propelled forward enough by the plot. I may revisit it in the future, though, because I think it has a lot to offer!

This book was so much fun - the perfect read for fans of the Crazy Rich Asians series - plus a little deceit along the way. I loved this debut from Zhao (and that cover!) and can't wait to read more from her in the future.

This book was so much fun. I was SHOCKED at the big reveal and getting to find out the faces behind some of the things that happened. It felt like a mean girls crossed with crazy rich Asians. I really enjoyed how fast paced this book was and enjoyed getting to know the characters and their personalities. I was so nervous what was going to happen when the big reveal would go down and i loved how it played out.

The Fraud Squad is Kyla Zhao's debut novel and I loved it! It actually made me really excited to see what she will write next, and I couldn't help but get caught up in Singapore’s high society. It was interesting learning about not only the culture in Singapore but their socialite scene as well, and I loved getting to know our MC Samantha Song. For me, Sam's friend Raina was the voice of reason in her life, and I liked that even though she ends up getting mad at her (for good reason), she was still there for her when Sam needed her. I loved all of the various relationships that are explored in the story, and while there is plenty of drama and tension, there is a lot of relatability as well.

I haven't read it yet, but I would liken The Fraud Squad to Crazy Rich Asians based on what I have heard, and I would love to see this turned into a movie someday! It really read like one, and I wouldn't mind seeing the S Gala and all the gorgeous outfits onscreen. And if you enjoy audiobooks, I would definitely recommend listening to this book. Siho Ellsmore is a fantastic narrator and I thought she did an incredible job of breathing life into the characters, especially Sam. I also really enjoyed the fashion/media aspect of the book, and there were a lot of things included that I am a huge fan of reading about. There is a little bit of romance, but this is more about the character growth than anything, and I can’t wait to see what Zhao’s next book will bring.

My favorite part of The Fraud Squad (besides that amazing cover!) are the characters. I thought Samantha, Anya and Timothy were all written super realistically. They weren't perfect and had faults which made them human. I thought the writing was fast paced and I didn't feel bored, but I did want to know how everything was going to come together! I would definitely recommend this one!

I wanted to love this one but it was just okay for me. The story felt almost a bit YA and I thought the romance was a little too insta-love. I did enjoy the world and the writing and it made for a great discussion with my book club.

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the copy to review.

It saddens me to say that this book is just bad.

I was excited to have a diverse story with crime and characters who would have witty banter, and great scenery (hello Singapore!), and yet I got none of that.

The premise/synopsis both make it clear to expect some hint of crime, at least identity fraud, or a scam of some kind, but no, nothing happens. So this book fails to deliver on the main thing it said it was bringing to the table.

If you blink too fast, you will have no idea that the story takes place in Singapore. There is little to no description of Singapore at all. It's like Zhao forgot that a key element to a story is setting. Highly disappointing. Zhao had an opportunity to describe a beautiful place and only mentions humidity and kopi. We are sold the possibility of diversity but really it was just a cover for bad writing.

The pacing is off. There's nothing wrong with taking time to set up a story and create the world for us, but this is done so badly that the story just feels like its dragging and yet nothing really happens? Almost 3/4 of the book feel irrelevant to the story. It doesn't help you like the characters, they don't draw you in, and they don't move the plot forward in a successful way. In fact, there's a fair amount of info dumping to make up for it, but why info dump when you can write something beautiful?

The pacing also affects the chemistry of our MC and her love interest. We don't really get enough to understand their feelings for one another (the little we get shows zero chemistry), and the few moments that we are set up to get more Zhao does not write it in. She skips over it and suddenly our characters are making out and to hell with any sort of development. So many of the moments that could've made this book better just do not exist.

The writing is shallow. With the small amount of understanding that I have about Singapore's society I can tell that this book just doesn't get it. My critique isn't own voices, so please take this part with a grain of salt. I do suggest checking reviews from own voices reviewers. Many of them go into detail about how badly this depicts Singapore's society. The book glosses over the racism and is so superficial in bringing it to the book that is tragic and ultimately useless to mention since Zhao has it serve no purpose.

All Samantha Song has ever wanted was to be part of Singapore's social elite. She crafts a plan to fake being a socialite to highlight the class order in Singapore and quickly gets swept up in all the parties and social rules. Will she stay true to herself during the process? Will she get caught? Or will this be everything she ever wanted?

I enjoyed this little trio and all the fun moments at the various influencer like functions. It was middle of the road for me, nothing bad to say, but nothing really stood out to me either.

I love a debut, and was so excited to read THE FRAUD SQUAD, featuring some of Singapore's elite.

Overall I really enjoyed this well paced story, and found myself connecting to each character. Sam is both caring and compassionate towards her Mother, who suffers from illness, and is buried in debt, working at a less than thrilling job when fate intervenes and she is invited by a friend to the trendiest restaurant in town. She meets Timothy, who comes from prestige and wealth, and its here that the Fraud Squad is formed.

*many thanks to Berkley and netgalley for the gifted copy for review

I really disliked all of the brand name-dropping in Crazy Rich Asians, so I shouldn't be surprised that I disliked it here too. Overall, The Fraud Squad is a light and quick read, but I found the main character quite unlikeable and it soured the reading experience for me.

Thank you to @netgalley @berkleypub and @berkleyromance for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you to @prhaudio for a free download of the audiobook.

Samantha Song wants nothing more than to be a writer for a high-society magazine. When she gets the opportunity to mingle amongst the society elite, she grabs it as a way to be seen by those that matter. This is Crazy Rich Asians meets Devil Wears Prada and I enjoyed every minute of it. The lifestyles and designer names along make my head spin, I can see how Samantha got easily swept up into the life. It was fun reading the gossip, the parties attended, and labels Samantha’s friends would dress her in.

I wish I were not constantly comparing to other novels. The story line was original, but it was hard to not assign the characters to ones I was already familiar with. Had the book taken place someplace other than Singapore, I feel my connection to the book would have been different.

3.5 stars – Rounding to 4 stars for Goodreads

#books #bookishlife #booklover #readingisfun #iowabookstagrammers #iowabookstagram #netgalley #berkleypub #berkleyromance #berkleybuddyreads #prhaudio #ltbreaderteam #berkelywritesstrongwomen #thefraudsquad #kaylazhao

Kyla has created a rich world (no pun intended) with The Fraud Squad, a multi-layered book that speaks to privilege, class, and the way we treat each other both because of and in spite of these things. The characters are fleshed out and human, which makes them easy to love, hate, and root for.

This was cute and fun. I’d love to see it as a tv show. I was disappointed there wasn’t more romance in this one since Berkley Romance published it. Definitely more of a fun book with not much in the love department.