There is something interesting about scammer stories, which is why I picked up The Fake. Cammie isn't just a scammer though, she's almost pathological about her lies. She brings excitement and generates sympathy, but as soon as someone recognizes the cracks in her facade, she turns on them.

The story was good, but I think I didn't love it because it felt so real and it reminded me of my own experience with someone who has issues with the truth on a deep pathological level.

An interesting read start to finish. Zoe Whittall does an excellent job at keeping readers entertained and engaged with the consistent ebb and flow of drama tinged with a bit of poised suspense. All of the characters, whether you decide to love them or hate them, are intriguing and the storyline is absolutely engrossing. Perfect for book clubs and broad discussion.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the ARC of #TheFake which was read and reviewed voluntarily.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get into this and felt confused on what was going on so gave up around 20% as I had to keep reading the same parts over and over again.

The Fake may come in at just under 200 pages, but this small book packs a great punch. From the start you know drama is coming and Whittall delivers it in spades!

The three main characters, Cammie, Shelby, and Gibson, are truly the shining stars of this book. Whittall smartly alternates POVs between the characters with most of the content coming from Shelby and Gibson, our victims. My favorite parts were definitely the brief glimpses into Cammie’s mind.

I loved knowing walking in that this was a story of a con artist and yet feeling myself feel bad for this woman who I knew was taking advantage of others. Each character felt incredibly real and their reactions were true to the characters that Whittall built. The emotions in this book were so raw and real that it almost felt like a true story at times, which made me love it even more.

If you’re looking for a quick read that will have you saying WTF to yourself more than once, then this is the book for you!

A huge thank you to Random House for my gifted copy!

A quick, engaging read which keeps you rooting for the good guys.
Zoe Whittall creates such realistic, likable characters that the reader feels involved to the last page.
The unique storyline is about a grifter and her two marks, who actually meet and compare notes about the amazingly sad stories / lies the charismatic Cammie tells them.

In The Fake, by Zoe Whittall, charismatic and stunning Cammie enters the lives of Shelby and Gibson. Shelby recently lost her wife and cannot seem to get past her unrelenting grief. Gibson lost his wife in a divorce although he's a little less lost--he's just trying to revamp his life and get happy again. Could Cammie be the one element that improves both of their lives? Not exactly.

Everyone else in Shelby and Gibson's lives detect that Cammie isn't who she says she is, but they're both convinced that she's their good luck charms. Lies, however, start piling up, and the two strangers band together to discover who Cammie really is, and if they can beat her at her own game.

I think the premise of this book is really good, but I don't know why all the summaries promote that Cammie is a scammer. A little more mystery surrounding Cammie's motives would have helped to make the story more intriguing. Plus, it takes quite a while until Cammie is confronted with all her lying and scamming, so you're only getting back story about Shelby and Gibson as well as observations of the developing relationships between the simultaneous partnerships.

And I cannot say that I liked Cammie from the start. It's not just that she's a scammer. She's truly unlikeable in my book. I cannot understand why either of the two "fall" for this woman. Is it because they're so vulnerable from the previous demises of their other relationships with their spouses? I didn't buy that. Neither character seemed that naïve--just desperate--and both Shelby and Gibson frustrated me for falling into Cammie's traps.

While the writing is engaging and keeps you moving along with light humor, I didn't feel empathy for any of the characters. And it really takes way too long for the characters to do anything about Cammie's toxic behavior. I was waiting for a real comeuppance, but it wasn't delivered. I am curious if the author's other books are stronger in plot and execution.

Thank you to Zoe Whittall, Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for a digital copy of The Fake.

This novel started off with a bang but ended flat. In retrospect, that is exactly what happens in relationships when one finds out they are being conned. The writing style is great, the author is funny; I just wanted to see more resolution. To see these people used and abused at their absolute worst and to find people WHO KNOW the con artist is a con, still supporting them, is a huge let down. I understand this is art mimicking life but I would have liked more satisfaction with the ending. No character growth happens. Sad people are still sad. Bad people are still bad.

I gave it 3 stars because the writing style is great and it absolutely gripped me until it just didn't anymore.

The Fake by Zoe Whittail is well written - it does have a really neat looking cover as well. As far as the characters go - I liked Shelby and Gibson. Cammie is another story - she is definitely not a character to like. This storyline had a lot of promise but I think it fell flat for me in the end. Since I knew going in that Cammie was a liar it wasn't hard to figure out that she was manipulating Shelby and Gibson. There were really no surprises or plot twists to keep me intrigued with the story. It was a short quick read though. .

After her wife Kate’s death, Shelby has a lot of trouble returning to her normal life. She already suffered from anxiety and was reluctant to leave her house, feeling that everyone was judging her for not bouncing back automatically from her heartbreak. Finally recognizing she had to make some changes, Shelby attends a grief support group and meets Cammie. Cammie, a bright and bouncy young woman with great energy, helps pull Shelby out of her pain, and Shelby is drawn to Cammie’s happy and energetic personality.

Gibson is going through an unexpected and painful breakup, and is emotionally cocooning at home. When he meets Cammie at a bar, he can’t believe his luck at finding the perfect woman, and the amazing sex is definitely a bonus. When Cammie finds herself without a place to stay, Gibson quickly steps in and “rescues” her from her horrible former boyfriend and saves her from being homeless. Soon enough, though, Gibson realizes that Cammie is not everything she seems to be.

Cammie is quite resourceful, but she’s also a con. I didn’t like the way she treated Shelby and Gibson, using their vulnerability and their kindness for her gain. I also didn’t like the way both Shelby and Gibson turned themselves inside out to please Cammie. This was a difficult book for me to stay engaged with, because I got so exasperated with the characters.

I was excited to pick this one up after seeing one of my favorite authors hype it up on Instagram. But I think I may have built it up too much in my head, because even though I think the book successfully achieves what it sets out to do, I’m surprisingly disappointed by it as a whole.

Simply put: If you’ve read the synopsis, you’ve basically read the whole book. Two people at their most vulnerable become enamored with a con artist, she takes them for a ride, and then they’re left to deal with the aftermath. Of course there’s a lot more detail to it than that, but essentially that’s it. That’s all that happens. I kept expecting an interesting twist, reveal, or at least some plot point that wasn’t mentioned in the synopsis to happen, but it never did. Maybe that’s my own fault. But unfortunately, because we know right from the jump that Cammie is a con artist, it gets to a point where there’s nothing that really keeps the reader gripped and drives the story forward.

I still think this book has merit though, as long as you manage your expectations. It is certainly an interesting character study on who cons versus who *gets* conned, and we get an uncomfortable inside look inside these characters minds while it all unfolds.

“Focusing on Cammie and her many problems is a way to ignore her own. But it feels too good to stop doing it.”

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! Overall it was just an okay time for me but I recommend checking it out if it sounds relatively interesting to you. And if nothing else it’s set in Toronto so we love that <3

This story teaches you the lesson of not blindly trusting a stranger you just met. Well written and enthralling, this book will have you reading on the edge of your seat waiting for what happens next.

Honestly, I was just sort of "meh" with this book. None of the characters really grabbed me; I think there was an opportunity lost with the characters, and there wasn't any depth to any of them. I also felt like I was constantly shaking my head at the unbelievable fact that neither Shelby nor Gibson could see Cammie for what she really was. Now, I get that they were both in a vulnerable state, but it still seemed quite over the top and I struggled to find a lot of sympathy for either of them as the story progressed. I certainly had no sympathy for Cammie, and I found myself frustrated by how many people simply let her get away with the trauma she inflicted over and over again.

So ultimately this wasn't a horrible book, but it wasn't anything I would highly recommend either.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I only got about halfway through this book, so I'm not marking it as finished, but I do feel like I got a good idea of what's going on in this book. It all felt a bit disjointed. I could see how the pieces would come together, but I didn't feel particularly compelled to pick it up again. There's just something missing really, something to hook you in and keep you turning the pages.

I'd be interested to see Whittall's next work.

This book was a nice quick read. It had me hooked from the beginning and I just had to know what would happen. It tackled a very heavy subject (grief) with both tact and humour.

The Fake is the story of two people who are living half-lives of loneliness who are brought back to life by a larger-than-life woman they happen to meet. Shelby is a widow struggling with the sudden loss of her wife to an aneurysm. Gibson and his wife are recently separated and though he instigated the separation, he is feeling adrift and lonely, certain his wife is enjoying their break-up more than he is. Cammie bursts into their lives and insists they really live.

She drags the proto-agoraphobe Shelby out of her house. She gives Gibson the best sex of his life and a belief that he could be happy. And really, when they compare the problems that get them down, they are nothing compared to Cammie’s problems…and yet she is so full of life, a dynamo whose power lights up their lives for a time.

Until…



When Cammie’s stories start falling apart and suspicion grows, Shelby and Gibson come together with their conclusions that Cammie is a liar, but then we know that from the first chapter in Cammie’s voice. How much of a liar is the question and what are we to think of a con artist who make lie and cheat, but whose intervention in their lives heals some of their wounds.

I loved The Best Kind of People and The Spectacular, so I expected to love The Fake as well. Instead, I did like parts of it, but found it disappointing overall. Is that because I had unfairly high expectations? I don’t think so, but admit it may be possible. However, I think there is a sort of unreality in how Shelby and Gibson react to being conned. When a person is betrayed and deceived so deeply and intimately, who has the self-awareness and ability to step back and think, but she did me so much good? Not me.

I received an e-galley of The Fake from the publisher through Netgalley

The Fake at Ballantine Books | Penguin Random House
Zoe Whittall on Link Tree
The Spectacular
The Best Kind of People

This book was interesting and i pray that i never cross paths with a real Cammie. I felt so bad for Gibson and Shelly throughout the story. I like how the author wrote from different points of view.
Many thanks to Random House and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

The Fake by Zoe Whittall was unfortunately a miss for me. I found it to be clunky and predictable. I was waitin for a big pay off but didn't find one. While this one wasn't for me I do think that many readers would enjoy it!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Ballantine Books for the ARC. The Fake is out now!

Published by Ballantine Books on March 21, 2023

The Fake is a novel about trust, its necessity and the consequences of its abuse. More importantly, it is a novel about emotional dependence and need.

Cammie is young, beautiful, sexy, and personable. She seems to be the perfect girlfriend until Gibson (older than Cammie and out of her league) realizes that she’s a nightmare. She’s the female version of George Santos (apart from running for office). Nearly every story she tells is an effortless lie. She’s also a thief and a con artist.

Cammie claims to be in remission from kidney cancer. She claims to be grieving for Morgan, a close friend who committed suicide. She claims her sister is dead. She claims she has been living with (and is leaving) an abusive boyfriend. She claims she sang on the recording of an Arcade Fire song. All lies, but that’s not the worst of Cammie.

Gibson lives in Toronto. He is in the process of getting a divorce from Veda. Before Cammie picked him up in a bar, Gibson was devastated by the divorce and wanted to reunite. Now Veda thinks that Gibson is handling the breakup better than she is. Gibson’s change of attitude is easily attributed to receiving Cammie’s nude selfies when they aren’t in bed together.

Shelby has always suffered from anxiety. Her wife Kate was the only person who knew how to make her feel better. Shelby has been in a deep depression since Kate’s death. Shelby resists contact with Kate’s homophobic family because they “cannot handle any emotional communication that isn’t positive, let alone admit the realities of life being a near-unending nightmare.” Shelby was extraordinarily dependent on Kate and is filled with self-pity because she has no other person to take care of her. She doesn’t seem equipped to take care of herself.

Shelby decides to attend a grief group. The star of the group introduces herself as “Camilla. Chatterbox, over-sharer, main character-syndrome-having Cammie.” Shelby falls for Cammie, but only as a friend who can help her cope with her anxiety. When Cammie claims to have been unjustly fired, Shelby persuades her friend Olive to interview Cammie for a production assistant position on a reality TV dating show. Cammie provides the link between Shelby’s story and Gibson’s.

Cammie differs from Shelby in that, by virtue of her manipulation, she always has someone to take care of her. Perhaps unintentionally, the novel raises questions about dependence: Cammie is dependent by choice (it’s easier than holding a job or staying in an honest relationship); Shelby is dependent because she needs a crutch against anxiety. There is an obvious moral difference between the two women, but is there a practical difference? Sure, people who need people are the luckiest people, but in both cases extreme dependence either destroys other people or becomes self-destructive.

The story follows Gibson and Shelby as they investigate Cammie’s lies and meet some of her (mostly former) friends and family. Their efforts lead to a well-intentioned intervention, but an addiction to lying is different from drug abuse, particularly when lying might be the product of a mental illness. Whether it is possible to change Cammie’s behavior is the question addressed in the story’s closing chapters.

Perhaps a more important question is whether interventions are meant to help the intervenors as much as the person who needs help. Gibson wants Cammie to change so he can keep sleeping with her. It may be that Gibson and Shelby, who suffer because they become dependent on Cammie, need self-interventions to learn how to move forward with their lives.

The Fake might be a good choice for book clubs whose members like to dissect characters and compare them to people they know. The novel’s interesting questions practically cry out for book club discussions. While the plot is a bit thin, characterization is solid. Readers might gain insight into dependent lives (and perhaps their own lives) by investing time in this short, well-written novel.

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Oh no this is so so very predictable. The book was clunky, the villain wasn't very fun, and this just didn't offer anything I haven't read before. Real-life scammers will always be more compelling to me than fictional ones, and I hope the publishing industry learns this haha.

DNF at 35%- This book was just a no for me. The plot never moved. Like literally never moved. I felt the synopsis of the book was the whole book. It was almost like seeing a movie trailer in which the whole movie is revealed-- all the good parts. That's what the synopsis was-- all the information I needed. After really liking Cover Story and digging the show Inventing Anna, I could have just been done with the whole con artist storyline.