Lulu and her two best friends, Jane and Rina, are frustrated with their lives and fed up with how society treats women. Lulu comes from a poor family who expects her to marry a wealthy man to provide for her family so she has no choice but to accept when one of Shanghai's most eligible bachelors surprises her with a proposal. The three friends are convinced that money will solve their problems so they come up with a crazy plan to save Lulu from a loveless marriage and make all of their dreams come true by stealing the red envelopes stuffed with cash gifts at her high society Shanghai wedding ceremony.

A mostly lighthearted heist novel but also a story of female friendship with a couple of romance side plots. I loved the Shanghai setting and the author also tackles some more serious issues about the expectations placed on women by society and their families.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for sending a digital ARC of this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

In Sophie Wan’s debut novel, “Women of Good Fortune,” readers are whisked into the extravagant world of high-society Shanghai, where a reluctant bride, Lulu, and her two best friends, Rina and Jane, concoct a daring plan to secure their financial futures by stealing all the gift money from Lulu’s lavish wedding.

Wan’s narrative paints a vivid picture of societal pressures and the pursuit of wealth, with each character grappling with their own desires and motivations. Lulu, torn between familial expectations and her own autonomy, serves as a poignant reflection of the complexities of modern womanhood. However, while Wan adeptly navigates themes of identity and societal norms, the execution falls short in some areas.

The prose, though occasionally entertaining, suffers from choppiness and moments of ambiguity, particularly with untranslated Chinese expressions, leaving readers feeling disconnected from the narrative. Additionally, the middle of the book drags, testing the reader’s patience and almost prompting abandonment.

Despite these flaws, Wan shines in her portrayal of Asian parental control and the treatment of women in Shanghai’s elite circles. Through sharp observations and poignant descriptions, she exposes the harsh realities faced by her characters, shedding light on the challenges of navigating tradition and modernity.

However, where the novel falters is in its characterization and portrayal of friendships. The bond between Lulu, Rina, and Jane feels contrived at times, lacking the depth and authenticity expected from lifelong friends. Their actions often come across as self-serving, undermining the novel’s exploration of female solidarity.

In conclusion, “Women of Good Fortune” offers glimpses into Shanghai’s opulent world and the struggles of its inhabitants, but falls short of its potential. While Wan’s debut shows promise, it ultimately fails to deliver a cohesive narrative and fully realized characters. Despite its shortcomings, the novel offers moments of enjoyment, particularly in its portrayal of romance and the intricacies of Shanghai’s social hierarchy.

I received a DRC of this book from the publisher, but the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Read this if you like:
•multiple POVs
•Crazy rich asians
•Oceans 11
•Heist plot

This was a fabulous debut. Three friends create a plan to steal all the wedding money for themselves so they can each reach their own goals. I flew through this engaging book!

Thank you HTP for the eARC!

3.25-3.5 Stars

Lulu and her two dearest friends are utterly exasperated with the way women are perceived and treated by society and their own families. They believe that women are not given the respect and recognition they deserve and are tired of being pushed around. As a result, they hatch a daring plan to steal all the cash gifts at Lulu's upcoming wedding. With the money, they each can take control of their lives and enjoy the financial independence they had been seeking. The trio has been meticulously planning their heist for weeks. The question now is, will their preparations pay off? Will they be able to execute the heist with precision and get away with the stolen money?

This was a fun and entertaining story that also highlighted how women are treated and the involvement of Asian parents in their children's lives. The story also showed how this involvement can sometimes become overwhelming. However, I felt that the story lacked a bit of oomph. Nonetheless, it was still a good read.

***Thank you to NetGalley, Sophie Wan, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Graydon House for graciously sending me the ebook to review. As always, all thoughts are my own.***

Fun, friends and romance. Can't ask for much more.
Lulu, Rina and Jane need money to do the things that they think will bring them happiness. They have a plan to steal millions but what will they lose to gain the money?
I really enjoyed reading this book. A few things were predictable but the story was entertaining to see how the plot got from A to B. Mei was a fun side character.
Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for an ARC of this book.

A sweet story about friendship and female agency with a high stakes heist and lavish wedding at its center, Women of Good Fortune is a great read (with such a fun cover!)! I loved the way this story combined the fun of a heist story with a wider conversation on the expectations placed on Chinese women to get married and the social dynamics they must manage with that. I loved the friendship between Lulu, Jane and Rina and the way the story honored each of their own complicated inner journeys, giving them a true sense of agency and emotional accountability that made for a richer story. This one is great for those looking for a friendship-centered story with a dash of clever hijinks involved. Enjoy!

**Many thanks to the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

This book is such a blast! Set at a Crazy Rich Asians-style wedding, Women of Good Fortune follows three best friends, each believing that money will be the key to their happiness, as they plan a heist to rob the wedding. While the book is lighthearted and fun, it doesn’t back away from exploring societal expectations of women and themes of filial piety. A great caper all around!

🦇 Women of Good Fortune Book Review 🦇

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

❓ #QOTD If you could pull off a heist, what would you steal? ❓

🦇 Lulu, Rina, and Jane have long considered themselves The Leftovers; non-married women considered far past their prime by Shanghai’s society. Now luxury-focused Jane is trapped in a loveless marriage, career-dedicated Rina keeps getting passed over for promotion, and Lulu is engaged to Shangai's most eligible bachelor. Lulu's wedding is their golden opportunity to get what they've always wanted: freedom from the standards and expectations that have trapped them for too long. The cash gifts from Lulu's wedding could transform their lives...IF they can get away with it.

💜 Sophie Wan's debut novel is a stunning study of how society treats women--and the hoops they need to jump through to make a life of their own. Each woman has her own distinct motivations and own clever voice. The real focus of the story is the found family these women built between them, their friendship stronger than the strain society's expectations set on their shoulders. Wan explores a number of important themes, including sexism, beauty standards, classism, and the weight of familial standards. While the romances in this story aren't the main focus, Rina and Vic's enemies-to-lovers sub-plot is the primary source of humor and entertainment. Each women grew to reconsider their primary motivations, leaving us with beautiful character development.

💙 For a heist story, this novel is all tell and very little show. The lack of descriptions or layered character-building makes the story dry and distant. The women only have one primary focus each, making them very one-dimensional and unrealistic when they could have been layered, diverse characters. We're given very little time to connect with them on any emotional level, making it difficult for us to root for their success. The pacing drags as the story establishes each character's world, stressors, and motivations when a heist story should feel action-packed and fast-paced. I love stories that delve into different cultures and provide us with an intimate look into someone else's point of view, but most of the cultural details are rushed through, as if readers would already understand them. I wanted so much more from a diverse, women-centric heist story.

🦇 Recommended to fans of Ocean's 11 and Crazy Rich Asians.

✨ The Vibes ✨
🧧 Heist Story
🧧 Sisterhood/Female Friendship
🧧 Chinese Culture Rep
🧧 Multiple POVs
🧧 Debut Author
🧧 Wedding Story

🦇 Major thanks to the author and publisher for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

💬 Quotes
❝ It's helped me to see how much we let the people around us inflate our views of something that might be objectively worthless. ❞

❝ "Purpose is something you choose. You can't rely on others to give it to you. ❞

This book offers the reader a wild ride through friendship, romantic relationships and a big hoist with twists and turns.
Lulu finds herself engaged and ready to be married to a man she’s not sure she loves. Shes so used to following along and not so used to determining what she wants. Her two friend Rina and Jane are also struggling with their own wants versus expectations in life. They design a seemingly prefect heist over hotpot dinners and invite a counterfeiter and a getaway teen driver into their scam. The book is a good escape read however the underpinning theme of cultural and societal expectations keep the novel from becoming too light. Themes like capitalism, paternalism and equity in the workplace are highlighted for the reader’s attention. Overall a good, engaging read that held my attention. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. I’m looking forward to reading other books this author will write. Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced reader copy.

(Will post review to Indigo/Chapters and Amazon once I’m able to once book releases).

⭐️ 3.5/5 stars!
😢 tears were had (happy, touching)

GENRE: contemporary fiction with some romance - as others have said, this book is for lovers of Ocean’s Eleven, Crazy Rich Asians, and Bridesmaids (also felt a bit like The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants re: friendships and growth)

SUMMARY: “Set against a high-society Shanghai wedding, a heartfelt, funny, dazzling novel about a reluctant bride and her two best friends, each with their own motives and fed up with the way society treats women, who forge a plan to steal all the gift money on the big day.”

Received as an ARC in exchange for an honest review - all thoughts are my own. Thank you Sophie Wan, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and NetGalley!

🍑 PEACHES & PITS (likes and dislikes) 🍑

POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD

peaches:
- ugh the sisterhood of female friendship and growth experienced by all characters by the end of the book brought a literal tear to my eye
- always down for a heist!!!
- the twists and turns were fun and most were unexpected/unpredictable
- thankful that each of the characters got their own version of a resolution 💖
- Chinese culture representation!!

pits:
- my ARC copy’s formatting made it sometimes quite challenging to feel like I could read with good flow (missed spacing on words, no formal chapter divisions/sections, etc.)
- plot was quite slow to start and so it was a bit of a challenge to keep coming back to initially, but im so glad I stuck around til the end (the last 35% is where it picks up imo)
- the villians were villian-ing hard - F*** THESE PARENTS (except for Rina’s)

✏️ ANNOTATIONS & SPARKLE TEXT ✏️
> “I’ve been wondering lately,” Vic says, ignoring her, “How things could be different if I could see the world with someone by my side. If home, for me, is a person.” 🥰
> It’s uncreative of her to steal someone else’s dream, but she thinks that Wu Laoshi wouldn’t have minded *this* theft. After all, it has set her free. 🌻

This is so good!!!! I love the premise so much, like Oceans Eight, and all of characters are so well-developed. I loooved all the lavish descriptions of all the food, the clothes, the locations etc., and it makes me want this to be developed into a movie so badly. The way the heist plan caused their relationships to be strained is realistic and I liked that, that things didn’t work out easily. The resolution was clever and the ending made me cry. It felt super satisfying!

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin for the ARC in exchange for my review!

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC!

Unfortunately I DNFed. The plot was interesting but where I was struggling were multiple characters - I felt I had to take notes. This absolutely could be a timing thing with me given my recent slump. I’m excited to see what others think so I can determine if I will pick up again.

Great book. I love when friends are included in life events. Fun is bound to happen as well as drama! Great book.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5 (Fiction)
Release Date: March 5, 2024

Synopsis: Lulu is marrying into one of Shanghai’s most prominent families. She has been taught her whole like that money is the ticket to a good life. She and her two best friends, Rina, who is a career woman, and Jane who is looking to divorce her husband and trade up, team up to steal the money on the big day. As they build a trustworthy team and plan for the big day, the women realize that having it all may come at too big of a price.

My Thoughts: This was billed as Ocean’s Eleven meets Crazy Rich Asians, both of which I enjoyed. However, this missed the mark for me. I ended up enjoying the end, but I thought it was slow to begin with. I found many of the characters unlikable which isn’t my favorite. However, by the end, the characters had some work on themselves and become more likable. I liked the idea of the heist, and I kept reading to figure out what happened. Overall, I liked this, but it wasn’t my favorite.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade/ Graydon House for allowing me to read an early copy in exchange for my honest review.

If you love reading about fancy weddings or heists, you’ll love this.

Okay wow! This book was a lot of 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'. It focuses on three women in Shanghai destined to marry in Shanghai's richest city and to the richest men. Money, beauty, and success are everything for them. Hence, they plan to steal one of the women's wedding gifts to get the approval they need from their partners and parents. It's a remix of 'Crazy Rich Asians', 'Oceans 11' and a bunch of other high-class Asian stories and stereotypes. Then there are multiple POVs with time stamps and a crazy wedding that doesn't feel real.

After reading it, I can tell that the women are extremely selfish, insecure, dumb, and don't even need to be married. Each of the women has a desire to please someone whether it's themselves or a significant other. The Shanghai Marriage Market seems messed up as it is and doesn't need a heist. Sophie Wan just made Shanghai high-class women look like snobs and insecure Sharpay Evans. It has a lot of issues including pacing, no climax, flat characters, and unreasonable lgbtq rep. Honestly, I thought the book was poorly written and mostly had scenery descriptions while the women were all the same: selfish, neglectful, and dumb asians.

I don't think that this book needs improvement. It was awful and doesn't need critiques. I think that the Shanghai high-class industry is hard to write about. Then when you add on Asian culture traditional and modern, stereotypes, and lgbtq rep, it gets confusing. I had no idea what happened at the end of the book. It's like the heist never happened,

The cover is eye-catching but the story is flat and only has descriptions. It moves slower than a film and focuses on women who only want to please people. I don't know what this book needs help in but it was confusing. I wanted to DNF it. I'm giving it two stars because I liked the Asexual guy and a few of the modern references, other than that, I really disliked it.

I might post about this book on my books @asian_bookstorekat in the next few days. It is very problematic and seems like a hot mess.

This book kind of reminded me of Oceans 8 in that it is a heist planned and executed by a team of women. I thought it was so fun to read, especially since all the women had such distinct personalities and roles within the heist. The different worlds that they were living in were so well-described and distinct as well. A lot of the time when I read a book that follows multiple characters, there's one part that I dislike or one that I like more than the rest, but that wasn't the case with this book -- I was equally interested in every single character.

Spoiler alerts below!!!

I also liked that each women sort of got what they wanted in the end but they really had to work for it, it wasn't just handed to them, AND it wasn't what they originally thought they wanted. It was a satisfying ending without being overly manufactured or too 'happily ever after.'

Lulu, Rina, and Jane are friends. Each one believes there life would be improved with money. When Lulu's high society wedding approaches they decide to steal the red envelopes of money given to the newlyweds. They plan the heist with precision. What could go wrong? Each woman imagines how there lives will change when they pull it off. But will they?

A book about choices for women. In Shanghai is there only choice marriage. The roles of women seem constrained and each wants to escape for different reasons. But what happens along the way is also interesting and adds complications to the plot. If you want a read that takes you to another place this would be a good book for you. It will make you think about the choices you have made.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #SophieWan, #GraydonHouse and #HarlequinTradePublishing for a copy of this book.
#WomenofGoodFortune

Thank you to NetGalley + Harlequin Trade Publishing for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

We follow Lulu, Rina, and Jane as they dream about what their lives could be like if things were different. Lulu dreams of travel and freedom from the responsibility of having to marry rich to support her family. Jane dreams of a more attractive physical appearance and a divorce from the husband she can't stand. Rina dreams of climbing the corporate ladder, but freezing her eggs for when she's ready to settle down and have kids. But the one thing they all need to make these dreams a reality? Money — and because Lulu is engaged to one of the wealthiest men in Shanghai, the ladies devise a plan to steal all of the wedding money and get the futures they rightfully deserve.

It took some time for the story to really pick up, but once it did I enjoyed it. I liked the individual stories of each women quite a bit, but I could tell their friendship was flawed long before the cracks became apparent further in the story. I would've liked to see a stronger female friendship dynamic, and I think the story would've benefitted from it as well.

I appreciated the commentary on how much pressure is put on women to be/act a certain way, and I especially appreciated the insight into how this is amplified in the Chinese culture. It just goes to show that women are still not seen as equals in society and how many hoops they have to go through to get a crumb of respect and independence.

Overall this was a good, medium-paced read that did the women's fiction genre justice.

In Shanghai, a woman over 27 years old is considered a leftover, expected to marry and have children by that time. Three best friends will challenge expectations while carrying out a caper that will allow them to pursue their futures. Jane is married, but unhappily, for financial reasons. Rina wants her career to come first, causing her to be criticized and overlooked for promotion. Lulu is engaged to Harv, a man from a very rich family, who expect her to kowtow to her obnoxious mother-in-law. The story moved a bit slowly at first, but once the planning of the caper developed, I was hooked. I enjoyed this quirky debut novel, and recommend it. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley, Graydon House Books, and Sophie Wan for this #gifted ARC.

This debut novel is Ocean's Eleven meets Crazy Rich Asians and would be a great fit if you like quirky, romantic comedies with a whole lot of chaos.

Admittedly, I am in my strong women supporting other strong women era, and this book gave me all the feels. Rotating through three different female POVs, the reader gets insight into very different personalities that are all looking for the same thing: happiness.

With so many cultural expectations and pressures from family, these women are doing the best they can to be true to themselves yet not disappoint others who depend on them. It's a modern-day problem: how much will you sacrifice for your own happiness?

The pace of this book was both slow and fast? It took me a while to actually be invested in the characters, but once we started meeting Vic and Harv and their family members, things started to quickly get more intriguing. I love a good puzzle and about 50% into the novel, I was truly invested in this heist plot.

If you love Jesse Q. Sutanto books or books involving some hilarious, ride-or-die friendship situations, you will want to snag this one. It is labeled as a romance, but that truly takes a backseat to the female relationships in the novel.