Narrator was excellent, and the story itself was great! Kept my interest and really had me wanting to know who Annelise was.

The story follows a charismatic con artist who poses as a financial guru, captivating the elite with promises of wealth while hiding a web of lies and manipulation. Simard’s writing is sharp and fast-paced, drawing readers into the high-stakes world of greed and illusion. The protagonist’s moral ambiguity and the unraveling of their schemes create a compelling tension that keeps you hooked. With its timely themes of trust and the price of ambition, The Fortune Seller is a thought-provoking and thrilling read that will have you questioning what truly defines success.

This was a brilliant audiobook narration. I loved the mystery in connection with tarot readings. It was such a unique storyline. I will absolutely be reading more from this author in the future.

Set in the heady days of the early aughts, The Fortune Seller is a haunting examination of class, ambition, and the desires that shape our lives.

Thank you Macmillan Audio & Netgalley for sending me a review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I was reading this book and I decided to DNF it at 60%. I liked the Equestrian theme of this book and I liked that this book has Tarot in it. I didn’t like any of the characters. I found them annoying. The only character I liked was Annelise. I thought she was really interesting and I liked her friendship with the main character Rosie. I feel like I would have enjoyed this book more if it had focused more on Annelise and if it had more horseback riding and competing in shows. It has a little bit of horseback riding and it mentions 1 horse show but it doesn’t have much of an Equestrian theme in the first half of the book. I feel like it focused too much on the drama between the other girls and I didn’t like that.

This is an interesting read that had me hooked from the first page full of dynamic characters and the storyline was interesting! I enjoyed it!
The plot of the story is very dynamic and fascinating and full of the eerie mystery and drama! The pacing of the storyline is pretty well but it's interesting, and it reveals just enough information to hook you and keep you reading! Because you have to know what will happen next!
I enjoyed the aspects of the characters and the main character I really loved how realistic her journey was showing that her journey wasn't just so simple she had to have personal growth and how everything is woven together. I really liked Annelise, she was a more reliable character.
This is a very great audiobook! The narrator was reliable for the story and with a dynamic tone that allowed me to stay interested in the audiobook! Thank you MacMillian Audio and netgalley for the opportunity to listen and review this one!

This was a slow read for me. I found the story telling creative and the plot interesting enough but I didn't connect with characters as I would have liked and maybe that made the story drag in places for me. I did like how each chapter was the name of a tarot card and description.

The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke-Dale offers a promising storyline that blends suspense and personal drama, but it doesn't quite hit the mark. The concept is interesting, exploring themes of deceit and ambition, yet the pacing felt uneven. At times, the plot dragged, making it hard to stay invested, while other moments were rushed, leaving me wanting more depth.

The audiobook narrator was engaging overall, but some of the character voices felt overdone, which distracted from the story’s emotional weight. While the plot twists kept me curious, many were predictable, and the characters lacked the development needed to fully connect.

That said, it's an enjoyable listen if you’re in the mood for a slow-burn mystery with a focus on relationships. However, if you're looking for something truly gripping, this one might leave you a bit underwhelmed.

Ivy League Equestrian and Tarot Reader

Set in the early 2000s, The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke-Dale follows the life of Rosie Macalister, a middle-class girl attending Yale on a scholarship. Desperate to fit in with her affluent peers, Rosie forges a friendship with the enigmatic Annelise, a talented tarot reader and equestrian. After graduation, Rosie takes a job at a Manhattan hedge fund and uncovers shocking truths about Annelise's identity and the dynamics within their friend group, leading to a series of dramatic revelations.

The Fortune Seller is a compelling read that offers a haunting examination of class and ambition. Kapelke-Dale's masterful storytelling and complex characters make it a standout novel. However, the pacing may deter some readers who prefer a faster-moving plot. Overall, this book is a thought-provoking exploration of the desires that drive us and the consequences of our actions.

The Fortune Seller is a gripping novel full of moments of synchronicity and harsh realizations wrapped up in a deck of tarot cards. The novel places you right at the center of a world that glistens with money and luxury and freedom, but all that glistens is not gold. Rosie is an ambitious outsider who thrives on her school’s equestrian team, and tries to stay afloat in the world of her privileged best friend, Cressida Tate, when a new addition to the team, and their lives, causes cracks in Cressida’s facade to appear. This story has twists I did not see coming, and one very big one I immediately did, but even this did not lessen its’ impact on the story. Rosie is such an interesting narrator to follow because we go along with her as she discovers that try as she might, she will never be able to reach the upper echelons of the Tate’s world like she once imagined she would. This novel examines the dynamic changes that occur when one leaves the university bubble and enters the “real world”, and I was genuinely hooked and invested in Rosie’s story.

The audio narrator was convincing and emotional, and I felt immediately more connected to Rosie when listening to her tell her own tale of optimism turning to grief turning to somber realization.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started reading THE FORTUNE SELLER, but I was in for a great. It had just a touch of dark academia with a slow burn suspense storyline, that centers around a group of college roommates.

I loved the audio format which was easy to plug me into the story even more.

*many thanks to Macmillan audio and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

Lots of horse talk, a little "too contemporary" for me. This looked like it was going to be a mystery or thriller and it's just taking forever to get going.

I was excited to read this book. Dark academia, mean girls, and rich people behaving badly… I was so ready for this read, but there was just too much "horse talk" and it kept me from connecting with the story.

I know the book is based on the equestrian world, but I didn't expect it to be as prevalent throughout the book as it was.

If books about horses, female friendships, coming of age, and worrying about the future are your cup of tea, this may be the book for you.

This book to so many turns in the best way. I think the characters were perfectly flawed - each one of them. It was wildly realistic to the point where, at times, it was jarring. It almost felt like the story could have been real. Honestly, I've been in quite the reading slump recently, and a book like this was exactly what I needed. It's one of the best books I've read in months.

I did not care for this narrator, which led me to DNFing at 37%. That is the furthest along I got in all my tries. It was interesting, but the narrator's different voices bothered me. I didn't mind the female ones; the masculine ones irked me. I tried various speeds, took breaks, and returned to the book, but nothing helped. This might be one I'll have to read with my eyes one day.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.

I'm not sure where to slot this book - it's part dark academia, part women's fiction, part slow-burn thriller and more. The story centers around a group of college roommates with the shared interest of being on the Yale equestrian team. The plot explores the impact of class and opportunity on the experiences of the girls with a unique approach. It was a solid story, but overall there wasn't anything very memorable about it.

The narration was good.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for a free copy of #TheFortuneSeller by Racel Kapelke-Dale. All opinions are my own.

The Fortune Seller was an excellent, thrilling read. I loved the multiple character perspectives and the dark academia vibe.

The Fortune Sellers by Rachel Kapelk-Dale follows Rosie a Yale student trying to find what she is really looking for after graduation. Throughout college Rosie has made friends with some of the well established families. Rosie is always struggling to make ends meet since she doesn't come from a life with money. Soon Annelise enters the group and is a reader of tarot cards. Annelise is Rosie's new roommate and soon they share a bond over the tarot cards. This was just an ok audio book with a twist that you can see coming. The author does give the meaning of the cards throughout the book which was interesting. Thank you to both NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for letting have an advanced copy of the audio book.

This was a good read but also a sad read. It has a true-to-life take on class and wealth - it was sad to Rosie when she finally realized she wasn't really a true friend of her rich "friends" but more of a project and seen as more the help than a friend. And that rich dudes are pretty much all alike - above the law and out for themselves only. And fuck anyone that gets in their way. I like that she teamed up with Annelise's sister to get justice for her!

The Fortune Seller is a slow-burn mystery that centers on relationships between female college roommates. A tight-knit foursome of Yale equestrian teammates is disrupted their senior year by a fifth girl of mysterious origins joining their clique. What transpires is a weaving of tarot-readings, socioeconomic commentary, and the aftermath of a sudden -- and mysterious -- departure of one of the girls. The narrator's performance is solid, giving each character a unique and convincing voice. The pace is slower, but deliberately so, and the protagonist is a relatable narrator.