I loved that so much. Usually it's a bit hard for me to get through nonfiction in book format and not audiobook but this wasn't. Even though it's nonfiction it was written like a story which I guess most nonfiction is but I really liked how this was written. It was very interesting, Cassie Chadwick was so cool, I know that she did crimes which js bad but like sometimes I just wanna say I'm the spawn of Andrew carnagie and do a lot of fraud and have like 4 husbands and get all the jewelry with money I've gotten from fraud or husbands. Life goals tbh (except the part where she got caught), will prolly pick up a copy when it comes out.

At the turn of the century, Cleveland, Ohio, was home to more millionaires than any other city in the United States and, also, Cassie Chadwick. The cunning and clever Cassie was able to prey on bankers and businessmen who wildly underestimated her simply for being a woman. Duping her way into high society, fur coats, marriages and luxury European vacations, even Anna Delvy couldn’t scam her way into half of Cassie’s life. A beautifully written and well researched biography on the mother of the American con.

I really enjoyed the intertwined (but brief) narrative of Andrew Carneige’s life. The author richly paints a picture of class and social structures in the Gilded Age of America and how easily exploitable they were. The story has a lot of moving parts, addresses, and countless side characters but the author does a pretty good job of keeping the story flowing despite the complexity. I would have liked to hear more about the average person who lost their life savings or the Oberlin students who (temporarily) lost their tuition money.

Overall, a fun and interesting read. I would recommend to anyone who enjoys books about the Gilded Age and watching shows like the Tinder Swindler & Inventing Anna.

My Dream Cast:
Cassie Chadwick - Annette Bening

Thank you to Annie Reed, Diversion Books, and NetGalley for the book!

Feels like it would make a good Netflix series. I love reading about real life scandals that seem like they could be ripped from Hollywood. I would recommend.

I can not begin to tell you how much I loved everything about this book! One Last Summer by Kate Spencer is the quintessential summer rom-com~ Clara & Mack had amazing chemistry & I could not get enough of their banter. So so good- pick this one up for your next beach read!!

Thank you NetGalley & Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC copy of this book.

A lively story about a con artist. She must have been some charmer because her schemes did not seem that clever! Everyone was very real and the book read like fiction, even though it wasn't. That can be a plus or a minus but in this book it largely worked and only occasionally veered too far into the speculative.

This was such a good read! I was immediately sucked into the story and could not get enough of the characters. I went on a full emotional journey with these characters and I really enjoyed it. The book was easy to read and kept a good pace where I was never bored. I will be recommending this book to all of my friends and family.

Annie Reed had me hooked at that blurb: con artists, Gilded age equivalent of Anna Delvey? Consider me sold! I'm so fickle when it comes to these sorts of books, but I love them - and what a unique and interesting part of history! Reed tell's Cassie Chadwick's story with a flare for the dramatic, which suits the tone of who Cassie Chadwick was to a T. If you recently watched The Gilded Age TV show and came across this character and were left wanting more, then this book is definitely for you. Or if you just love hearing stories from the not so nice women of history!

“Face to face, she could remake a man's reality around him.”

If you remember anything about this con artist in furs and jewels, remember that: Cassie Chadwick can remake a man’s reality around him. This riveting account of the Gilded Age’s Anna Delvey is somehow both deliciously addictive and unsettling. Annie Reed brilliantly chronicles the creation of Cassie Chadwick in all of her Ponzi-esque glory. Chadwick (or shall we call her Bigley?) is no villain but a layered and complex subject who defies qualification, a woman in a man’s world and clearly enjoying it. What Reed does so well is craft a narrative that reads like fiction. Her characters are not flat historical figures but real and relatable. Cassie Chadwick is an impostor, a robber, and a queen of manipulation - but Reed’s adept storytelling makes Chadwick so much more. As Reed unravels the mishaps of this con artist, she connects us to history and sparks curiosity about the legacy that Chadwick left behind. There are questions about femininity, social mobility, and reputation that the book poses but does not necessarily answer. This may not be satisfying but it’s fascinating and exactly how good nonfiction should impact us. I finished the book and felt as if I knew so much about Cassie - and somehow I also felt that I knew nothing at all. A must read for readers with a voracious appetite for all things con, and for anyone who just can’t get enough of Anna Delvey. Four stars only because of some gaps that I felt like could use some filling in, particularly about her family of origin and her relationship with her son. Otherwise, I would eat this entire book up again with a spoon. Thank you to NetGalley and Diversion Books for the advance readers copy. All opinions are entirely my own.

This book is a very engaging account of a confidence fraudster. The author handled the biographical aspect masterfully.

I just don’t understand how she did it… was everyone in that day that gullible?! It would be interesting to see what kind of practices and changes were implemented in the banking world after such a scheme.

Annie Reed tells this story in a way that makes you feel like you’re reading a fictional tale. It is well written, captivating and a quick to flip page turner.

Kudos to the author shedding light on the successful manipulation of Cassie Chadwick in a way that made it almost fun to hate her. The restraint these men must have had to exercise when dealing with her, I can’t even imagine. It couldn’t have been me. I wanted to knock her out for about 80% of the book.

Had she not such an untimely demise, I wonder how far her cons could have taken her, she had the whole country-nee world, at her disposal.

Thank you to Annie Reed and NetGalley for this eARC

4.5 ⭐️

This was not my favorite but it was a pleasurable reading experience. Thanks to Annie Reed and NetGalley for this free e-arc

Thanks to Netgalley for this ARC.

I finished watching the second season of The Gilded Age a few months ago, and also listened to the official accompanying podcast. A character this season was based on Cassie Chadwick, the infamous swindler. I had never heard of Cassie and was definitely intrigued. When I saw this book I had to read it!

We follow Cassie from her early days in a small town to the culmination of her cons - posing as Andrew Carnegie's illegitimate daughter and cheating men out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Alternating chapters are told from Carnegie's point of view. It's fascinating watching her "work."

The author writes in her note that this is a work of "non fiction" but I have to disagree with that. Too many conjectures about conversations and emotions. The book was well-researched but sometimes became bogged down in the details. It's a tricky thing to have a main character who is so unsympathetic.

Three stars.

As the book itself ends, Ponzi, who? This was an absolutely wild story. Fake it till you make it for real. I had never heard of Cassie Chadwick before, and the number of people she managed to fool into giving her money is crazy. She kept getting caught and even went to jail and yet reached such crazy heights after that before everything finally crumbled.

This was such an entertaining read; thanks to NetGalley and Diversion Books for the ARC.

I received this book as an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Many thanks to the author and publisher for this opportunity.

I enjoyed learning about Cassie and her scams but this book moved way too slow for my taste.

The Imposter Heiress:
Cassie Chadwick, The Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age
Annie Reed
She was a woman of many identities. She traveled from town to town changing identities like most people change socks. She ran scams in each new town. While others worked for their money Cassie worked hard to swindl it from others. Her biggest scam was the Carnegie con. She managed to persuade many prominent men that she was Andrew Carnegie’s illegitimate daughter. They were all generous with their checkbooks, loaning her hundreds of thousands of dollars. She amassed a fortune from the scam, then the stock market crashed, and she was exposed. The newspapers called her the Queen of Swindlers, the Duchess of Diamonds, the High Priestess of Fraudulent Finance. The trial was spectacular, and the nation was fixated on it.
Author Annie Reed brings Cassie Chadwick to life on the pages of this book. This tale is based on actual facts. Well written and fascinating.
Thank you NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book for review purposes.

I loved the idea of this book but as I started reading I could tell this wasn't the book for me. I got bored rather quickly.

I really liked the idea of this book. I love a real life true crime story. The beginning of the book had my attention but at about 30%. I was struggling to continue. The story line and characters were getting confusing and I felt I should have been much further along in the book than I was. This will be put on my did not finish list unfortunately.

I really wanted to like this book as I loved the concept, but I found the execution to be lacking. Annie Reed wrote a good book about a fascinating person, and I wanted to feel more drawn to Cassie than I did. I felt that explanations for Cassie's behavior was explained fully through want of money, and while I'm sure that is mostly true, I wanted more nuance built in. I believe this book will be great for many, it just didn't quite hit the spot for me.
Also, the formatting of this book through netgalley is virtually unreadable, which worsened the experience for me. Annie

The formatting was super funky. I don’t know if this was just an issue that occurred after the file was sent to my Kindle or if the book is truly laid out oddly.
DNF because of this.