You'll Never Believe Me: A Life of Lies, Second Tries, and Things I Should Only Tell My Therapist was the book I thought Scam Goddess: Lessons from a Life of Cons, Grifts, and Schemes was going to be. Because I am so busy reading that I don't have time to follow pop culture 🤣, I didn't know who the Hipster Grifter was before this book. I asked to read it because (1) I enjoy memoirs (especially when I am unfamiliar with the subject matter); (2) I enjoy true crime; (3) I like it when authors read their own work; and (4) I kind of have a beef with the LDS faith (LSS, little female missionaries used to try and recruit my partner. On my watch.).

The Kari Ferrell I met inside of these pages was so much more than, well, either a hipster or a grifter. As much as she took advantage of people, she could also be loyal and kind. I will file You'll Never Believe Me: A Life of Lies, Second Tries, and Things I Should Only Tell My Therapist next to Never Saw Me Coming: How I Outsmarted the FBI and the Entire Banking System—and Pocketed $40 Million for their descriptions of women's prison. It's still not something that I want to experience, but in both cases I heard stories of women supporting other women, working together to get through difficult times. It does make you think about our criminal justice system!

Kari Ferrell caused me to think about a lot of things. She's just a skooch younger than my youngest sister. Kari's story helped me understand some of the pressures that my sister must have faced, things that I, being Gen X, can't fully appreciate. We didn't always get along growing up, and I think some of that was an inability on my part to understand how deep that generational gap could be. I'm so glad to hear that Kari has gone to work in advocacy, because I see real talent there. I hope that her work and words will bring more people closer together, and help more people understand the differences and similarities between us in a way that strengthens society. Kari Ferrell should have a lot of good years ahead of her yet, and I am so looking forward to where her story takes her next!

I would like to thank Macmillan Audio for allowing me to experience this NetGalley audiobook.

You'll Never Believe Me is the self-written, self-narrated autobiography/memoir of Kari Ferrell aka the Hipster Grifter.

It seems at some point this was all over the news but I've never heard of her before (oops), but I love a good self-narrated autobio and this was... all right? It was fine? It's Ferrell's childhood as a transnational adoptee (side note: I also love hearing stories from people in my age bracket and we had eerily similar childhoods outside of adoption and Mormon conversion) to a girl who was too good at talking her way into her friends' wallets and good graces until she evaded the authorities, moved 3,000 miles, and sort of did it all over again.

The major chunk of this book however is Ferrell's time in jail/prison as she states that her goal now is to bring attention and changes to the carceral system but the meat of it felt sort of... not much, as a listener? I'm sure it felt like a lot to her, and I was honestly surprised that she was only 23 when the majority of things went down but I think unfortunately what would have worked better for this book was more detail in... her scams, what actually happened and piled up that led to the warrant. It seemed like she was only in prison a few months before release, was somehow allowed to be released to a friend (who is also an ex-felon) before having to make it on her own in a stack of strange situations.... but then you read other articles about her (where she has been interviewed, even) and they don't match the story in the book either (for example, https://www.thecut.com/2022/05/kari-ferrell-hipster-grifter-comeback.html ), and she talks about a TV show that was in production before the pandemic, but easy googling shows there's been one in progress since 2022. So what's the truth? Of course the people want the juicy details from a scammer and What Really Happened but so much fell flat.

I did really enjoy the chapter (singular) about Farrell visiting South and North Korea and how it made her as a transnational adoptee feel, and there was a mention about how it fed into her current work (is this a book an advertisement for her production company?) , and there were bits and pieces that were interesting but overall it felt both lacking and not quite... enough? Flat?

But it was a quick listen, and entertaining for commuting!

Thank you to St Martin's Press and Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the ALC in exchange for review!

Thank you Netgalley for this advanced audio edition of You'll Never Believe Me by Kari Ferrell.

When I saw that this book was about a scam artist, I was excited to swipe it. I'm all about podcasts like Scamanda, and feeling outraged about people like the Wolf on Wallstreet. However, there is a reason that I won't buy his book, and it's because I want to hear ABOUT him, not from him. I don't actually like him, and I definitely don't want to help him make more money on top of everything he swindled.

Because of that, I kind of regret listening to this. I understand that it's a redemption story, but in doing so, I'm putting more money into her hands (kind of, I didn't pay for this book), when TBH, she never should have a story like this to tell in the first place. I don't want to hear her "whoopsie" tones as she talks about breaking the trust, and financial security of the people who took her in and trusted her. It was so off putting, almost bragadocious, and I didn't enjoy myself at all.

This was a well written book; the author was a good storyteller. I definitely recommend listening to the audiobook vs. reading. Hearing the author tell her story in her own voice added to the story.

I found myself a bit frustrated throughout the book because it was like listening to a train wreck after train wreck decisions. While this is meant to be a glimpse into someone’s else story, it was hard to relate and therefore hard to hold my attention. Even in the most unlikely biography’s/memoirs I can usually find a way to relate to the story, but this was a bit more difficult.

Despite the title, I can absolutely believe this story because of the continuous bad decisions she made in her early twenties.

Thank you to #netgalley and the author for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

What a great memoir. I hadn't heard of Kari Ferrell until this book, but wanted to read it based on the cover. And what a wild ride it was. Ferrell recalling her therapy sessions provided some reflections on what she did, and how past trauma may have caused some of her wrongdoings. I really enjoyed her narration and the overall story telling.

Wow!! I wish there was more because this was a really good read. Ferrell really pulls you in. This memoir tells of Ferrell really finding her identity. Her discussion of dieting as a kid brought back some rough memories. Once Ferrell begins talking about her grifting, the memoir feels like a movie. The growth and self-reflections she has by the end are admirable. Such a well done memoir!

This was fascinating! Fans of true crime, fraud and con stories will enjoy this. Kari, formerly known as the "Hipster Grifter" does a good job of describing her life and how she found herself scamming those who were the closest to her. Before moving on to total strangers who shouldn't have trusted her at all.

As an adopted Asian queer girl, in a White Mormon family and community, it makes total sense that she would start stealing not for the goods but to fit in. It's wild how that grew into scams of thousands of dollars and getting a job at Vice in NYC with totally made up credentials. But honestly, she comes across as pretty funny and charming in this audiobook, so I get why people fell for her schemes. Fingers crossed that I CAN believe her when she says she's a different person now.

I was not familiar with Kari Ferrell as I went into this book thinking "This sounds like a cool autobiography!" however I was pleasantly surprise with this read. It was a quick read and the tone felt real. I really liked seeing the turn around point for Kari, and was especially delighted when I looked her up on socials to see the gravity of being a wanted person and being a findable name online.

An authentic and fun read! It was great to learn more about her!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC and ALC.

This story is absolutely wild. I hadn’t heard of the Hipster Grifter, but listening to her story, my jaw DROPPED at times. WOW, I can’t believe some of this happened! But I supposed that’s the point of a book entitled, You’ll Never Believe Me. I was fascinated with hearing her thought process for all her misdeeds. I also appreciated how she included not just the wild times she had as a grifter, but also the struggle to re-acclimate to a world that wanted nothing to do with her.

I didn’t expect this memoir to be relatable, but it really is. It touches on mental health challenges, feelings of isolation, and the struggle to just MAKE it in the world today. It’s engaging and fascinating and at times you can’t stop reading even though you want to (like watching a car accident — it’s horrible but you have to look). She did some terrible things, but also found a way to turn her life around. I’m pleased to have read it and would recommend it to fans of minor celeb/celeb adjacent memoirs.

I always recommend the audiobook for ones performed by the author, unless the quality of the recording is poor or they are just a sorry performer in general. Fortunately neither exception applies here, and I’d highly encourage readers to check out the audio production to hear the story in Kari’s own words.