Review: Genuine Fraud - E. Lockhart

Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart, published by Hot Key Books on 31st May 2018

Goodreads synopsis:
Imogen is a runaway heiress, an orphan, a cook, and a cheat.
Jule is a fighter, a social chameleon, and an athlete.
An intense friendship. A disappearance. A murder, or maybe two.
A bad romance, or maybe three.
Blunt objects, disguises, blood, and chocolate. The American dream, superheroes, spies, and villains.
A girl who refuses to give people what they want from her.
A girl who refuses to be the person she once was.  

Review:
Deceptive and deliciously dark and twisty, this is a fiendishly good YA psychological thriller.

The story focuses on two friends - Julie and Imogen.  Imogen is an adopted child and an heiress. She's gifted with everything she could ever want. Used to having everyone fall at her feet and fawn over her, she has never had to struggle for anything. Julie is her opposite. She's had to become tough. She's survived on her own and is a fighter but after so long trying to become something more, she finally sees another way forward.

The timeline for this book is so clever. It skips around a lot between 2016 and 2017 and the story almost unfolds backwards. My advice to you is don't trust everything you read because appearances can be deceptive and E. Lockhart has thrown in so many brilliant twists that you are constantly kept on your toes. The locations change too, with the story moving from Mexico, to New York, to San Francisco. It's important to try to keep track of the place and time because this helps when all the puzzle pieces begin to fall into place.

This was a blisteringly good read. I definitely loved it more than 'We Were Liars' and I've been recommending it to everyone ever since. I'm almost jealous of anyone getting to read this for the first time because it's so clever and unique that reading it is such an immensely enjoyable experience.

Review: Dramarama - E. Lockhart

Dramarama by E. Lockhart, published by Hot Key Books on 9th February 2017


Goodreads synopsis:
Two theater-mad, self-invented, fabulositon Ohio teenagers.

One boy, one girl.
One gay, one straight.
One black, one white.

And SUMMER DRAMA CAMP.

Review:
‘Dramarama’ sounded like a fun and entertaining read, incorporating one of my favourite things…the theatre! The story is about two friends who get accepted into a drama summer school. We see them on their journey there with dreams, hopes and aspirations of becoming big stars and escaping their small town lives. The narrative unfolds from the perspective of Sarah, or Sayde as she likes to be known. She has always felt that she is destined for bigger and greater things and through her love of the theatre she believes that she has a chance at becoming something more. Her best friend Demi is quite a character and comes across as thoroughly flamboyant and over the top. I wasn’t sure that he ever really grew on me throughout the book and some of his actions near the end of the story were questionable.

What I loved the most about this title were all the theatre references to shows and stars that I’ve seen, enjoyed and loved myself. I couldn’t identify with the longing to become a star in front of the curtain but I could identify with the pleasure and enjoyment that Sayde feels for an amazing song or a well-choreographed routine. It made me want to rush out immediately and buy a ticket to go and see something. The author states that she attended a summer drama school herself when she was younger and I think this probably helped to make the experience in the book more authentic.

I can’t say however, that the story itself particularly resonated with me. It was light, it was fluffy and apart from one or two scenes in the book, it stayed that way for the most part. I felt that the plot was a bit flat and I kept waiting for something more to happen. I wasn’t hugely keen on the ending either which I felt didn’t have enough drama. It was a quick read which I finished in one evening but it’s not a book that I’ll want to come back to in the future.