The Fake

The Fake

Zoe Whittall

Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

A con artist can make you feel like the luckiest person on earth just to be in their presence. But when the jig is up, they ghost, and you’re left wondering if you ever mattered After the death of her wife, Shelby feels more alone than ever—until she meets Cammie, a charismatic woman unafraid of what anyone else thinks and whose own history of trauma draws Shelby close. When Cammie is fired from her job and admits she is in treatment for kidney cancer, Shelby devotes all her time to helping Cammie thrive. But Shelby’s intuition tells her there are things about Cammie’s past that don’t add up. Could the realest thing about Cammie be that she’s actually a scammer? Gibson is almost forty, fresh from a divorce and deeply depressed. Then he meets and falls in love with Cammie. Suddenly, he’s having the best sex of his life with a woman so attractive he’s stunned she even glanced his way, and for the first time ever he feels truly known. This is the kind of desire and passion that musicians have been writing love songs about for centuries. But Gibson’s friends are wary of Cammie, and eventually he too has to admit that Cammie’s dramatic life can feel a bit over the top. When Shelby and Gibson find out Cammie is a pathological liar, they struggle to understand what they really want from her—sometimes they want to help her heal from whatever causes her to invent reality, and sometimes they want revenge. But the biggest question of all is: how honest can Shelby and Gibson be about their own characters?


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  • booksgamesvinyl
    Jan 03, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

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  • kfred
    Mar 27, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

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  • bookgang
    Mar 30, 2025
    Enjoyment: Quality: Characters: Plot:

     
    I read this spicy light-hearted con artist book in a single day. It was easy to read but also easy to forget. 

    Shelby and Gibson have both been going through pivotal upheavals in their lives. Gibson, once happily married, is now processing his impending divorce. Shelby also has lost her spouse tragically through her wife's unexpected death. 

    These losses and longings for something new are why they both become enraptured by a new woman who has entered their life. Cammie is a charismatic character who promises the sympathy and excitement they crave. The fact that she's overcoming a string of calamities only makes her more endearing and intriguing. 

    As Shelby and Gibson become more intertwined, they realize that things aren't as they seem, leading the reader on the kind of soapy adventure that you likely, know where you are headed but will still keep you flipping pages for the satisfying reveal. 

    As so many stories glamorize the con artist, it was refreshing to see the script flipped, giving us insights into how Cammie exploits the vulnerabilities of her victims. Despite all her flaws, Whittall makes her weirdly lovable even when destroying people in her path. 

    Ultimately, the plot twists didn't deliver anything too shocking, but at under 200 pages, this is the kind of book you can rely on when you need a quick win or are working towards a reading challenge goal. 

     

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