Kyla Zhao's debut is wonderful! Tim and Sam's romance was swoon-worthy and delightful. I also loved what she had to say about Singapore's high society world.

Cute book. I just couldn't get into the main character. She just seemed so shallow. The setting and how high society functions in Singapore was fascinating.

While I had a certain amount of affection for the two leads, this book, scenarios and dialogue came across as amateurish and predictable. It was an enjoyable read but could have used a better edit.

This was unfortunately a miss for me. I usually adore this type of book, anything about scammers, it girls, and the like, but I just felt this was missing something. From the beginning, the setup barely even made sense to me. There was little, if anything, in it for Anya and Tim, so the fact that they’d so easily agree to this crazy plan felt unbelievable to me. I did think the writing was well done, and I would certainly give this author another shot in the future. Thanks to Berkley for the review copy!

This was a fun and quick read. It was very My Fair Lady-esque. Sam is a working class girl who wants to be in Singapore high society. She finds a way to do so and learns quite a bit a long the way. A cute story if a bit fluffy.

This was a delightful book and I enjoyed reading it. This book is about Samantha who wants to be a part of Singapore's high society and has figured out the way to do it without having the money. This book is for anyone who fell in love with Singapore while reading Crazy Rich Asians.

A fun book that will be compared to Crazy Rich Asians - it is the story of an ambitious writer who penetrates high society - but at what cost? She loves friends and family behind in her pursuit

This was a really fun read. One young woman trying to break into Singapore high society in order to get her dream job, and her two friends who help her on the way up the ladder. I can’t say it was packed with surprises or unexpected twists, but it was a really entertaining book with some very likable characters.

Ms. Zhao's delightful romantic romp through high society hits all the right notes. Middle class person invading high society with the help of her friends? Check. Swoon-worthy romance? Check? Lavish descriptions of clothes, locations, and glam? Check?
The fallout when Samantha's social fraud is discovered and revealed to all of high society has some surprising repercussions, leading to a satisfying conclusion.

This book had so many twists and turns! I loved it and highly recommend to anyone to loves high society. This is a great books for fans of Bridgerton, A Hundred Other Girls, and Ace of Spades.

Samantha Song would like nothing more than to write for a magazine that covers the socialite scene in Singapore. But since she lives in public housing with her mother, who paints people’s nails for 10 hours a day, she knows she doesn’t have the connections to make her dream come true. Instead, she toils at a PR firm until her coworker introduces her to Timothy Kingston, an heir to a massively successful company that he doesn’t want to take over, though he may have no choice. Together, the hash a plan for Sam to become a faux socialite. Anya can get her the clothes and accompany her to various events that Timothy can secure her access to.

This could have been a 5-star review. Sam is a likeable enough character. Unfortunately, there are a fair number of cliches, and the dialogue doesn’t ring true—it imparts information, sometimes of the after-school-special, here-is-the-lesson-you-need-to-learn kind, but it’s not the way people talk. Sam has a friend who is a feminist lawyer who has to wear a jacket emblazoned with feminist pins at all times. I’m a feminist, and I don’t own even one pin letting the world know about it, because it’s about action, not some silly counterpoint to the designer get-ups that Anya hooks Sam up with.

This has its moments, but some of the cliched phrases, especially toward the end, really needed to be edited out of this.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to review this novel, which RELEASES JANUARY 17, 2023.

In this update on the Pygmalion trope, working-class girl Samantha Song hatches a plan with her two super-wealthy friends to storm the high-society Singapore castle; thus, the Fraud Squad is born.

Their plan seems simple: society-obsessed Sam already knows all of the ins and outs of the elite class from her obsession with the ultra-selective S magazine and her work in public relations. Her society friends will help to launch her into the upper echelons of Singapore’s 1%, giving her access to the movers and shakers who can help her get a writing job at S. In return, she agrees to be revealed to Tim’s parents as a “fraud” at the end of the experiment, proving that social status doesn’t matter as much as hard work and passion do. As you can imagine, all does not go as planned. When the big reveal goes horribly awry, Sam has to figure out who her real friends are, and whether Tim actually believes that social status doesn’t matter.

Though this is a familiar plot (the book itself references Pretty Woman!), this was an entertaining read. The description of gorgeous haute couture and lavish parties, as well as being in the know on the scheme, makes for fun reading, as do the romantic sparks between Tim and Sam, and the raging jealousy of his high-society ex-girlfriend. No real surprises, which is sometimes just what is needed for a brain-candy escape!

This post will post to my blog, The Listening Lions, on the release date:
https://wordpress.com/home/thelisteninglions.wordpress.com

I HAD THE BEST TIME EVER READING THIS BOOK AND IF IT DOESN'T END UP BEING A NETFLIX SERIES I AM GOING TO VERY DISAPPOINTED BC IT'S PERFECT!!!!!

This book definitely had all the Crazy Rich Asians and The Devil Wears Prada vibes. I enjoyed following Sam on her journey to become a Singaporean socialite to secure her spot in the fashion magazine world, even if I could foresee The Fraud Squad's plan not working out in the end. I enjoyed seeing Samantha spew her knowledge about the different fashion and lifestyle trends among Singapore's rich and famous, but the middle portion of the novel felt a little repetitive as Sam went from one event to another trying to fake her way into becoming a socialite. The romance was also sweet but didn't really draw me in much. I felt that Tim was still really involved with Lucia, his ex, even if he claimed he wasn't, so it was hard for me to root for him and Sam. Because of this, I was glad that they didn't end up together at the end of the novel.

I think my favorite aspect of the novel is definitely Sam's relationship with her mother. As the daughter of immigrant parents, I definitely was able to relate to Sam's mother working tirelessly to ensure her daughter had a secure and safe life, while Sam felt an internal struggle of letting her old life behind while embarking on this journey with the Fraud Squad. This was a solid debut from Kyla Zhao, and I'm interested to see her future works. 3.5 stars rounded up.

This was a really fun fish-out-of-water book about a driven journalist exploring Singaporean high society! It delivers all the secrets, gossip, and glamour you'd imagine, and the ultimate message is a heart-warming one of self-acceptance and integrity.

The novel is part Pygmalion and the story of Icarus, who fell from the sky after flying too close to the sun. At least this is how working class woman Kyla Zhao sees herself, especially when she pictures herself failing in her bold attempt to infiltrate the highest levels of elitist Singapore social circles.

This clever romantic comedy reveals Singapore's upper class behavior and aspirations. Kyla is shown as a daring young woman whose own aims are to become a writer and public relations person for the most prestigious society magazine in Singapore. But first she must show herself socially worthy to be part of the higher echelons of that exclusive group. Kyla enters a pact with two upper class friends to have her pass as a Singapore socialite.

I liked reading about the ups and downs of a Cinderalla-like young woman chased from the ball by time and by deceitful individuals who may block her in her pursuit of her career goals.

An enjoyable romantic comedy.

Right out of the gate I'm going to say that I'm a very biased individual. I have a preference about books like this one. I like narratives that follow regular degular people like Samantha trying to scheme their way into high society. I will say that Samantha was at least doing it for a job; sure there were perks like clothes and access that came with it, but Samantha was just trying to secure the bag so that her and her mother could stop grinding and that added an element to the story that I thought was universally relatable. I also just have a soft spot for authors that have written for magazines turning to write books. I can't quite put my finger on what it is about the writing, but there's something. It's a little secret sauce that really adds to my general enjoyment of the text.

As for the book itself. I really like Samantha. I liked what was happening with her and Timothy and Anya's plan to get her into the society pages to boost her career prospects. I liked her regular friend Raina that was battling her jealousy but also trying to be the voice of reason. Daisy as a socialite friend that Samantha made along the way, all very strong characters that I enjoyed getting to see on the page.

My biggest issue was how time was handled. At some parts of the book the narrative started to feel a little choppy and less cohesive. The romance arc between two characters definitely wasn't giving... If anything it was serving made for TV movie realness, so on a certain level it was charming? When I read those scenes from the angle of the story being adapted it definitely felt cinematic, but in the context of the book it did throw me. Not only because had I deluded myself into thinking that there would be a love triangle with a different character, but it did just kind of feel like the romance became a focal point without the buildup I would require.... The book quickly returned to focusing on Samantha's aims and less on the romance, and when we got to the third act I could see why Zhao had built that up.

I will say the end of the book really did gag me. As a person that has made it my goal to read this story so many times, a lot of the socialite, messy rich people problems did feel a little been there done that, but the third act? I was gagged. The execution of that trope? Excellent.

I think this book dropping in the middle of the winter is the wildest thing ever, but I guess when that seasonal depression hits and you're aching for something that you can devour that will be a good time you'll have this to pick you up. I had a good time, I think that when the book finally comes out a lot of other readers will also have a good time and really that's what matters.

The Fraud Squad was an interesting, light read. I enjoyed the draw to socialite status and lifestyle, but didn't always buy into the successes Samantha won. The "true confession" moments, after the Gala from those who had worked behind the scenes against Sam were a bit too much honesty from those who had been anything but honest. Still, the fact that it was a look at a life far from my own made it a fun page turner. I was glad I read it. It is an impressive work from a very young author. I suspect she will follow with even better reads in her future works.

I’d love to do an interview with Kyla for pop culturalist. This book is perfect for fans of The Devil Wears Prada x Crazy Rich Asians. It’s a fun, fast paced novel and I absolutely love the vivid descriptions in it.

Thank you to the publisher for allowing me to read this one prior to release!

Fraud Squad caught my eye: the life of high society, ‘the infiltrator,’ and journalism mixed it - sign me up.

I think for me I would have preferred this book to be character-driven rather than plot-driven simply because even by the end of the book I still didn't know who our characters really were. Sam and the team felt 2D with unclear motivations and unestablished values. I believe the only character I felt for and actually got to know was Sam's mother who barely appears in the book yet still felt more like a real character than all of them.

It was a quick read and I appreciated the concept but I think it lacked execution for me.

Thank you,