I grew up in Singapore and have been lusting over this book forever, so it pains me that it didn't quite live up to my anticipation or expectations. My biggest issue is that it lacks the cultural representation I'd been so looking forward to. The Fraud Squad could have been set in anywhere else and it wouldn't have made a difference.

The good:

I was totally onboard with the plot of a woman fighting the system and doing what it takes to survive, because who doesn't love a good girlboss story? The author did a great job in exploring elitism, classism and the cut-throat world of high society through the eyes of a spunky protagonist worth rooting for. I also enjoyed all glitz and glamour as well as the name-dropping of luxury brands and fashion labels, they were super fun to read!

The blah:

The story is disappointingly basic and predictable, especially with how low stakes everything seemed. I also felt lukewarm about the romance and relationships, except for that one scene with Sam and her mother. Neither was the writing the best. The dialogue in particularly felt extremely stilted and unnatural, like the author was struggling to retain the Singlish + authenticity of how people in Singapore speak while making the book readable and palatable for an international audience.

Overall:

It took me a week to finish this book because I paused at 30% and didn't feel compelled to continue. The last 1/3 was fortunately a vast improvement. I liked how everything unfolded and ended. The kopi scene between Sam and Tim was the one thing that I finally felt was accurate representation of Singapore culture, but it was too little and too late.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bad novel. My opinion is definitely skewed by my personal experiences and how much differently I imagined this book would be. It was an interesting debut nonetheless and I look forward to Kyla's future works.

I really loved the concept of the book but not the actual follow through of it. I disliked every character, and over the course of the book I started hating them more and more. The MC was just horrible to everyone, and I couldn't understand her motivations or her 'friends' as they kept changing. Even the parents of every single character was horrible! I disliked the relationships between the friends, the families, the work colleagues....just didn't love this one.

I really wanted to like this, but I was not a fan of the writing style at all. Could not get past the first chapter

This book definitely had all the Crazy Rich Asians and The Devil Wears Prada vibes. Loved reading about Singaporean society. The story was well written. Can't wait to read more from this author.

This book delivered perfectly on its synopsis and description as a propulsive debut. Set in the socialite/media/PR/fashion world in Singapore, it was everything I hoped it would be: expertly paced, cinematic (I can see the series or movie this would be!) filled with shiny events and brands, deliciously aspirational yet still grounded with a deeper message about what defines who we are and what we ultimately should value. A fast, easy and satisfying read!

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.