A middle-class Rosie is trying to fit in with her upper-class Yale equestrian teammates who have become her roommates. After their junior year, a new classmate named Annelise has joined their team and become a new roommate. Who is she? Where did she come from?

The Fortune Seller is an interesting look at college friend groups. Someone steals money; a new girl joins and throws off the balance. Definitely an intriguing book.

So, let me start this by saying I am not a horse girl, and don't enjoy reading about horses. I didn't realize that the equestrian portion of this book would be so heavy, or at least feel that way. I found the main character to complain so much about money and differences in social class that it negated from the point of the story. This one just didnt work for me. I'm sure a lot of this has to do with my aforementioned aversion to horses.

Yellowjackets meets Tarot meets equestrian...? What? It seems like something I might like, but I didn't love.

* 4.5 stars *
Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke-Dale is about Rosie Macalister, a senior at Yale, who is constantly keeping up her image as another rich girl amoung her fancy best friends. Secretly she is a normal middle class student who has to work to survive and is swimming in school loans. When a new girl is brought into their group, and new house, she learns a new skill from her new connection.
I really enjoyed the addition of tarot in this book. As someone who has no previous knowledge of tarot or their meanings I can not speak on the accuracy of the card meanings. However, it was a fascinating addition to the beginning of each chapter that connected to the story. I felt like I was learning something and could get more insight into the story that the character might not immediately see herself.
The way the group connection shifts and changes throughout the book was unexpected. I enjoyed how the main character developed and learned about who she was on her own. As well as, the main character's relationships with the other girls in the group change many times as things happen throughout the novel. It feels like she slowly takes off rose colored glasses throughout the novel and the consequences are unexpected...
I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes dark academia and tarot. It was a great novel and I am sad that I finished it. I want more of these characters and this concept to read.

The Fortune Seller is a well woven story of society’s social elite, the impact of shifting friendships, and the dreams we have relative to what we think we want and what we really want.

As always, Rachel Kapelke-Dale delivers a story worth reading! And her research is on point, this time exploring equestrianism and college hierarchy’s. I also especially loved all the woven knowledge of Tarot. Fantastic!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for this advanced reader’s copy. I’m honored to read and review another of Rachel Kapelke-Dale’s novels.

Thank you to NetGalley, Rachel Kapelke-Dale and St. Martin's Press for a digital galley of The Fortune Seller.

Having enjoyed this author's previous novel, The Ballerinas, I was extremely excited to get a copy of The Fortune Seller.

This was such a quick-paced & easy read that follows Rosie through her journey at Yale and being on the equestrian team. It focuses on Rosie's friendships with Cressida, Andra, Annaliese and Lila and her struggle to stay afloat while trying to fit in with her wealthy, elite friends. With Annaliese being the newcomer to the group, much of the story centers around Rosie's friendship with her and the events that follow. I love the journey this story takes us through and shows us the inner workings of being friends with the wealthy without being wealthy yourself; and that being wealthy doesn't necessarily make you rich.

This was a solid 4-Star read for me that I would definitely recommend to my followers or really anyone to read. Very, very good!

Scholarship student Rosie didn’t grow up with the wealth and prestige of her friends on the Yale equestrian team. Returning from a year abroad, she returns home to a new face in the group: Annelise. Annelise is secretive and kind, but when her place in the friend group comes into question, Rosie discovers there is much more to Annelise than what lies on the surface. The Fortune Seller examines class, friendship and the length one will go to hide their secrets. Despite the interest in the premise of this book, it just wasn’t for me.

The pacing of this book is slow. It follows a very linear path of story telling, tracking the events in sequence of time. It follows Rosie from the summer before her senior year into her young adulthood and entrance into the workforce. Being used to books that time hop, this was a new way of story telling for me. I’m not sure I care for it, but that’s a personal preference with no bearing on the book. The pacing drags for most of the book, to the point where I almost gave up before the big reveal of Annelise’s true identity and reason for her integration into the friend group. I wish there had been a faster pace to the point and more time to examine that plot line.

I couldn’t connect with the characters in this one. Rosie felt very one dimensional and naive, and the friend group felt underdeveloped and weak. The only interesting character for me was Annelise. Cloaked in mystery, I was excited to see where her story took her. But I wasn’t thrilled by that ending. There was a lot to be desired regarding characters. Which was unfortunate in such a character driven book.

The plot of the book was okay, but felt a little undeveloped and unsatisfying. There was a lot of potential here that just wasn’t quite met for me. I enjoyed that tarot aspect and what it added to the novel, likewise with the equestrian team and the use of and knowledge of horses. The examination of wealth and class disparity in this one became almost grating with how heavily it was focused on. I wish it had been a slightly more subtle examination.

I would hesitate to recommend this one. Neutral 3 stars. Didn't love, but didn't hate either.

Tarot and equestrians, what an unexpected surprise! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and will be picking this up to have on my shelf. There were a few twists that I did not expect. If you enjoy rich people drama, be sure to pick this up. The riding portion was done well and was not at all cringy. As a reader you can tell the author has experience with horses. 4.5 stars Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and the author for a copy of this e-arc.

The complicated relationships, the different class levels and all set in high society. I learned so much about the high stakes world of equestrian and the class levels associated with the people involved. The pace in the first part of the book was really slow paced but by the second half it felt to fast.


Overall this book just did not do it for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martins press for providing me an ARC to review.

We’re all looking for meaning in our lives and this book gives us a hint of what can happen with tarot card readings, friends with money and a chance of making a difference in this world.

A group of five university students from Yale are sharing the rent as they ponder what their future will bring. Cressida acts like a beautiful queen with a father that manages a billion-dollar hedge fund. Andra is studying to be a writer and Lila wants to star in films. Rosie loves finance and hopes to be like Cressida’s father someday. And then there’s Annelise who transferred from Stanford with an equestrian gift. She tries to help everyone with her tarot readings. It makes me wonder how many readers will be searching for someone that can read their cards as well.

The tarot takes center stage around this original plot with layers of work ethics, charitable giving, great wealth and some who are scrambling to pay the bills. There are unexpected twists that makes you think about what an advantage it is to have money in this world…or not. It also shows the author’s love of dogs and horses. The tarot guides with wisdom and each person’s life evolves in ways that may not be expected. The end wraps up everything with a complete satisfaction.

The book was fast, fun and filled with a glimpse of reality for each character. I hope Rachel Kapelke-Dale will consider including her love of art history next…in Paris.

My thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book with an expected release date of February 13, 2024.

Pub date: 2/13/24
Genre: dark academia, books about friends
Quick summary: Rosie is ready for senior year with her wealthy Yale equestrian friends - until she realizes she's been replaced by the charming Annelise Tattinger. After Rosie and Annelise become friends, the whole group's secrets threaten to come out and destroy them all.

This was a quick and immersive read, and I loved the dark academia meets horse world meets tarot vibes. The complexities of female friendship and class differences were well explored by the author, and I loved following Rosie's perspective as she tried to keep her place in the group. There's also a second, future timeline where Rosie unpacks what happened in college, and it was nice to see how she interpreted the events of the past with a little more life experience under her belt.

If you enjoy dark academia, this is a fun ride!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for providing an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Rachel Kalpelke-Dale’s latest suspense highlights both the elite college equestrian world and the occult through tarot readings. She does a nice job of blending both topics to create unique, quirky characters. I enjoyed the college setting and the descriptions of the students and all of their foibles. This was an original and interesting read with a great deal of suspense and a twisty ending.

The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke-Dale explores the complex dynamics of female friendships, the influence of wealth and class, and the desires that shape our lives. The story follows Rosie Macalister, a middle-class student striving to fit into the elite world of the Yale equestrian team. When mysterious tarot reader Annelise Tattinger infiltrates the group, Rosie's newfound confidence is tested, leading to devastating consequences as the friends turn against each other.

Kapelke-Dale's character is simply superb. Having read her novel “The Ballerinas” I was happy to see that she yet again created a cast of strong female characters that are incredibly likable and undeniably flawed. The narrative is propelled by smooth pacing, offering a page-turning quality that keeps the reader engaged. The quality of writing is impeccable, with a lovely, immersing readers in a world that feels like a blend of "The Clique" and “Gilmore Girls”, plus the mystique of tarot card readings.

The artistry of the story is evident in its themes of class, wealth, and the role of luck in shaping our lives. The emotional impact is poignant, evoking a haunting reflection on relationships, money, and societal status.

This book is a perfect fit for hot girls especially those who enjoy character-driven narratives with rich (both figuratively and literally) characters. While the plot occasionally flirted with predictability, the overall engagement and surprises kept me invested. The Fortune Seller is a magical, entertaining drama that doesn't neatly tie up its narrative, leaving readers with a lingering sense of the weight of the characters’ choices.

Sensitive content includes murder and some instances of animal abuse. The story's tone is best described as magical, character-driven, and super entertaining. I would confidently rate this book 4.5 stars for its compelling storytelling and thought-provoking exploration of societal dynamics.

The Fortune Seller
Rachel Kapelke-Dale (Author)
(This review was based on an ARC sent to me by NetGalley)
Middle-class Rosie Macalister struggles to fit in with her rich friends while a student at Yale and finds being on the Equestrian team makes this situation worse.
But when she comes back from her junior year abroad with newfound confidence, she finds that the group has been infiltrated by a mysterious intruder: Annelise Tattinger.
Annalise introduces Rosie to the Tarot card and its’ story telling which inspire ideas and perspectives.
The author uses a different Tarot card to introduce each chapter.
However, when money starts missing from one of the groups bank accounts, all suspicions point to Annelise. As the girls turn against each other this leads to devasting consequences.
Ateer graduation Rosie gets a job at a Hedge fund she finds out Annelise identity and her rightful place in the Yale group.
This novel examines class, ambition and how ruthless girls can be to obtain their ambitions.

Wow, what a totally unexpected delight of a book!! I thoroughly enjoyed this and was enthralled from the very beginning.

Rosie comes home from her study abroad program expecting to pick up where she left off with her friends, but quickly finds that the addition of their new friend, Annelise, has changed everything. Rosie suspects that Annelise isn’t what she seems, so she’s slow to warm up to her, but later becomes her greatest supporter even when the rest of the girls have turned against Annelise. When tragedy strikes… who is really responsible? And why?


Thank you to @netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

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thank you st martin's for the review copy of The Fortune Seller by Rachel Kapelke-Dale. I am a fan of this author, I like her moody take on ballet and the ballerina world in The Ballerinas and loved the storytelling in The Ingenue. For the Fortune Seller I was all in for the plot, the elite college setting and focus on competitive equestrian life and for a theme of messy female friendships, competition, privilege and college life. I was completely drawn in for the first 50-75% of the story, I liked the pacing and the moody storytelling, the complexity of the female dynamics and power and privilege. I did though find the last part of the book a little less engaging, perhaps because the story unfolded with a little more predictability than I was expecting. That being said, predictability can be a let down not because it's not good storytelling but because it mirrors real world outcomes and sometimes the real world is a let down.

If you liked Girls and Their Horses earlier this year this one might be for you! Also a good option for literary fans who like examinations of elite lives, privilege, and/or college settings.

Recommended! Definitely a book worthy of some book club discussion in particular.

Thank you to St Martins Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

I will happily leave a review for this when the racist remarks by one of their employees is addressed. I want to support the author, but also want to know they don’t support this behavior.

On its face, this sounded interesting:

✅ Horse girlies = wealth.
✅ Our main character didn’t grow up with that same wealth.
✅ Another girl who introduces the group to tarot and our main character discovers some secrets about her over time.

But it took way too long to get to the action and by that point, I didn’t have enough connection to the characters to be wowed by the twists.

In the book’s defense, I did read this on my kindle before going to sleep each night so it took me longer to read than it would have if I read it during the day.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy!

I have absolutely loved Rachel Kapelke-Dale's past books. They portray complex female characters in such a nuanced way. This one was absolutely gripping, and I loved the plot, but the characters felt a little bit more one-note than I have come to expect. A few reviews mentioned the book being too horsey, but I didn't fidn that.