If you are looking for a gilded age novel filled with drama and some female empowerment then this is the novel for you. I will admit I wasn't sure what to think when I first started reading this novel but let me tell you by the time I was finished I was having the time of my life reading this. The characters and the details of the setting were just wonderful and the plot was a work of art.
We are introduced to Alice who is a con woman that is posing as a duchess. Of course we know from the details at the start that this is obviously a very bad plan in the making however we find out the reason is that she is trying to avenge the death of her father. So therefore we can forgive her for that.
Along the way we meet Cora who is just passing through but Alice manages to convince her to go along with her plan. From there they will go to great lengths to have this charade be the event of the season. However they must be careful because one wrong move could ruin it all for them.
I received an arc copy from Netgalley and all opinions are of my own.

A wonderful read!
This novel drew me in from the very first page and kept me hooked until the end. The characters were vibrant and relatable, the writing was engaging, and the story had just the right balance of heart and humor. Highly recommend!
Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Quite pleasant. I like it when the bad guys are only acting in a nefarious way because they must in order to defeat the worse guys. That saying about making the omelet by breaking the eggs comes to mind.

I found this book to be thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish. The two protagonists were engaging and seeing their stories through has filled me with joy.

The overall setting in terms of time and place will be familiar to fans of the TV show Gilded age but the plot is more akin to a righteous con like that of Ocean's 11.

The book is written beautifully and there is a seemlessness to the style. It is not often that a book written by two authors is so fluent throughout, to the point where it was impossible to tell where one author stopped writing and the other began.

I will now be seeking out the other two books written in concert by Kelly and Thorne.

5 stars. Easiest five stars I've given in a long time. No hesitation. I knew a quarter of the way through it was a winner for me. In fact, could this be my favorite read of the year so far?
Ok, so sure, maybe I was heavily influenced by the fact that I just rewatched the first season and started the second season on The Gilded Age. Maybe I had "new money" vs "old money" and railroad magnates already locked and loaded in my brain. But come on... how could I not love this book? It was like The Gilded Age and Great Expectations had a baby. A beautifully heartbreaking, morally questioning, deliciously devious little baby. And the end....CHEF'S KISS! I wanted to hug my kindle . (Ok, maybe I did..) I definitely ended with a giant smile on my face. Things did not end how I was expecting and that's always amazing!

I actually found myself drawn to the second character, Alice, more than the younger, more prominent, Cora. Alice was complicated, mysterious, smart and RUTHLESS. I wanna be Alice when I grow up... OK, maybe not exactly, but you get the idea. Alice is a tough, competent woman, hellbent on righting wrongs.

I read the Kindle version of this book thanks to Netgalley and the publisher but I will 100% be purchasing this in hardcover in December upon it's release date.

4.5 stars but I will happily round up.

Have you ever had a book that seemed to be tailor made for you?

Historical fiction? Check. Brilliant, nuanced, and compelling female leads? Check. A clever heist for justice and revenge? Check. A found family of women, empowering each other? Check. A little dollop of romance on top? Check.

This story follows Cora, an intelligent spitfire of a young woman, trying to survive with small thefts and scams. She finds an opportunity, and a mentor, in Alice, another con woman. The marks? 5 robber barons that ruined Alice’s father. There’s enough money here for Alice and Cora, and a few others who help them, to get away and start over. The little team scheme their way into the social scene, replete with drama and intrigue!

The story really is almost perfect. The pacing is a little slow in the beginning, but that’s expected for heist novels. The action ramps up deliciously, and we of course are rooting for this little brigand. The villains are a little bland, but the exposition of Alice and Cora are well done. The setting is great- I love that we weren’t in the regency era like usual. More glitz and glam was exciting!

Their plan was rather simplistic in the beginning, but the adaptability of the characters was exciting and kept me interested. The characters really shined for me. Alice and Cora were easy to love, and their banter top notch. The heist itself was a little simplistic, and sometimes the prose felt like it could use tighter editing so I knocked off a quarter star. But genuinely, this book is a delight and I strongly recommend it. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

My Fair Frauds by Lee Kelly and Jennifer Thorne is everything I hoped for—and more. Who knew I’d find myself cheering for a group of con women? But that’s exactly what happened. With lost souls who stumble into found family, this cleverly crafted, utterly compulsive story is one I’ll root for time and again. Highly recommend!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5 stars, an unexpected delight!

This book started off a bit slow and I really wasn’t sure about it at first but I’m so glad I stuck with it because I absolutely adored it by the end. I’m a huge fan of Agatha Christie books and this gave me that same crime in high society with clever banter and ingenious schemes vibe.

What I loved in particular:
- I liked Cora’s lesson’s on society, it reminded me so much of My fair Lady, except with criminal intent.
- I loved the setting, I’d never read a cozy crime set in the gilded age before and I liked learning a bit about as I read. It was nice to have a break from the regency era in a light historical book too.
-By far my favourite moment was the use of Cora’s sleight of hand magic training to pull off an epic pistol theft.

Thank you so much to Harper Muse and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC.