I was already having an enjoyable time when the author shifted gears somewhat and that just took the book to the next level. Winnie asks Ava for a favour involving her counterfeit luxury handbag trade, but soon the “favours” turn more frequent and Ava finds herself caught in the shady activities. QUICK TAKE: I really loved this soapy caper about two Asian American friends who build a global counterfeit purse ring, This is THE USUAL SUSPECTS meets HUSTLERS, full of escapism and wish fulfillment, but it is also a grounded exploration of motherhood and culture and class.

Winnie has developed an ingenious counterfeit scheme that involves importing near-exact replicas of luxury handbags and now she needs someone with a U. I don’t usually choose my books by recommendations from celebrities or book clubs (or both), but I’ve noticed that I enjoy quite a few of Reese Witherspoon’s recommendations. BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. This is the story of two buck the system young women of Chinese descent, developing a system to pass off counterfeit handbags as originals. Unlike my usual habits I did find myself skimming other reviews while I was taking in this story, and while I can see what some people saying about the secondary characters coming off as flat.Counterfeit is fast-paced and fun, with smart commentary on the cultural differences between Asia and America.

The novel is written as an interview between Ava and the detective, which we are only reminded of every 50 pages or so. The twist halfway through Counterfeit is undoubtedly its biggest strength, forcing the reader to reconsider everything they just read about Ava’s side of the story.It is forbidden to copy anything for publication elsewhere without written permission from the copyright holder. It takes me 2­–3 drafts to get a handle on the story, and at that point, I put together an outline that consists of one sentence summing up the heart of each chapter. The closest I got to liking something was when I drew two massive triangles on my face, but I was still not a fan.

This is one of the most challenging aspects of writing historical fiction – working in the necessary context and information in a way that does not detract from the storytelling. This was a slow read for me, I put it away for a while and came back to it which made it a little better, maybe I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for it. This isn't really a spoiler at all, after all, a book all about counterfeiting can't be exactly what it claims to be on the surface, can it? The last part dragged out a little with a super speedy epilogue, but this would be a good holiday or midweek read. There’s nothing interesting or well written or anything at all, besides the maybe curious story about replica handbags which could have been summarised in three pages.Had this book been longer I feel these topics could have been touched upon even more and ultimately expanded on. It is sad to see the author of this book promoting racial stereotyping by creating various characters precisely according to the stereotypes. In fact I was pleasantly surprised by how detailed the book was, how much story and explanation we got.

S. passport to help manage her business—someone who’d never be suspected of wrongdoing, someone like Ava. Later on however, the story switches to Winnie’s perspective and I will admit that, when I read her chapters, I started second-guessing some things that had been revealed earlier (and that’s all I’m going to say about it — you will need to read the book for yourself to find out what I’m talking about). Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Azerbaijan Republic, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde Islands, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), French Guiana, Gabon Republic, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Macau, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Martinique, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Republic of Croatia, Republic of the Congo, Reunion, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Swaziland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Virgin Islands (U.Counterfeit is a riveting and energetic novel about a world that so many of us encounter but rarely understand beyond the surface. I love luxury items and used to frequent r/Repladies (rip) so I was familiar with the setting and the descriptions. Members of our writing community can watch back live events in Catch Up TV, which features a host of sessions with bestselling authors and leading literary agents on demand. But beneath this façade, Ava's world is crumbling: her marriage is falling apart, her expensive law degree hasn't been used in years, and her toddler's tantrums are pushing her to the breaking point. This book is told by Ava who is confessing to the police about her involvement in the luxury bag scheme.