What's Next? discussion

Quick, breezy read, good for the beach or the weekend. Set in San Francisco and parts of China, it’s the story of two old college friends who inexplicably find themselves running a high-stakes counterfeit scheme and eventually, getting involved with the equivalent of the Chinese mafia. It’s also the story of an second generation Asian American born overachiever who is frustrated with her lot in life ie/ lack of success (career, financial, marriage and parenting-wise) and who gets embroiled in her friend’s illegal scheme. The plot line moves fast and the audiobook narrator was quite good (I switched between written and audio, and picked up on more subtleties and humor when reading the traditional format). There are some plot twists I didn’t see coming midway through but ultimately, the ending was somewhat predictable. The narrator started to grate on my nerves with her lack of ownership for her mistakes and her very bad choices - definitely not a sympathetic heroine. Also, readers not familiar with - or indifferent to - the world of luxury handbags may find the inane amount of money spent on both real and even counterfeit bags to be obscene, to the point where it distracts them from enjoying the story. Rating this 3.5 stars rounded down to 3.