Lady Eve's Last Con

368 pages

English language

Published July 7, 2024 by Rebellion.

ISBN:: 978-1-83786-159-0

(2 reviews)

Ruth Johnson and her sister Jules have been small-time hustlers on the interstellar cruise lines for years. But then Jules fell in love with one of their targets, Esteban Mendez-Yuki, sole heir to the family insurance fortune. Esteban seemed to love her too, until she told him who she really was, at which point he fled without a word.

Now Ruth is set on revenge: disguised as provincial debutante Evelyn Ojukwu and set for the swanky satellite New Monte, she’s going to make Esteban fall in love with her, then break his heart and take half his fortune. At least, that's the plan. But Ruth hadn't accounted for his older sister, Sol, a brilliant mind in a dashing suit... and much harder to fool.

Sol is hot on Ruth's tail, and as the two women learn each other’s tricks, Ruth must decide between going after the money and going after …

Ruth Johnson and her sister Jules have been small-time hustlers on the interstellar cruise lines for years. But then Jules fell in love with one of their targets, Esteban Mendez-Yuki, sole heir to the family insurance fortune. Esteban seemed to love her too, until she told him who she really was, at which point he fled without a word.

Now Ruth is set on revenge: disguised as provincial debutante Evelyn Ojukwu and set for the swanky satellite New Monte, she’s going to make Esteban fall in love with her, then break his heart and take half his fortune. At least, that's the plan. But Ruth hadn't accounted for his older sister, Sol, a brilliant mind in a dashing suit... and much harder to fool.

Sol is hot on Ruth's tail, and as the two women learn each other’s tricks, Ruth must decide between going after the money and going after her heart.

1 edition

enne📚 reviewed Lady Eve's Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow

4 stars

Lady Eve's Last Con is a sapphic con artist story set on a 1920's retrofuture satellite. I think my favorite part of the book is all of the conflicting threads pulling on Ruth. She's trying to pull a revenge con on her sister Jules's ex-boyfriend Esteban in order to get his money for their secret child. (She hasn't told her sister about this.) And, even if Esteban is blinded by a rebound, Esteban's sister Sol quickly is on to Ruth's schemes, and Ruth can't seem to help continuing to get involved with Sol's distractions (and Sol's own secrets). Oh, and there's also the interplanetary mob too. Overall, it was a lot of fun and the conclusion managed to tie off all the threads really satisfyingly.

My one gripe is that Esteban Mendez-Yuki is entirely boring (albeit possibly just through Ruth's eyes). He immediately falls for Ruth and never sees through …

Lady Eve's Last Con is a sapphic con artist story set on a 1920's retrofuture satellite. I think my favorite part of the book is all of the conflicting threads pulling on Ruth. She's trying to pull a revenge con on her sister Jules's ex-boyfriend Esteban in order to get his money for their secret child. (She hasn't told her sister about this.) And, even if Esteban is blinded by a rebound, Esteban's sister Sol quickly is on to Ruth's schemes, and Ruth can't seem to help continuing to get involved with Sol's distractions (and Sol's own secrets). Oh, and there's also the interplanetary mob too. Overall, it was a lot of fun and the conclusion managed to tie off all the threads really satisfyingly.

My one gripe is that Esteban Mendez-Yuki is entirely boring (albeit possibly just through Ruth's eyes). He immediately falls for Ruth and never sees through her boredom. The only reason we see that Esteban would care for Ruth at all is that she looks like her sister Jules and it's implied that he's on a massive rebound. This book focuses on Ruth and Sol and not really at all about Esteban, so this is somewhat understandable--I just think he would have felt less like a cardboard cutout if we could have known more about his emotional interior.

Andy P.

rated it

Aug 27