Lady Eve’s Last Con
By: Rebecca Fraimow
June 4, 2024 Solaris
368 pages
Review by E. Broderick
A quick perusal of publishing deal announcements will show you that there are basically two types of fiction books: those described as “lyrical” vs. those described as “voice-y.” It’s a fairly decent stand in for picking out the literary books from the genre. I enjoy both varieties, but skills wise, I’m pretty fairly entrenched in the “voice” camp. Plus, as a reader I find them compulsively fun. Which is why I practically inhaled Rebecca Fraimow’s adult sci fi Lady Eve’s Last Con
I’ve enjoyed Fraimow’s short stories before, because they are often the delicious form of bizarre that makes my heart sing (robot nuns anyone?) and sometimes come paired with queer Jewish representation. In this longer piece we meet Ruthi, a con artist looking to pull a scam on the billionaire that knocked her sister up and dumped her. That’s all well and good, except the young man in question has a big sister named Sol that is hot on Ruthi’s tail and has some shady dealings of her own that keep complicating matters.
Within two sentences I was completely immersed in both Ruthi’s world and knew exactly who and what she was. This is no small feat, as Lady Eve’s Last Con has a tremendous amount of world building – imagine a space age Bridgerton – yet by carefully selecting Ruthi’s words, Fraimow allows the reader to grasp it all seamlessly. By the time Sol, a veritable lady killer in her own right, shows up I was having a debate with myself about whether I wanted to be Ruthi or be with her. Sol cleared that up – all the girls want to be with Sol. Including Ruthi, which presents a bit of a challenge to the whole conning Sol’s brother plan.
The book has a delightful sense of humor, exceptionally witty banter, but mostly the best love interest I’ve seen in a very long time. And lest I miss out on any of my favored bizarre factor – kosher duck plays a crucial plot point.
I’ll admit that my reading and writing favor high heat romance. But sometimes watching two extremely clever individuals circle each other, almost but not quite bringing their flirtation to fruition, has its own benefits. Namely a sex scene at the end that can only be described as explosive. Maybe sometimes good things do come to those that wait. Plus, given the speed with which I read this book, I didn’t have to wait all that long.
The ways in which I fell in love with these characters are numerous, but it was all made possible by Ruthi’s unique voice. She’s possibly the most distinct character voice I have read this year. I could pick up a random page, out of context, and know instantly that it came from Lady Eve. It’s aspirational, and swoony, and I hope to see more bizarre shenanigan books soon from Fraimow.
Note: BookishlyJewish received a free e-ARC of this book through NetGalley