Review: Heist Society

Details:
Title: Heist Society (Heist Society #1)
Author: Ally Carter
Publisher: Disney/Hyperion
Pub Date: February 2010
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Crime

When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her to the Louvre...to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria...to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own—scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving "the life" for a normal life proves harder than she'd expected. Soon, Kat's friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster's art collection has been stolen, and he wants it returned. Only a master thief could have pulled this job, and Kat’s father isn’t just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help.
For Kat there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it’s a spectacularly impossible job? She’s got two weeks, a teenage crew, and hopefully just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family’s (very crooked) history—and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way. -- Goodreads

My Thoughts:
Ally Carter's books have been on my to-read list for a while, but I just hadn't gotten around to reading them for whatever reason, but I should've read them sooner. Heist Society was a fun, exciting light crime novel.

I really like Kat and her whole family of criminals; everyone's a thief, but you can still relate to them and picture them as regular people who just happen to steal precious art. The whole crime family dynamic was great -- it was fun high risk, not Godfather killing people scary high risk. Although Kat's father is in danger and she's dealing with an evil criminal, the book stay's light and fun (which was perfect for me). I generally don't read crime novels or watch thrillers because they're too much for me. I like my crime light and fun like Heist Society. Not to say that Heist Society didn't have edge-of-your-seat-page-turner moments, because it did and you worry about Kat being able to really pull off the heist.

The plot itself was a bit different from what I was expecting. I assumed the book would be about a girl who's part of an art-stealing-family who has to steal a few paintings to help her father, but there's a whole lot more than that going on. Kat and her teenage friends and family members are the ones trying to figure out how to get her father out of trouble. And Kat herself is struggling with her criminal past and trying to figure out if she even wants to be a part of the family.

Although the book has nothing to do with summer, it was the perfect summer reading opener for me. Exciting, light, and full of art (I studied art in undergrad). And lucky for me I had Uncommon Criminals sitting on my bookshelf, so I could jump right into Kat's next adventure.

Rating:

In My Mailbox (7)

"In My Mailbox" is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren to showcase what books bloggers have received in their mailbox, from the library, or bought. If you want to participate check out her site here.



Books Mentioned: 
Misfit by Jon Skovron
Divergent by Veronica Roth 
XVI by Julia Karr 
Bumped by Megan McCafferty
Heist Society by Ally Carter 
Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter 
Putting Makeup on Dead People by Jen Violi
Girl Wonder by Alexa Martin

What did you get this week?

Interview: Nigel Hinton

YA Titles:

• Walk the Wild Road
• Time Bomb 
• Buddy 
• Collision Course
• Check out Nigel's many other titles here
  

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Walk the Wild Road Summary:

Leo took one step forward and then stopped. This was it-the road away from everything he knew. He could turn back. But then who would save his family from starvation? No, Leo was their last hope. He must go on...

The journey is not easy-he'll have to sleep on the streets, steal food, and even fight off greedy soldiers. Along the way, Leo discovers the kindness of strangers and the loyalty of friends. But he also learns there are some people you just can't trust, especially when you're on the wild road to America. -- Goodreads

Buy Walk the Wild Road | Publisher's Site | Author Site

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Interview:

Describe Walk the Wild Road in three words.

Here are three words which other people have used about the book - Moving. Epic. Gripping.  I can only hope they are true.

The Preface says that there's a legend in your family that your grandfather left home when he was young, but this isn't his story. Since the story came from this legend, what sort of research did you do for the book?

I read a lot about Poland’s history, notably God’s Playground by Norman Davies. As background for peasant life I read Stanislaw Reymont's four volume masterpiece, The Peasants. I researched my own family history, as far as possible, on the internet. I then went to Poland and found my grandfather’s tiny village and I traveled the 200 mile route that I imagined he took from there to the Baltic Sea.

You've written other historical fiction novels, what drew to write historical fiction?

The only other novel I have written which can be considered historical is Time Bomb, which is set in 1949 in the part of London where I grew up. In that book I wanted to record a world and a way of life which has totally disappeared during my lifetime and which allowed children the possibility of freedom and exposure to danger which is rarely found nowadays. As for Walk The Wild Road the starting point – my grandfather’s experience – obliged me to set it in 1870. I certainly loved having to imagine that ‘foreign place’ which is the Past.

What's your writing process (do you generally go through a lot of drafts and revisions, are you part of writing group, etc.)?

Yes, I do an enormous amount of re-writing which, as much as anything in my case, comes down to cutting and making more simple. I am looking for the most direct and shortest way of saying things. The stripped-down style of writers like John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway is what I’ve always wanted to emulate.

I work in that solitary state of being alone with my ideas and writing. I would not be very good in a writing group situation – I need to concentrate on my own vision. On the other hand, when I write screenplays I really enjoy the collaborative process and have written a number of scripts with another writer. In that particular case I think we bring out the best in each other.

How did you approach editors to get Walk the Wild Road published?

I gave the manuscript to my agent and she approached possible editors.

Were you an avid reader as a teen, and what were your favorite books?

I have been an avid reader at every stage of my life but my teen years, especially 15-19, were probably those when I read the least, being caught up with other pursuits: sports and girls. Nonetheless I still read regularly. I loved sci-fi books by people like John Wyndham, and popular blockbusters such as Gone With The Wind, Peyton Place, The Man In The Grey Flannel Suit. I was very much in love with America and American culture in my teens. And, of course, Steinbeck and Hemingway and F Scott Fitzgerald were ever-present favourites though those years.

What made you want to become a writer, and what drew you to YA in particular?

Much as I loved reading, it never occurred to me that I could write myself until, almost by accident, I wrote a story for a class of teens I was teaching. I read it to them and they loved it and encouraged me to try to get it published. It became my first book, Collision Course. I suppose that first experience led me to write more for the YA market, although I have also written for younger children and for adults. I am attracted to the tension which is implicit in the experience of adolescence – the often painful thrust of the child towards adulthood.

What are you reading now?

I have just finished the wonderful One Day by David Nicholls. Next, I think it’s time to revisit some of the Russian classics – Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. A lot of my friends, quite independently of each other, have recently gone back to War and Peace, so it might be that.

Thank you Nigel for stopping by and best wishes!

My review of Walk the Wild Road  here.

Review: Walk the Wild Road

Details:
Title: Walk the Wild Road
Author: Nigel Hinton
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Pub Date: January 2011
Genre: Historical Fiction

Leo took one step forward and then stopped. This was it-the road away from everything he knew. He could turn back. But then who would save his family from starvation? No, Leo was their last hope. He must go on...

The journey is not easy-he'll have to sleep on the streets, steal food, and even fight off greedy soldiers. Along the way, Leo discovers the kindness of strangers and the loyalty of friends. But he also learns there are some people you just can't trust, especially when you're on the wild road to America. -- Goodreads

My Thoughts:
Like I've said in several of my other recent historical fiction reviews, I don't know why I never just go out and pick up historical fiction. Someone always has to recommend the book to me or I have to read a bunch of good reviews before I read historical fiction. That really needs to change; Walk the Wild Road was a wonderful historical adventure story and I'd highly recommend it to middle reader/teen boys.

A historical adventure story sounds like it would be geared towards a younger boy audience, but Hinton doesn't shy away from the difficulties of life in the 1870s. The realities of war, political unrest, poverty, illness, and violence are presented in such a way that they feel true to the time period, but not inappropriate for younger readers. This isn't a fluffy boy adventure story -- it's a more adult adventure story. I feel that sometimes historical fiction writers gloss over some the realities of earlier time periods because they don't think teens will "get it" or that it's too violent or difficult for teens to handle. Teens need to really understand what people really went through and how difficult it was for many immigrants to make their way to America. Hinton had done a really wonderful job of showing life in the 1870s in Europe.

Beyond historical significance, I really liked Leo and almost all the major players in the novel. He was strong and determined to get to America and to help his family, but he isn't an unrealistic super-hero type character. Things doesn't always go well for Leo and he doesn't save the day. He gets through hardships because he has to. It was really refreshing to read a realism "boy" adventure book.

I think this book would be a great one for teachers to use when teaching European history. It really paints a picture of everyday life during the turmoil of the 1870s, while being entertaining and action filled.

Rating:

Review: Divergent

Details:
Title: Divergent (Divergent #1)
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Date: May 2011
Genre: Dystopia

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her.
-- Goodreads

My Thoughts:
I said a million times that I love dystopias, so of course I put Divergent on my to-read list, but I wasn't super excited about it. I don't know why; maybe I've been reading too many dystopias. Whatever the case, I wasn't dying to read it until I started hearing all sorts of really good things about it. And I'm so glad I listened to what some my fellow awesome bloggers were saying about Divergent.

Right from the very first page I was totally into the story (I read all 480 something pages in two sittings). Tris and her world are fascinating and you can't help but be sucked in. I loved the way Roth described the faction choosing ceremony and the initiation process. You can really picture the dystopian society and see Tris change and figure out who she really is.

Tris is an awesome female character; I really loved her and felt instantly connected to her. Her struggle and reactions to everyone around her seemed very realistic to me. Tris doesn't just fit in to her faction immediately and do well; she has to struggle and fight constantly to earn her place in her faction.

I don't think I can wait until next year for the next book. I need to know what happens next!

Rating: