Summary:
"Katarina Bishop has worn a lot of labels in her short life: Friend. Niece. Daughter. Thief. But for the last two months she's simply been known as the girl who ran the crew that robbed the greatest museum in the world. That's why Kat isn't surprised when she's asked to steal the infamous Cleopatra Emerald so it can be returned to its rightful owners.
There are only three problems. First, the gem hasn't been seen in public in thirty years. Second, since the fall of the Egyptian empire and the suicide of Cleopatra, no one who holds the emerald keeps it for long-and in Kat's world, history almost always repeats itself. But it's the third problem that makes Kat's crew the most nervous, and that is...the emerald is cursed.
Kat might be in way over her head, but she's not going down without a fight. After all, she has her best friend-the gorgeous Hale-and the rest of her crew with her as they chase the Cleopatra around the globe, dodging curses and realizing that the same tricks and cons her family has used for centuries are useless this time.
Which means, this time, Katarina Bishop is making up her own rules."
My Thoughts:
This was a really quick read, probably because of the intended audience, but I don't care. It was so worth it and I can't wait to read Perfect Scoundrels (book #3). I sort of stumbled into reading Ally Carter's books. Sometimes when I go to the library, I don't have specific books in mind and I browse through the stacks looking for anything that sounds interesting. I found the Gallagher Girls series, which is about teenagers being trained as spies. I've only read the first book but I really enjoyed it. So when I heard that she was making another series, this time about teenage thieves, I couldn't resist.
These teens are extremely smart and I like that fact. They are good at acting and researching and planning and I like seeing that it isn't just physical ability that is highlighted. The brainiacs get lots of love too. There are a nice variety of characters from Kat and Hale to Gabrielle and Simon. They work well together as a team, and honestly, these books are sort of like a teen version of the TV show Leverage. Kat is the thief, Hale and Gabrielle both seem to be grifters, and Simon is definitely the hacker of the group. It's pretty awesome.
The action moves quickly, and I enjoyed learning more about Kat's family, as well as seeing the relationship between Kat and Hale develop farther. I like that Kat is struggling with how she feels and how to act when it comes to those feelings. It makes her very very real to me. I like that they aren't automatically a lovey-dovey couple; I don't think that would be true to who they are. They still have some more growing and maturing before anything can really happen between them, and that's perfectly okay. Kat and Hale are still rather young.
I love seeing how they pull off their heists, even when things go wrong and they have to regroup and try to fix their mistakes. These characters are incredibly realistic and have flaws and that really endears them to me even more. The action and the heist details sound realistic and plausible enough...or at least they hold up against other similar type stories or movies or TV episodes, which I guess is good enough.
So, all in all, this book steals a perfect 5/5 from me. I can't wait to read more.
These teens are extremely smart and I like that fact. They are good at acting and researching and planning and I like seeing that it isn't just physical ability that is highlighted. The brainiacs get lots of love too. There are a nice variety of characters from Kat and Hale to Gabrielle and Simon. They work well together as a team, and honestly, these books are sort of like a teen version of the TV show Leverage. Kat is the thief, Hale and Gabrielle both seem to be grifters, and Simon is definitely the hacker of the group. It's pretty awesome.
The action moves quickly, and I enjoyed learning more about Kat's family, as well as seeing the relationship between Kat and Hale develop farther. I like that Kat is struggling with how she feels and how to act when it comes to those feelings. It makes her very very real to me. I like that they aren't automatically a lovey-dovey couple; I don't think that would be true to who they are. They still have some more growing and maturing before anything can really happen between them, and that's perfectly okay. Kat and Hale are still rather young.
I love seeing how they pull off their heists, even when things go wrong and they have to regroup and try to fix their mistakes. These characters are incredibly realistic and have flaws and that really endears them to me even more. The action and the heist details sound realistic and plausible enough...or at least they hold up against other similar type stories or movies or TV episodes, which I guess is good enough.
So, all in all, this book steals a perfect 5/5 from me. I can't wait to read more.
Uncommon Criminals at Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/uncommon-criminals-ally-carter/1100564887?ean=9781423147954
Uncommon Criminals at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Uncommon-Criminals-Society-Novels-Quality/dp/142314807X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1358823091&sr=1-1&keywords=Uncommon+Criminals
Other Readings:
Next week With All My Soul by Rachel Vincent is out. I will be so incredibly sad to see the Soul Screamers series come to an end. I have thoroughly enjoyed all of these books. In the meantime, I am working on reading a couple more NetGalley books. I think I'm going to try and slow down on them just a little. I was approved for 18 books in January and February alone and while I like to have them read and reviewed quickly, they sometimes have made me really shift around my From the Stacks schedule. So, I'm going to try reading some of the other books I've had stacked up around here. Besides, I really need to buckle down and finish the books for my book clubs this month. For Sword & Laser we are reading Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh and for Vaginal Fantasy, Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor is the main pick, while Pleasure Unbound by Larissa Ione is the alt pick. I imagine it should be an interesting experience to jump from one book to the other this time. They all seem to be quite different.
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