Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter

This is the second book in a series!

Read the first book, Heist Society (it's awesome--read my review of it HERE), before reading this review.

Thanks. 

 

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 simply… 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, 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.

I loved this book! I'm sad that I let it sit on my bookshelf for so long before picking it up. I went through a weird phase for a while where I didn't want to read any sequels. I'm so glad that didn't last! 

I want to know something. Is Ally Carter secretly a crazy good thief? How does she know all the things she knows?!? She seriously must have amazing contacts, or a really great imagination. Either way, I am totally impressed. I have liked what I have read in her Gallagher Girls series, but I LOVE these Heist Society books. 

I still think Kat is awesome, and Hale is still hot as ever, but I'm a little frustrated when it comes to Kat + Hale. It's been two books now, and there still has been very little romance. When is he finally going to make a move??? I'm sick of little hints at them crushing on each other. Just make out already and get it over with. Seriously. 

Even with the lack of romance, though, this book was great. Honestly, I liked it even better than Heist Society, which, if you read my review of it, is saying something. Could I have raved more?? :) Anyway, read this series. If you haven't, you are missing out! Sadly, the third book in the series has yet to be announced. It's still in the editing stages and doesn't even have a name yet. (According to Ally Carter's blog) But hang in there and try really hard to be patient. It IS in the process of becoming a book. Plus, it takes time to write awesomeness like this. :)

Happy Reading!

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You by Ally Carter

The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women is a fairly typical all-girls school, that is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE, the latest in chemical warfare in science; and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. So in truth, Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses, but its really a school for spies. Cammie Morgan is a second generation Gallagher Girl, and by her sophomore year she's already fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways (three of which involve a piece of uncooked spaghetti.) But the one thing the Gallagher Academy hasn't prepared her for is what to do when she falls for an ordinary boy who thinks she's an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, and track him through a mall without his ever being the wiser, but can she have a regular relationship with a regular boy who can never know the truth about her? Cammie may be an elite spy in training, but in her sophomore year, shes beginning her most dangerous mission; she's falling in love.

I'm not gonna lie.

I almost shelved this book.

I really liked it, but I got some books from the library that I'd been on the wait list for that I wanted to get into right away and...blah blah blah.

Anyway, moral of the story is: I'm glad I didn't shelf it. I love Ally Carter. I loved Heist Society, I loved this, and I'm sure I'll love the rest of the Gallagher Girls series. Seriously? They are hardcore teenage spies. How could I not  love it??

Poor Cammie. How would it be to grow up with spies for parents and then live in an all-girls school for basically your entire life? Well I can tell you--it would SUCK. (Just FYI.) Cammie, who has been "the chameleon" her whole life--always blending in and going unnoticed--doesn't quite know how to act when she finally gets noticed. Not by just anyone, but by a boy. A very cute boy. A very cute, very normal, very non-spy boy named Josh.

What ensues is a humorous array of antics as Cammie, with the help and advice of her friends, tries to juggle her life as a spy-in-training at Gallagher Academy with her ultimate cover as a "normal girl" when she's with Josh.

I really enjoyed this book, and I can't wait to continue on with the series. I would say that this book is appropriate for any female ages 12 and up, and you should be able to find them at most local and school libraries.

Happy Reading!

Heist Society by Ally Carter

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.

Have I ever told you that I've always secretly wanted to be a master thief? Not really, obviously, but in my head, I'm the mastermind of hundreds of heists. These kinds of books make me consider joining the 'family business"--you know, figuratively speaking. 

I really liked this book. I love the idea of a group of teenagers robbing the biggest art museum in the world....and that it was all set up by two sixteen-year-olds. I loved Kat and Hale. I wish there was more of them in the book though. Let me tell you, if you were looking for a romance, you came to the wrong book. It's all about tricks of the trade, slight of hand, get-in-get-out-and-disappear type thievery. When you're trying to pull off the biggest heist in history, it kind of limits your love life.

However, the next book in the series, Uncommon Criminals is due out June 21, 2011 (yes, that's only a few short weeks) and I have a feeling that things are going to heat up with Kat and Hale. She might even bat her eyes at him....   Only time will tell.

I have to say that this is a book you don't want to pass up. I'm so excited to read what's going to happen next that I think I'll pop on over to Amazon and preorder the next book right now! So until next time...

Happy Reading!