Smash & Grab

by Amy Christine Parker

• ISBN13: 9780553533828
• Publish Date: 19 July 2016
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Out of Print: 11 August 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Random House Books for Young Readers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 384
• Language: English

Reviews

[readingwithwrin]

“We do this job and we go to jail. We don’t do this job, people we love get killed. I can’t see a way out no matter how hard I try.”
See reviews first on my blog!
When Lexi’s life starts falling apart due to her dad taking part in a criminal activity she feels like she must find a way to convict someone else who she believes was a big part of it as well. With the help of her friends and big brother they decided to take it on in the only way they know how.
“If my family is going down in flames, I will make it my mission to drag him down with us.”
Christians life is filled with trying to keep his family safe and finding a way out of where he lives, and the only way to do that is to work for them for as little time as possible and then to make a clean getaway so he can go to college.
“The most screwed-up think of all is even though I want out and to be as far away from the Eme as I can, a part of me will miss the jobs.”
Seems simple enough for both of them, but when Christian runs into Lexi both of their lives end up changing in a blink of an eye. With them having ulterior motives in their friendship it doesn’t seem like it will last, but what they both need from each other is enough for them to try and make it work.
“The cute boy who flirted with me and took me out for doughnuts is a criminal. A bank robber, for crap’s sake!”
When both teams finally come together and starting training so they can all know what to do and how to get it done quickly without getting caught isn’t easy. With Lexi’s friends being somewhat entitled and Christians friends not liking their entitlement it can get pretty tense at times between them all, but at the end of the day they all want inside in order to complete what they started.
“Running any scheme is like spinning several spiderwebs at once, every thread connecting to another. Spin to many and it becomes impossible to remember them all.”
Quite a bit of time is used in the set-up for the heist and how they plan to make it work, but without it the ending wouldn’t be as nerve racking so I was okay with it.

Overall Smash & Grab is a really fun book. I absolutely loved it. It was paced perfectly for me and switching between the characters was very smooth, but you also always knew who was talking and not just because it told you at the beginning of each chapter. All of the side characters that both Lexi and Christian have made the story so much better, and I cared about each of them just as much as I did the main characters. I was even pretty happy with the way it ended, even if it didn’t seem that realistic considering what Christian was involved in. It was still nice and somehow they all made it out alive which is pretty surprising to me still. If you want a fun book to read that will fly by then this book is for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[whisperingchapters]

This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.


I received an eARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.This review was originally posted on Latte Nights Reviews.

[Leah]

Smash & Grab is one of those books you're either going to love or hate, depending on how "real" you like your fiction. Some will scoff at teens pulling off bank jobs, but I love it. There's something so exciting, so thrilling, about reading about bank robberies and base-jumping and other adrenaline-filled pursuits. It just gets you so excited! I know, morally, that bank robbing isn't right, duh, but they do it without harm! It's all good! But if that's not your jam, don't read this book. It is so my jam, though, and I loved it.

What I liked most about Smash & Grab were the characters. In a book like this, you have to love the characters to really agree with what they're doing, and Lexi and Christian are amazing MCs. They come from completely different sides of the tracks, but they're sole goals are the same: to provide for their family. Although Christian's threat comes as an actual, physical threat, so it's not like either of them woke up one day, thinking they'd rob banks. There's way, way more to the story than that, and that's what makes this book so readable, so enjoyable, so hard to put down.

This is the kind of book you can pick up and lose yourself in when you don't want to be part of the real world for a day or so. Is it perfect? Probably not, but I just read it for what it was - a fun, heist-y, bank caper and I didn't think too hard about how hard (or easy, as the case may be) it is to rob a bank. Though I kind of feel like this book should come with a big warning, in neon writing that says "Do not try any of these things at home", just for any budding robbers or base-jumpers, looking to get a thrill, reckon they can do it themselves. Don't be silly.

I did for a long time wonder how Smash & Grab would end - because surely something so criminal cannot end happily? It cannot end with people walking into the sunset? Well you'll have to read and see, but it did give me pause for thought, and I actually kind of liked the ending. I would also really like either a) a sequel or b) a companion novel featuring the other characters in the book. I would so get behind that. I'd be first in line to read any sequels/companion novels. I really, really enjoyed this. This was such a cute, fun read, perfect for fans of Ocean's Eleven.