Smash & Grab by Amy Christine Parker: ARC Book Review #ARCAUGUST

Title: Smash & Grab
Author: Amy Christine Parker
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Published Date: July 19th 2016
Genre: Contemporary, YA, Heist
Page Count: 384
Format: Kindle

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Goodreads Summary: 
Ocean’s Eleven meets the star-crossed lovers of West Side Story. Grab some popcorn and get ready for an adrenaline-filled heist!

LEXI is a rich girl who loves a good rush. Whether it’s motorcycle racing or BASE jumping off a building in downtown Los Angeles, the only times she feels alive are when she and her friends are executing one of their dares. After her father’s arrest, Lexi doesn’t think twice about going undercover at his bank to steal the evidence that might clear his name. She enlists her hacker brother and her daredevil friends to plan a clever heist.

CHRISTIAN is a boy from the wrong side of the tracks. The local gang has blackmailed him and his friends into robbing banks, and he is desperate for a way out. When the boss promises that one really big job will be the last he ever has to do, Christian jumps at the chance for freedom. In fact, he’s just met a girl at the bank who might even prove useful. . . .

Two heists. One score. The only thing standing in their way is each other.

Told in alternating points of view, this caper is full of romance and fast-paced fun. Hand to fans of Perfect Chemistry, The Conspiracy of Us, and Heist Society.

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 My Review:

“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.”

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.