HEIST SOCIETY SERIES REVIEW

Title/ Author: Heist Society by Ally Carter

Publisher/ Year: Disney-Hyperion, 2010.

How I Read It:  Hardcover 
Why I Read It:  I actually reread this, because I forgot a lot of what had happened in this book and I wanted to complete the rest of the series.
Rating:  3 stars out of 5

Title/ Author:  Uncommon Criminals by Ally Carter

Publisher/ Year:  Disney-Hyperion, 2011.

How I Read It:  Hardcover (library book)

Why I Read It:  It's the sequel to Heist Society

Rating:  3 stars out of 5 

Title/ Author: Perfect Scoundrels by Ally Carter
Publisher/ Year: Disney-Hyperion, 2013.
How I Read It:  Hardcover (library book)
Why I Read It:  I wanted to see how the series would end and *SPOILER SORTA* see Kat and Hale actually DTR LIKE SERIOUSLY
Rating:  4 stars out of 5

Summary from Goodreads of Heist Society: 

When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her on a trip 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 Kat back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has a good reason: a powerful mobster has been robbed of his priceless art collection and wants to retrieve it. 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 history--and, with any luck, steal her life back along the way.

Overall, I enjoyed the series as a whole.  I love the concept and think the characters are awesome, but for the first 2 books I wasn't completely entertained, which is why I gave them each 3 stars.  The reason that I gave the last book 4 stars was due to the fact that the main conflict was surrounding Hale and his family (who we really didn't know very much about other than he was rich, spent all his time away from that family, and W.W. stands for something that we have no idea what it is).  Hale's story interested me.  Stolen paintings and emeralds?  Eh, it was cool but wasn't that cool to me.

The series is seriously well put together and everything is connected in one way or another.  A character shows up one book.  Don't think they'll come back again or show relevance?  HAHAHAHA.  Again, there's Hale's secret life, living the best of both worlds (Kat's world & his world).  All the conspiracies and dealings with Vasily Romani?  There's so much going on and it's literally so important to pay attention to the details because HELLO. THEY ARE A HEIST SOCIETY/ SPIES/ WHATEVER YOU WANT TO CALL THEM.

These characters are pretty awesome & yay for awesome female protagonists!  The only ones that really had character development though were Kat and Hale.  It kind of just felt like the other characters were there.  I mean, Nick and Uncle Eddie felt important, because they played pretty crucial roles, but Gabrielle, the twins, and Simon felt like fillers.  They were needed for something as a part of the Heist Society, but I wasn't really interested in their backstories as much as the other characters.

Now though I wasn't as a big a fan of the first 2 books, the last book makes it completely worth it.  Especially since the relationship between Kat and Hale is confusing to follow and you're not entirely sure if they're together.  It wasn't exactly established.  But I think learning much more about Hale & the fact that Kat may have something even bigger than herself to lose in the last book made it so much more enjoyable.  This series doesn't beat The Gallagher Girls series by far, but it's still pretty good.  The plots are awesome and unique & I do recommend it.  But read TGG series first.