Review: Smash & Grab by Amy Christine Parker

Smash & Grab by Amy Christine Parker

Blurb from Goodreads:

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.

My Review:
 

Should a book about a bank robbery be boring?  Should a book about so-called adrenaline junkies be so boring that you don't even really want to finish it? I wouldn't think so but this book is both!  It was hard to really be engaged with either main character because I don't think we are ever given the history and/or insight to truly understand them.  Yes, we know that Lexi is an adrenaline junkie and seems aloof even to her friends -- we know she is perfect and blonde and rich . . . until her dad is arrested for alleged white collar crime.  Yes, we know that Christian has a loving family, except for his dad whois always drinking, and that he wants nothing more than to go to college but for some reason has decided to rob banks in the interim.  But, we don't really get their motivations until very late in the book, if even then.  This was a problem for me as was the wholly unrealistic and inconsequential nature of the crimes they committed.  It was too cavalier to use guns and rob banks for these teenagers.  And I'm sorry but even if Lexi was filthy rich, I just cannot imagine a 16 year old on a Ducati.  I just felt like details didn't add up in this book and I was so bored.  Hopefully it was or will be a better read for you!

Smash & Grab came out last month on July 19, 2016, and you can purchase HERE.

"Why did your parents stop bringing you to the fireworks?" She rests her cheek on her arm and watches me. 

 I turn my face toward the sky again because it's easier if I'm not looking at her.  Coming up here was impulsive and a mistake.  We can't complicate things less than twenty-four hours before the job, no mater how much I might want to.   

"Dad started to gamble . . . and drink."  I hesitate. "Can we not talk about this right now?" I ask.   

"We have a lot in common, you and I." Lexi says softly.  "Both our dads are screw-ups, and we both are on a mission to save our families, whatever it takes."  The fireworks finale finishes with a deafening onslaught o explosions, each one more grand than the next, until the whole sky fogs up with smoke and the ghosts of fireworks themselves.