23 July 2019

REVIEW: Diary of a Teenage Jewel Thief by Rosie Somers

Diary of a Teenage Jewel Thief by Rosie Somers
Published by Entangled Teen on 7th August 2017
Pages: 206
Source: *Received from the Publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Most sixteen-year-olds shouldn’t know where museums keep their rarest jewels (the basement) and they really shouldn’t know that vans make the worst getaway cars. But for Marisol Flores, a life of jewel thievery is a birthright handed down from generation to generation, even if she didn’t ask for it. So when a rival thief targets Mari and her mother, Mari’s more than happy to flee to the anonymity of bustling New York City.

Blending in is a dream come true for Mari, but keeping her former thieving ways a secret gets way more complicated when handsome Will Campbell sets his sights on her. She can’t help but like his terrible puns and charming grin…but when her past catches up with her, it’s not only her life—and her anonymity—that’s at stake. 

Will could be the next target.
This was not what I was expecting. I was expecting from the synopsis, the title and the cover, this novel was going to be similar to Ally Carter's Heist Society series, but it felt more like a high school contemporary drama with the added bit of the action and thriller on the end, just to make it the heist novel it was marketed to be. Sadly a case of don't judge a book by its cover.

From the get go I was uncertain about our main characters. Marisol's voice was certainly not that of a sixteen year old, and I really struggled to get past this when reading. Marisol's voice and narrative was too young, although Somers did try to mature Marisol, it sadly lacked presence and simply made her sound a little confused and as though she was trying to be older than she actually is. Apart from that, I didn't mind Marisol, she was okay. Marisol was friendly and nice. But there was nothing to make her stand out, I didn't feel like I was able to connect with her and that was a real shame; she was simply your standard protagonist, nothing more than a character shell.

The relationship from the beginning was far too insta-love. It was immediate, and instead of being cute and swoon worthy, it came across as rather awkward and cringy, making me feel rather uncomfortable at times. And because they seemed younger than they actually were, that made their relationship seem that much more uncomfortable and awkward.

As for the plot. It was okay, yet not what I was expecting. It started strong and I was really intrigued, but it felt like it quickly just turned into a normal contemporary, girl starts new school, girl has secrets, girl makes new friends, and meets new mysterious guy, something happens, secrets revealed, then happy again. We finally get to see the heist in the last 25% which was done brilliantly and I really wish this was included more in the actual novel as Somers wrote this fantastically; it was thrilling and dangerous, exactly what I had been hoping for throughout.

The last 25% of the novel really made up for the rest, it was just such a shame that you had to read for that long to read Somer's brilliant action thriller scenes.


Latest Instagrams

© Once Upon a Moonlight Review.... Design by Eve.