Elizabeth Scott - Stealing Heaven

"My name is Danielle. I'm eighteen. I've been stealing things for as long as I can remember."

Dani has been trained as a thief by the best--her mother. Together, they move from town to town, targeting wealthy homes and making a living by stealing antique silver. They never stay in one place long enough to make real connections, real friends--a real life.
In the beach town of Heaven, though, everything changes. For the first time, Dani starts to feel at home. She's making friends and has even met a guy. But these people can never know the real Dani--because of who she is. When it turns out that her new friend lives in the house they've targeted for their next job and the cute guy is a cop, Dani must question where her loyalties lie: with the life she's always known--or the one she's always wanted.


Comment: Just finished this book, literally a few minutes ago.


I confess YA is another type of book I usually stay away from. I like some kind of closure in the books...there are so many things in life we have to keep open or we don't have the power to finish them on our own and in fiction I like to see an end, to see things completed..I guess it's a controling issue when few things in Real Life are, so...and in YA it doesn't always happen because youthness isn't exactly a synonim of steadiness. It always depends on several things but it's how I, personally, see things.
Anyway, Dani, the main character, is a thief along with her mother. They steal silver in rich people houses. She never went to school she doesn't have any real friends and right now they are in Heaven to steal some more. We see things from Dani's perspective and the daughter who lives in the house they're going to steal from turns out to be her new friend. Plus she's attracted to a guy who happens to be a cop. Obviously something's got to give...
Surprisingly, the story moved me more than what I expected mainly because we know what Dani is feeling and what's going on through her head. The writing is simple but strong and the few details let the reader concentrate more on what's happening, on feelings. I liked it a lot, actually. The only "bad" thing is the end...I guess it could be better explained but in a way that's the reader's job, to process the information any way one wants.
I'm not sure I'd be willing to read more books by the author - she writes only YA - but this story will stay with me for some time, I'm sure of it, and that is one of the best compliments an author can have, I think.