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elliasjhh's review against another edition
3.0
Ya it's was ok read. Kinda a letdown since it has a great rating. Idk for me, it was too many guys and one girl and then the plot was meh and the writing a little dragging on. Other then that, it was a good read. Not gonna read the sequel tho.
2 1/2 stars.
Ciao,
~ skyavermore
2 1/2 stars.
Ciao,
~ skyavermore
ellias's review against another edition
3.0
Ya it's was ok read. Kinda a letdown since it has a great rating. Idk for me, it was too many guys and one girl and then the plot was meh and the writing a little dragging on. Other then that, it was a good read. Not gonna read the sequel tho.
2 1/2 stars.
Ciao,
~ skyavermore
2 1/2 stars.
Ciao,
~ skyavermore
brynnlee's review against another edition
2.0
On the surface this book seemed like the perfect solution to all of my problems with Stone’s Ghost Bird series. The heroine of the Scarab Beetle books is a little older and more experienced, and there aren’t quite as many guys. Unfortunately the trade-off is that the characters aren’t nearly as charming and likeable as the younger ones. I struggled to get through this, and was happy when I finally got to the end.
Our mc, Kayli Winchester, lives in at an extended stay hotel with her younger brother and their drunk, abusive father. They’re barely making ends meet, and Kayli has resorted to picking pockets in order to pay their rent. Of course she has a heart of gold, only stealing from guys, taking as little as possible, and leaving the wallets where they can be found and returned. Then one day a group of guys catch her in the act and try to chase her down. She escapes, but they find her the next day. They tell her they work for an organization that has them spy on potential criminals (or something like that). The guys need her to steal a wallet from a man they think might be up to no good so they can get in to his office and search it. They agree to pay her rent for a month and get her a job so Kayli agrees. She winds up getting too close to the suspect and the guys insist she hide out with them for a while. Kayli’s not really the patient type though and she ends up causing all kinds of trouble.
The plot of this book was convoluted and confusing. I thought it was a bit of a reach that the guys chased down Kayli so she could steal a guy’s wallet, and I wasn’t sure why they were spending so much time investigating the suspect in the first place. I mean was it really a big deal that a rich guy was going into a bad part of town in the middle of the night? Even when everything was revealed at the end I had trouble understanding what was going on, but maybe that’s in large part because I realized i didn’t care.
My biggest issue with this book though was Kayli. At the beginning when the focus was on her home life, her love for her brother, her struggles with her father and getting money, that’s when I found her interesting and sympathetic. Once her entire focus was on the guys she turned in to a bit of a reckless brat. I mean she shoots a guy with a nail gun just because he dares to tell her she can’t do something he thinks is dangerous. It’s kind of an extreme reaction. She’s constantly making dumb decisions, and is in general too stupid to live. By the end I didn’t like her.
The guys weren’t developed enough for me to dislike them. In this case older also apparently means a little crude and rough around the edges. There’s lots of fighting, and Kayli likes to playfully hit them. On the one hand it’s nice that they don’t handle her with kid gloves, but this went a little too far to the opposite extreme for me. They were okay, but none of the guys appealed to me.
On the plus side I like how they include Kayli in their Academy activities from the beginning. She’s much more of an equal than a damsel in distress who must be protected at all times. I wasn’t uncomfortable with the relationships in this book at all because Kayli is independent and experienced. She was in a bad situation, but she’s not desperate for the guys to like her.
Thank goodness I didn’t have a multiple book bundle for this series. I would have felt obligated to keep going. I looked at reviews for the other books because I was curious about the mystery at the end of this one, but once I saw that it still hadn’t been resolved four books later I didn’t feel the need to keep reading. If you’re debating between the two series go with Ghost Bird. There’s just something sweet and appealing about Sang and her boys that for me was lacking in Scarab Beetle.
Our mc, Kayli Winchester, lives in at an extended stay hotel with her younger brother and their drunk, abusive father. They’re barely making ends meet, and Kayli has resorted to picking pockets in order to pay their rent. Of course she has a heart of gold, only stealing from guys, taking as little as possible, and leaving the wallets where they can be found and returned. Then one day a group of guys catch her in the act and try to chase her down. She escapes, but they find her the next day. They tell her they work for an organization that has them spy on potential criminals (or something like that). The guys need her to steal a wallet from a man they think might be up to no good so they can get in to his office and search it. They agree to pay her rent for a month and get her a job so Kayli agrees. She winds up getting too close to the suspect and the guys insist she hide out with them for a while. Kayli’s not really the patient type though and she ends up causing all kinds of trouble.
The plot of this book was convoluted and confusing. I thought it was a bit of a reach that the guys chased down Kayli so she could steal a guy’s wallet, and I wasn’t sure why they were spending so much time investigating the suspect in the first place. I mean was it really a big deal that a rich guy was going into a bad part of town in the middle of the night? Even when everything was revealed at the end I had trouble understanding what was going on, but maybe that’s in large part because I realized i didn’t care.
My biggest issue with this book though was Kayli. At the beginning when the focus was on her home life, her love for her brother, her struggles with her father and getting money, that’s when I found her interesting and sympathetic. Once her entire focus was on the guys she turned in to a bit of a reckless brat. I mean she shoots a guy with a nail gun just because he dares to tell her she can’t do something he thinks is dangerous. It’s kind of an extreme reaction. She’s constantly making dumb decisions, and is in general too stupid to live. By the end I didn’t like her.
The guys weren’t developed enough for me to dislike them. In this case older also apparently means a little crude and rough around the edges. There’s lots of fighting, and Kayli likes to playfully hit them. On the one hand it’s nice that they don’t handle her with kid gloves, but this went a little too far to the opposite extreme for me. They were okay, but none of the guys appealed to me.
On the plus side I like how they include Kayli in their Academy activities from the beginning. She’s much more of an equal than a damsel in distress who must be protected at all times. I wasn’t uncomfortable with the relationships in this book at all because Kayli is independent and experienced. She was in a bad situation, but she’s not desperate for the guys to like her.
Thank goodness I didn’t have a multiple book bundle for this series. I would have felt obligated to keep going. I looked at reviews for the other books because I was curious about the mystery at the end of this one, but once I saw that it still hadn’t been resolved four books later
Spoiler
and when I saw that Kayli ends up going back to Blake. He’s the worst, and she’s an idiot!steff_'s review against another edition
5.0
I was kinda excited at first, but then after a couple of chapters in, I was counting down until i could pick up the book again! I thought it was brilliant. Kayli's relationship with the boys, it was so sweet, but it wasn't over bearing. I found that particularly great, Stone made sure not to take away from the action, but keep the cuteness around every corner, which kept me reading.
sanjkash's review against another edition
3.0
why does she have to get into a romantic relationship with every eligible bachelor, and then complain about the number of choices she has, and how difficult it is for her to like just one guy
giuh's review
adventurous
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
alyxisreading's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
lucy_rain_and_cupcakes's review against another edition
5.0
I may like this better than the Ghost Bird series!
New Academy boys, a kick-ass Bird. Fast pace, action packing story line! What's not to love?!
I like that this book is in the New Adult genre!
I love Kayli is not native and helpless, she's out spoken and doesn't let the boys walk all over her.
Can't wait to read the next one!
New Academy boys, a kick-ass Bird. Fast pace, action packing story line! What's not to love?!
I like that this book is in the New Adult genre!
I love Kayli is not native and helpless, she's out spoken and doesn't let the boys walk all over her.
Can't wait to read the next one!
kjci's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
slc333's review against another edition
3.0
Firstly I got this as a free ebook and it has been sitting in my TBR pile for well over a year because at the same time I got this one I picked up the first book in this author’s other Academy series – Ghost Bird. And while I read a few books in that series by the time I got to book 4 I was so annoyed by how stupid Sang was, how all the boys treated her like a brainless doll and she let them, how secretive they were about the stupid Academy, how all 25 (ok slight exaggeration I think the actual number was 9) boys were in love with her and agreed to share her that I couldn’t bring myself to read the Thief because I expected it to be more of the same. And while it has many of the same elements as GB for some reason I quite enjoyed this one. Possibly because while Kayli made a lot of questionable choices [getting into a car then going to an apartment with a bunch of strange boys, sitting around in her underwear and sleeping in the same bed as four or 5 guys that she has only just met etc) she didn’t come across as a brainless doll. Aside from the aforementioned poor choices she was smarter than Sang, in fact she figured out a good portion of what was going on within a couple of hours of meeting them. I liked her relationship with her brother Wil and how she was street smart and sarcastic. It does suffer from the same things that annoyed me in the other series – namely that a bunch of super hot boys all fall for Kayli and Kayli seems have romantic feelings for at least three of them (four if you count potential villain Blake). But at least three is a more manageable number than 9, although I suspect that over the next couple of books she will have developed relationships with all of them except Kevin (who has a serious girlfriend). And I thought that two of the boys she was kissing (and sleeping in beds sans sex) with were odd choices given she doesn’t really spend any time with them – Brandon and Marc and the time she spent with Brandon basically consists of a judgmental lecture about her thieving. I could buy she would have feelings for both Corey & Raven as she interacts & connects with both of them. I was also really annoyed with how she just disappeared on Wil without insisting on seeing or speaking to him – that did not seem at all consistent with the strong & protective relationship that we saw in the first few chapters. I do want to read the next one to find out what happened to Wil and whether Blake will make another reappearance but will do so cautiously given the likelihood (based on my experience with the GB series) that the remaining members of the team will fall like dominoes to Kayli’s charms.