A review by ashley_dang096
Thieves' Gambit by Kayvion Lewis

4.0

A cutthroat competition amongst the best thieves and winner gets one wish granted, but one thief is playing for the greatest stake of all: her mother's life. Rossalyn "Ross" Quest is a seventeen year old girl and a master thief, her mother raised her to be one, and she's excellent at escape plans... yet the only escape plan she hasn't been good at is escaping her mother and her life as a thief. All Ross has ever wanted was to be normal, to have friends, to make connections, and just as she was getting ready to enact her escape to go to college her mother is suddenly captured and won't be released unless Ross comes up with a billion dollar ransom. Luckily for her, her antics have not gone unnoticed and she is invited to participate in the Thieves' Gambit, a series of dangerous international heists against other competitors... and killing isn't off limits. The winner is granted one wish, anything they want, and Ross knows that this is the only way to save her mother. Yet this competition has it's own issues, from the fact that some of the competitors include her childhood friend turned nemesis and a handsome guy who might just steal her heart. Ross knows she'll have to do whatever it takes to win, but can she backstab some of the people she's begin to think of as her own friends... and are the betrayals awaiting her closer to home than she realizes? The Quest family creed is : trust no one whose last name isn't Quest.... yet she's in for a shock. This is the first book in the series and the end of this book definitely has you looking forward to the next one. This was a really fun heists/puzzle adventure and lives up to the Ocean's Eleven aspect. Filled with fun heists and cutthroat competition, I can't wait to see where the next book goes and how the relationship drama works out! This is a fun read for anyone who likes heists stories.

Spoiler

Ross falls for Devroe, who later betrays her and asks that his wish be saved for later. Ross's mother competed and won the tournament years before and never told her. Devroe's mother was in the same competition as Ross's mom and wanted to use the wish to save Devroe's father (who died) and Devroe wanted revenge. The last phase of the competition involved kidnapping someone and Ross finds out that her mother had conned her the entire time to get the billion dollars and that she knew her aunt would be kidnapped in the competition. The competition curators agree to give back Ross's beloved aunt if she works for them for a year... and works in a partnership with Devroe. Ross and Lia (her childhood nemesis make up and become friends after Ross finds out her mother sabotaged that friendship). Ross agrees to work for the curators of the competition and with Devroe, despite his betrayal and the fact that he broke her heart. The book ends with her saying she should have known better than to trust anyone)

*Thanks Netgalley and PENGUIN GROUP Penguin Young Readers Group, Nancy Paulsen Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*