***This review has also been posted on The Social Potato

Immediate reaction after finishing book

(Look at that beautiful smile though. #brb #dying)

What I liked

1. The mystery. I love me a good mystery and that is exactly what this book offers. It is brain candy, food for my soul and so so soothing. Sometimes, a girl just need to lay back with a good mystery that will turn the wheels in her head and keep her guessing.

2. The setting. This book is set in Turkey and the author does a really good job of making that atmosphere come to life for a reader who has never been to Turkey. She also includes terminology and while I cannot say with certainty whether or not she represents the Turkish culture authentically, I didn't think she was offensive at any point and painted a very pretty picture (if one filled with a lot and lot of crime.)

3. The way she weaved in modern day issues. The mystery in this book revolves around an antiquities smuggling ring and the author really brings to light how horrible this issue is. It's not something you would normally think about but these are crimes against our history and its heartbreaking to think that there are so many important archaeological pieces that have been stolen from their countries and hiden in personal collections where the public cannot access them. Renn also asks a lot of important questions like to whom an artifact belongs.

4. The Relationships. The relationships in this book are a complicated mess but I love the way Renn develops them. Families are not perfect and sometimes it takes a while to realize that. Sometimes your mom might suck at listening to you but it doesn't mean she is secretly evil or out to get you (even if it might feel that way.)

What Didn't Work As Much

1. The main character. I don't necessarily want to include her here because I did like her, I just wasn't okay with some of the assumptions she made. For starters she isn't perfect which is cool. She is also diverse! She is part Jewish (although not really religious but hey, it still counts since she was raised that way) and she also suffers from vitiligo (I thought it was worth mentioning because that doesn't come up that often in books.) She also tends to have the kind of attitude that assumes that Americans are better than foreigners. I get wanting to trust people from your own country but she doesn't ever question the Americans she is surrounded by and chooses to not trust everybody else. It was kind of a major pain in the butt. At one point when someone does something questionable, her reaction was "but they're AMERICAN" and I was like NOPE.

2. The conveniences. As much as I adore the mystery and the fast paced nature of the plot (which is right up my alley) I also thought there were a lot of conveniences within the pages of the book. Especially in terms of ways the bad guys got things done and I found myself going ??? really??? can there be no other explanation?

Book in Three Words

Fast paced, thrilling, adventurous.

Note that I received an advanced copy of the book in exchange for an honest review

I thought this book was a very fun YA mystery. It's on the younger end of YA in tone, which was fine. The art heist, the manga, the trip to Japan - all of it was highly entertaining for me and made me miss being in Tokyo. Is it super realistic? No. Did I care? No. It was girls sleuthing and a nominal cute boy storyline and art and travel. Good times! My one complaint is that I wish we could have seen Violet's manga instead of hearing about it.That would have been sugoi!

The perfect mystery for fans of Ally Carter's Heist Society!

All I can to that is....




As someone who loves thieves and heists and everything that that usually entails, this was entirely disappointing.
Not only was the heist un-compelling, our MC, Violet, and sidekick, Reika, jump to conclusions and are entirely obsessed with manga(which MUST be brought up at least 5 times every chapter so the reader does NOT forget).

Their whole story screams unbelievability; two girls with absolutely no previous experience and who are, quite frankly, naive and silly, manage to crack an international art heist and catch the thief?? Not to mention that the FBI and the Yamadas are totally okay with divulging important information about the heist and the thieves and the sting to Violet, who is 16.

Yeah, no.

To top that sundae with a cherry, Reika is boy crazy, which can apparently also apply to 32 year old men that she attempts to hit on and Violet makes darling comments sometimes, ie, "Whoops. I'd forgotten how much littering is frowned upon here." as she throws a wad of paper into the water.

And Edge, the only character I was interested to know more about, got almost zero page time. Alas.

Still, it was nice to see a book focusing on the two best friends, Violet and Reika, and shoving the romance storyline to the side.

The cover of this book caught my eye while I was at the library, and then I was intrigued by the synopsis (from Goodreads):When sixteen-year-old Violet agrees to spend the summer with her father, an up-and-coming artist in Seattle, she has no idea what she’s walking into. Her father’s newest clients, the Yamada family, are the victims of a high-profile art robbery: van Gogh sketches have been stolen from their home, and, until they can produce the corresponding painting, everyone’s lives are in danger – including Violet’s and her father’s.Violet’s search for the missing van Gogh takes her from the Seattle Art Museum, to the yakuza-infested streets of Tokyo, to a secluded inn in Kyoto. As the mystery thickens, Violet’s not sure whom she can trust. But she knows one thing: she has to solve the mystery–before it’s too late.This was an interesting book. I was really excited to read a book that takes place in Japan – I love reading books set in other places, places I’ve never been but would love to travel to – and the mystery sounded intriguing. Throw in an art theft? Yes please!I’ve never really traveled, and Japan is definitely on my list of must-visit places, so I loved reading about Violet’s experiences in Japan, with the language, customs, food, etc.The mystery itself was entertaining, but it was a little implausible at times in the way that Violet made some important discoveries based on hunches or coincidences. Also, the fact that she was able to figure things out before the FBI was a little difficult to believe, but if I could just suspend my sense of belief, I enjoyed it. While I did figure out who the culprit was early on, part of the fun was seeing Violet figure it out herself (a little too late, almost).I liked the characters, and for a while, I was looking at pretty much everyone but Violet as a suspect. The relationship with her dad was interesting, as they seemed very distant and rarely saw each other. While her dad is reluctant to take her to Japan, where he’s been hired to paint a mural for the Yamada family, it turned out to be an experience that brought them closer together, in the end. I liked seeing the progression of their relationship. I also liked Violet’s friend Reika, who was staying in Japan over the summer and helped her piece things together.I believe this is Renn’s first novel, and I would be interested to read her next. This book was well-written, and I liked the characters. I also appreciated that by the end of the book, Violet had developed some courage, and was able to go after things she wanted (the boy she liked, submitting her manga to a show, etc.).Ultimately, while I don’t think this is a book that’s really going to stay with me, this was a fun read. If you’re looking for a fun, light-hearted YA mystery, I recommend this book.(From www.pingwings.ca)

There were some pros to this book. (This is why I hate not having half-stars.) The narrator liked to piece things together, she was passionate, and she enjoyed Japanese culture. Also, who doesn't love a mystery? This isn't a rant-y review. In fact, I'm going to try to read this book later, to see if it was just the mood I was in or other external pressures that distracted me from the story, but overall I had difficulty getting through this. The writing was a bit underdeveloped. Some of the dialogue was clunky; the side characters, who all seemed one-dimensional compared to the narrator, dropped in and out of the story at the convenience of the plot; the mystery was not very believable and frustrated me with overexplanation. Again, I am going to try to reread this and maybe re-review it, but this was relatively disappointing.