Heiress Takes All

Gr 9 Up–Seventeen-year-old Oliva Owens was kicked out of her father’s mansion and forced to give up her opulent lifestyle when her parents divorced. Since then, she and her mother work numerous minimum wage jobs to stay afloat but are still drowning in her mother’s medical debt. With her selfish and condescending father to blame, Olivia plans an elaborate heist to steal millions of dollars from him at his upcoming wedding. Enter a ragtag group of high school students and one jilted ex-teacher. Together, Olivia and her crew tackle numerous unforeseen obstacles that stand between them and millions of dollars, including a persistent ex-boyfriend, a vindictive ex-stepmother, and a surprise foe readers will never see coming. The plot is both twisty and clever, but the pacing is often slow with many info dumps throughout. The characters are likable despite being flawed by questionable motives. The romance between Olivia and her ex-boyfriend is a central plot point, but it feels a little more logistical than romantic, and may leave readers feeling unsatisfied. The ending is a little unrealistic but is just as twisty and clever as the plot.