The Stats:
📖 BOOK REVIEW⠀📚
BOOK: Keep My Heart in San Francisco
AUTHOR: Amelia Diane Coombs
@sincerely_amelia
Publisher: Simon And Schuster @simonandschuster
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐
Published: July 14, 2020
📖 BOOK REVIEW⠀📚
BOOK: The Scam List
AUTHOR: Kurt Dinan
@kurtdinan
Publisher: Crime Spree Books
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐
Published: August 3, 2020
The Review:
Having read both of these books one right after the other, I realized how similar they were.
In “Keep My Heart in San Francisco”, Chuck wants to be a fashion designer, but her family’s bowling alley is having trouble financially. And if that happens then her family will move to Arizona and her dreams of going to FIDM are gone. So her ex-boyfriend hatches a plan to have her be a ringer to raise money to save the bowling alley. It is a cute tale for sure, and not surprising. The writing was enjoyable and it was a quick read. If you like young adult fast reads, you will like this one. My one critique though is that I felt there could have been more character development regarding her other friends. It seemed very one note sometimes.
In “The Scam List”, Boone is the son of a con artist in jail for… well…conning. His mom owns an indoor swap meet, and his job is to help out. However, he gets conned out of the nightly deposit and finds himself conning other people (with his ex-girlfriend) to make up the money. As noted before, I found this similar to other books I have read that came out this year. Also I had a hard time connecting with the main character because he was very brash and sometimes annoying. It wasn’t written poorly and the story was still semi interesting, but I felt like it was hard to really get on board when I have seen other stories the same with characters I connected to more.
You can see my video review here:
Small Summary For Keep My Heart in San Francisco:
Caroline “Chuck” Wilson has big plans for spring break—hit up estate sales to score vintage fashion finds and tour the fashion school she dreams of attending. But her dad wrecks those plans when he asks her to spend vacation working the counter at Bigmouth’s Bowl, her family’s failing bowling alley. Making things astronomically worse, Chuck finds out her dad is way behind on back rent—meaning they might be losing Bigmouth’s, the only thing keeping Chuck’s family in San Francisco.
And the one person other than Chuck who wants to do anything about it? Beckett Porter, her annoyingly attractive ex-best friend.
So when Beckett propositions Chuck with a plan to make serious cash infiltrating the Bay Area action bowling scene, she accepts. But she can’t shake the nagging feeling that she’s acting reckless—too much like her mother for comfort. Plus, despite her best efforts to keep things strictly business, Beckett’s charm is winning her back over…in ways that go beyond friendship.
If Chuck fails, Bigmouth’s Bowl and their San Francisco legacy are gone forever. But if she succeeds, she might just get everything she ever wanted.
Small Summary The Scam List:
Meet the best teen con artist team around.
Boone McReedy: high school conman, smooth-talking charmer, and the idiot who just got scammed out of $15,000 of his mom’s money.
Darby West: ass-kicker, straight-shooter, and Boone’s ex-girlfriend.
Now, they must team up to save their parents’ business, one con at a time.
That is if they don’t kill each other first.
Of course, they’re only going to scam people who deserve it.
That’s a promise.
Would they lie to you?
As he did in his award-winning debut, DON’T GET CAUGHT, Kurt Dinan brings laughs, twists, and heart to THE SCAM LISTS’ funny world of teen con artists, exes, and outrageous five-dollar bets.
*****
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Received from Netgalley.