I really wanted to like this book, but for a heist book it was dull by the time they had already begun infiltrating their target without even considering equipment or crew.

I saw the word heist and I saw this advertised as a gay romance so obviously I was on board. I had such high hopes!! And of course that means my disappointment is even greater.

The thing about this book is, it feel very much like a first draft. The idea is good and it's all there but the author didn't took time to turn it into something truly Good. The writing is dry and boring, it's just a list of things that happened with a few feelings scattered here & there and no real attention paid to them. The whole book is in Max and Maddie's POV but then it switched a few times for no other reason than to let the reader know about some important plot line.

And see, that's the thing really w Lights, Camera, Heist! in general. Nothing feels real. The characters have names and some basic descriptions re: their past & jobs but that's where they end. They're nothing more than cardboard cutouts, only here to be moved around at the author's leasure so that the plot moves. And even when the plot requires that they make sacrifices or have scary conversations, the reader can't connect with them. Because they're not actually there. I can't tell you a single thing about any of them, apart from maybe that they keep calling Han mysterious.

The gay romance part that I was looking forward to? Oh, yes. We go from some lowkey internalized homophobia on the main character's side straight into making out with a guy in a car. There's of course the obligatory "I always thought you were gay!" from his best friend too. The two guys might have been flirting - and even got a happy ending! - but again, none of it felt real. The flirting was actually incredibly awkward... At one point the main character called his future boyfriend a "big sexy guy". I mean, really? It's like it was added as an after-thought and literally nothing would change if the love interest was a woman. Frankly, I'm not only disappointed but also kind of offended.

I mentioned Han before. He's the important figure in the story, making a lot of it even possible. He's also one of the Asians. Yes, that's how every person from North-East Asia was described in the book because we all know Asia is a very small continent and everyone looks exactly the same there. Han was also the only Asian who could speak proper English & of course he's a mysterious criminal mastermind who can secure any funds and pull off any impossible jobs. And knows everything about ancient Chinese pottery.

Throughout the whole story, everything fell into place nicely and easily for the two main characters. All their problems were resolved with little trouble from them and very often by accident by other parties. Sometimes it even seemed like those other parties were introduced solely so they could solve a problem in the future. The whole thing is fake and that's not even taking into the account just how successful the events in the very ending turned out to be. The story was sure fast paced but that's only because no real emotions were involved and it's easy to describe more & more events. It could be a good story, if it was reworked from the ground up.