My review will be published on November 20, 2018 at https://thebaronessofbooks.weebly.com

In possibly the most creative dragon--excuse me, wyvern--book I’ve ever read, Sarah Beth Durst brings magic into the 21st century. I enjoyed the connections between modern wyverns and mythical dragons, especially how respect and society placement is based on stealing and then hoarding gold. That was a fun set-up for Sky’s heist, which would present her as a member of wyvern society if completed successfully. I’m easily ensnared by heist novels: I love the suspense and intricate plans, a la Six of Crows and Leverage style. I don’t want to spoil the second half of the book, but I did like the direction it took plot-wise.

Fire and Heist was promising in terms of thieving potential, especially since the fire affinity of wyverns leads to some new features, like fire-breathing and heat resistance. I had fun reading about Sky putting together her crew, pulling off her first heist, dealing with the aftermath, and working things out with her family but that was pretty much where my enjoyment stopped.

I would say that plot is where the book excelled, and character is where it fell flat. I read all the way through to find out what would happen next, but had a hard time sympathizing with the characters, because they all felt flat and played-out to me.

First, Sky, the only girl in a family of brothers with a missing mom and an overprotective dad. She’s not that much younger than her brothers, but the rest of her family keeps information from her “for her protection.” I’m super glad Sky didn’t buy into it, but I can’t stand that trope.

Then, there’s the crew. Other than Sky, there’s Ryan, her ex-boyfriend; Maximus, a wizard; and Gabriela, a normal human who wanted a taste of adventure. Ryan shunned Sky at his father’s instructions, leading the way for the rest of her wyvern friends to do the same. I think a lot more could have been done with his character and the turmoil Sky felt when he was the person who destroyed her, but also the only person who could help her pull off the heist.

As far as wizards go, Maximus was… kind of lame. I thought he would have super-magical powers, but alas, I was mistaken. In a world where wyverns can breath fire, I was kind of disappointed with Maximus’ range of magic.

I really enjoyed Gabriela! She is human, as I am, and longed for adventure, as I do. I liked that she had value to the rest of the team even though she doesn’t have the same skills as they do. It goes to show how everyone can find something to be good at, and nobody should feel useless, which is a philosophy I personally subscribe to.

Overall, definitely worth reading if you’re into action more than characters. I never considered DNF’ing the book, because it was compelling, but in a different way than Six of Crows or Heist Society. Overall, 4/5 stars, because despite my issues with the characters, Fire and Heist managed to be a fun read. The world-building and connections to historical dragons were amusing and ultimately, made me want to finish reading.

This was very short fantasy read. It was full of action and adventure! I enjoyed it.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own

I am slightly torn about this book, on the one hand, the story was definitely engaging, creative and quite original. I loved the dragons, the sense of adventure, the speed and even the romance(usually not my cup of tea in these kinds of books). My only issue was with the world building, which felt a little overdone and forced at times, but that could just be a matter of personal preference. All in all, this was a fun adventure I would recommend to fans of Renee Adieh or Naomi Novik.

What drew me to this book was – dragons and heist, and it executes the concept in a satisfactory enough manner. The story is set in an alternate reality of the world where the existence of were-dragons, excuse me, wyverns, has been common knowledge from the 16th century, and modern wyverns are just affluent people who can breathe fire. The other part of their heritage they retained from their original world (the wyverns in the human world are descendants of exiles) is accumulating hoards of gold – which in the context of the book means gilding everything in vaults and also gathering wealth in the more modern investment sense, too; and being good at stealing. But they are also a close knit society, and when Sky’s family loses their status when her mother fails a heist and disappears, she determines that the best way to restore family honor and find her mother is by completing the failed heist and using the bounty as leverage.

Fire and Heist presents a mostly expected structure of society when it comes to paranormal entities living in the human world. Sky doesn’t interact much with humans, but after her family loses its status and is being actively shunned, she finds a new friend in the human Gabriella. Her family (dad, and three older brothers) don’t want to help her so she recruits others to get the job done. That is what I liked about Sky, by the way – the girl is determined and doesn’t give up. She goes in half-cocked in some circumstances, though, and that is understandable given her age, but she does manage to finish the job in the end. The mood of the novel is more or less light, with emphasis on it being entertaining than being realistic.

When it came to world-building, the book had much of generalized lore to rely on for the human world, but I wish we got more information for Home. The dragon society there seems draconian (pun intended) and presents a side of meritocracy that is ableist at its core. Also I wished they had better security, what with all the technologically advanced world they live in (how did they not know what cameras were?!) – it would have made for a second, more complicated, heist for Sky to undergo and raised the stakes for her mission. As it is, it is exciting and fast-paced enough for a standalone story, but I would have liked it better if it did not just have one heist that was much simplified due to insider help.

Verdict – good paranormal fantasy, but the second world felt like it lacked development.

THIS BOOK WAS FREAKING AWESOME!

Let me say here, right up front, that I am not a fan of were-books: shape-shifters and the like. I particularly detest the plethora of werewolf novels that have flooded the market in the wake of the execrable Twilight garbage. It should have been named Twee Light. What I respect are not those authors who jump on the latest big trilogy bandwagon (it's alway a tedious trilogy, isn't it?), but those who take the road less traveled, and I had a feeling about this one. So it's congrats to the blurb writer for once!

Anyone who follows my reviews has to know that I have little respect for publisher's back-cover blurb writers. I have to love a blurb that doesn't ask a totally brain-dead question at the end: "Will she find the love of her life?" (after the spineless chicky has fled back to her hometown?) Duhh. Of course she will otherwise what's the point of your dumbass romance? "Can Jack-Me-Lad-The-Hero ex-Marine special forces cowboy save the wilting maiden in distress and take her in his manly arms?" Who the heck cares, really? Can the young fresh filly in the werewolf pack win the hardened heart of the aloof, troubled, damaged, warped, out-of-whack, blemished, besmirched, gun-shy, bad-boy alpha male? Or should the bitch just shoot him like the rabid cur he is? Do those blurb writers really think their readers are that stupid?

But I digress! I decided take a chance and it paid off. I am not a fan of first person novels at all, but this one was first person and I loved it. See? It can be done - if you know how to write, and two things Sarah Beth Durst knows are how to plot and how to write. I was enraptured from the start and flew through the pages like a were-dragon through the sky, and talking of which, Sky Hawkins is my new go-to-girl.

The story is quite short, but packed with amusement, action, and awesomeness. I can't give it a better compliment than to say I wish I had thought of this first! I guess I'll have to stick with Saurus! The story is of the Hawkins family - once well-to-do in the wyvern world, but now rather disgraced and humbled, their mother having failed in her last heist (wyverns are famous for their heists), and also having shamefully disappeared without a trace.

Well, Sky isn't going to put up with it, and if her frightened brothers and father aren't going to help, she's going to put together her own crew, and find out exactly what her mother was up to on that fateful night trying to rob the vault of her boyfriend's...sorry, ex-boyfriend's (he ditched her after the scandal) father. I won't insult your intelligence by asking if she knows what she's doing! I'll just say, read it and leap!

I've loved everything I've read by Sarah Beth Durst and I love heist stories. Forget Ocean's 11, this was wyverns 4. The world-building was on point, and the characters were well developed. I love that neither "Home" or our world was a perfect utopia and the characters recognized that from the beginning. My one complaint is that I hate when characters keep secrets "for your own good." Just have a conversation!

Sky Hawkins' family are wyverns, were-dragons without the ability to transform, but who can breathe fire. Some of the stereotypes about dragons are true - they really, really like gold, so much so that social ranks centers around the size of one's hoard, and making a first heist is an important rite of passage. Unfortunately, things haven't been going so well for Sky's family ever since her mother disappeared during a heist and her family lost most of their status, causing her boyfriend to dump her and her friends to turned their backs on her. Can Sky fix things by planning a heist of her own? Sky is fun and capable and the conception of wyverns is interesting.

I enjoyed how different this plot was than usual YA. A teenage girl who comes from a family of were-dragons and goes on heists to steal gold is not something you see everyday. Our heroine Sky, has a very distinct voice. The downfall of this story is that it’s very young and full of teen angst. I know it’s not fair to judge a YA book for being too YA, but I always look for YA books to transcend age.

Book: Fire and Heist
Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank Netgalley and the publisher, Crown Books for Young Readers, for providing me with this ARC.

I will admit that I did find this one rather difficult to rate. I was going somewhere between a three and a four star rating. It was good in some parts, but rather dragging in others. I did go with the higher rating. I found the writing to be decent and the characters developed.

The plot was very original. I wasn’t expecting the main characters to be the dragons. I was expecting them to more or less work with the dragons. Maybe I should have read the summary a little bit closer. Anyway, I do have to give Sarah a lot of credit for coming up with such an original plot. I mean, think about it. How many young adult books are out there about dragons? Not a lot. I think those who are looking for something very different in young adult fantasy will pick this up and really enjoy it.

So, the actual moving along of the plot was just okay. I really did feel like that some parts of the plot moved along rather nicely, while others just seemed to drag on forever, and others just seemed to be so rushed. I don’t know if anyone else has commented on this, but it just made everything seem a little bit sloppy to me.

The characters were developed, but they just weren’t as developed as some of the other young adult books that I have read. I was able to get a sense of who they were and what they were like, but I just didn’t bond with them like I do in books that I give a five star rating to. I know it’s hard to develop characters for a stand alone, but this just felt like they weren’t as developed as they could be.

In terms of the fantasy, yes, we do have an original plotline, but it just felt like it wasn’t as developed as it could had been. Maybe the book should had been longer or it should had been extended into a series. I mean, I did enjoy it, but I just felt like it could had been better. However, I will admit that I did like the fact that the world really wasn’t that complicated. Sometimes we get some fantasies that the world is so complicated that it is next to impossible to keep everything straight. I know a lot of people are complaining about this, but I personally liked it.

I liked the simple writing as well. Sarah’s writing just flowed, which made me look over a lot of the issues in the book. Personally, it was the writing that actually made me give this one a higher rating.

Fire and Heist comes out December 4, 2018.

(Review is already on Goodreads and will be posted on Amazon on publication day.)

This book surprised me. I didn't like how it started out because it didn't explain very well. Like why where the main character's friends just up and dump her? I didn't find why until almost half way through. She just kept saying they abandoned her. But other than that, this book had me at the edge of my seat by the middle of the book and was very interesting to read. I really like how the author rapped up the ending. Four stars

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

Fire & Heist was a fun, creative, STAND ALONE, modern-fantasy hybrid full of action. The history behind wyverns, their existence amongst humans, and gold obsessed genetics was so enjoyable to read about. I blew through this so quickly. So, I commented earlier about it reminding me of Oceans 8... in the acknowledgement the author says she thought of Oceans 11 and dragons. 😂 I KNEW IT!
My favorite part of Fire and Heist was the family dynamics and new friendships. Everyone was just bad ass! This is a book I will definitely be buying in hardcover and lending to anyone who will listen. 😘

How fun was this story!? I really enjoyed it! Fire and Heist has such a fun concept with an intriguing storyline. I absolutely loved the dragon elements/themes that were thrown in as well as the world-building that took place and the seamless progression of the story from start to finish. And gold! So much gold! (And unicorns?!)

The story takes place in the modern world and wyvern’s (dragon people) are accepted and are a thing in pop culture (paparazzi follow them around). I’m happy there was only a mention of this and that the human world was more of a, “oh yeah, we co-exist with them and they’re fine with it,” afterthought type of thing and didn’t drag on or muddle up the story and dragon-world.

Sky was a good protagonist MC. I liked her tenacity and strength - good for her for standing up for herself and her beliefs and deciding to prove herself by pulling off a heist of her own. I also appreciated the lessons about family and relationships and trusting and believing in yourself. My favorite line from the book had to be the very last one – “My friends and my family are my treasure. They are my gold.”

There were no dull moments in here except for the innocent, cutesy and childish banter that takes place between Sky, her three brothers and her ex-notreallyex-boyfriend. But that’s just me being nit-picky. Overall, the story seemed a bit juvenile for me only because it most YA books nowadays have language and vibes that definitely reflect 18+ culture – this was most definitely 12-16 yr old age appropriate.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read this great eARC!

With a world rich in history and mythology and characters that leap off the page, Fire & Heist is a must-read for any fantasy lover. I enjoyed the heavy emphasis on family and the thrilling plot. The writing is compulsively readable. You do not want to miss this.

REVIEW WILL GO LIVE ON 11/19/2018

Fire & Heist is a really cute and fluffy read. There isn't a whole lot of depth to the story, and the characters are pretty run-of-the-mill, but Sky's snark really saves this novel. I haven't read any of Durst's work before, but she has a strong voice as an author, though some of her world-building and descriptions were lacking. I got more than a few chuckles out of this story, though, and when I finished the book, I felt lighter than I had when I started it, so it is a good "pick me up" type of novel.


Sky is a decent female lead. She's funny, a bit stubborn, and she has more depth than she gives herself credit for. She's a good weredragon, and she really cares about the people in her life. She's smart and witty, though a bit whiny at times. She came across as a real teenager, which is rare in YA novels these days. Ryan is a good love interest, and instead of being some broody, narcissistic, emotionally abusive jerk, he's actually a sweet guy. I appreciated Durst having a healthy relationship in her novel. Most of the secondary characters are cookie cutter... nothing really special about them. The dad won't listen to anything his daughter says. The three brothers are each some male prototype (one is overly built, one likes explosions, and one can't decide what he likes). The villain is like a cheesy comic book villain almost, but at least they didn't do a monologue. It's fine, though, because they aren't really the focus. Ryan and Gabriela (who is my favorite fictional person in the world now... I LOVE YOU, MY FELLOW RESEARCHER) are a lot more developed. Everyone grows throughout the course of the novel, so that's also a good thing.


The plot twist surprised me a little, and then it took a sharp right. It made sense for the story, but it was a little jarring. The world-building and descriptions for this second setting didn't really paint a picture for me. I felt like I had a decent grasp of the first setting, but the second setting just didn't work at all. However, this is a standalone book, and I can't imagine trying to develop two worlds in one novel. The writing, aside from that, is pretty strong. The plot made sense, and there weren't really any holes. The humor is really what made this book. It was lighthearted and serious. It pointed out flaws in our society and in other societies, showing that nothing is perfect and we should always work to better ourselves and the world we live in. The ending was a happy one. The pacing is super fast, too, I flew through this one.


Overall, I'd recommend this novel to anyone who wants a light, fun read. It's an action-packed and fun-filled fantasy that promotes healthy relationships. It doesn't get much better than that.

This book was so good!! I went in a little skeptical but it really did surprise me how much I really liked it. The characters are easy to love and the story is interesting and I love how the author connected real word history in with the book as well! I’ll be preordering this one just to have a hard copy!!

I received a Fire & Heist ARC from Net Galley! (woot!) I initially wanted to read this book because, believe it or not, I have never read a book about dragons and the plot summary of this one really drew me in! The main character, Sky, refers to her kind as "were-dragons" which is definitely a twist on the typical "were-wolves".

First, I'll start with the storyline itself, which was indeed very intriguing as the summary alludes to. These half-human, half-dragons were "exiled" from their dragon home to Earth where the families now assimilate with the human population and are obsessed with stealing, especially stealing gold. The more wealth you have, the higher you rank amongst the wyvern society. The wyvern families are constantly planning their next "heist" against the other wyvern families to grow their wealth. Basically these people just keep stealing from each other. Weird. Durst does spend some time explaining the wyvern culture, where they came from, what powers they do and don't have etc, which I thought was great because it was clearly spelled out and there was no confusion. However, I think Durst almost over-explains this world, repeating certain aspects multiple times, and I'm just like yep, ok, I know this already...

Now let's talk about the characters. There are a MILLION characters. Ok, maybe an exaggeration, but there are so many to keep track of! First of all, the main heroine, Sky, has three brothers of her own. Why three? I don't think she needed to have three. They all felt like the same person to me, personality wise. I couldn't keep track of who was who. Then there was Sky's Mom, and Dad, and boyfriend, and best friend, and boyfriend's Dad, and Maximus the magician, and his wife, and Novi, and Worm. Holy hell that's a lot of characters! I do wish there was a bit more depth to all of these characters because I really wasn't rooting for any of them... I did enjoy Sky's inner dialogue for the most part, because it was witty and the author was trying to add some teen angst/attitude in there, but there were also a few times I found Sky to be pretty annoying and almost like she was regressing to age 12 instead of 16.

About 25% through the book, I realized this story was a little too young for me. Some of the dialogue and descriptions seemed a little too on-the-nose, and I felt like Durst was trying (failing) too hard to make Sky act like a typical 16 year old. Maybe more research was needed? I also hate when a character just wants an explanation about something and it's a lot of "Well, it's a secret" "I can't tell you" "Let's eat something first and then we can discuss" Like, just get on with it! I want to know too! There was a lot of this going on as well...

Overall, Fire & Heist was a quick, light-hearted read, the story moved along at a decent pace, and didn't waste time on unimportant details. I definitely had a few dislikes, which is why I rated it only 3 stars. Would probably be a better read for a freshman or sophomore in high school, but I don't regret spending time reading it!

When I first started reading this book, i wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get into books about people who pretty much lived just to hoard a bunch of wealth. That’s just not really me. But I ended up really liking the book. I was glad to find out it had much more depth. Being about family, about relationships, about being true to who you are. Plus, there's the really cool dragon/fantasy side to it. Quite a fun YA book. I’d recommend it.

I also liked the little bit of the dig at the idea of a <i>meritocracy</i>. I don't know if that was intentional. But when most people suggest the idea of a "meritocracy", they really mean "we're going to measure you on some scale that some people think is important, and if you don't measure up, you don't deserve to have a good life." I mean, just look at Worm. "Meritocracies" don't reflect human worth - they reflect what people <b>already</b> at the top of the scale - who are already in power - think is important. So, there's really no such thing.

<i>Thanks to NetGalley and Crown Books for a copy in return for an honest review.</i>

Wow. This book has everything you could ever want in a high drama fantasy; dragons, magic, mystery, jewel thieves, love interests, and family secrets. It even has a snarky wizard! I devoured this book in less than a day; I could not put it down. Please, please, PLEASE read this book!

I had really high hopes for Fire and Heist - dragons, heists, oh my. Not to mention a gorgeous, gorgeous cover. The synopsis hooked me from the start, and I was dying to get my hands on this one (huge thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC).

Good points first: cute banter, a lot of interesting details/plot points that theoretically should've captured and kept my attention, a lighthearted and fun read.

However...

It ended up not working for me. Instead of Ocean's Eleven...it ends up being Now You See Me Too 2, just okay and I wanted to skip to the end. When I think of heists - I think of all the excitement, mystery, and suspense that comes with planning what to do, practicing how to do it, and learning to work together and scout out the place. I like my heists how I like my novels - intricately plotted, interesting and with a deep sense of urgency. I like danger. I had a hard time caring about the single heist in the book.

The characters also didn't do much in the way of engaging me. I didn't feel like I ever understood them, their desires, their wants - really could've used more character development here.

I would characterize this book as shallow - fun and light, but ultimately there wasn't anything that made me think and dig deeper into the book. That's not to say I don't enjoy lighthearted books, but lightheartedness and character development aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.

Many thanks again to NetGalley for providing this ARC.

I wanted to DNF early on, but I continued until I couldn't do it anymore. Something about the writing style and voice was too painful. I couldn't take the story seriously.