about six months later. Right out of the gate, Lewis tackles Devroe's betrayal of Ross at the end of the first book and has Ross grappling with the fact that Devroe's family could have hers executed at any time as she and Devroe continue to work together. I actually ended up really liking the inclusion of both Devroe's and Ross's family dynamics, especially in how Lewis discusses Ross's relationship with her mom.

A big part of this book is about Ross coming to terms with her mom's flaws, exploring both how her mom loves her and how her mistakes in raising Ross are impacting her as a young woman. I appreciated this nuanced approach, especially given that YA can sometimes depict parental figures in a negative light. Ross realizes that her mom raised her to not trust anybody outside of their family, so she realizes that she has to learn to believe in others. In this context, we see Ross beginning to develop genuine friendships with some of the others who were involved in the first book's gambit. Of course, this book has a thriller element too, with Ross getting entangled in the criminal underworld and finding herself being roped into an elaborate heist scheme that takes her all over the world. She has to rely on her new friends to help her pull it off (and save her own life, effectively) which proves to be an interesting test of trust.

There's a spectacular set-up for a third book, and I'm curious about where it might go.

2⭐️

Similar to Thieves’ Gambit, I am going to be as honest and gentle with this review as my heart will allow me to be…

Question of the day: How do you forgive someone who wants your entire family dead?!?!

Answer: YOU DON’T!!!

*Sigh*

In all honesty, Heist Royale only works for readers who enjoyed Thieves’ Gambit (Book #1 of this duology). For those of us who find Thieves’ Gambit (a) juvenile; (b) kind of boring; or (c) just plain pointless, Heist Royale is no better. I mean, these two books are literally the same entity. We have heists, way too many characters to remember, and pointless drama. The only difference that exist between the two books is the fact that more adults have joined the picture and they are allowed to abuse the teenage characters. The final twist at the end of Thieves’ Gambit did warrant another book but…silly of me to think it would be different.

Aside from the writing of both books feeling juvenile, my dislike for this duology lies in the idea that 18-21 year olds are out here fighting their parents’ battles. To make matters worse, when the children address the adults about their behavior, these 40-60 year olds mostly tell them to GET OVER IT!!! I mean, HELLO. You are literally putting your child in danger. They are old enough to go to jail and when they find themselves fighting with their friends or fighting to just survive, you get mad at them and simply say: GET OVER IT!!! Nice. I honestly don’t know why but …IT IS TIME FOR YA AUTHORS TO STOP MAKING PARENTS LOOK SO BAD!!! Please wrap up this theme already!!!

And the whiplash romance between Ross and Devore was so annoying and a complete eye roll. The dude and his mother could literally wish to wipe Ross and her entire family off the face of the earth but Ross starts worrying about their relationship when he decides to team up with his mother?!?! Ross falls for every word Devore’s mother says about how he feels about Ross and the possibility that he loves her but then constantly questions how could he have feelings for her when he and his mother could kill her and her entire family?!?! Ross even has the audacity to practically make out with Devore in the middle of a heist!!! NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE!!!

Oooh. And let’s not get started on the disorganized friendships and weird reasons for the back stabbing. Yyyeeeaaahhh. Sixth-Eighth graders will MOST DEFINITELY enjoy this one more than older YA Readers.

To say that I am happy to be done with this duology is an understatement. I am sssooo THANKFUL that my library had the audiobook available. Otherwise, I would’ve DNF’d this after Chapter 1. No. Really. I sped read this at 2.50x, which allowed me to finish this in 24 hours.

Sorry. Not. Sorry!!!

If you find yourself enjoying Thieves’ Gambit than 9 times out of 10 Heist Royale will be up your alley. If you find yourself disliking Thieves’s Gambit then I suggest you look for reviews that contain spoilers, especially on Heist Royale.

Thank you NetGalley and Nancy Paulson Books for granting my request for an Advanced Reader’s Copy in exchange for my honest and personal opinion!!!

While I didn't especially enjoy the first book, "Thieve's Gambit", I can see the wide appeal this series has for a young adult audience. After enjoying the "Inheritance Games" series by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, I was looking for a new series to fill the void. This didn't quite hit the mark for me, but after talking to young adult customers at my bookstore about Kayvion Lewis' books, a lot of people seem to enjoy this series.
The cliffhanger of the first book was intriguing enough for me to want to continue with "Heist Royale". This one for me was similar to "Thieve's Gambit": I again didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, but I still recommend it to a lot of customers because, again, I do see the appeal for a younger audience.

This was such a fun and interesting read. This book gave me big Now You See Me vibes. This book had so much action and angst and I loved it! It was a great follow up!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. This was another enjoyable installment of the series.

Thieves’ Gambit was a fun read for me and so was this one! It had the same action from start to finish with several different settings from Brazil to New Orleans Mardi Gras to Antarctica to Monte Carlo to Tokyo to South Africa.

It’s got the same Ocean’s Eleven heist vibes as they go through another gambit of stealing valuable things. I think it’s called Heist Royale because a large chunk of it takes place at a casino where they have to cheat the system to earn a certain amount of victor chips. So it also has the movie ‘21’ vibes as well.

“Two hundred square feet of booze, luck, loss, and temptation… secrets, hidden currency, and danger.”


Even though it’s technically a life or death competition situation, this is still a pretty light, easy-going read. There’s fighting and some shooting, but most of the violence is more in threat form than anything else. The romance factor (you know… Ross’s “ex-crush-turned-almost-murderer”) is also fairly minimal as the focus of the book is the heist action. Some reviewers would have preferred more romance or character growth interactions, but I was here for the action so I was happy with the way the book was written.


To give you the basic plot: Heist Royale takes up 6 months after the first book where Devroe won a wish— a wish his mother wants him to use to have the Quest family ‘erased.’ Devroe and Ross are both committed to a year of working jobs with the Organization. But the Organization is in disarray as the Count’s leadership is in question and another member wants to overthrow her.

The squabble turns into a competition. A three phase gambit: “Whoever won got to lead. Whoever won got to live.” Ross and her friends end up picking sides: the Count or the usurper, Baron. The real conflict, though, is the beef between Ross’s mom (Rhiannon) and Devroe’s mom (Diane). Rhiannon won the Gambit back in her day and instead of using it to get Diane’s husband medical care, she used it for something else and Devroe’s dad ended up dying. Diane now wants to get her revenge.

Who will win the gambit? Who will survive?



As I mentioned with the first book, there is suspension of reality in a book like this, and that includes the ability of 18-year-olds to be calm, cool, collected, (and witty) while their very lives hang in the balance. Where they have to act the part flawlessly. We just have to be okay with them being smart, funny, heroes at a young age.

However, I would LOVE to point out a very realistic part of the story where pre-heist Ross does the most obvious thing with her hair: “I’d pulled my braids into an efficient ponytail.” It’s one of my pet peeves when people with long hair go do fighting and competition stuff with their hair flying all over the place— nope. Ross truly understands the realistic need for a ponytail and I’m here for it all day.


The first book did seem to have more character interactions because Ross was developing friendships for the first time and learning how or if she could trust others. In Heist Royale, the friendships have largely already been established. There is still an element of learning to trust, but there isn’t as much ‘getting to know one another’ type of scenes. And Devroe and Ross don’t have a lot of ‘screen-time’ together since they’re working on opposing teams… and because Ross hates Devroe at the moment:

“Devroe is a playboy traitor who might have enough empathy to back out on family genocide, but that doesn’t change the fact that he was manipulating us throughout the entire Gambit and now he’s just holding this wish over my head and for all we know he’s already well aware what his mom’s been up to.”

The romance side of things is Devroe trying to win Ross back and Ross going from hating him (although we know it’s not a true hate but more of a rebellious hate) to wishing things could work out between them. It’s the forbidden love because their moms want to off each other.

There also is a small romance between Mylo and Taiyo because of course we need to have that.

Let’s just say I could probably have done without all the ‘melting’ commentary.



The other character relationship at work is between Ross and her mom. She still hasn’t (understandably) forgiven her mom for her part in the first book. Her mother’s reputation is ‘ruthless efficiency’ whereas Ross has a heart and is not willing to betray her people to get what she wants.

But she can’t deny the usefulness of her mother’s reputation:

“I guess when word gets around about you betraying best friends, manipulating your daughter into death games, and letting your own sister get kidnapped in exchange for half a billion dollars, people decide they don’t want to screw with you.”

Ross still struggles with wanting to be like her mom and become the best. She’s conflicted between thoughts about what her mom would do or think in a particular situation and what to do when they bump into her own moral boundaries.

“Trust over viciousness. Loyalty over lies. Maybe that route could be just as effective as Mom’s.”


Recommendation

It very much fits the YA genre because teens love to read about other teens doing awesome, heroic things and putting their friendships as priority number one and also flirting while their lives are in danger. Checks out.

As an adult, I can put my youth face on and read these kind of books and still enjoy them. And sometimes it’s really nice to get all the action packed suspense without the dark violence, f-words, or romance scenes you’d rather not be a part of.

So yeah, I would recommend this book for sure for teens, but even for adults. And definitely if you like heist plots and stealing competitions.

It seems like this might be a duology, but if there does end up being a third one, I’d read it for sure. Good writing, fun plots. I’ll be keeping this author on my radar!


[Content Advisory: 15 d-words, 3 b-words; no sexual content other than kissing; two somewhat prominent LGBTQ characters]


**Received an ARC via NetGalley**

Book Review Blog | Facebook | Pinterest | StoryGraph

Another action packed story from Lewis!

This was a lot of fun, with multiple heists and competitions, plus traveling around the world to exciting places. I enjoyed seeing many of the characters from the first book and watching Ross stand up to her controlling and manipulative mom.

A worthy sequel to Thieves’ Gambit. I had fun reading Ross’s thieving adventures once again.
Ross is thieving against the clock to save the lives of her family along with hers. After her mothers and Devroe’s betrayal in the last book she knows even less who trust. Devroe hasn’t given up on her and continues to make attempts throughout the book at wooing her back. Her mom keeps showing up. Ross finds herself in a new gambit with two teams pitted against each other - paired up with her mother and against her former flame and best friend. The stakes are high in this one and the reader feels it.
The book is rather fast paced and there author does a good job of balancing character development with plot. There was a healthy dose of intrigue and I found myself eager to read what was going to happen next - “just one more chapter” became a repetitive mantra of mine. The heavy presence of side characters crucial to the story also contributed significantly to my enjoyment of the story. I would definitely read more of adventures with this cast of characters.
I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a high stakes adventure with some pining on the side.
Many thanks to the Penguin Group (Penguin Teen) and NetGalley for a digital review copy of the book. The opinions expressed are honestly and my own.

The first book in this series was fun. This book felt very repetitive from heist to heist and I missed the romance element of the first book. The romance definitely added to the plot & the cliffhanger for the first book so it felt like a big missing piece to the second. I get that Ross is angry at Devroe at the end of book 1, but she ignores him for what feels like most of this book, yet is back and forth on her conviction throughout the book on how much she actually hates him. Was hard to root for them, and I wasn’t bought into the rational with Baron and Count. The characters just didn’t stand out. Overall it was fine.

I received an advance review copy for free from the publisher via Netgalley and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This was a fun continuation of the series. While it didn't feel as high stakes at Thieves' Gambit it built upon the foundation that was set and was a super fast-paced and thrilling read.

In this sequel to Thieves' Gambit, Ross and former gambit comrades get conned into another series of heists, this time as team vs team. This quick read will instantly capture your attention just as the first book did, although the Thieves' Gambit had a bit more intense, death defying action. This one ended a little too neatly and quickly–the three heists were not given equal story time, but the final one was especially short. The ending left it open to a third installment, which would be appreciated by this reader. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. Recommended for anyone who loves a good action packed thriller.

This series has a way of making me completely second guess myself at every turn and that is such an AWESOME experience and one of the reasons this was another top read for me, just like Thieves’ Gambit.

The pacing is always so well done, the characters and how they interact with each other is so well woven into the storyline that I just love seeing the breadcrumbs at the beginning come to fruition by the end. The continuity in the story is so seem less which I feel like is lacking from a lot of high stakes, fast paced thrillers. But not this series, it was an amazing ride that had me enjoying every moment.

Thank you so much to NetGalley & the publisher for this arc to review!! :)

This was such a fast-paced and gripping story! I liked revisiting all the characters from book one and watching them compete in a new and different gambit. I binged most of this in just a few hours because it was moving so fast and had so much happening. I especially liked the way the story wrapped up, even though I felt like it ended pretty suddenly.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for this ARC!

*Thank you to NetGalley and PenguinTeen for the eARC. This in no way changed my rating**

4.5 rounded up. A really good conclusion to the series. I liked watching the new shenanigans Ross and the gang got into. I think this will make a great adaptation and will be a follow up that anyone who liked book one will enjoy.

Fantastic fast-paced read. Interview at: https://yaoutsidethelines.blogspot.com/2024/12/interview-with-kavion-lewis-author-of.html

I had so much fun catching up with my favorite band of thieves!! This book had more high stakes, more banter, more found family, and the best heists!! It is such a fun time and I highly recommend diving into it ASAP, especially if you’re looking for a book that will suck you in!!

I love this series so much! It's the perfect mix of lovable characters, drama, and fun heists. Heist Royale picks up 6 months after the end of Thieves' Gambit, but the story picked right back up and I loved seeing where all of our favorite criminals ended up. I believe this is series is only planned as a duology, but it would be fun to get another book in this series to see what happens next!

Thank you to Nancy Paulsen Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this novel. This played quite well with the previous book in this series and did show character growth for Ross Quest in learning how to be a friend and partner while also still remaining wholly herself who does not want to play by the rules. Another super quick read where I did not want to put it down because I wanted to see where this book was going to go next. If you want something fast and engaging, this meets that challenge with Thieves' Gambit. 4 stars.

I was obsessed with Thieves’ Gambit, as soon as I read it was Ocean’s Eleven meets The Inheritance Games and found out it was a series. Heist Royale picks up some time after TG leaves out - Ross is working for the Organization, pulling heist after heist, reluctantly working with Devroe, despite the fact that his family wants to wish hers out of existence. When a play is made for control of the Organization, loyalties and alliances are called into question and tested. Despite being on opposing teams, Devroe continues to support Ross and prove that she can trust him - but is it enough? Will they each live to see the end of the battle for control? All the same things that made me love TG stand in the sequel - the characters are diverse and nuanced, and the plot tightly written while still leaving you guessing. The culmination left us breathless, and the resolution satisfying.

I’m going to be honest, I liked this first book so much better than this one. It felt this the plot was recycled. I know plenty of people enjoyed this, but it wasn’t as good as the first book.