Review: Heiress Takes All by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

*I received a copy of this book from Hachette Book Group Canada in exchange for an honest review.

Heiress Takes All

by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

June 4, 2024

Goodreads Summary:

The Inheritance Games meets Ocean's 11 in this thrilling YA adventure about a teenager determined to pull off the perfect heist in the midst of her father’s wedding.

Seventeen-year-old Olivia Owens isn't thrilled that her dad's getting remarried...again. She's especially not thrilled that he cheated on her mom, kicked them out of their Rhode Island home, and cut Olivia out of her rightful inheritance.

But this former heiress has a plan for revenge. While hundreds of guests gather on the grounds of the gorgeous estate where she grew up, everyone will be thinking romance—not robbery. She’ll play the part of dutiful daughter, but in reality she’ll be redistributing millions from her father’s online accounts. She only needs the handwritten pass code he keeps in the estate's safe.

With the help of an eclectic crew of high school students and one former teacher, Olivia has plotted her mid-nuptial heist down to the second. But she didn't plan for an obnoxiously nosy wedding guest, an interfering ex-boyfriend intent on winning her back, greedy European cousins with their own agenda, or a vengeful second wife. When everything seems like it's going wrong, Olivia has to keep her eyes on what really matters: getting rich. And when she’s done, “something borrowed” will be the understatement of the year.

Review

Picking up Heiress Takes All was a no brainer because I adore a good heist story. Whilst the story wasn’t as thrilling as I had hoped, certain elements compelled me to keep reading.

The beginning of Heiress Takes All was quite slow with a lot of info dumping. It took me a bit of time to figure out the relationships. Things turned much more eventful in the second half. The heist ran into a fair number of obstacles. I was entertained watching the team try to recover from one mistake after another. Olivia was by no means a mastermind but I do have to applaud her for her on the spot problem-solving.

I don't want to simply call it daddy issues but at its core, that's what Olivia had in Heiress Takes All. She was so conflicted when it came to her father. At first, I felt bad for her- it made sense for her to have doubts regarding stealing from her dad. But then as the story moved along, I was frustrated, even a little bored, hearing Olivia repeat her hesitations. I wish she had just a tad more confidence.

It’s a bit cheesy to call the heist crew a found family but with all the hurdles they jumped over together, they definitely grew closer by the end of Heiress Takes All. The funny moments were all courtesy of Kevin. We’re told his presence is an annoying one yet he added eccentricity to the story. The group was livelier because of him. I’d love to watch this team carry out another heist together ;)

Though Heiress Takes All lacked excitement in the beginning, there were some plot twists that surprised me. With a dysfunctional family and a motley heist crew, this book would make an entertaining teen movie!

*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and not affected in any way. Any quotes included in my review were taken from the copy I received.