Sometimes I’m extremely iffy on fantasy novels, but the concept behind Fire & Heist was amazing, and I was enthralled from the beginning. I love dragons so much.

When I received an ARC of this book I was very excited. I liked the idea of a fantasy novel with heist and dragons in the mix. However, after reading the book I was a bit disappointed.

It felt like the author focused on the typical YA elements rather than focusing on the heist scenes, which were the main highlight of the book. Moreover, the main character Sky is nice but nothing memorable. Throughout the book, it feels as though Sky is following in her mother's footsteps rather than coming up with her own ideas. The world building was also a bit strange. Its a lot like our World, and initially when I heard dragons, I was under the impression that we would see flying creatures, but that didn't turn out to be the case.

Overall, this was a decent book to read, but it felt off in its execution and I thought it could have been written better.

This book was a major letdown. I feel like heist books are either really good or really.... well just not. And this one didn't pull it off for me despite the fact that there are DRAGONS. I MEAN. I couldn't get behind any of the characters who were mostly just annoying. The world-building was so surface level and we were supposed to accept that it's just the way it is (which doesn't work with me). And the heist? Boring. I wasn't even remotely on the edge of my seat.

To be honest, I think this book was written for the wrong age group and would have done better as a middle grade novel (though the world and plot would still need some work). Total bummer.

Fire and Heist is a fun heist story, but with dragons. I really enjoyed the writing in this and while it does follow your "typical" heist storyline, the added twist of dragons makes it exciting to follow and gives it another fun element.

I loved how fast paced this was! The main character was sarcastic and wonderful. This was a fun book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I feel like it was predictable but I enjoyed the ride to the end. In terms of plo tline, I feel like this book could've been jazzed up a bit. I would recommend this book for the younger YA audience.

This was not for me at all. The writing style just didn't work, and I struggled to pick this up time and time again. It just read so much younger than I was expecting. I love a good heist story, and dragons are always welcome, but this just didn't do it for me.

I found that this book was poorly executed. I thought the book was going great until you got about halfway and then it in some ways just stopped. There was no action. There was nothing to keep the reader interested to keep going.

I went into this book really excited but the story fell a little flat for me.

I think my main issue with this book was just the world building. It felt disjointed and I somehow didn't care about any of the characters.

The easiest way to explain this one would be odd. I haven't had the best time with Durst's young adult titles and this one is the same as those unfortunately. I have loved all of her adult titles but it seems that when it comes to young adult the story just doesn't work out. This one about a world where the Harry Potter books exist and so do dragon people.

The writing in this one felt more middle grade vs. even low young adult. Which really made it hard to read. With all the really bad situations that these characters get into I would have thought that the writing would have been for older teens. But sadly it wasn't at least in my opinion. The heist in this one was kind of meh and very lack luster.

The characters felt much like the story. A little over the top and a little childish. A lot of the relationships felt just not right and I really didn't care about anyone at all.

Lastly, the world building just didn't work. I wished that the author would have done just more. I wouldn't think that our world would be the same if there were were-dragons around.

Overall, this one had a great premise but I think that the author might have wanted to write this like she does her adult titles. Because, for this reader it just didn't work out.

Skye isn't your ordinary 16 year old rich girl, she's a mythical Wyvern who is also a 16 year old rich girl. Of course the rich part is due to being from a family/species of expert thieves. Unfortunately, her Mom attempted a job that cost them their social standing,a great deal of money and quite possibly her life. Skye reels not only from the loss of her Mom; who never came home; but also her best friend/boyfriend who literally turned his back on her at the behest of his family because of the botched heist. What was Skye's Mom after and what happened to her? Skye cannot let this go and decides that she will plan a heist of her own at the urging of her former boyfriend who still loves her. Skye gathers her crew and undertakes a heist that may just put her very life on the line as they navigate booby traps and the great unknown. This is a great story line full of girl power without being over the top. It's also about the baby girl coming into her own as she sets out to prove that she may be a girl but she isn't a little girl anymore and she refuses to sit around and look pretty when there is even the slimmest hope that her Mom is alive.

I liked (most of) this book! THE OPENING "HEIST" SCENE!!!! The characters were hilarious at first but then they kinda fizzled out. I really wanted dragons and mayhem but there was little of that aspect and pure contemporary. Which is my least favorite genre. Then the last part of the was just too easy and too convenient.

Any time dragons are involved, I'm here for it.
Fire & Heist was an interesting take on the dragon story, but not quite what I expected.
The main character is a dragon shape-shifter, but she and all the other wyverns have lost the ability to shape-shift into dragons. Which was where my letdown came in. I was ready for some dragon action.
However, the heist was interesting to read about as well as the little twist in the story.
Overall it was an interesting read, but not likely to be a favorite.

I am a big fan of Sarah Beth Durst's The Queens of Renthia series, but for some reason this one did not work for me as well. I love her writing and her characters, and yet I struggled to connect with Sky and her crew in this. One reason for this is that they feel so young. This book is marketed as YA, but the tone feels more geared towards Middle Grade.

For one thing, the scenarios and action felt campy, almost goofy. I felt an extraordinary distance from everything that happened on the page because of this incongruousness. And while I love a good heist premise, there was just nothing here to inspire much excitement or drive up the stakes.

Overall, this was an okay read, but I think I expected a little more, based on my enjoyment of the author's other works. I still had a good time, but had I known that her YA was going to feel more like MG I might have reconsidered picking this up. It was fun, but not very memorable.

Unfortunately I have to DNF for now. It's very hard for me to wrap my head around the story at the moment. I want to try again in the future to finish it but for now I have to stop.

Fire & Heist was kind of a strange read for me -- I enjoyed it and flew through it (no pun intended :P ), but I felt that the writing was aimed at a younger audience, almost toward middle grade. From what I can tell, it was billed as a YA, so I'm not sure where the disconnect happened there. But beyond that, this is like Oceans 11 with supernatural teens. Really enjoyed it and would read more in this series!

I will be honest, I just couldn't get into this book. I felt really lost in what was going on at the very beginning and couldn't seem to untangle the threads enough to get through the whole book. A family of jewel stealing dragons that I was uncertain if they were actual dragons or dragons in human form or something else? I'm sure many of my questions would have been answered if I had gotten through the full book, but I just didn't make it that far.

I was very intrigued by the premise of this story, but unfortunately I didn't connect enough with the characters and the story itself, and I couldn't finish reading it. This is definitely a me thing, since I always have high expectations for dragon books.

Oh my gosh, this book was SO fun! I found Durst's prose to be quirky and engaging - I laughed out loud more than once. I absolutely loved the concept, it was fantastic! MAGIC. HEISTS. WERE. DRAGONS. Yes, that's right. Weredragons!! How awesome is that?! I also loved that they were thieves of gold and hoarders of treasure by nature.

This was really weird, but I know exactly what type of patron to recommend it to. It has a strong sense of voice, is highly original, and combine dragons and YA fantasy in a way that I've never seen before. Reminded me of Eragon in parts.

I never felt a connection to the characters. I wanted to know more about the dragon society. I believe my expectations were too high because of the description. I expected dragons and didn't really get any until closer to the end. Heists? Just one. The Reckoning (can't remember if that's what it was called) wasn't really explained for a while. Most of this book was high school drama and I got annoyed with the main character a lot. Not what I was expecting.