Stealing Heaven

The Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books

“This blend of oldfashioned love story with lively contemporary details will satisfy readers fond of a solid summer romance.”

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“This blend of old–fashioned love story with lively contemporary details will satisfy readers fond of a solid summer romance.”

Jennifer Lee

Stealing is all Danielle knows. She and her mother have been breaking into houses for as long as she can remember. Moving from town to town, finding just the right house to rob, and fencing their "finds," Danielle knows no other way of life. Her mother yearns for silver, but Danielle longs for something just a little more "normal." It's only after she and her mother land in a small beach town called Heaven that Danielle actually makes a friend for the first time in her life. Also, she meets a guy who is interested in her and seems nice, but who also happens to be a cop. Heaven, a place where the beach homes are as majestic as the name of the town, seems to be a place where Danielle could actually settle down and have a real life, which is something she‘s always dreamed of having. Will she throw that all away and continue the life she's always known? Reviewer: Jennifer Lee

Children's Literature

Stealing Heaven is the kind of book you think you've read before—and you probably have. It is the very typical story of a mother and daughter who want different things and have reached a crossroads in their shared lives. Dani and her mother have never stayed put for long; they have always moved to where the silver was. After all, they are thieves. Once they have stolen what they can from one town, they move to the next. Dani's capricious mother raised her this way and would not consider any other life. Dani, on the other hand, longs for a settled existence. When Dani becomes friends with her mother's next target and the love interest of a policeman, who is by profession her mother's worst enemy, the girl realizes she has to make a choice between the life her mother wants and the life she wants for herself. Although the book is predictable, it is a good read. Reviewer: Jennifer Waldrop

KLIATT

Stealing has been the way of life for 18-year-old Dani for as long as she can remember. Dani and her mom have moved around to more places than she can count and in each area, they settle in quietly, meeting only a few people who they can use in their scheming plans. Dani has never attended school and has awkward social skills. But in Heaven, a wealthy, historic coastal town, everything changes for Dani. She finds people her own age who show her what friendship really is, without manipulating her to be someone else. Through tragic and exciting twists in the plot, it comes down to who she chooses to be loyal to: her mother or her new friends. Dani struggles to discover who she really wants to be: being only what she's ever known is not a valid excuse in Heaven. Dani, with her witty dialogue, gives a new perspective full of hope to YAs who feel trapped between family and friends. Reviewer: Ashleigh Larsen

School Library Journal

Gr 10 Up

Danielle, 18, has been a thief all her life. Moving from town to town, she and her mom stay around only long enough to canvas the rich and steal their silver. When she was 15, they moved on at Danielle's request, after she had sex for "the first and only time" with her mother's 20-year-old boyfriend. It's a lifestyle the teen is used to, but she's beginning to long for something more. She wants roots, friends, and a place to call home. When they hit the small resort town of Heaven, Danielle knows the routine. Her mom will chat up the men for information and she, now using the name Sydney, is supposed to do the same with her peers. Only something goes wrong, and "Sydney" begins to make friends with the mark, flirt with a local cop, and generally do everything her mom's always told her to avoid. And when it's time for the heist, Danielle is no longer sure she can follow her mom's demands. This story is deceptively touching. Danielle and her mother are both fully developed, as are the secondary characters of Allison (the friend) and Greg (the young cop). The overriding theme of living up to a parent's expectations instead of following your own path is universal, but the twist of a family of thieves gives the story originality.-Heather E. Miller, Homewood Public Library, AL

Kirkus Reviews

Other teens spend their evenings eating home-cooked meals and trudging through homework; Danielle, 18, has always lived on the run with her professional-thief mother, memorizing floor plans of estate homes and quickly calculating the worth of silver place-settings. When they arrive in Heaven, a quaint, affluent New England beach town, the lonely girl thinks it is just one more stop on an endless road to nowhere. While Danielle is meant to be gathering information on the Donaldson mansion, she inadvertently becomes chummy with Allison Donaldson, enters into a secret romance with Greg, a cop, and imagines the freedom of friends, love and a place to call home. Although her mother's persistent cough telegraphs the book's ending and makes it awfully convenient for Danielle finally to take root and realize her own dreams, teens will focus on the story's real crime-a stolen life. The fast-paced, conversational first-person narration makes for good escapist entertainment for chick-lit readers. (Fiction. YA)

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"This blend of old–fashioned love story with lively contemporary details will satisfy readers fond of a solid summer romance."

Booklist

"Scott tells a surprising story…Dani is a brave teen who can and does shape a strong future for herself. "

A. M. Jenkins

"With characters ranging from the insincerely charming to the charmingly sincere, Stealing Heaven just may steal your heart."