Stealing Heaven

by Elizabeth Scott

Overview

My name is Danielle. I'm eighteen. I've been stealing things for as long as I can remember.

Dani has been trained as a thief by the best—her mother. Together, they move from town to town, targeting wealthy homes and making a living by stealing antique silver. They never stay in one place long enough to make real connections, real friends—a real life.

In the beach town of Heaven, though, everything changes. For the first time, Dani starts to feel at home. She's making friends and has even met a guy. But these people can never know the real Dani—because of who she is. When it turns out that her new friend lives in the house they've targeted for their next job and the cute guy is a cop, Dani must question where her loyalties lie: with the life she's always known—or the one she's always wanted.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061920066
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/23/2009
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
Lexile:	NC690L (what's this?)
File size:	523 KB
Age Range:	13 Years

About the Author

Elizabeth Scott grew up in a town so small it didn't even have a post office, though it did boast an impressive cattle population. She's sold hardware and panty hose and had a memorable three-day stint in the dot-com industry, where she learned that she really didn't want a career burning CDs. She lives just outside Washington, DC, with her husband; firmly believes you can never own too many books; and would love it if you visited her website, www.elizabethwrites.com.

Read an Excerpt

Stealing Heaven

Chapter One

My first memory is staring through a window into a house that isn't mine. I'm not very old, three or four at the most, and a hand rests on my head and fingers tap twice softly on my left ear. I know this means I must be extra super quiet and wait exactly where I am. I am good at being quiet. I am good at waiting.

The window opens. Through it I see a carpet. It's all different colors and enormous, stretching out as far as I can see. I stare at it for a long time and then I hear a bag fall, clinking softly as it lands. I am scooped up in a pair of arms and held tight, the only sound the rhythmic slap of feet hitting the ground over and over again.

My name is Danielle. I'm eighteen. I've been stealing things for as long as I can remember.

Stealing Heaven. Copyright © by Elizabeth Scott. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

What People are Saying About This

A.M. Jenkins

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

Editorial Reviews

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

School Library Journal

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)

Kirkus Reviews

With characters ranging from the insincerely charming to the charmingly sincere, Stealing Heaven just may steal your heart.” — A. M. Jenkins, author of Damage

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

“The fast-paced, conversational first-person narration makes for good escapist entertainment.” — Kirkus Reviews

“Dani, with her witty dialogue, gives a new perspective full of hope to YAs who feel trapped between family and friends.” — KLIATT

“This blend of old–fashioned love story with lively contemporary details will satisfy readers fond of a solid summer romance.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“Deceptively touching…the twist of a family of thieves gives the story originality.” — School Library Journal

From the Publisher

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

Booklist

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

A. M. Jenkins

Dani, with her witty dialogue, gives a new perspective full of hope to YAs who feel trapped between family and friends.

KLIATT

This blend of old–fashioned 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.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

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

Booklist

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

The Bulletin for the Center for Children's Books