ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley.

Synopsis: High school sophomore Willa and her artist mother move to Arizona where Willa starts attending an elite prep school after her mother finally sells some paintings, and Willa attempts to even things out by stealing from the rich students and giving to the poor ones. -Goodreads

Review: Pretty Crooked is a fun YA debut with a cute premise, and is absolutely worth a read. This story has all the hallmarks of an enjoyable contemporary teen title with a dash of the Robin Hood legend that we all know and love. Simply put, it’s a modern retelling with a twist! The main character Willa knows what it’s like not to have everything you want, so when she finally gets in with the popular rich crowd, she uses every opportunity she can to help even the score for everybody else.

All that being said, this book took a turn away from what I expected into a deeper and even a slightly darker place. The characters are all fresh and engaging, exactly what you look for in a YA read, but somehow the story as a whole managed a vibe that was completely different than what you might expect from the cover.

It’s hard to decide whether Willa is heroic in her own right, or just a little naive and yet I love how it is entirely believable that she got herself into the situation she did with this story. She is who she is and things really couldn’t have gone any other way. It was great! You can see how she thinks stealing from the rich kids might help to make a difference at her school but at the same time you are madly flipping pages because you know things could go horribly, horribly wrong at any moment.

I’m really glad I got a chance to read Pretty Crooked and highly recommend it to both fans of YA and die hard Robin Hood fans. Enjoy!

Buy the book @Amazon (US) @Amazon (CAN)

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Second Opinions:
@Zoey’s Uncreatively Titled Blog
@The Irish Banana Review
@Rachel Reads