Double Crossed: A Spies and Thieves Story

Double Crossed: A Spies and Thieves Story (Gallagher Girls, #5.5; Heist Society, #2.5)by Ally Carter

Macey McHenry—Glamorous society girl or spy-in-training?W.W. Hale V—Heir to an American dynasty or master thief?There are two sides to every coin. Whether these two can work together is a tossup.Born into privilege, Macey and Hale are experts at mingling with the upper class. But even if they’ve never raised an eyebrow at the glitz, neither teenager has ever felt at home with the glamour.When Macey and Hale meet at a society gala, the party takes a dangerous turn. Suddenly they’re at the center of a hostage situation, and it’s up to them to stop the thugs from becoming hostile. Will Macey’s spy skills and Hale’s con-man ways be enough to outsmart a ruthless gang? Or will they have to seek out the ultimate inside girl to help? (goodreads.com)

Ok, so I have read (and I LOVE) the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter and I have not yet read the Heist Society books, but since this was a free eBook I thought I'd try it out.This is a very quick read, being a novella and all. It also isn't all that WOWing. I mean, it has all the elements you expect from the GG series, mystery, snarky dialogue, the fact that the teens figure out the situation, etc. I don't know anything about the Heist Society characters, but I'd imagine they are similar. I couldn't connect to Hale at all and I am sure that this is because I have no backstory on him so he was just sort of... there... to me.I didn't really expect much from the story because it's hard to tell a story with twists and turns in a short format, so everything played out exactly as I thought it would. And as much as I love Macey as a character, I didn't feel the Macey love in this story.It was entertaining and it allowed me to read a book start to finish without putting it down, which is something I haven't been able to do in a long time. It was what I needed at the time I read it - which was almost following the last GG book. I'm not entirely sold on wanting to try the Heist Society novels from this story. I don't think I liked Kat all that much in the little intro to her I got. I thought that she and Hale seemed smug and not all that likeable? Is this the case?I am glad I picked this up though and it was a pretty cute, quickie of a mystery. I think I'd have liked it more if it was a full-length mystery novel though. I like my stories to have some more depth, which you can't really get in novella format (at least that I have experienced.)I don't feel like writing out all the titles of the GG  and HS series. This falls in-between those books, but there's not much of a connection to any of the GG books themselves. I don't think you need to read this to enjoy the full series themselves.