Scammed by Kristen Simmons (Website, Blog, Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads)Also by this author: The Glass Arrow, Metaltown, Pacifica
Published by Tom Doherty Associates on February 4th 2020
Genres: Action & Adventure, Contemporary, General, Romance, Thrillers & Suspense, Young Adult Fiction
Pages: 352
Brynn Hilder is living a life she never dreamed possible: She lives in a mansion, getting a top-rate education at Vale Hall. She has friends and an almost-boyfriend. Anything she wants, she can have.
The only catch? To stay in this life, she has to help the director of Vale Hall take down the bad guys of Sikawa City by collecting secrets and running cons.
Getting everything she wants and fighting evil doesn’t seem like such a bad deal. The thing is, she’s not so convinced anymore that Dr. Odin is really going after bad people after all. And the friends and almost-boyfriend that have made her life so different are all liars and con artists—so can she trust that any of it is real?
The stakes are higher. The cons are riskier. And nothing is what you think it is.
Scammed is book two in the Vale Hall series by Kristen Simmons and if you haven’t picked this series up yet, you definitely need to change that. Simmons not only has a page turning story in this second book, but I was so invested in the characters that I couldn’t stop reading because I needed to know what was going to happen next. No spoilers here – it is a book two though so if you haven’t read The Deceivers yet, proceed with caution.
Brynn is our main character but at Vale Hall there are a number of other characters she is interacting with and each one has their own secrets. What she has to figure out is who she can trust and it’s not as easy as one would think.
In this book, Brynn is still working for Dr. Odin but she questions just about everything he tells her and when what he asks her to do begins to make her question Caleb, things start to get twisty. I can’t say too much about this because it is core to the story, and I don’t want to give anything away. Just know that there is so much that we don’t know right along with Brynn so I can’t hold any of her decisions against her. Well…maybe most of them.
Right along with all of that, Grayson is back in the picture which only complicates things more.  This is where I wanted to elbow Brynn and tell her to think about what she is doing. So much happens with Grayson now that he is at the school and a big piece of the puzzle for Dr. Odin. I will tell you, I have always had strong feelings about Grayson and this book only solidifies my thoughts about him.
I have to also mention that I loved that we had more time with the secondary characters in this book. We got more exposure to Charlotte, Henry, Sam, and Geri and I thought it provided a bit more depth to them so I could better understand their relationships with Brynn. Of course, the bits with Caleb and Brynn together are some of my favorites.
I hate that I have to be super vague with this review but I really don’t want to ruin anything as there are plenty of twists and turns that will keep you guessing around what is really going on and right along with Brynn you will be trying to figure it all out. If you take anything away from this review, please know that I loved this book and can’t wait for the next book to see what happens next. Grab this book when you can…you won’t regret it!
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
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