To Have and to Heist

Oceans 8 meets The Wedding Planner in this dazzling rom-com caper from Desai (The Singles Table). Simi Chopra spends her life rushing from a series of “soul-sucking, mind-numbing entry-level office jobs” to retail side gigs because she has “too much debt to pursue anything interesting, much less find [her] passion.” When her ride-or-die bestie, Chloe, a freelance white hat hacker, gets set up to take the fall for the theft of a $25 million diamond necklace, Simi mounts a rescue that proves both hilarious and thoroughly ineffective, stymied by the presence of another criminal, Jack. Jack, a thief, doesn’t have a last name he’s willing to share with Simi, but he does have a plan. If Simi and her gig worker friends (each of whom has a relevant talent) can get him into the house of Chicago’s best fence, Joseph Angelini, Jack will steal the necklace, clear Chloe’s name, and give each member of the crew enough reward money that they’ll be able to finally focus on their passions. As the danger increases, so does the sizzling attraction between Simi and Jack—but Simi can’t tell if she can trust Jack’s motives in the caper, let alone with her heart. Desai perfectly balances the lighthearted romance with a fun and twisty heist plot enacted by a kooky cast of indebted millennials. Romance lovers will devour this un-put-downable treat, and even readers generally wary of the genre will be swept away. Agent: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary (July)