Adventures on the Road to Me by K.D. Van Brunt

Seventeen-year-old West is rich, but homeless. She roams from city to city with her mother searching for dupes, marks, and victims to swindle. They never use force. They don’t need to. Their weapons are persuasion, distraction, deception.

West and her Mother are legends in the biz. The best con artist team ever. They pull off impossible heists and make it look easy. So, West isn’t surprised when they are called in to take command of a high stakes real estate con. It’s taken months to set up the scam, but now all of it is about to fall apart because one rich, teenage boy refuses to play along and the deal cannot go forward without his cooperation.

West’s assignment is simple. Figure out what this guy’s monumental problem is, fix it, and persuade him to play along—by any means necessary.

The moment she meets Tanner Cardwell, West sizes him up as easy pickings. He is bookish, naïve, honest to a fault, and he completely trusts her. He is the perfect mark. Even better, he’s soon completely smitten with her. So far, so good. But when the time comes for her usual ruthlessness, she can’t do it. Could she be falling for this guy? That would be ridiculous. It violates the first commandment of her profession: You can never care about your mark.

West soon confronts an impossible choice. Does she betray her mother or Tanner? Or maybe there is a third way, a path that means walking away from everyone’s expectations and finding her own destiny.