First of all, this book is a bad decisions book club book. I started it Friday evening intending to read just a couple of chapters and stayed up until 2:30 am finishing it.

Cousins Jared and Mia’s lives were hurt when their fathers were exposed as scammers, but their fathers hurt a lot more people financially who couldn’t afford it. Now that they’ve inherited trust funds from their mothers, they plan to commit a series of art heists to raise money to provide compensation to as many of their father’s victims as possible. They need a thief, a hacker, and an art forger. Jared has been flirting with a hacker, Data/Audrey, for months.

I love heist stories and the promise of 12 heists in 3 books is like catnip. The strategizing, problem solving, and strangers growing into a team is delightful. Double plus for stealing from the rich to give to the people hurt by the rich. I love that for all Jared and Mia have good intentions, all the characters are morally grey.

It Takes a Thief is a good, almost great, book. I’m not even sure why I don’t think it’s a flat out great book. There are so many things it does well. By the end of the book I was invested in all of her core characters, she built a world, she showed how Audrey, Nikki and London become a team despite Mia’s best efforts, and she made me want Jared and Mia to succeed in their revenge plot. There were some pacing issues, mostly around Mia, and some of the early scenes with Audrey. I expect, now that the 5 major characters are established, the next books will be more streamlined.

I am really looking forward to the next books. I plan to stay up too late reading them too.

I received this as an arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I adore a good heist story - and this one was so vividly written and compelling that I completely fell in love with it. Also - the fact that almost all of the crew involved are women? Swoon. Seriously - if they could make this into a movie or TV series - I would be ALL IN. Jared and his cousin Mia are the children of Bernie Madoff style villains. They are off hiding in Montenegro leaving their children and wives to deal with the repercussions of their acts. Mia and Jared had no idea what was going on - and neither did their mothers. Now Jared and Mia have devised a plan to punish not just their fathers but their cronies by stealing valuable artwork and using it to fund reparations to the families that were hurt by their family.

Jared is a negotiator (really a fixer) who lives in the grey between right and wrong to do his job. He has been working with a hacker, Audrey (otherwise known as Data) to get information he needs to help his business. To make the thefts happen - they need a hacker they can depend on to get past security. Audrey and Jared have been flirting over text for months and when they meet things between them escalate - even as the heist gets more complicated.

I adored the characters involved in this. Everyone on the team has so much depth of character. They are all fascinating in their own right. I cannot wait to see where things go from here. There are quite a few things left to be taken and so much more to the story to unravel.

I highly recommend this because it was incredibly satisfying on all levels. Please excuse while I run off to watch the Thomas Crowne Affair and the Inside Man.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, but these opinions are all my own.

Love the plot of this one! It reminded me a lot of the TV show Leverage, which I am a huge fan of. I'm guessing this is the first book in what will be a series, and a great one at that. I really liked the characters and felt a genuine connection between not only Jared and Audrey but also the two of them with the secondary characters in this one. I was pulled into the story immediately and devoured every single word thereafter. I look forward to spending more time with this cast of characters in the next one.

A sincere thank you to NetGalley and Carina Press for providing an ARC for review.

Great book!! This book was different from what I normally read, it was filled with intrigue, lots of action and plotting! I felt like it was oceans 11 or the Italian job in my head lol it definitely kept my attention throughout the whole book! Ill definitely be reading more from this series! Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for sharing this book with me!

Robinhood? Is that you?

Haha.

Jared and Mia want revenge on their fathers and their fathers' friends for the humiliation their crimes caused for their families, but they need a little help to get it. The plan? Steal priceless artwork, sell it on the black market, and payback the families that their fathers stole from.

Audrey, a hacker that Jared can't keep his eyes off of.
Nikki, a thief with trouble staying OUT of trouble.

Things could fall apart when the team starts getting a little close than they intended.

*

This story was hot. The plot? Fantastic. Characters? Dynamic and engaging. This story was written incredibly well. Watching Audrey & Jared fall in love was an experience in and of itself. I look forward to the rest of the series and other works by this author.

*This eARC was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The children, Mia and Jared, of exposed Ponzi schemers develop a Robin Hood plot to steal back artwork bought by their fathers cronies and give the proceeds of their sale to the people hurt most by the Ponzi thefts. Jared hires Audrey to run the dark web IT part of it and they become very attracted to one another. Because of the operation Jared expects total honesty from Audrey while refusing to level with her. Will Audrey be able to trust him with her heart?
The cast of characters for such a short novel is well developed and engaging. You feel as if you might know each of the characters, their quirks and mannerisms. This is true of the main characters as well as the ‘team’ brought together for the heists. Watching the team coming together is fun and the set up for the heists builds tension for the job and mirrors the tension in the Jared/Audrey relationship.
I believe the book could have ended earlier but overall I would give this a 3.5/4.0.