This time of year is always so busy and I really needed a fast paced book to pull me in. THE THIEVES' GAMIBT was the perfect story for that. Lewis's heist thriller pulled me in from the jump and I couldn't get enough. The main character Ross was awesome and I loved rooting for her the whole time. I also loved the addition of the heist competition and the friends she made along the way. I started book two HEIST ROYALE immediately after and I can't wait to see what comes next!

This is such a fun, adorable YA heist action thriller, and I had an absolute blast reading it. So sorry for the delay in this feedback--I had the best time and completely tore through it. I can't wait to read Lewis's next book!!

Oh my gosh! I thought this was so fun! It's so fast paced that it held my attention so easily, once I started I needed to know what was going to happen next. There was lots of twists and turns and i'll definitely be reading book 2!

Thank you so much to Penguin Teen for my ARC <3

I love heist novels, and this is a fun one! Ross Quest ends up in the Thieves' Gambit, a competition of daring heists. Ross can't trust anyone, but sometimes alliances need to be made to get the job done. The contestants soon find themselves split into two teams working together to get to the next challenge. This YA novel has something for everyone - daring escapes, romance, humor. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel!

Thieves' Gambit is a fast paced page turner, perfect for fans of The Heist Society.

I really enjoyed Thieves’ Gambit, a truly fast-paced and high stakes YA heist thriller with a propulsive start and tricky twists and turns. The protagonist Ross is smart, grounded, and funny, and her character development is a satisfying bonus to an already solid plot line. I’m looking forward to the sequel.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this arc.

I was excited about this book and always wanted to support a black author. I will recommend this book as I have read more than 50%. However, I put this book down and I never returned to it. And the sequel is coming and I want people to find this book.

Gave me Six of Crows and The Inheritance Games vibes but it didn't live up to how I thought this would play out and not what I wanted. I may pick it up again to see how I feel later.

I‘m still kind of undecided and will have to read again or maybe listen.
I liked it but I also didn’t. I couldn’t really connect with the characters until somewhere at the end but I also love a good heist and feel like this could be an amazing series.

What it feels like to observe the life of a thief! This book was a lot of fun with twists, turns, and second guessing. I enjoyed following the main character on her journey and for legitimately angry at some of the characters (ha!).

There was one redemption arc I really loved and one other arc I wasn’t expecting (that happens at the end) which made me a little frustrated BUT I know it was the authors way of drawing readers to the next book so I can’t be mad.

I’d recommend this to fans of The Inheritance Games and those who like heists and misdirection.

Note: Light swearing, m/f romance thread no spice, some light violence.

My rating: 4*

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Thanks to the publisher for gifted copy. All opinions are my own.

Based off the description of the plot, I was really excited to read this. Unfortunately, it failed to really grip my attention and I didn't finish it. I'm hoping I'll finish it later in the year though!

Thieves’ Gambit is a must-read for fans of heist thrillers and character-driven narratives. It’s a cinematic, suspenseful adventure that will keep you guessing until the very end, with twists and turns that make it impossible to put down. The romantic tension and complex dynamics with her competitor add an extra layer of intrigue that keeps the pages turning. The tension between trust and betrayal is palpable, as Ross navigates a world where everyone is out for themselves, and trusting the wrong person could mean losing everything. However, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the ending.

Thieves’ Gambit is a fun heist book that is full of twists and turns. The plot will definitely keep you hooked and engaged throughout. I am excited to see what future installments deliver.

I enjoyed this book. I think readers in 7th grade and up will enjoy this if they read The Inheritance Games. It does end with the knowledge that there will be a sequel. Mystery, action, adventure, and romance.

3.25 stars!

Thieves' Gambit follows Ross Quest, a thief who comes from the infamous Quest thieving family, as she enters a thieving competition called The Gambit. So much is at stake: can she trust any of her contestants? How far is she willing to go to win? How will she cope with her ex-friend being in the competition with her?

What I Liked:
- I thought it was fun to be in Ross' head as she tried to figure out her next moves and I liked how some of the skills brought up in the beginning came back to help her
- I love reading more YA thrillers with Black protagonists!
- The ideas of the heists were super interesting

What Didn't Quite Work for Me:
- There was a lot of telling rather than showing. I wish this had unfolded more like a heist movie where we see the heist play out and then the explanation came later
- Sometimes characters were just so infuriating with their decisions and they really made no sense
- The romance didn't really work for me (I'm finding this is common in YA thrillers except AGGTM) and I didn't really get why Ross liked him except that he was cute
- I also didn't really care about any of the side characters
- There's a lot of unanswered questions? But I'm going to attribute most of that to this being a series

I surprisingly did not see the final twists coming, and I think this sets the book up for a very fun sequel that I will definitely be reading.

Thank you to Netgalley and Nancy Paulsen Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Thieves’ Gambit was a twisty, turny heist book with a fantastic cast of characters and non-stop action. Oh, and I can’t forget about betrayal and romance! They’re in there, too. The only thing I didn’t like about the book was the ending because I now have to wait for book #2 to see what happens next!

This book was SO fun! I couldn’t put it down. The plot twist was a little predictable but I still enjoyed it and am so excited for book 2.

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for sending me an eARC of this in exchange for my honest review.

This book was so fast-paced and action packed, and such a fun continuous heist novel! You didn't know who to trust, and the competition aspect was something I hadn't read before. Fair warning though--the end is a cliffhanger, and if you're anything like me, that will annoy you endlessly. The main character was great at what she did (she's a legacy of course) but there were times the decisions she made weren't the brightest and that bothered me.

I had a good time with this book, but I'm not sure I'll be continuing in the series.

I tried to like this book, especially since it was one that a lot of people had requested. I did kind of like the main character, but her mother just frustrated me straight from the beginning and the MCs observations. She was so in her head some times. Other than that, this novel is very fast paced and deals with some tough topics brilliantly.

Thieves' Gambit was definitely a book that built for me. The further into it I got, the more invested I was, especially in the character dynamics! There was one relationship I had a theory on early on, and I was so excited to get to the reveal and discover I'd been right about that characters. It was satisfying to see the way Ross's relationships developed and how she grew as a character. I saw that a sequel is coming, and I'm definitely planning to pick it up!

Thieves' Gambit follows Ross Quest, the youngest in a renowned thief family, after her moth is captured by pirates. To earn the ransom needed to free her mother, Ross enrolls in the Thieves' Gambit, an international competition among young and upcoming thieves, which promises a wish granted for the winner. Ross, who grew up secluded on a Caribbean island with only her mother and aunt as company, is suspicious of her fellow thieves from the start of the Gambit, and she reminds herself that the first rule of thievery is to trust no one. But when a boy starts saying he has feelings for her and the other thieves seem to have slivers of humanity she can grab onto in her time of need, Ross starts to wonder if partnership among her competitors would be okay. But the ever daunting question hangs over the novel: is there honor among thieves?

Thieves' Gambit is compared to The Inheritance Games and Ocean's 11, and I do think that the way Kayvion Lewis pulls together the Gambit is as thrilling as the ploy that Danny Ocean executes in Vegas. The different challenges that Ross finds herself facing kept surprising me, and the way that she made her way out made me wonder if there wasn't someone pulling strings behind the scenes to make sure she succeeded. However, it took me a little bit to get into the story and stay intrigued enough to want to keep reading. I started this book multiple times, but never got further than maybe a third of the way through because the beginning felt so slow. I understand why we needed to see and feel Ross' relationship with her mom, but it felt like it took up too much time to propel Ross into the madness of the Gambit. And because I was promised media which get right into the heisting and charisma and tension, I was expecting the pacing to be like that as well. However, the large cast of characters were all lovable, even the characters you loved to hate (looking at you Noelia), and the relationships Ross fostered along the way made this book worth it, and that ending heart-wrenching. Although it wasn't as fast-paced and tension-filled as I'd hoped it'd be, and it earns a solid three stars, I'll definitely see the movie when it comes out in theaters because it was such a cinematic read.