"Medici Heist" by Caitlin Schneiderhan is a thrilling YA debut set in Renaissance Italy, where a sharp-witted teenage thief named Rosa Cellini leads a team of skilled misfits on a dangerous and daring heist for fortune, freedom, and revenge against a corrupt Pope.

The story unfolds in Florence, 1517, a city steeped in intrigue, opulence, murder, and betrayal. Rosa Cellini, a seventeen-year-old conwoman, arrives in Florence on the same day that the Medici Pope, Leo X, returns to assume power. Rosa is not there by coincidence; she has a plan to counter the Pope's extortion of indulgence money from the people of Florence.

To execute the Renaissance's greatest robbery, Rosa assembles a team of specially chosen and highly skilled misfits: Sarra the tinkerer, Khalid the fighter, and Giacomo, the irrepressible master of disguise. To ensure a smooth entrance into the fortress-like Palazzo Medici, Rosa even enlists the reluctant help of the famed artist Michelangelo.

As the authorities close in and the Medici's grip tightens on the city, old secrets resurface, and tensions within the group escalate. What starts as a robbery becomes the key to saving the city itself, provided Rosa and her team can navigate the complexities of their mission and prevent their own destruction.

"Medici Heist" promises an exciting blend of historical fiction, heist, and adventure, with a charismatic and resourceful protagonist leading a diverse team against the backdrop of Renaissance Italy. The novel explores themes of power, corruption, and the lengths individuals will go to defy injustice.

This is a good, standalone book that will pull in even the most reluctant reader...especially movie fans. It's fast-paced, runs a plot and pace very similar to that of the Ocean's movies (Oceans 11, 12, 13), and teaches a little bit of history along the way!

tl;dr
Great heist book! Well-plotted, with a lovable cast, and plenty of complications.

Thoughts
I am an incredibly simple person. I see "heist," I click. Sometimes it is a mistake, but today I was richly rewarded. This is a solid heist book, but it also hits all my favorite found family notes, so I am extremely happy. I know Ocean's Eleven is used as a comp for basically every heist book, but I find it apt to use it now because the narrative structure is also similar. A mastermind rolls into town, picks up their favorite partner, and then the two of them recruit a team and go after the big score as a group. There may or may not be a personal angle to all of this. There are definitely complications and twists all along the way. There're also a lot of complex relationship things going on, including family stuff, found family stuff, young love, slightly older love, and even more family stuff. All the characters (sans one, who really seems to have it together) have their own arcs to work through outside of the heist, but the interlocking stories work really well as a foundation, rather than a distraction to the main thread. This book is also a standalone, so it's free of those pesky cliffhangers. If you love a good heist, you want this book in your library stat.

There can never be enough books with twists and turns and so I appreciated this book! I will be adding it to my classroom and school library!