Thank you, NetGalley, Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor | Pantheon. for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

In the city of Bari, in 1087, a pox devastated it. When the tender-hearted monk is visited in dreams by Saint Nicholas, he interprets his vision as a call to serve the sick, but he meets the different plans of his superiors.
On the other side Tyan is a treasure hunter, known for getting holy relics from their tombs and the bones of Saint Nicholas are rumored to weep a substance able to heal the sick. For a small price, he will steal the bones with the help of Nicephorus, the monk.

Nicked is based on true event and it's a true delight! An incredible heist, compelling characters, a dangerous and deadly plague, a monastic meet-cute and a slyly funny queer novel, able to enchant everyone!

A fun medieval caper where a rag tag group of thieves and a monk team up to swipe the bones of St. Nicholas.

The writing style and pacing were excellent and I found the characters likable. The action makes you want to fly through the pages and the characters' interactions were laugh out loud funny at several points. Definitely recommend!

My thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

This is a fun, light, quick read. If you like the Brother Cadfael series but could use some more action, this is the place.

Based on a true story. Sorta. Medieval stories don't come with a ton of details, but this fits the ones that exist. So, the history:

Stealing relics and bodies of saints were very much a thing! It made it broke your tourist industry to be hooked to the highways of the time. People travelled pilgrimage routes and visited famous shrines. For fun, the author took some historical things literally that historians take less so. Medieval Europeans absolutely believed in dog-headed people. And people with one giant foot that used it as a shade from the sun. And people whose faces are on their chests because they didn't have heads. You get the idea. There is not evidence of them roaming Europe.

There is 1000% non-spicy make/male romance. (They kiss twice.) My partner's first question - Did that really happen?? There is a school of thought that thinks that religious institutions were chock full of LGBTQIA+ people. And there's a school that swears everyone was really following all those ecclesiastical rules and no one ever had sex. Like most historical arguments, I think the truth lies in between. LGBTQIA+ people certainly existed, and we have record of them. But it is largely our system of oppression against anyone gender or sexuality non-conforming that creates the category. Medieval people were less uptight about most things. There's even a romance where a princess grows a penis to please her bride.

Everyone loves a good heist, and this silly rendition of the burglary of Saint Nicholas’ remains (yep, that saint nick) feels a little bit like if Terry Pratchett wrote The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova) which is the kind of crossover that I suspect only makes sense to me. It’s a little outrageous and fun with a healthy dose of niche historical information.

It was a quick read, and I think it would be a good fit for fans of The Blacktongue Thief and most other less than serious crime or adventure stories.

Thank you to the publishers for the opportunity to read and review!

I really struggled to keep my focus on this. The premise caught my attention, but the writing style didn't really resonated with me. I can see it being something enjoyed by those that follow me, but this definitely isn't a palate cleanser.

Unfortunately this book was not for me. It was extremely slow paced and hard to get through, despite having a pretty short page count. I didnt have any real connection to any of the characters and the language got a bit beyond me.

Well-researched and thoroughly written, this novel is truly transporting to medieval times and the monks that populated them. Strange and funny, this book had me looking up definitions of archaic words every other page which I enjoy. Some passages are so beautiful and others so bizarrely entertaining. Definitely an original read!

I’ll be honest, I really wasn’t totally sure what to expect when I started reading this. The end result surprisingly was the most fun and unique historical fantasy novel I have ever had the pleasure of reading.

The beginning of the book was rather slow and confusing to me, which had me rethinking my choice in reading it. It did take a little bit to get accustomed to the writing style, as it’s a bit dry. However, it quickly became clear to me than my first impressions were way off base and the story took a turn for the better. I found myself quickly becoming engrossed in the characters and their quirky adventure.

This is definitely all historical and no fantasy, which normally I would consider a point lost but not in this case. The history and the religious aspects were delivered with excitement and intrigue and had me guessing what was going to happen next. I loved the different locations they traveled to and marveled at how wild of an adventure took place is such a short amount of time.

My feeling regarding queer literature is the more queer the better. This was no exception to that!! The slow burn was perfect, and the interactions were tooth-achingly sweet and made me wish for more.

Loved this. It was so weird and so funny and so dark. Also gay. Can't wait to read more of MT's adult work.

I featured this book in a new release video prior to publication and was very excited to read this. This description is such a romp, I love a quest story, I love a rapscallion type of character. Plus I'm so sure this is queer af and I LIVE for it. Will update when final review posts, but I'm expecting 5 stars!

I didn't like this one personally. I felt very lost and there wasn't much to hold onto that kept me interested.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pantheon for providing me with an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!

Nicephorus had a dream. A dream that he thought meant nothing but after sharing his dream with others it was believed to be prophecy. Due to this “misunderstanding” Nicephorus went from being a simple monk with a dream to a monk who is part of a heist! What are these characters trying to steal? Just the bones of the late Saint Nicholas.

This book seemed so interesting to me. I wanted to love it so bad but I just can’t seem to make it through. The book is not structured in chapters per se. it’s like really long parts. I made it 25% of the way through the book and I am only to part 2! The structure of this book is the largest part of why I can’t see myself finishing the book. The other part is the language. I don’t feel it’s accessible to those who aren’t in the history books. I wish I liked it more to continue but I find it tedious and unenthusiastic. Maybe I will try it again in the future!

Special thanks to NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review

This was not for me. While the writing was technically impressive, the pacing and tone were off. It felt like I was both dropped into the middle of a story and like the story was dragging along. There were too many mentions of characters that played little to no part in the story and I did not feel any sort of chemistry, relationship, or tension between the two LIs.

I loved this book and was enthralled with the writing. I loved the character study. Would read more from the author!

I love a good fairytale retelling. And I loved how good it did at it. The story was awesome. I read the audiobook too and the accents were amazing.

i am officially giving up historical fiction lol. this just wasn't for me at all. overall the plot was interesting but the characters were so one dimensional that i couldn't latch onto any of their stories for the life of me. i didn't care for any of them. and there were so many side characters that i barely kept up! i'm disappointed because i love a good heist story, but maybe not set in 1087.

“Sometimes life serves me shit on a trencher, but today Fortune hands me a fucking dumpling.”

Well. Unfortunately for me this one didn’t work and is going to end up being my first NetGalley DNf. It isn’t a super long book, and while the premise sounded interesting, it just wasn’t holding my attention. It was kind of funny but also had a serious tone to the point that I kept trying to figure out what the mood was supposed to be. I wouldn’t say what I read was horrible or badly written, it was just confusing and a little droney.

I really enjoyed Feed by MT Anderson, but I also read that back in high school and it has a very different premise. I might try it again someday, but for now, it’s one that will stay in the very back of my TBR.

I don’t like to star rate books I haven’t finished because you just never know how the ending could turn it around. Because NetGalley requires one, I’ll give it an average 3. I think it had potential, so much potential, but just wasn’t living up to my expectation. Amazing cover, though.

One of the best books I have read all year. Humor, spirituality, existential wanderings like Good Omens and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, surprisingly sweet moments, adventure, well-written and complex characters. This book had it all.

(3.5/5 stars)

Nicked by M.T. Anderson is a a queer historical fiction featuring the true story of a quest to steal the bones of a long-dead saint.

This book is marketed as the author's adult debut, but I think it could also be appropriate for older teens. Interspersed within the quest to gather the bones are interstitial stories from the life of Saint Nicholas, and I think the author's writing really shines in those moments.

While there was a bit of a queer love story here, it was severely underbaked. It definitely needed more development; more show rather than tell. The book is a little on the shorter side--under 250 pages--so the author definitely had more canvas on which they could have painted that story. Alas.

If you liked Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lenon or the Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters, you should give this one a try!

I enjoyed the book very much. I really appreciated the humorous tone of the story and the atmosphere. My only complaint is the rhythm. Not much happens plot wise: a group of very diverse people goes on a journey with the mission of bringing back the bones of Saint Nicholas to the city of Bari, in a world and time (1087) punished by hunger and illness. But the cast of characters is interesting and some of them truly adorable.
A good read, overall.