I wanted to love this book but the pacing was unbelievably slow for me. It also gets lost in descriptions of markets, clothing, food, etc, slowing it down even further.

I liked how this read like a script from each member of the crews perspective. It waas an intereting way to narrarate the story and drive the action forward, and it leant itself to narration incredibly well!!!! As a former history teacher, I loved the historical references and really immersed myself into the story, ever if some of it was far-fetched.

This was so good! I loved how each chapter focused on a different one of the crew as they slowly came together and then pulled off the heist. I love the reveals of information kept secret from the others (and the reader). I loved how engaging every character was. I loved all of them and wanted the story to continue. I would absolutely read a follow-up adventure where the crew gets back together.

From the beginning, I was instantly reminded of Ocean's 11 (which I love). The plot is very different, obviously, but the way the story unfolds is very similar. This is definitely one of my favorite heist novels. They're so hard to pull off successfully and Schneiderhan pulls it off flawlessly.

The relationships - both romantic and family / found family - are excellent as well. I love the way they weave around the plot.

Definitely one of my favorites of the year.

The audiobook was wonderfully performed. The characters each had a unique voice that felt authentic and immersed the listener in the story immediately. It was a pleasure to listen to from the beginning.

*Thanks to Feiwel & Friends and Macmillan Young Listeners for providing an early copy for review.

Let me start off with saying that this book is Beautifully Narrated. 10/10 for the choice of narrator for this story.

I listened to this book with my daughter. We both really enjoyed the story. While listening to it we realized it would make a great movie, the plot, the characters and the flow of the story felt very much like we were listing to a soon to be great family movie. Rosa leads a group of friends in an epic heist to steal the fortune of the Medici's. This takes place in the Italian renaissance and the world building shows that beautifully.

This felt very much like a YA version of oceans eleven , national treasure or now you see me.
After finishing a few chapters we looked in to the author a bit more and realized that they are a screen writer as well, and that made more sense with how the flow of the book was.

With that being said we did very much enjoy the audio book, and really do hope that this becomes a movie some day.

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan’s Children’s Publishing Books for the advance copy. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

A good idea for a novel, but I’ll echo other reviewers opinions that this reads more like a script.

The author is a scriptwriter by profession, so it’s not exactly surprising that this reads more like a movie, but it’s difficult to get enough out of it in this form of media when the characters are hollow and indistinguishable and the setting isn’t very well rendered.

The bones of the heist plot were decent, and I think I’d enjoy this as a movie or if it were fleshed out into a more complete novel. The pacing is fine and the story is enough to keep your attention, though in the end it’s hard to feel like this was complete as a book.

I savored this audiobook. The range of characters that one narrator was able to bring to life was astonishing! Not just their voices, but their individual POVs. If you love the heist aspect of Six of Crows or The Tempest of Tea, then this NEEDS to be your next read. If you love a job-within-a-job like the great Oceans Eleven franchise, don't miss out on this.

When Rosa left Florence five years ago, she was a child with a unique legacy. Now she's back and putting together a crew for biggest job the city has ever seen. They are going to break into the Medici family vault which currently holds enough gold to fund an entire army. The first phase where you Rosa as she recruits each character is so entertaining. Then the planning and preparation stage is easy to follow along but with plenty of mini adventures that keeps the pace moving. Finally, the night of the heist and the improvisations as things go wrong.

Just like Oceans 8, it's not ONLY about the money. There are secrets and ulterior motives that will be revealed.

The true gem is the relationships that come out of it (there's 6+ young adults involved so of course there's romance). I seriously thought I knew how the entanglements were going to play out but nothing was how it seemed. The final romantic pairs are absolutely delightful and still YA appropriate. This is a six-star read for me.

I loved this YA historical fiction heist story!! Fresh, original and fast-paced, this was full of adventure and great on audio too! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review!

The narrator really brought this book to life. Each character had a distinct voice and drew my emotions into the story. I cared for these flawed characters and wanted them to succeed. Well written dialogue and descriptions were good.

A number of unexpected treats will land in your pocket when you pick up this read. First of all, put on your oldest clothes because your time period is the 1500's.

You'll get to hang out with Michelangelo, a 17-year old former citizen of Prato who is a very adept thief named Rosa, you'll meet the Pope and a Cardinal, rub shoulders with a mix of the Medicis, run gold through your fingers, face any number of grim-faced soldiers, and experience hunger, fear, pain, weather and water as you follow Rosa and her crew of merry mischief makers. There is a sense of Robin Hood righting wrongs woven throughout the tale. The tale lost me here and there, but as many others have said, this would make a GREAT movie!

My favorite take away is when Rosa asks Michelangelo what David (his thoughtful statute) is thinking:

“Master Michelangelo,” she said. “Your David statue. What is he thinking?”

The artist blinked at her. “It’s a statue. It’s not thinking anything.”

“You put your blood and sweat into it. That’s what you told me. And that’s enough to bring anything to life. So what is he thinking?”

Michelangelo’s shoulders hunched. “I suppose … he’s frightened about what he’s going to do. He’s worried that he won’t be enough. Won’t be strong enough.”

“Is that all?” Rosa asked.

“He’s frightened. And … determined.”

“Which is why he does it anyway.”

“Yes. But that’s just a story—”

“You’re right, Master Michelangelo,” Rosa said. “But it’s good to remember stories. We are not noble shepherds like David. We’re thieves. But that doesn’t mean we can’t be like David and do something right. Hurling this rock at the Medici is the right thing to do, because the alternative is allowing them to grind this city into the dust, just like they’ve done before.”

Even though I fell off the wagon a few times I found my way back for the finale which pleased me. My favorite way to end a read.

*A sincere thank you to Caitlin Schneiderhan, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, Feiwel & Friends, Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ARC to read and review independently.*

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Young Listeners for this ARC Audio Copy!

I was so intrigued by the idea of this book and was so excited to read it but the writing style was just a little hard for me to get into. It was hard for me to know which character was leading at times and that may be because I listened on audio, but it just seemed like their personalities just weren't distinguishable enough for me to keep track. The heist aspect was fun, but I think it would have been better as an on screen story because it felt more like reading a screenplay at times. I did really enjoy the world, it was a fun read and I hope that someday it gets made into a movie.

This book was an historical fiction adventure. I felt like it would be amazing for students studying Rome and/or Latin students. It is set in Florence in the early 1500's and connected to many things that students learn about this time period. There were so many connections to history while also being a thrilling adventure. The accents of some of the readers were at times difficult to understand but the more I listened to them, the more I was able to understand them. There were times that seemed like there was too much description of the action and not enough information about the characters themselves but I enjoyed the book and I think many students would enjoy it as well. When reading it, I kept thinking it would make a wonderful movie. It has so much action, adventure and mystery within the adventure of stealing to gold from the Pope and Medicis.The chapters are told from different character prespectives which allows the readers to gain more insight into the entire situation but also prevents them from deep understanding of any one character.

A teen planning a heist... what could go wrong?

Well the plot was decent. I found the storyline quite interesting. The characters though... They were a bit one dimensional. I also wonder if teens would be interested. It didn't feel YA to me but what do I know, I'm old!

The audio was decent, it was a bit slow in spots but the end was really well worth it for me.

I think had the characters been a bit more developed, it would have been sooo much better.

3.5 stars

This book is as very entertaining. I loved the historical context, the characters and the plot. In occasions I would get a little lost on what was actually happening but it didn’t take me out of the story completely. I still thoroughly enjoyed the talk about art and the religious and political themes. Overall I enjoyed this read!

I had such a fantastic time reading this book! The idea of robbing the Pope, who was a part of a family that had basically ruled Florence, but had been kicked out, until he got this power, yeah, it was so thrilling to read! That a power-hunger, awful person got robbed, it was so rewarding!

Watching Rosa collect this band of misfits to pull of this heist, while we also got most of their perspectives was really wonderful. They all had their reasons for participating in the heist, mainly the money, but to take the Medicis down a peg was so gratifying!

I will say that this was an audiobook, so I did have a bit of trouble keeping everybody straight, particularly Sarra and Rosa, simply because I'd miss their name being said, and then have to figure out who it was, which is more of a me problem then a book problem, but it took a minute to sort everybody out.

Of course this is a heist story, and of course it's very clever, and things go wrong, but they might be planned to go wrong in that way, in that marvellous way that heist stories with a clever orchestrator happen. It was so much fun to watch everything unfold, and then be explained after thwarting the bad guys!

Loved reading this book and I'd love to read more by Caitlin Schneiderhan!

A tinker, a witch, a master, and an apprentice plan the heist of all heists each for their reasons and each with their own set of risks and rewards.

Let me start by saying I love books with cons, thefts, and heists. I love it all, and this book didn't disappoint. Intrigue and mystery abound in this book, steeped in history and imagination.

If you're looking for a good book to sink into and wonder if they will or won't, this is a perfect choice.

I had the luck to receive both the audio and ebook of this story, and I have to say our Narrator, Sara Alexander, really brought these characters to life; I found myself reaching for the earbuds more and more as the story went on because it was so much fun to listen to.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for providing a copy of this audiobook. I have listened to it, and all thoughts are my own.

This is one of those rare times where I'll say this would work better as a movie than as a book. I liked the concept and the general plot, but felt like the execution wasn't quite there. I did love that Michelangelo was part of the heist plot though. For how long this book is I was expecting for the characters to have more depth than they did. Often times parts of the plot and the players got a bit muddled because details were lacking.

I'm not sure this will catch or hold the attention of teen readers - this would work better as an Adult Fiction book that just happens to have teenage protagonists. But that's not to say that it wasn't an enjoyable read - there are definitely some good parts. But overall this one didn't live up to my expectations.

Sara Alexander does a decent job with the audiobook narration, though I was very confused why a book set in 1517 Florence was narrated with a British accent.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Macmillan Young Listeners in exchange for an honest review.

Seventeen-year-old Rosa Cellini plans to rob the Pope and the Medicis of their extorted indulgence money, assembling a team that includes a tinkerer, a fighter, a master of disguise, and even a reluctant Michelangelo. As old secrets resurface and tensions rise, their heist turns into a desperate bid to save Florence from destruction. However, the gang must navigate growing internal conflicts while evading the tightening grip of the Medicis' power.

The blurb for this book caught my attention. A Leverage or Ocean’s Eleven style heist set in the past with kids? Sounds amazing! Unfortunately, I found it didn’t keep my attention. It was all too easy to simply...stop listening, and I didn’t feel a rush to get back to it. Part of this is because there were so many people to keep track of! And the POV of jumped between characters, and I had difficulty keeping track of who was doing what.

The characters themselves were alright. It kind of felt as though there was an inclusivity list the author was trying to meet. Sassy female lead. Check. Character with family trouble. Check. Actually, a lot of checks for that one. And then there were a couple random characters that slipped in and I wasn’t sure what the point of them was.

When it came to the plot itself, nothing surprised me. Everything played out exactly like a Leverage episode. In fact, it made me just want to watch the show instead of listening to the audio book. The narrator was charming. She did a great job with each character, but the story just wasn’t there.

Overall, it was alright. Harmless, but I found it rather boring.

I really wanted to love this book. The narrator was great and did a good job. The subject of the book was exciting to me in theory, I loved the description but I just had trouble getting into the book. I loved the idea of the heist and the art but none of the main characters really grabbed me and I had trouble really seeing them as multi dimensional and people I wanted to be friends with and root for. They all felt like molds that were just thrown in to move the plot along and they weren’t very developed. I enjoyed the atmosphere of the story; the descriptions were good, especially of the city and the settings.The plot wasn’t gripping enough for me, especially for a heist plot, I think some people might enjoy this book but it just wasn't for me.

I got a few hours into this audiobook and decided not to continue. I was intrigued by the subject matter, but the writing was really hard to follow. There were too many characters and timelines jumping around. It is very possible that this would read easier as a print book and it is just hard to follow as audio.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for the e-arc!
This book has it all: action, adventure, an amazing heist, a rag-tag group of misfits, and an amazing backdrop! Set in Renaissance Italy, a group of misfits team up to take a corrupt Pope down a few pegs by stealing back the money he extorted. Rosa is the brains and leader of the operation, puts together a specially crafted group to pull off this robbery. She even gets Michelangelo in on the heist!
And now I literally feel this book was written for me! I love Renaissance Italy and lived in Italy for a few months, so this book was everything I wanted. This reads so much like a DND quest that I would 110% want to play. The group of misfits was fun and interesting; I really like it when authors take prominent figures and add them into stories so Michelangelo being included was so fun. This book was just an overall great time and I am so excited for everyone to read this book.