the premise of the book sounded amazing— an ensemble cast set against the backdrop of Florence while a heist is underway? sign me up!

but ultimately, the book fell a little flat for me. the characters were my main issue. they were pretty indistinguishable with very very similar voices. they didn’t feel like much beyond their basic archetypes so it was hard to care or root for them. and honestly, for a heist book… i expected more heist. it starts pretty late in the book and since the characters didn’t grip me, by the time we get to the heist it was hard to stay invested sadly :/

the book was an amazing concept but it lacked spark.

I admit that I had initially procrastinated on reading this book. However, once I had finally began, I became quickly enthralled!

Most of the main character’s in the story were found to be complex and interesting, and the friendships that rose among the scheming group’s members were adorable — I would like to emphasise on the ‘most’ since Sarra’s character appeared to me rather dull compared to Rosa’s or Dominic’s; I just could not see past a person who was estranged from her sister and a skilful engineer.
Additionally, the heist’s scheme and the Medici heist itself were equally engrossing for me — which is reflected on the high-marked rating. I cannot describe how ingenious it was that the way the few special details of the story managed to intertwine into the plot!

I am aware that some have described this book as an Italian version of ‘Six of Crows’ and ‘Oceans 11’, so if that sounds like your cup of tea, I definitely recommend!


This book was kindly bestowed to me by NetGalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK. Thank you.

THE MEDICI FAMILY! A HEIST!! What more could you possibly want from a book?! 💰

🇮🇹 'Medici Heist' by Caitlin Schneiderhan is about a gang of misfits in 1517 Florence who band together to attempt an impossible heist on the Medici family. With anti-Medici sentiment causing unrest in the city, the stakes could not be higher!!

❤️ This was honestly SUCH A JOY TO READ. It felt so cinematic & just like I was watching a heist film. Action-packed, lovable characters, quick-witted dialogue - it has it all!

✍️ The characters were so well-crafted, I adored the whole gang & loved their 'found family' arc. My favourite was Rosa, the charismatic heist leader (but I also loved Giacomo, the chaotic liability!). There's also a surprise late addition to the crew who I won't spoil for you here but made me GASP OUT LOUD when they were recruited.

🪙 The political & religious backdrop really added a bit of depth - the Pope & the Cardinal are both Medicis and their family had taken over in Florence. However, many in the city preferred it when their city was a Republic, meaning that robbing the Medicis is about more than just the money.

⛪ The setting was so detailed. I love Florence & felt like I was back there and travelled back in time! All the artwork & architecture added a real sense of place to the book.

💕 If you've ever watched 'La Casa de Papel' / 'Money Heist' and got really invested in the romances which blossomed during the high-pressure heist environment, you'll love this. All the romance sub-plots are unbearably sweet!!

📖 This book was basically everything that 'Six Of Crows' was trying (and in my opinion, failing) to be. I think this was originally written for a YA audience because of the easy-to-read style, young cast, & fast pacing, but it's definitely enjoyable for any age.

🌟 Overall, an absolutely cracking book which I would highly recommend to everyone, even if they don't usually go for historical fiction.

📆 Publishes on 6 Aug with Atom Books. Thanks Netgalley for my gifted ARC.

A really fun book which combined two things I never knew needed to happen but now I'm very glad they have! We follow Rosa as she gathers her band of thieves and grifters together to pull the biggest heist of all time which simultaneously loosens the grip of the Medici on Florence. Each member of the group felt believable and had their own challenges going on - my one wish is that we got to see more of Agata as she very much remained in the background.
I loved the descriptions of the city here and Schneiderhan brings to life the different districts really well and adds in fun little details with the different churches or specific palazzos.

I would definitely recommend this book for anyone who wants a fun historical read that also reminds them of Oceans Eleven!

Firstly thank you to Little Brown Book Group for allowing me to read Medici Heist early!

Unfortunately I got 50% in and couldn’t read anymore.

The characters wore not really memorable and the pace of the book felt slow.

There was also “1-0” randomly thrown into some sentences which really threw me off.

I was really enjoying some parts of this book and the cover is truly beautiful so it is still possible that I will buy this book when it comes out and give it another go!

I don’t feel right giving the book a star rating as of now as I didn’t finish it so please ignore it

Thank you to Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for sending me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

As a huge Medici family history buff and lover of all Renaissance era fiction, I was incredibly excited to be given the opportunity to read Medici Heist by Caitlin Schneiderhan. Immediately I loved where the story took me and the vibes the writing gave me. It was exciting, it was dangerous, it was vengeful, the plot itself is a fabulous premise... like if Six of Crows was thrown into 1500's Italy. Loved that. I thought the writing was well executed and PERFECTLY setup to be picked up as movie or series. Genius move. I also thought the characters were incredibly immersive. I felt the feelings and hated and loved right along with them, which is not always easy to pull off. My one small critique is that there was an incredible opportunity to draw from real historical events that was a little lost. I found myself longing for a more accurate representation to give the reader the ability to learn the history along with the fiction. With just a little more homework, this could have gone from great to fantastic for me. However, I am probably the minority and I still found the book to be a solid read with a lot of really amazing storytelling.

Thanks to Little, Brown Book Group for a review copy.
Medici Heist is a wonderful, exuberant riff on modern day Heist stories. We have an unlikely band of characters, including no lesser a person than Michelangelo himself, formed into a gang by Rosa Cellini, a 17 year old grifter on a mission to rob the pope himself. The pope portrayed here, it should be said, is a member of the all-powerful Medici family and is neither a terribly nice nor a terribly honest person.
The story unfolds in a cinematic way, and we follow different the various people in Rosa’s team as they prepare to pull off the robbery of a lifetime. Each of the characters is somewhat larger than life but they are described nicely in the novel so that we understand them perfectly and root for them to succeed. We are never left wading through pages of filler text, the tale moves along quickly and there are secrets to be revealed (why is Rosa so keen to pull off this almost impossible crime?) and romance is in the air. This is not a novel with subtle shades of good and evil - there are goodies and there are baddies and we want the goodies to win.
The story is straightforward, compelling, fun and a page turner - as the author says herself it puts the ‘fiction’ firmly front and centre in ‘historical fiction’ but it is none the worse for that. The city of Florence is a lovely backdrop for the story which would make a great TV show I’m sure (hardly surprising given the author’s background as a script writer).
I would recommend any fans of this type of tale to Hustle along and read it 😊

A gang of teenagers take on a heist to rob the Medici family—and to free the city of Florence from its grasp.

I adored the heist structure of this book—the gathering of a team, all with their own motivations; the action sequences, the moments where it all seems to be going wrong. The way the shifting POV was utilised to create tension was masterful, and made the book feel cinematic, as well as keeping me hooked throughout.

The characters making up the team were wonderful! Giacomo was probably my favourite, though Sarra (and her complex relationship with her brother) was a close second.

I really liked how they all had history with each other, it added realism and weight to the relationships. The Sarra/Rosa dynamic was a particular favourite, as was the Giacomo/Khalid relationship.

Big fan of the overall idea of screwing over the Medici and reclaiming the city of Florence. The historical setting of this book was super fun—I was delighted when Michelangelo appeared, and even more so when he became a part of the plan.

Reminiscent both of classic heist movies and of Six of Crows, I can absolutely see this book becoming a big thing!

This was such a fun book with real heart underneath all the bantering and scheming. The found family coming together, Michaelangelo, actual Michaelangelo of the Sistene Chapel and David and rivalry with Da Vinci fame, being one of the characters, audacious and delightful.
Please tell me the gang will be back for more outrageous adventures? I just loved them.

I was really intrigued by this book, - I loved the show Medici when it was on and so this book immediately jumped out to me as something I would enjoy. This book takes place a little while after the events of the show and the political climate has changed slightly.
The writing was easy to read and follow but with that added sense of lightness and humour. The characters were great, found family tropes, and their dynamic was a great inclusion for a plot like this.
Great locational description and the addition of Michelangelo was incredible and I would never have imagined it would work but it totally did.

Thank you netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this book. I really enjoyed this book and the characters and plot. Easy to read and a nice steady pace.

I love a historical heist book, but adding a historical factor to that is something new for me that I also thoroughly enjoyed!

This was a fun romp of a book. I’m always drawn to heist narratives and this one boasted great characters and a more political dimension to it that I loved. There were some excellent twists and turns in this & it was overall a wonderfully entertaining read.

I received this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Ok guys. Guys guys guys. Have you read Six of Crows and been obsessed with Six of Crows and vainly tried to find books that would give you the same feeling as Six of Crows and couldn't and incessantly found yourself just rereading Six of Crows instead? GUYS.

Enter Medici Heist. We've got found family. We've got awesome friendships and adorable love stories. We've got a cool heist. Caitlin Schneiderhan took Six of Crows and put it in Renaissance Italy which was honestly the only way Six of Crows could possibly be improved and I am obsessed. Is it historically accurate? No. Do I care? Absolutely not. Khalid, Giacomo, Rosa, Dominic and Sarra will live in my heart forever. Rebel Michelangelo is something I never knew I needed until she gave it to me and now I will never imagine Michelangelo another way. I also never knew I wanted a badass witchy grandma and then I met Agata and now I want to be Agata when I'm older. I'm obsessed. It's got everything. Delicious slow burns, mountains of sass, fast paced action, witty back and forths. This is what I want to read when I pick up a book. This is what I deserve to read when I pick up a book.

Five stars. Obsessed. Tempted to just go back to page one and immediately reread. Massive thanks to the author and publisher for the ARC and the chance to meet a new favourite book. It's always such a special feeling. I'M OBSESSED DID I SAY THAT.

I enjoyed this one but didn’t love it and I really wanted to.

The premise for this book sounded really interesting and the historical setting of 16th century Florence is a period and place I’m really interested in.

It’s entertaining enough but I think the problem for me was I felt the characters lacked a bit of depth and I didn’t particularly connect with them so while the heist elements and their backstories were cleverly woven together, I wasn’t particularly invested in the outcome.

As there was quite a few characters, each with their own tragic story, there wasn’t really a lot of time given over to the heist which is what I was looking for more of given the title.

I thought it read more like a script in places and actually could see this perhaps being made for the screen.

Thanks for the chance to read an early copy

I really liked the premise of this book a heist but historical fiction set in renaissance Florence and for most of it I really enjoyed it. The found family was one of my favourite things and the heist was extremely fun to read about.

I will say that the pacing was a little slow and I did get a lost in the middle which only added to the story feeling a little dragged out while it took me a while to really connect with some of the characters, their development really worked out by the end.

If you love historical fiction added in with a really fun heist I recommend giving this a try.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the eArc these are my honest thoughts and voluntary review.

I love books set in Renaissance Europe with all its powerful families and politics so a heist novel set in 16th century Florence sounded fantastic.
Talented thief Rosa Cellini arrives in Florence on the same day as the Medici Pope Leo X. This is no coincidence as she is planning the greatest robbery in history as a way of revenging herself on the Medici family and helping Florence to become a republic again. She gathers a crew of others who like her, are working outside the law and together they plan to steal the Medici gold right from the palace itself.
I really enjoyed this novel. The historical setting was well executed and parts of Florence and the palace were brilliantly described giving us a real picture of what it was like. The political side was also really well done especially the tension between the Florentine city guards and those working for the Medici family.
The plot of the heist itself was well thought out and I liked the way that the most of the actual details weren’t revealed to the reader until it was actually taking place. The actual theft happens in the final quarter of the book and the tension really ratchets up as parts of their plan don’t work out and we don’t find out if they are successful or not until the very end.
The crew that Rosa assembles for the job definitely reminded me of Six of Crows with each one having their appointed role within the group. There is a strong found family theme that grows during the book even all of the crew members are keeping secrets from each other. The way that they gradually began to trust one another was one of my favourite elements of the book. I liked all of the characters although sometimes it felt that we were being told what they were like rather than seeing it for ourselves.
This was an exciting, fast paced historical novel which I had thoroughly enjoyed.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publishers, Little Brown Book Group UK, for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was super excited to read Medici Heist when I saw it listed on NetGalley. I hadn't heard of this book outside of this site when I first applied for the ARC. I've since seen it pop up several times on instagram. The cover is truly beautiful and captivating.

The start of this book was really well written. I was hooked and couldn't wait to learn more about the world and the characters. All of the characters were enjoyable to read about, but I found they fell flat and lacked personality/individuality. I liked their sort of "found family".

As a longtime lover of anything heists, I really loved this aspect of the book. It was exciting and captivating. The revelations at the end as everything fell into place was really neat too.

I also feel the need to mention that the setting was amazing! Florence was truly beautiful and the author captured its essence really well.

My rating isn't particularly stellar because I got lost and bored somewhere in the middle of the book. It felt like a drag and I began to lose interest in the characters (this, and I realised that they all sounded/acted the same). I started to form a disconnect between reading and caring about the book during the middle section.

First of thank you net gallery and littlebrownuk for the e-arc already had Medici heist on pre order

If you love reading history political book when this is for you Medici heist is based in 16th century Florence it’s about 4-5 main characters planning a heist on the Medici family as each person want them to suffer.

I thought the book was great loved the plot like the characters only wish was a bit more of POV of each characters story

Overall 4 stars

A heist in Renaissance Florence? What a perfect recipe for a book! This is definitely more fiction than historical fiction but the historical elements were well done. I loved the alternating perspectives and felt that this leant to the fast paced nature of the book. An easy and enjoyable read that I will be recommending.