WORD LISTS

"Thieves' Gambit" by Kayvion Lewis, Chapters 7–15

Mon Feb 05 16:10:53 EST 2024
By Vocabulary.com (NY)Visual Thesaurus Moderator
Born into a legendary family of thieves, seventeen-year-old Rosalyn Quest tries to escape the criminal life by applying to college programs outside of the Bahamas, but when her mom disappears, she realizes that the best chance to save her would be winning a competition of international heists.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–15, Chapters 16–23, Chapters 24–34, Chapters 35–47
settee
The walls and ceiling were lined in black velvet—same as the plush settee I was lying on.
falter
“Ten? Is that how many jobs I beat you to this last year?” At this, her grin faltered.
rendezvous
Noelia Boschert had been a recurring cockroach that kept crawling into the corners of my life ever since. Catching glimpses of her on miscellaneous jobs, her sending the police my way at common rendezvous points or spreading slander about me to some client so they’d request I didn’t join my mom on a job.
culminate
It all culminated when I received a rather threatening email in the black box telling me to back off.
dingy
“I guess even the dingiest broken clocks are right twice a day,” Noelia murmured.
casual
Unstrapped suspenders swung over his pant legs. It was a casual look. Maybe he was trying to appear casual. Casual people are more approachable.
expendable
If I knew her, she was already prowling for her newest expendable but useful best friend.
complementary
She had a gold-trimmed-and-embroidered jacket, which was a meld between what I assumed was traditional Indian style and Western high fashion, with complementary leggings, slippers, and a scarf.
naive
I’d call this new girl naïve for falling for it, but that’d make me a hypocrite. Once upon a time, I fell for it too, when a much younger Noelia started gushing over my barrettes.
chide
I mentally chided myself. Ross Quest was not going to be that girl who started swooning over the hot guy after five minutes.
lithe
She pointed at the lithe dancer girl from the plane.
fanfare
Everyone was watching me, but it wasn’t all warm attention. Noelia in particular looked furious that my last name had gotten more fanfare than hers.
concierge
If hell had a concierge, this woman worked at the front desk.
oscillate
Schematics of a building oscillated on the screen.
gilded
A series of objects blinked quickly across the screen. A miniature portrait of a well-made-up French aristocrat, a gilded music box, a sculpture of a Roman emperor in full regalia.
regalia
A series of objects blinked quickly across the screen. A miniature portrait of a well-made-up French aristocrat, a gilded music box, a sculpture of a Roman emperor in full regalia.
ingenuity
Consider the lack of your belongings a test of your ingenuity.
versed
“Was that supposed to sound like another proverb?”
“Guess I’m not as well- versed as the rest of you all,” he answered.
jimmy
“But come on, when has a quote ever helped someone jimmy a safe, ya know?”
brooch
Two steps out, I collided with a white woman wearing an obnoxiously large ladybug brooch.
bask
In the center of the gallery, basking under a downpour of sun from a skylight, was the first item from Count’s list.
plaque
Without a month to plan, there was no way I was carrying a fifty-foot-wide oil painting out of here, or the commemorative plaque that was drilled into the lobby floor.
dapper
The couple glided out of the cozy gallery hand in hand, and a familiar dapper figure replaced them.
debonair
Devroe flashed me a flawlessly debonair smile.
flush
He really was infuriating. I pushed past him, not because I felt myself flushing again or anything, and settled back in front of the case with Count’s target inside.
skulk
“I saw Mylo and Lucus skulking by here at least twice. Not to mention that girl Yeriel.”
dainty
Something dainty and pink poked out of the corner of the bag.
don
She’d donned her jean jacket once again.
antebellum
I tugged her behind one of the mannequins with a wide antebellum skirt, barely managing to hide us both under the fabric before a gaggle of guards passed through.
vehemently
She shook her head vehemently.
reiterate
I sent Yeriel down first, reiterating how important it was that she somehow get out of the elevator so I could call it back up.
throttle
Devroe continued to hesitate. I wanted to throttle him.
assortment
An assortment of sweet and savory scents swirled around me.
altercation
She’d gained a silky white scarf since I last saw her, probably to cover any wear and tear from our altercation at the museum.
petty
“Don’t be petty because she was better prepared than you.”
swindle
Of course, if I had a partner, she’d assume I swindled them.
fluke
That’s what everyone does eventually. Yeriel was a fluke.
inflect
I laughed. Partially because it was funny, and also because of how close we were, and the way he knew just how to inflect his voice to make it feel like everything he was saying was a whispered, dirty little secret just for us.
rapport
This time, there was a laugh on his lips, and it was hard for me not to smile with him. But if I did that, then we’d be laughing together, and then it would be a moment and we’d have a rapport with each other and then I’d be trying not to think about said moment in the elevator the next time I saw him.
astute
Maybe, maybe, some tiny bit of me wanted to. And maybe he was astute enough to tell.

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