Little Thieves is a wonderful book based on a rich tapestry of folklore interwoven with cunning adventure and clever dialogue. Vanja is a wonderfully drawn, three-dimensional character with such wonderful connections to both the human world and the supernatural one. This is a great addition to the fantasy and folklore genre.

I LOVED this book. Vanja's story was unique, tragic, exciting, fun, magical, and heartbreaking all at the same time. I laughed at loud at her cleverness and snark, and cried as she struggled with the damage and repercussions of her traumas. While some points were predictable, or at least easy to see coming, the story still felt fresh and new, and more often than not the novelty of the world kept me interested and engaged at their realities and how they mirror, or don't, our own. What is on the surface level an adventure heist story, at it's core is really a story about acceptance, forgiveness, and healing. I just really really loved it.

Language: Mild (German swear words, easily translated)
Drugs: Moderate (alcohol, opioids, other substances)
Sex: Mild (kissing, innuendos, homosexuality)
Violence: Moderate (discussions of violence; sexual harassment and attempted assault; mental, physical, and emotional abuse)

Little Thieves is supposed to be a Goose Girl retelling, but while the elements may have been there, they weren’t crafted well into the story. Our main character is Vanja, the princess imposter. She is a thief, vindictive, and unrepentant. Readers probably won’t sympathize with her because even though she is just trying to survive, she is a remarkably unlikable character. That aspect rings true to the tale but makes Vanja a strange choice of protagonist.

The real princess—not working in the palace and having nothing to do with geese—is justifiably angry when readers meet her, but she isn’t terribly lovable either. She did have a horse called Falada who is dead, but readers don’t learn this until the later half of the book. The death barrel of nails makes an appearance, but all told, I wouldn’t relate this to Goose Girl.

Vanja’s thefts are masterfully thought out and the Little Thieves overall plot is okay, but the beginning is slow to grab readers. I wouldn’t discourage anyone from reading it, but I won’t be recommending this one.

"Little Thieves" protagonist and cast of characters are never boring. The challenge was keeping up with everything that was going on in the story. So much desperation and intrigue, danger and daring, all wrapped up in one young woman's decision to make her own way in the world and out from under her godmothers' control. You'll never look at pearl necklaces the same, but you may wish you had one.

I didn't know what to expect going into this book since it isn't what I usually read, but I loved Owens 'Merciful Crows' so I thought I'd give it a chance and I'm so glad I did. I just love Owens writing and I completely got lost in this story. I loved the characters and their journeys.

I thought this was a vast improvement over the original fairy tale, and I enjoyed the mythology, the heists, and all the rest of the aspects of this novel that were completely new.

Little thieves review

We get the story of Vanja, the goddaughter of Death and Fortune, and her group of swindlers/thieves set in the world of folklores and storybooks stories. It’s in 3 parts. Vanja ends up angering the wrong God and now must pay the price.

While the Conception was very cool and original it was very slow and hard to get into. Maybe it’s because there are a ton of characters at the beginning, maybe it’s because we never really get a description of Vanja’s life with Death and Fortune, maybe it’s because with 3 parts/stories I just wanted more, I’m not sure. It just didn’t hold my attention. This was an arc though so hopefully this has been tweaked some before it’s October debut. About 1/2 way through it picks up some. The world building and magical system was fantastic though!! Vanja is very relatable as a character and you get to see her growth as the story progresses which is something I always enjoy.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for this arc.

— Staci McIntyrE

I love a good retelling and I love Margaret Owen’s books so this one was a must read for me! I loved how complex the anti heroine Vanja was, and the chaotic way she moved through the challenges ahead of her. I felt like the villain was a little too evil to be believably evil and wish there had been some complexity there and the end wrapped up a bit neatly, but this was a great story filled with a fantastic cast of side characters that I grew attached to very quickly. I will definitely add this to my shelves for a reread!

Love, love, LOVE!! I loved the dynamic of the characters and the mannerisms of each one. This was such a wonderful book to read and I’m glad it seems like it can be a stand-alone, but now I need to go read her other series!

*Trigger warnings: discussions of child abuse, abusive environments, and trauma from a past attempted assault.*

“Once upon a time, there was a girl as cunning as the fox in winter, as hungry as the wolf at first frost, and cold as the icy wind that kept them at each other’s throats.”

Vanja is a girl who was given up by her mother to the gods Death and Fortune who have raised her as their own daughter. However, everything comes with a price and now that she is 16 she has only until her 17th birthday to decide which mother she will choose to serve in return for them raising and loving her. Vanja doesn’t want to serve them, she wants to be a daughter not a servant. Vanja decides that the only solution is to raise enough money to run far away from her mothers and live out the rest of her life... and has turned to a life of thieving from the rich aristocrats while pretending to be a princess ( she secretly stole the identity and life of a princess she once served and is using said princess’s magical pearl necklace that essentially just transforms her into a beauty). On one of her jewel heists, she accidentally steals a token from a god and is cursed with only 2 weeks to figure out how to undo it or die. The curse: her body starts turning into jewels, stone by stone, to reflect her greed and she must find a way to pay back her greed or die as a pile of jewels. Vanja must figure out how to break the curse and on top of that a investigative junior detective is on her trail (her secret identity as a jewel thief) and the princess’s fiancee a man twice her age who is power hungry and abusive has come back in town and is over eager to fast track the marriage. From the beginning of the story it is established that Vanja is not a good person, everything she does, she does for herself and that she is a morally grey character. There were a lot of plot arcs (detective plot, princess marriage plot, god-mothers plot, etc) going on in this story and Vanja isn’t exactly the most likable protagonist (which is odd for me since I generally adore morally grey protagonist but I just couldn’t like Vanja that much, she’s even a jewel thief which would generally makes her more likable in my eyes, and yet I just didn’t like her as much as I had hoped). The story felt like it was dragging on for a bit and by the halfway point I just wasn’t as invested in the characters or the story as I would have hoped. It started off great but lost me along the way. Theres a bit of romance, and my favorite character would have to be the daughter of one of the gods who is a shapeshifter, Ragne (she was just the best part of the book for me).

*Thanks Netgalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

This book--wow.

Vanja Schmidt was given to Death and Fortune (low gods) at four years old because her mother believed her to be bad luck and she could not afford another child (she had 12 others). Death and Fortune raised her as their own child until she reached an age that she could not be in the God realm anymore. At that time, they brought her to serve a princess. She became Princess Gisele’s maid and serves her until an opportunity arose to steal herself the life that she always wanted.

I loved reading about how the Little Gods influence everyone's lives in the book and the Prefects that maintain order in this realm of magic users. Vanja's journey is riveting and I can't wait to pick up the physical copy. This is a great book for fans of Six of Crows.

This was interesting. Sometimes the dialogue was modern in a way that was incongruous with the mood of the story, and that made me conscious that I was reading a story, so I never felt lost in the world.

This book was great and I enjoyed reading it. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book. It had a great storyline and characters.

I love this book. So much.
Little Thieves is bitter and sweet and sad and happy and wholesome and frustrating and thrilling and basically what I'm saying is that I ran the gamut of emotions with this book. I tend to feel weird giving reviews for books I LOVE because I so enjoy going into a good book completely blind and I don't want to give anyone else hints of what they might see, but rest assured this book is everything. Beautiful writing, a variety of characters, plot twists and turns, GROWTH, and magic. What more could I ask for?
I cannot wait for the official release in October so I can physically hold this book in my hands, because I know this is one I'll come back to more than once.

This was an interesting tale with some fun characters. Unfortunately I do not know the original tale, so I can’t make any comparisons there. Also, the romance was cute and I enjoyed it!
The only things that bothered me were:
1. the uses of breaking the fourth wall. While it didn’t happen too terribly often, it brought me out of the story when it did.
2. While I love the use of other languages, there were so many terms in such a short amount of time that it was difficult for me to understand and become invested in what was going on.

If you like sassy, morally grey thieves, enemies-to-lovers romances, and folklore, this might be a story for you.

Little Thieves was such a wonderful retelling! It didn't follow the story of the ugly duckling exactly, but Margaret Owen's storytelling made up for it. It follows Vanja, unlucky thirteenth daughter and stepdaughter to Fortune and Death. She lived as a maid for years before swapping with princess Gisele using magical pearls. The main plot is her trying to leave the land of the gods and figure out her relationship with others as she doesn't really trust anyone.
Vanja herself is a mix between the hilarious, strong heroine and a hurt girl who needed help and support but pushes everyone away. She's witty and cruel but also has some sense of morals. She grows quite a bit through the book to begin to trust others but it wasn't without trouble. The book turns into a motley heist crew and I definitely don't mind everyone else joining in. Emeric was such a cute romance option, though I do have to dock points since he doesn't like horses. Even her friendships were such a fun thing as she slowly lost that toxic independence and began to work through past fights and traumas.

The storytelling that Owen creates is the best thing. The way Vanja tells her own story sucks you in so much with a mix of her POV and her storytelling that I couldn't put the book once I started. I knew it was going to give me such a reading slump afterwards!

This is definitely something you don't want to miss.

This is a retelling of the fairy tale, Goose Girl. Vanja Schmidt is the goddaughter of Death and Fortune. She was abandoned by her birth mother at the age of 4. Her birth mother said she was unlucky as she was the thirteenth daughter of a thirteenth daughter. When she was seven she was given to a noble family as a servant. They were cruel and abusive, but Vanja became close to their daughter Princess Gisele until Gisele also betrayed the protagonist. The story begins one year after Vanja steals some enchanted pearls from her mistress Gisele and begins assuming her life. The pearls change the wearer’s appearance to a beautiful young woman. Gisele is engaged to a cruel man named Adalbrecht von Reigenbach, margrave of Bóern. Vanja has been impersonating Gisele in the city of Minkja while her fiance is on the battlefront fighting a long war. She has become a thief the locals have named The Pfennigeist. Vanja is trying to save enough money to escape Minkja before the marriage to Adalbrecht can happen. A young Junior Prefect in the Order of Godly Prefects is assigned to catch the Pfennigeist, just as Aldalbrecht comes home to marry "Gisele". Vanja is cursed by a lower god after thieving at a house party in the country. She has two weeks to "give back what she took" or she will be turned into jewels. Vanja races against the clock trying to figure out how to make amends to the people she has stolen from and each misstep she finds a new jewel on her body. Will she be able to make amends with Princess Gisele after stealing her identity and throwing her out in the cold? Will she be able to evade the Junior Prefect? What exactly is the sinister Aldabrecht up to?

I loved the cover of this book. It is really beautiful and is what drew me to the story. I will say that I didn’t like the MC until about 30% through the book. She was unapologetically rude, brash, and overall horrid. Once you learn her backstory you begin to empathize with her and I did end up liking her and the story, but I thought she was pretty awful in the beginning. I love the camaraderie that Vanja and her gang of misfits had in the second half of the book, even though Vanja was still maddening at times. The book is a fantasy setting but has a German feel to it. All locations are made up, but I imagined it took place in a German type city because of the word choices. I felt the set up to the story was kind of slow, but it picked up about 30/40% and then it was a wild and quick read. I felt the ending made up for the slow start. Very much enjoyed! Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Dark Fairy Tale retelling with lots of intrigue, intensity, and imagination..not to mention plenty of sarcasm and a whole lot of heart. This is my first Margaret Owen book, and after finishing it I immediately ordered her Merciful Crow books. Her writing style, voice and imagination made this an absolute delight to read (but also surprisingly touching). This was the golden combo: great writing combined with on point entertaining story-telling (with plenty of imagination and great world building). **Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt for my eARC in exchange for my honest review!**

Its got the kind of fast paced intrigue-y plot that features lots of deception and sneakiness that will appeal to fans of Six of Crows, but also some of the dark beauty and wintery fairy tale vibes of Arden's Winternight Trilogy, along with the creative magic and endearing romance of Margaret Rogerson's books, plus the wit and snark of Novik's Scholomance series.

The Setup:
"Considering I now have two weeks to amass a fortune, escape one of the most powerful men in the Blessed Empire of Almandy, and evade the highly trained criminal hunter headed my way, all the while slowly turning into precious stones, I absolutely do not have it under control. But I'm not going to tell my godmothers that."

I wasn't sure how much I was going to like the main character Vanja (from the setup we know she's been a bad girl and is cursed because of it), but Owen does a good job of slowly winding in the backstory that gives us more of the Why and How she came to be in her current situation, and then allowing her to make new and different choices going forward. I ended up really liking her, in spite of all her faults, The secondary characters were also really well. done, Emeric, our Junior Prefect/unassuming "hunter" is a new favorite (her descriptions of him are GREAT), along with Ragne who is possibly one of my most favorite "animal familiars" ever. I actually warmed up to Giselle too, which I was not expecting. In terms of villains, Adalbrecht von Reigenbach was a perfectly creepy shadow over the first half, and even more creeptastic when we finally got to meet him in person (my only complaint on him, was in the finale, I felt he was defeated a little too easily), but still a great mix of mad magician and political intrigue bad guy:
"You see, Adalbrecht von Reigenbach doesn't walk into a castle. He makes landfall. People send warning ahead when they see him bearing down on the horizon, and you can't figure out why the world suddenly seems so quiet, until you realize every creature with sense has gone into hiding."

The enemies to lovers vibes of what was a rather endearing romance, was the perfect setup for me to love both Vanja and Emeric, her growing feelings and internal monologues/descriptions of him were just so great:
"He looks like he wants to kiss me. And a little like he wants to strangle me. We are meant for each other."
Owen did a great job of allowing their feelings towards one another to change and develop while still allowing them to maintain most of their original motivations (along with both of their very stubborn personalities) which lead to plenty of internal struggles for both of them:
"But Emeric isn't the same. I want to think of another puzzle he can't solve. I want to empty his pockets and get caught in the act. I want the simple peace of being known by him; I want this strange, terrible hope he's given me, that I could build a life where I choose, instead of living ready to leave everything behind. I don't know what's worse: that he's slipped into my heart like a knife, or that I like the feel of him there."

Final Verdict: Highly recommended to both Teens and Adult readers, and for fans of not only fantasy, but historical fiction as well. Definitely recommend to fans of Naomi Novik, along with Katherine Arden, Margaret Rogerson, and Leigh Bardugo.

Thank you to Fierce Reads and YALLwest for an ARC of this title.

Vanja Schmidt is the thirteenth daughter of a thirteenth daughter, which portends bad luck. Abandoned by her mother, she grows up as the adopted daughter of Fortune and Death. Forced to choose to serve of the two gods, she decides to raise enough money to leave the kingdom and strike out on her own, far away from the reach of her mothers. Unfortunately, she feels the only option left to her is to be a thief. Enchanted pearls turn her into Princess Gisele, a girl who she thought was her friend growing up, but she learned the hard way that she was only thought of as a maid.

This is the first book I've read by Margaret Owen. She writes well, but I think the beginning dragged and it took me a long time to get into the storyline. It sounds like it's based on a fairy tale, but I am unfamiliar with it, so I had a hard time keeping track of all the characters. It did pick up for me, and I was interested in seeing what happened next.

I did end up enjoying it - it was a long read though, so be prepared!

Little Thieves is a retelling of the German fairytale, “The Goose Girl”. It’s centered around Vanja, a maid and a thief, who forcefully takes the place of Princess Gisele. Vanja is cursed by the Lady of the Forest, Eiswald, for stealing from her people. However, Princess Gisele is betrothed to Adalbrecht, a filthy politician who is trying to kill her. With the help of her new friends Ragne (daughter of Eiswald) and Emeric Conrad (an “annoying” JuniorPrefect who is investigating a related case), Vanja must return what she has stolen while saving herself from Adalbrecht.
I really enjoyed this book! The Goose Girl is a special fairytale for me because I used to read it all the time when I was younger, so I was super excited when I received the ARC for this book. One thing I noticed while reading this book was the humor. It’s obvious when authors try to be funny in their writing and it doesn’t always work but I’m glad it did in this book! The main character was hilarious and so were her conversations with Emeric and Ragne. I enjoyed the writing too. It was very detailed in a way that really helped me understand Vanja’s character and it made me feel like I was Vanja, going through the same emotions she was. It was interesting reading the “villain’s” point of view of the fairytale. I love Vanja’s character development because it started out subtle but as the book progressed, she started changing for the better. I also like how Vanja isn’t a good person because she has questionable morals. She’s selfish and greedy but her actions are justified because she had to protect herself. Even with the character development, she is a morally grey character with flaws. Oftentimes authors will write character development and completely change their character to be the opposite of who they once were and I think that is unrealistic because no person can be 100% perfect or good. Luckily, Margaret Owen did not do that. Lastly, the romance was one of the best parts of this book. I was worried that it would be too rushed but it was the complete opposite! And it was enemies to lovers, which makes it even better. Emeric and Vanja are opposites but they balance each other out and their bickering was hilarious. Also, I think it’s adorable how they learned things from each other. Emeric learned to be brave like Vanja and Vanja learned to be selfless like Emeric. Their relationship developed slowly as they both discovered exactly what they wanted from each other. The friendships in this book were also adorable (Gisele, Joniza, Ragne, Barthl, etc.).
Although the events of the first half of the book were important, it was a little boring and slow, but it really picked up in the second half. I think the ending could have been more detailed because it seemed rushed. But overall, the ending was satisfying.
If you are a fan of enemies to lovers, cute friendships and romances, morally grey characters, thieves and heists, curses, humor, and fairytale retellings, this book is definitely for you! I am so excited for the official release of the book and I am willing to reread it once it comes out in October. Overall, I rate this book 4.5 out of 5 stars.