Sorry this review is so late, I forgot and never got round it it.

This was an amazing retelling of the goose girl, I loved each of the characters personalities and how well the author wrote them. Having never actually read the original tale I had nothing to compare it to but this book definitely does it justice in my opinion.

I love retellings and can't wait for the next one that comes along.

There’s only one word to describe this book: awesome.
My expectations were high, but I wasn’t disappointed. I really liked mostly anything.

Thank you Netgalley for a copy of this book.

I don't feel like I have too much to say other than I found this a lot of fun and really enjoyable.

Little Thieves is based on The Goose Girl. Growing up I loved Shannon Hales reimagining of this tale and reread her book (The Goose Girl) multiple times. Upon finding out about this new take on the tale which follows the "villain" I just had to read it.

I grew to really like our main character and liked how the book explored the topic of poverty and how in society those in poverty are sometimes forced to make difficult decisions that are not the most moral but are necessary for survival. I liked our cast of characters and the friendships explored; however I wasn't totally won over by the romance and I think I would have preferred if there was no romantic subplot.

Overall, I think I would have absolutely loved this if I had read this as a teenager at the same time as Shannon Hale's version. I would definitely recommend if you enjoy reading books written for the YA demographic as I think this is a very solid fantasy standalone.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this!

I’m honestly kicking myself for sleeping on this book! It gets you from the very start! The writing is also magical!

What a nice reading, I always love a good retteling and I didn't know anything about the Goose Girl so I was just ready to be immerse in this book.

I like a smart girl, and let me tell you Vanja is a good one, she is resourceful and fun. She know what she want and is ready to do a lot to obtain it. Sadly when she is curse she need to think about everything she has done in the past and change some stuffs. I think I really like her growth through the book. She realise that being alone and free is not really what she want and change bit by bit througth the book.

For the universe and mythologie, I really like it, we are in some kind of german empire and I like the mix between 18th century and big castle. I had a great time reading about the gods, curses and mythology of this world.

So in the end, this book is a nice one, I had a really great time, I love the character, the plot and universe.

Lately I've found myself growing tired with all those generic YA fantasy series being tossed into the market, so I was delighted to find something as refreshing as Little Thieves that surprised me with its lush fairytale world combined with fast-paced heist action.

I loved all the complex, morally grey characters just as much as the original world it is set in. It was a quick and fun read for me. I will definitely read the second book, but this one can stand by itself just as well.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillian Children’s Publishing Group for providing me with an early copy in exchange for my honest review.

A sharp clever little book. It hooked me from the first line and didn’t let me go! Absolutely love Vanja and the world the author creates and I can’t wait for the next one.

Really enjoyed this one. Love Margaret Owen's writing it was really clever and I loved the characters. Plot was solid and the magic system/gods was a really interesting aspect. Fabulous.

Little Thieves by Margaret Owen was an absolutely deligthful surprise of a novel for me and is the first YA book in ages that completely enraptured me, and kept my attention and sympathies for the characters from the beginning to the end despite falling back on common YA tropes. In fact, this story proves that tropes do work if they’re executed well.

Told from a first person perspective, Little Thieves boasts - and rests on the shoulders of - Owen’s witty, lively and engaging prose, which paints a vivid picture of a lived in kingdom, and its plucky (anti)heroine, thief and con artist extraordinaire, Vanja, who hasn’t been dealt an easy hand in life, but with whom her misdeeds catch up after she ‘swaps‘ life with the princess she had been serving most of her life.

I wasn’t familiar with The Goose Girl tale this story is based on, hence the narrative felt wondefully original, whimsical and innovative. After looking up the fairytale, I love the spin Owen put on the story, and how she endowed the main folktale antagonist with a backstory and agency. I loved everything about Little Thieves: the intriguing magic system which combined curses, charms, gods and monsters; cosy, lived in setting of a German-like village, a loveable, diverse cast, adorable slow-burn romance, despicable villain, cheeky double innuendos, clever twists and turns, and effortlessly interwoven folklore elements and customs which endeared this book to me even further. It was fast-paced, funny and should satisfy readers craving heists, magic, fairytales, dorky love interests, feisty heroines with endless supply of quips and retorts, and fluffy reads with a surprising amount of heart.

Thank you NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the e-ARC!

This e arc was super badly formatted, which deterred me from reading it, but I preordered a physical copy which should be with me next week, so I’m looking forward to that, as the premise of the story still interests me

I really enjoyed reading this, the plot and storyline are excellent The characters , especially Death were fantastic and made for such addictive reading. The world building is absolutely wonderfully done, there’s so much to love about story. An absolutely beautiful, emotional and gripping read, one I will be buying a hardback copy of so I can return to this again and again.

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

Little Thieves is a loose Goose Girl retelling that takes the elements of the maid taking the noble's face and life. But where the real story follows the life of the stolen here we follow the life of the one that does the taking. And steps very far away from the one dimensional take of it all.

While the synopsis and this book start with that there once was a horrible girl, there is absolutely nothing horrible about Vanja in my eyes. She is just trying to survive in a world that does not protect her at all. Being given away as a small child to two gods who leave her at the steps of a household where she is abused throughout her childhood, there has been no real security for her. And if she wants anything she has to do it all herself. Eat or get Eaten. So she takes Giselle's life as her own and tries to steal as much money as she can so she can dissapear before her so called fiancee returns. Unfortunately her fiancee returns too soon with a detective dipping his toe in the thefts.

ittle Thieves is greatly crafted plot wise. While it is a bit on the long side, that sits in the conclusion that gets somewhat dragged out and then sped through too fast, before that there are so many twists and turns that worked so well to keep your attention going. I read this 500+ page book in a day.

And it helps that I cared about the characters. Like I said, I never saw Vanja as a horrible person but as someone who needs to do whatever she can to surive. Ragna, the shapeshifting daughter of a god, was a great asset to Vanja to show that kindness is something that does exist, for her too. Not everything comes with a price. Our lovely detective keeps offseting Vanja with his smarts which is not something she is used to. And then adding in characters from her past like Gisele and a friend maid from previous years, it tugs at your heart strings it does.

The only downside for me was the ending. I felt like the build up to the wrap up was a bit too long and then there was the actual ending where I felt we fast forwarded to. It just jolted me out a bit.

Full review available on my blog 25/11/2021

Content Warnings: discussed child abuse, neglect, attempted sexual assault.

I actually knew nothing about The Goose Girl when I started reading this book, and despite reading several summaries I still know basically nothing about The Goose Girl now. I recognise one fairytale and that’s the story of Vanja Schmidt. I did love the Germanic folklore-ish setting though. Vanja is sarcastic and sharp-tongued and a little (a lot) bitter about her lot in life. After being adopted by Death and Fortune, two goddesses she’s now indebted to, and then cursed by another god for her greed, she’s disenfranchised by pretty much the whole world (mood, Vanja) and she’s willing to do just about anything to get herself out of her life and into a future where she’s completely free. She’s so vibrant that she just seemed to leap off of the page. Honestly, all of the characters are this vibrant but I will not deny that Vanja and Emeric completely own me.

I loved the way that this book felt kind of like I was being told a story. It made it spectacularly easy to read and I marathoned it so quickly. It also makes for a great audiobook, as it kind of feels like you’re being told Vanja’s tale by some kind of bard – she’s definitely the hero that nobody wanted. The character relationships are the real heart of this book. It had a weird opposite-to-found-family thing going on, that I actually really liked. Vanja’s kind of been forcibly adopted into her found family against her will, even as she tries to stay a heartless and independent thief. There’s a lot happening in this book, but Owen does a good job at keeping it from getting overwhelming and overcomplicated and manages to bring everything to a really satisfying conclusion.

The relationship between Vanja and Emeric is just so, so good. I absolutely love that we have this very proper and procedural investigator trying to catch our fierce antiheroine out and ending up falling head over heels for her during their chase. It’s incredible and you can see them growing closer and then fighting their feelings for each other over and over again in such a satisfying way. I loved how real and authentic their relationship felt and that we’re once again being gifted with gorgeous fantasy settings that are completely queernorm worlds.

Not long after I finished this, there was an announcement that we’ll be getting another book in this world and I’m so pleased because while I usually prefer standalone novels (and this wraps up perfectly) I just love these characters so much that I can’t wait to read more about them.

One of the best books I’ve read this year, and possible one of my favourites ever.

Little Thieves is based on The Goose Girl, and it’s an incredible book about Vanja, the adopted daughter of Death and Fortune. Cursed by a local Low God, Vanja must make up for all she has stolen before the full moon, or become her greed by literally transforming into rubies and pearls.

I found it to be a fairly slow start, but it quickly ramps up and the ending is phenomenal. I’m thrilled to hear this isn’t going to be a standalone, and I can’t wait to dive back into Vanja’s story.

I thank NetGalley and publisher for allowing me to read and review this book

The Goose Girl is a German fairytale. It's not that well known as the other fairytales
from the collection of Brother Grimm's fairy tales. Little Thieves is a retelling of The Goose Girl.

To get a better grasp at the plot of the story I had to do some research about The Goose Girl before I started reading the book. Like all the Fairytales collected by Brother Grimm, The Goose Girl is a dark one. I like the fact that the Grimm brothers didn't sugar coat the stories. They're all dark and twisted in some way or the other.

Margaret Owen has masterfully reimagined the fairytale and has given it her very own quirk.
Undoubtedly, Little Thieves encompasses many different tropes like morally grey main character, villain is the main character, enemies to lovers, hidden identities, royalty and many more. The best one I think that describes this book well is the "catch me if you can" trope. There aren't a lot of books that use this trope and it is really fun to read one.

We should get on with the story now, shall we?

Vanja Schmidt, our main character, was adopted by the Goddesses Death and Fortune, after being abandoned by her mother when she was little. She grew up being the goddaughter of Death and Fortune.

Up until a year ago, Vanja worked as Princess Gisele's servant. That was when, suddenly her godmothers demanded a heavy price for the support and care they bestowed upon her throughout the years. Having no other choice and wanting to protect her future, Vanja stole the life of the princess she worked for, Princess Gisele.

With the help of a magical, pearl necklace she could alter her appearance and look just like Gisele and take her place as Princess, leaving the real Gisele in a destitute state.

Vanja continues to live her double life as Princess and jewel thief. When she accidentally offends the wrong god by stealing one of her trinkets. She is now cursed and will turn into a jewel in two weeks if she doesn't give back what she stole.

It was clear that Vanja had a really tough life and wanted so much more than what was given to her. She is clever, calculated, and conniving. There were times when I wanted to hate her but every time I tried to she grew even more and I just felt more compassion towards her. It's her flaws, her malevolence that make her feel so real and absolute. At the end it is also her wholeheartedness, her hope to have something more that gives her character the edge. Vanja's development throughout the book was gripping. Witnessing her growth and rise was something that you don't always get to see in books.

The world building is really dense and it is quite similar to most worlds in the fantasy genre. It has some German flair that adds a little sparkle to it. The plot is fast paced, action packed and has a bit of romance, which is really sweet actually. Even though I could predict a couple of the twists in the book, they were still good.

The other characters in the book were interesting and had their own kind of story and happily ever after. I especially loved Vanja and Ragne's friendship and of course Emric, the detective assigned to capture Vanja, had caught my attention from the very beginning and clumsily fell into the one of the sweetest beings alive category.

Overall, Little Thieves is an amazing book. I enjoyed reading it very much. I loved how the ending turned the book into a heartfelt story.

I thoroughly enjoyed this from start to finish. It is probably one of the best paced and true to form fantasy heist books I have read. It flows like any good heist movie plot keeping you guessing and on your toes throwing in red herrings at the right time and then an epic explaining how the con works! It really takes you on a fantastic journey.

Owen's writing is fantastic, it really draws you in and as she plays her cards so close to her chest you really do find yourself eagerly turning the pages to find out what could possibly happen next. The characters were all morally grey and I loved it. I do wish we had got a little more depth on some of the side characters as they seemed to play a big role in some of the cons but didn't get much in the way of back story to explain their inclusion. I adored both the romances and thought they all played very well off of each other. I also liked the villain's they were also detailed and interesting enough. I loved the concept of death and fortune and them adopting a daughter and how that worked out for Vanja. It made the magic system fascinating especially how it played into the world. Vanja was an excellent narrator, she had real sass about her which worked great when explaining all her plots and schemes, how she got away with them and the chase from both the law, her magical family and the predicament she got herself into.

Speaking of world building! Wow the world building in this was amazing, stuffed with magic and mythology, but also just the day to day lives of the people not just in the kingdom but of those surrounding it. We get glimpses of every part of life in this world, their religious beliefs, their justice system and magic, all of it is in splendid detail. The world is so full of colour and description that it was so easy to picture. It made the actions and adventures of the characters so believable even when surrounded by the magic.

Overall this was just such a great read. I want more from this world. I want more from Vanja and her adventures. I am so thankful that this appears like it is going to be at least a duology as I cant wait to read more. This was just so much fun.

I had so much fun delving into this world and I found this was a wonderful retelling of a fairytale that I had never read of until Little Thieves. The illustrations were the perfect addition to such a great story.

I absolutely loved this book, if you are a fan of Fairy Tale retellings you will love this. A loose retelling of the Grimm Brother's Goose Girl.
This book has it all, it's full of adventure, suspense, action, mystery and a couple of beautiful love stories. I love Margaret Owens writing style, I was hooked after a few pages.
The narrator and protagonist, Vanja, is an orphan but has the god's Fortune and Death as godmothers, when she was left with them at 3 years of age, Death and Fortune gave her to a castle, as a servant, a then maid to
the Princess. At the age of 16 Vanja steals the identity and ultimately the life of the princess to escape a life of abuse and servitude. She plans that this deception will only last until she has enough money to leave the empire's borders. But the Lower Gods have something else in mind and so begins a great adventure, full of more deceit, murder, love, forgiveness and friendship.
A solid 5 star read for me that I would highly recommend.

When I saw I am obsessed with this book I mean it seriously.

Little Thieves by Margeret Owen was one of my most anticipated releases of 2021, and I am happy to say it met all of my expectations - and then some.

I love a fairytale retelling with a twist and since Little Thieves is a Goose Girl retelling I was very excited to see how Owen’s might have changed it - and she did it by tellling it from the ‘villainous’ maids perspective.

Vanja is everything I want in a main character - snarky, strong, and hell on wheels.
She is also the adopted goddaughter of Fortune and Death and I love the rocky weird relationships she has to her godparents. She has a hard shell but continually tries to do what is best for her as no one else does so.
And throughout the book you get to see how each of those relationships to the other characters impact her - in good, and in bad ways.

Honestly this story took a hold of me and didn’t let go.
Its humorous, fast paced, well written and heart breaking - and I mean that because it had me crying more then once. .

It also has a whole host of queer characters and honestly I couldn’t wish for anything more from this.

Firstly, thank you to NetGalley and Margaret Owen for the ARC of Little Thieves.
5 stars!
If I could give more, I would in a heartbeat! As you can say, I'm obsessed with the book and cannot wait for the sequel to come out!
'We have told our own stories, named our destinies ourselves. If I fall, I fall without fear.'

Vanja, a daughter of Death and Fortune. A thirteen daughter of the thirteen child who was thought to bring misfortune to the family, given away to the gods. Raised as their own and given a choice to serve either of her godmothers. But Vanja did not want to serve anyone anymore. She wanted to be free. But freedom comes with the price and being a maiden to the princes, she did not have enough money to buy her way out. So she decided to steal.
She changed her name to Greta, never giving her real name away. She stole princesses face and her life, she left her on the streets to find out the real struggle.
Vanja's story reminded me of the Robin Hood one. She was stealing from the rich in exchange for a better life. Her life was above everyone's else and she paid for it. After stealing expensive jewellery from one of the many castles, she came across the low god who caught her in her act. She might have gone unnoticed if not for the stolen protection coin of the same low god who not only stopped her caravan but the time as well. Vanja was cursed with rubies. You may think that it doesn't sound as bad. Rubies? Ha! That's what Vanja thought at first too. She could buy at least 5 horses with it! But there is always a trick behind god's mind. With every coming day, nearing the full moon, rubies would appear on her body till they suffocate her and claim her life. Because of her greed, she needed to pay everyone who've she's stolen from to break the curse.
And what was the first thing Vanja did after a rubie appeared on her cheek? She tried to cut it out! Oh, I love this girl!
I did enjoy a quirky and smart female protagonist. Vanja never let anyone bring her down or make her feel bad about herself. She thought till the end. Yes, she made mistakes but who is perfect? At least she tried to change something about herself without selling herself out. Death and Fortune were always on her toes, pushing her to ask for help. It would have made Vanja's life easier but after she'd need to serve one of them till the day she'd die. And all she wanted is love from her godmothers. I think most of us want simple things like Vanja did. Love, appreciation, acknowledgement and freedom. Some are born with it while others must fight for it.
I could keep talking about Little Thieves all day and night but I do not want to spoil an incredible experience for you.
The book is perfect for enemies to lovers, action, adventure, mythology and fantasy lovers. The book is filled with everything for everyone! If you're stuck with the same old book, which seems to bore you to death, put it aside and grab a copy of Little Thieves! Let the adventure begin!