With two weeks to break her curse, she’ll battle a sinister fiancé, an overeager junior detective, and contend with a feral half-guardian to pull off the biggest trick to save her own life. However, when she crosses the wrong God she’s cursed to an untimely end: turning into stone for her greed. Vanja’s charm allows her to lead a double life among the nobility, whilst also lurking in the shadows as a jewel thief.

She casts off her servant garbs for a string of pearls that carry an enchantment to change her face to Princess Gisele’s, while the real princess is left alone and penniless. When her godmother’s care comes at a terrible price, she chooses to steal a life that isn’t hers. You’re not going to want to miss it!Īs the goddaughter of Death and Fortune, Vanja Schmidt has become an expert at understanding that no deal comes without its price. It’s definitely got some teeth, so you’ll want to bear that in mind when you’re adding it to your TBR. There’s no doubt in my mind that Vanja is going to worm her way into your soul the way she did mine, and the same for Emeric, Ragne, and Gisele. After reading Margaret Owen’s previous duology, I thought I came in prepared for magic, mayhem, and a little madness, but what I didn’t prepare for was to cry in the middle of a story of a young woman who’s mastered the art of truth-telling through deceit and the seemingly insurmountable task of wanting to be cherished. And with a feral guardian half-god, Gisele’s sinister fiancée, and an overeager junior detective suddenly complicating the picture, saving herself will take Vanja’s biggest grift yet.Ī wickedly irreverent retelling of “The Goose Girl,” Little Thieves is a YA fantasy about stolen lives, thorny truths, and the horrible girls at the heart of both.Any retelling of ‘The Goose Girl’ is always an insta-read for me and Little Thieves was no exception. Abruptly cursed to turn into jewels herself, she’s left with just two weeks to make up for everything she’s taken before the curse claims her life. Then, one heist away from freedom, Vanja crosses the wrong god. All she needs is enough to fund an escape from the god-mothers, Death and Fortune, who took her in as a child-and have come to collect her debt. Now Vanja leads a lonely but profitable double life, charming the nobility with the pearls’ facade while ransacking their coffers as a wanted jewel thief. Once the loyal servant of the Princess Gisele, Vanja stole a string of enchanted pearls that transformed her into the glamorous princess, leaving the true Gisele a penniless nobody. For the last year, the wicked maid Vanja Schmidt has lived a lie.

Margaret owen little thieves