Hello Coven!!! Happy Wednesday! Today we are thrilled to share our review for “Little Thieves” by Margaret Owen. Don’t forget to check out the rest of the tour!
Little Thieves by Margaret Owen Published on October 19th, 2021 by Henry Holt and Company (BYR)
Format: ARC provided by Netgalley
Pages: 512
Purchase Links*:
Once upon a time, there was a horrible girl…
Vanja Schmidt knows that no gift is freely given, not even a mother’s love–and she’s on the hook for one hell of a debt. Vanja, the adopted goddaughter of Death and Fortune, was Princess Gisele’s dutiful servant up until a year ago. That was when Vanja’s otherworldly mothers demanded a terrible price for their care, and Vanja decided to steal her future back… by stealing Gisele’s life for herself.
The real Gisele is left a penniless nobody while Vanja uses an enchanted string of pearls to take her place. Now, Vanja leads a lonely but lucrative double life as princess and jewel thief, charming nobility while emptying their coffers to fund her great escape. Then, one heist away from freedom, Vanja crosses the wrong god and is cursed to an untimely end: turning into jewels, stone by stone, for her greed.
Vanja has just two weeks to figure out how to break her curse and make her getaway. And with a feral guardian half-god, Gisele’s sinister fiancé, and an overeager junior detective on Vanja’s tail, she’ll have to pull the biggest grift yet to save her own life.
Margaret Owen, author of The Merciful Crow series, crafts a delightfully irreverent retelling of “The Goose Girl” about stolen lives, thorny truths, and the wicked girls at the heart of both.
This book was received for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect our opinion of the book or the content of this review.We'd like to thank the publishers and Netgalley for the review copy.
❧ Bookish Coven Rating
Well, this is the second retelling we got in such a short time!! October is now our retelling month as we have some other titles lined up too!! Sooo, let’s dive right in!
Little Thieves is the second book I read by Margaret Owen and one I was *super* excited to pick up!! Personally, I found The Merciful Crow to be a very underrated duology (which reminds me, I should finish that one!! #goals). In Little Thieves, the world-lore is very refreshing! It’s also a retelling of “The Goose Girl”, but it’s focusing on the antagonist.
“Once upon a time, there was a horrible girl…”
Vanja (our aforementioned antagonist), not only abandons the princess Gisele she serves leaving her penniless, but she also takes over her life. Literally. A Low God takes offense on Vanja’s crime, however, cursing her to become the very same stones she stole from Gisele. Vanja then embarks on a quest to break her curse, introducing us to a delightful cast of characters.
“Nothing stolen is ever mine. But there’s another truth on the other side of that coin: What is mine can always be stolen.”
I loved, loved Vanja and honestly I don’t want to continue gushing over the book – just go read it already!! I’m so happy that this title is one to be featured in one of my book subscriptions!! View Spoiler »
Overall, Owens gives us a powerful account of morality lessons in an amazing fantasy retelling package! This one should *not* be missed!!!
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About Margaret Owen
Born and raised at the end of the Oregon Trail, Margaret Owen first encountered an author in the wild in fourth grade. Roughly twenty seconds later, she decided she too would be an author, the first of many well-thought-out life decisions.
The career plan shifted frequently as Margaret spent her childhood haunting the halls of Powell’s Books. After earning her degree in Japanese, her love of espresso called her north to Seattle, where she worked in everything from thrift stores to presidential campaigns. The common thread between every job can be summed up as: lessons were learned.
Fortunately, it turned out that fourth-grade Margaret was onto something. She now spends her days wrestling disgruntled characters onto the page, and negotiating a long-term hostage situation with her two monstrous cats. (There is surprisingly little difference between the two.) In her free time, she enjoys exploring ill-advised travel destinations, and raising money for social justice nonprofits through her illustrations.
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