Little Thieves is a fantasy retelling of The Goose Girl. It follows a girl named Vanja who being the thirteenth daughter of a thirteenth daughter was adopted by the gods, Fortune and Death, for she was believed to be bad luck.

I liked the unique story. It had the political intrigue, friendship, romance, and of course, magic. The world building and magic system were set up well, too. The dark fairytale vibes in a German village were so atmospheric. I also commend the diversity and reps included in the story.

However, I didn't love it nor hate it. The things that made me less enjoy this was the slow pacing and I didn't care enough for the characters to be fully invested.

Overall, this book would be a good read for people who enjoy a unique retelling and atmospheric setting.

A big thanks to Hodder and Stoughton for the digital galley. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Loved this book, the characters were well thought out and I felt like I really knew them. The story line was gripping and kept me interested throughout. Would definitely recommend this book!

Once upon a time, there was a horrible girl . . .

Vanja Schmidt knows that no gift is freely given, not even a mother's love. The adopted goddaughter of Death and Fortune, Vanja has long made her own way in the world as the dutiful servant of Princess Gisele. Until a year ago, when her otherworldly mothers demanded payment for their care, and Vanja decided to steal her future back . . . by stealing Gisele's life.

This was a favourite read of mine. I loved the way the author built this world, I loved the depth, the characters, the magic system. All of it was absolutely amazing.

Read full review at our blog - link provided. We'd like to thank the publisher for giving us a copy in exchange for a review!

I absolutely loved this story! Yet, I find it hard to put my opinion to words this time.

Rettelings are always interesting to read, but when it opens the world of so called villain for us - I must have it and read it. And even though often standalones are not enough for me, but with "Little thieves" I feel very satisfied.

However, at first I was a tad confused, not sure where the author is going with this. Yet, I loved the main character from the very beginning till the very last word. Her ways weren't the best, yet completely understandable. And soon enough things started to fall to places, then suddenly everything made sense and the more I read -  the harder it was to peal myself away from the story.

To put it short, I enjoyed all of the characters, but one special creature with red eyes was my favorite. Dynamic between characters was well written, I loved the world building and simply enjoyed the story. What I liked was that in "Little thieves" characters weren't too sexualised like we often see (even in YA books). Relationships aren't based on lust, but rather emotional connection and I found that quite relatable.

I truly recommend "Little thieves" to any fantasy lover that goes into a book for the storyline and growth of characters, not just romance. It's really well written and interesting book

After a mildly slow start to the read, I was left absolutely astounded at the outcome! It was magnificent and exciting and just the perfect amount of sassy. You follow Vanja, who is also Giselle and Marthe and a notorious thief emptying the noble houses of their wealth. She's selfish and sarcastic and self-serving and I loved following her through this book, seeing how she became a better person, how she changed and how she remained the exact same as she was. Ragne has my heart and Junior Prefect Conrad is a brilliant mind that challenged Vanja and kept her on her toes. What an amazing story this was!

I forgot to write a review to say unfortunately the formatting was s bad I couldn't actually read the ebook sent to me and so I ended up waiting until I had a physical copy.

I fell in love with this from page one. Little Thieves is a retelling of a not so well known the Goose Girl fairy-tale, I feel like this book is exactly what a fairy-tale retelling should be. While I am not familiar with The Goose Girl story Little Thieves does a good job in make sure we know a lot about it while keeping itself as an original story.

Little Thieves was a very enjoyable read and one I will be definitely be revisiting.

Thank you so much to netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with this E-arc

I must admit I wasn't actually familiar with The Goose Girl before reading Little Thieves, so everything managed to be a surprise which I really enjoyed. If you don't already know the tale I'd argue it's better to read it afterwards.

We follow Vanja through seven tales, each of them shedding more light on how she came to be where she is. As a child her birth mother decided that she was unlucky, and sought out a god in the woods. It was there that she came across Death and Fortune, fully prepared to let her four-year-old die she left Vanja with the gods. The two adopted her rather than took her life which led to her having a very unique perspective. But as a human child in the world of gods, she can't stay there for long. Which is how she ends up as a servant to Princess Gisele. To say the two have a difficult relationship is quite the understatement, so we open up to find Vanja is impersonating the princess with enchanted pearls and not quite knowing where she is.

It was really fun. Vanja is greedy to her core and always looking out for herself, which she has to because nobody else will. You find yourself growing sympathetic for the 'evil maid' because her behaviour is a result of being backed into a corner. There's a truly evil (and downright murderous) fiancé who women are warned to never be alone with, a curse and an intense investigation by representatives of the Gods. Brilliant! I found myself giggling at some points and tearing up at others.

This book is absolutely one of my favourites now, I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys fairy tales, murder mysteries, heists and clever twists.

Little Thieves reimagines the Brothers Grimm fairy tale "The Goose Girl", but not through the eyes of the princess, as fairy tales usually do; instead, it's told by the princess' maid, a clever thief, who's determined to steal her future back and make a life for herself—a life in which she can be free. But beneath that concept, Little Thieves also tells the story of a girl who lies and lies and lies, because the one time she wanted to tell the truth, no one believed her—and now she’s too afraid to try again. Maybe, somewhere along the way to find her freedom, she will learn to trust again.

From the very beginning, I was intrigued by the world of Little Thieves, this place where gods are real and fairy tales aren’t just stories. I love the mythology of it all, of Death and Fortune being Vaja’s—the protagonist’s—godmothers; her complicated relationship with them, her feelings ambivalent, as she longs for nothing more than to be free and serve no one, not even them. And yet, she’s granted at least a hint of their power: Vanja is able to see the way Fortune and Death move in this world, how Fortune tips the scales this way and that, how Death comes for those who are no longer meant for this life.

Margaret Owen tells this story in such a wonderfully fitting way, so similar to the “Once upon a time”-feeling of fairy tales, and yet there’s something incredibly unique to it, too. At times, Vanja herself tells the reader her story, at other times the reader is able to watch over her shoulder, as it unfolds—and yet, from the beginning, Vanja tells us that this is the story of how she, a little thief, was caught. I’m very fond of this story concept, of knowing a bit of what’s to happen before it happens, and yet being unable to tell why and how it will happen at last—at least at first. This makes for such an engaging reading experience, and is thus already a reason I’d recommend Little Thieves.

Even with all the fairy tale influences, Vanja is not your usual protagonist, or at least not the kind of protagonist you’d expect in a story such as this one. Why? Because she’s a thief. Fairy tales are all about morality, about right and wrong, in a very black-and-white kind of way, no place in between. But Vanja has been treated poorly all her life, and now she’s desperate, and she’d do anything to choose where she wants to go next, what she wants to do—at least once. I love this subversion of classic fairy tale tropes, the realisation that there’s more than just right and wrong, that morality is something nuanced, in most cases. That said, it’s undoubtedly true that Vanja is quite cunning, and that she, too, still has to learn a thing or two about justice.

Margaret Owen subverts the classic fairy tales in many different ways beside that. One that stood out to me especially and which I’d like to touch on in this review is that of the “love at first sight” trope that’s very prevalent in many fairy tales. But Vanja is demi—the words aren’t used on the page, but she does state that she has neither a romantic nor sexual attraction to people, unless she forms a deeper bond with them—and thus falling in love with just the first person she sees is out of the question. Representation like this makes my heart so unbelievably happy, and I cannot thank the author enough for including it.

I really love Vanja as a protagonist. The more books I read, the more I notice the characters I feel for most are always those who make mistakes—especially girls or women. And Vanja makes mistakes, quite a lot of them. But she also learns. She’s grown up with so much cruelty and so little love, and she doesn’t trust anyone but herself, because she’s learned that most people always want something in return. It has made her bitter, but it has also made her strong—strong enough to survive, again and again. And when people come into her life to help her, without expecting to be repaid in kind, she doesn’t know how to deal with it. But she learns, and she tries, and she slowly, slowly begins to understand that life could be a lot better, if you let the right people in.
Vanja has one of the best character arcs I’ve ever read, truly. She stays herself throughout everything that happens, but along the way, she heals—slowly, but surely. She’s cunning and she’s selfish at times, she’s a liar and a thief, she’s made so many mistakes—but she also so desperately wants to trust the people she’s let into her life, even though she’s been hurt countless of times before; and I think that is incredibly brave. The way she always thought one step ahead, had a new plan for every one that went badly, and always managed to get back on her feet—I admire her so much for it. And even more for the few moments she allowed herself to be vulnerable, even though that scared her more than anything. I love her a lot and I love this book and I already want to read it again!

And the way Margaret Owen told this story through Vanja’s eyes just worked so perfectly. The tone was just so entirely Vanja—her cleverness, her cunning—that I could almost see her sitting next to me, telling the story with a smirk on her face. I love stories that feel not like you’re reading them, but like they’re being told to you—and this was Vanja’s story, through and through, told exactly the way she wanted it to be told.

The world-building, too, just pulled me in: I’ve always been a little bit in love with fairy tales, but Little Thieves took that love a step further. There were magical creatures—a kobald guarding the hearth, shape-shifting half gods, evil dream-eating creatures and so much more—then there were the Low Gods themselves, from Vanja’s godmothers to many others the reader met along the way. There were the small hints of magic, from Gisele’s appearance-altering pearls, to Emeric’s various spells and tricks, to the existence of witches and warlocks and all the chaos that could potentially entail. And all of that set in a Germanic-inspired world, in which fairy tales are very much real.

It should also be said that the side characters were phenomenal as well. All of them were so fleshed out, and so unique in their voices, their hopes and desires. Emeric, Ragne, and Gisele stood out to me especially, but I truly have so much love for almost all of the supporting characters, from the kobald Poldi, to the different Low Gods, to the (sometimes reluctant) friends Vanja made along the way. And the dynamic between them all was fantastic as well!

There’s truly so much I loved about Little Thieves. It’s fun and so, so engaging, and I always wanted to know what would happen, breathlessly waiting to see what disastrous plan Vanja had thought up next. But it also examined themes of abuse and loneliness so thoughtfully, in ways I would’ve never anticipated; the way this book showed Vanja, who had been abandoned and hurt her entire life, who knew nothing but that the only person she could trust was herself, heal—slowly, yes, and on a path that was littered in mistakes, yes, but heal all the same. I’m very, very glad for that.

I don’t think I can list all the ways that this book made me feel, and explain why the elements used within this story worked so perfectly together. I feel like Little Thieves just had it all. At times so funny that I laughed out loud (really), so emotional that it made my heart ache, so infuriating that I wanted to through the book across the room, so heartwarming and soft that it brought tears to my eyes—I think I felt almost every single emotion one can feel, while reading. Overall, Little Thieves was a phenomenal book, and the very best kind of fairy tale retelling! I cannot recommend it enough.

I cannot emphasize enough how amazing this book is. I fell in love with the characters and rooted for our smart protagonist every damn minute.

I always love a morally grey character and in this Goose girl retelling, we hear the story from the POV of the wicked maid. Vanya isn’t evil but she’s deliciously self-serving. Unfortunately life and it’s various cruelties have made her so and I found her very relatable. I would have done even more ruthless things than she does but then this would be a whole other story and defo not YA.

There are lots of twists and turns and lots of interesting characters that we meet. It’s starts off a little slow but I like the scene setting and the atmospheric build up to the tale. Once the action gets going though it’s really full throttle and I galloped to the end 😉.

Overall this is a highly recommended 4.4/5 stars.

After a spate of pretty disappointing books to start the year, this was absolutely the book I needed to kick that trend in the teeth and get me excited about picking up books again.

LITTLE THIEVES is such a fun, irreverent book, full of scheming girls and an adorable geeky boy. It's just so much fun - devious plots and heists and characters tricking each other. It was just a rollick of a book, bouncing for situation to situation with a tongue-in-cheek narrator. The voice is brilliant and pulls you in. It's also interspersed with apparent fairy tales that go dark - and then the fourth wall is broken (a lot.)

It's a retelling of the Goose Girl, but this time it doesn't follow the poor, deposed princess, Rather the maid who steals the princess' life is the lead, and it is so much fun to see this new take on it. It completely flips your expectations of the story on its head, and has <em>so many</em> clever nods to the fairy tale. For example, I squealed once Falada came up. I mean seriously, is there a cleverer way to hint at his role in the original than <em>that?</em>

Both Vanja and the Junior detective (Emeric) are demi-sexual and <em>I loved getting that representation</em>. All the confused feelings, all the awkward, blurting discussions about attraction (or lack thereof without knowing the person.) It made their slow burn so yay for me (and I was actually invested in it because of it.)

It is romance with all the acknowledgement that, for them, slow burn via a deep understanding of the other person before romantic attraction was the only way. Plus all the panic of "oh heck what am I feeling and how do I deal with this?" That's the romance I like in books, where the biggest emotional drama is the "I literally don't know what to do with these feelings" rather than the external relationship drama of things not going well on an interpersonal level. For me it's all about the intrapersonal confusion.

A sequel has been announced and it's now very high up my priority list.

As often happens when I utterly and totally love a book, I am struggling to write a proper review for this one. Little Thieves was an absolute blast to read and, while I had a feeling I might like it, it completely blew my expectations out of the water! I read this towards the end of 2021 and it easily earned its rightful place as one of my favourite reads of the year.

Starting from a lesser-known fairytale, The Goose Girl, Little Thieves manages to craft a wholly new and original tale, maintaining all the key elements from the original without simply re-writing it. In short, it masterfully does precisely what a retelling should do, and it was so refreshing. The Germanic medieval-esque setting worked beautifully as a backdrop to this story, and its society, traditions and lore were essential in making this book so great to read, complementing the plot in an exquisite manner.

But where the book really shines is in the cast of characters. All the characters (including some of the minor ones) were drawn in an incredibly realistic manner, and our main character and narrator, Vanja, was one of the best I have had the joy to read about. She is deliciously complex, snarky, resourceful, witty, and of dubious morality but in a way that is always understandable, if not always justifiable. I loved the inclusion of seven tales throughout the book to give background, explain past events, and give some context as to why characters would behave a certain way. They may not have always made the best decisions, but it made complete sense for them to do so, and this is something I really enjoy seeing.

The rest of the cast was also fantastic, with a wide range of characters, some lovable and some utterly despicable. Shape-shifting half-goddess Ragne, who is assigned by her mother to guard Vanja after she is cursed, definitely earned a spot in my heart! But so did (almost) everyone else to be honest... The character development in this book is *chef's kiss*! I also loved the inclusion of low and high Gods and their interactions with humans, and Vanja in particular.

The plot was intricate enough to keep me gripped, with never a dull moment despite the book's size, but it never became so complicated that I felt lost or like it was going off on a tangent. Instead, every moment felt absolutely necessary within the overall scheme and it all came together beautifully. Plus, there were tons of elements I loved, such as a bit of heist and cons; magic; glorious food descriptions; friendships, betrayals, and love; and even a dash of courtroom drama!

In short, Little Thieves is sheer perfection and I am so, so happy it found its way to me. I look forward to re-reading this one soon!

Thanks to Hodder & Stoughton for my gifted digital copy and to Kate Keehan for my giveaway win of the exclusive preview (written and illustrated by the exceptionally talented Margaret Owen) and rubies and pearls.

I love this book so much. Vanja isn’t a good person, she believes that. I love her stubbornness when it comes to Death & Fortunes offers of help.

I loved Ragna, her innocence and unwavering devotion. She was my favourite character after Vanja of course.

I loved how the story was broken into shorter fairytales/stories and then the truths behind those stories. Each one painted such a vivid picture in my mind.

Such a refreshing read with excellent world building and descriptions. I found myself laughing out loud or rolling my eyes along with Vanja at several points.

I both read and listened to this book on audio (because I can’t drive and read at the same time 🤣 and I didn’t want to put it down!) and the audio was brilliant and brought the book to life so much!

I cannot wait for the sequel for this book and to see what happens with Vanja & Emeric. I’m also really hoping Ragna is in the next book too 🤞🏽🤞🏽

I really enjoyed this book, it was so much better than i expected. I loved Vanja and how she wanted to control her own life after having people dictate what she was meant to do all her life. Reading her try to get out of the curse was so fun, especially a character that has been very selfish for the past year. The relationships she builds with the other characters were so well done, even the love interest. They were two completely different people who were so drawn in by each other. I didn’t like the character of Gisele, i found her annoying and didn’t find myself liking the parts she was in. However, no matter how much i disliked her i still loved the book. There were elements I didn’t expect like the deeper evil, with the demon horse things. I rated this star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Little Thieves is a retelling of The Goose Girl. I've never read or heard anything about The Goose Girl, so I'm not able to compare both of them.

I enjoyed the slow burn romance.
Ragne is a mood and I loved every time she appeared. She is funny and adorable shapshifter and overall my favourite character,
Vanja is supposed to be an unlikeable character but I liked her. I liked how little self esteem she had at the beginning and how much she evolved, I liked how she tried to figure out every complex feeling and every doubt she had and I liked how she opened up to people even though she was scared of being betrayed.
Gisele and Vanja friendship had a lot of complicated moments. It was interesting seeing them overcome their differences by putting themselves in eachother's shoes.

This book is part of a duology, but I think it is great as a standalone. I don't think there are any loose ends.


Hodder & Stoughton gifted me a digital copy of Little Thieves in exchange for an honest review.

Little Thieves is by far one of the most enjoyable, heartfelt and beautifully imagined retellings I have had the pleasure to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder and Stoughton for allowing me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Plot summary:
Vanja is not a good person, and she is quite aware of this fact. She knows nothing is freely given, and must therefore be taken and as an adopted daughter of Death and Fortune, she has made herself a servant to Princess Gisele.

Her mother’s wanted her to be a servant, she instead stole herself a life imitating the Princess and being a jewel thief to the rich nobility.

That is until she steals form the wrong person, a god’s curse leaves her with just two weeks to pull off her biggest heist yet. With a whole cast of characters determined to thwart her efforts- this time she may just lose her life.

Review:
Plot and World Building – This was a really wonderful premise based off the story of the Goose girl and it is superbly and imaginatively done. The first few chapters I will admit took me some time to work through due to the mass of world building, but as I eased into the story more it became comforting. Overall the plot was enticing and well imagined, with some fantastic Ace Space Representation and the world building was superb.

Overall pacing of the story was very fast and it worked well for the plot for the most part, although there were points I felt were slightly rushed/overlooked towards the end of the book.

Characters and Development- Vanja is one of the best female protagonists I have had the joy of reading in a very long time. She reminds me of a gremlin like creature- she is well aware of her flaws and simply does not care. She will do whatever is required to get ahead, is sarcastic and humorous and I loved every second of her and her development and she has become one of my favourite characters ever written. As someone who identifies as Demisexual, seeing it represented in a book… exactly how I feel, and how it feels to want relationships and not quite understand the emotional bond required, is something that had me close to tears so bravo for that!

Her counterpart, in the form of a junior detective, was absolutely amazing. His development was just fantastic and the fact he was also Demisexual. The best representation I have seen for Ace Space books in a while! His development was amazing and his relationship with Vanja was just heart-warmingly perfect.

The side characters all had moments to shine and all added something, however I felt the villain was slightly one dimensional and could have had some more hard hitting notes but overall was done well. Also the general Queer representation overall within this story- beautifully done.


Final Thoughts:
This is the first book by the author I have had the pleasure to read and it’s already got me looking at her other works. An Imaginative, immersive, beautifully imagined book with Queer Representation and some of the best romance and protagonists I have read in a long time.

One of the best YA novels I’ve read in years. Little Thieves is fresh and new, with a voice you cannot stop from dragging you in from page one. Vanja is courageous and hilarious and fierce all in one, and the adventures she brings you on leave you holding your breath and waiting for more all at once.