<I>”I may have been creative with a local legend and things got weird.” </I>

My gosh, how does Margaret Owen manage to fulfil me and gut me at the same time!?
I absolutely ADORE Vanja, and found myself laughing at some of the events in this book- honestly, only she would find her self in these situations 🥲 And at other times I just wanted to give her a hug- her emotional journey is just so good and beautiful and just everything for me.
I am OBSESSED with her and Emerics relationship- they are perfect for each, wonderful opposites that complement each other.
<I>”I want you to see yourself the way I do, because there is beauty in every inch of you Vanja. Just as you are.”</I>
Emeric is so patient and understanding and supportive and I think their banter in this is just wonderful 🥰
This was a fantastic continuation to Vanja’s story, introducing more fantastic lovable characters, revisiting characters we already know and throwing in some wonderful twists and turns.

I can’t wait till the next one!

I adored Little Thieves so much, so obviously had super high expectations going into this one, expectations that it met and then some. Vanja has become one of my all time favourite MC's. She's chaotic, even when she's not trying to be, strong willed and unapologetic, but she's also someone suffering from a trauma whether she will readily admit it or not, and that is the thing that holds her back, makes her believe she isn't deserving of love, happiness. You could say that she doesn't overly grow as a character in either of the books, and in regards to how she views herself and her worth you would be right. But Vanja has this ability to forge friendships, mostly by accident, allowing herself to feel love and care for those around her and it's this side of her that truly shows her growth from book one. She's less self centred, less entitled and more willing to put herself on the line for others, even those she doesn't know.

The story focuses on relationships, be they familial, romantic or those of friendship and a lot of time and attention is paid to these. Vanja goes through a bit of an emotional roller coaster in this book, we see almost all of her relationships tested in some way whether it be acknowledging that the family she thought lost had never forget her, or having enormous pressure put on her when her feelings for Emeric are used against her by an evil force. Owen does a great job of showing the complexities of these things through the viewpoint of a young woman who is more used to running from anything remotely hard, rather than sticking around and dealing with the consequences. All of Vanja's introspection and actions just made so much sense for both her character and her age, and I like that Owen's allowed her to act that way, rather than trying to make her more mature and in doing so change her nature.

As usual, Owen's graces us with a brilliant cast of side characters, some making an re-appearance from book one: Emeric, Ragne & Joniza to name a few, but we also meet a whole new bunch of characters, most of which I absolutely fell in love with, but there was one in particular that I never took too and that was Kirkling, the Prefect put in charge of Emeric's training. She takes an instant dislike to Vanja from their first meeting, and nothing she does seems able to change that. We also get to delve a little more into Vanja's family, and hoo boy did it get a little emotional, I definitely teared up a few times, but it was so brilliantly done.

Magic wise, it was just as special as the first book, delving into folklore and treating us to some truly epic new God's, folk etc, my favourite definitely being Brunne, the leader of the Wild Hunt who Vanja meets later in the book. Through Vanja's whole 'accidentally starting a cult' Owens shows the dangers of blind belief and how the more people believe in something, the more power it holds over us. Though there are some seriously emotional and high peril parts to this story, Owens manages to never make us feel too bogged down, thanks in large part to her witty writing style and also to the levity she allows her characters to have in the darker situations. It doesn't get silly, but it does allow us a break from the overwhelming emotions of certain scenes.

I mentioned above how the story really focuses on relationships, and the one that by far gets the most page time is Vanja and Emeric... thank god because I loved this pair in book one, and, as usual for this absolutely chaotic pair, it starts off bad and mostly goes down hill from there. Emeric's entrance to the story see's him being chosen as a sacrifice to the low God Vanja's cult accidentally worshipped into being, and the only way out is for Vanja to claim him, or collect the blood of seven brothers. The part of this I thought was done so well were the conversations about the 'claiming.' We get the idea that it means to have sex, something Vanja is wholly unprepared for, and Owen's does a terrific job of talking about this, whilst making it suitably hilarious and awkward to all involved, but also by making the topic about choice. There was absolutely no pressure on Vanja to 'claim' Emeric, apart from what she put on herself, and I just thought that whole part of the plot was dealt with so brilliantly. But romance lovers do not fret, there is plenty of heat, tension, touches etc to keep us going, as well as Vanja just relentlessly ripping into Emeric any chance she gets... but especially when she learns his kink.

I really enjoyed this book, the plot was as chaotic as the characters, flitting from sub-plot to sub-plot all the while having Emeric's looming sacrifice hanging over their heads. It's funny, ferocious in parts and filled with heart. Owens takes us on an emotional journey, that we think is all nicely tied up by the end and then throws us the most heartbreaking cliffhanger ever and now I need book three in my hands... asap!

PAINTED DEVILS is a tale of family, love, and irritating curses.

I have loved returning to this series. It's funny and clever and playing so much with fairy tale tropes. After LITTLE THIEVES stayed entirely in one city, this book gallops about the countryside bringing in folklore - the princess made to marry someone she didn't want to and suffering for it, forest spirits, the wild hunt. It's inventive and fun, weaving all these familiar elements into its own tongue-in-cheek world.

I laughed a lot during this book - the situations, the fourth wall breaks with Vanja's observations about things. It's amusing while weaving that into Vanja's voice so it sounds like she's there telling it to you.

If I loved LITTLE THIEVES for the demi-ace panic of "oh my goodness what is this I feel? Is it attraction? Oh no, what do I do?", then PAINTED DEVILS is the demi-ace panic over possibly having physical attraction and not knowing how far you want to take it - or how far you should. I adore seeing this rep in books, exploring the contrast between society and personal experience.

This book does not shy away from discussing sex in a relationship, but does it in such a naturally awkward way of two people with no clue what they're doing or what they want or how to talk about it. It's about the value of communication and respecting boundaries and working out how you feeel exactly. I also really loved how the book subverts expectations of when and how they should get intimate, showing how toxic some of those expectations are.

The tale also explores how trauma can affect relationships. Vanja's been told so many lies in her life about her worth and her body, ones that stick and worm their way in until its hard to see them for lies. She slowly begins working through them in this book and I loved seeing it. I also loved how supportive Emeric was the entire way, never pushing, just giving her the space and support to do that.

There is apparently another book to come in this series, which I am so excited about! Particularly as the ending is an emotional punch (the story is wrapped up nicely but it leaves character situations in an oh no that I want resolved now.)

You know that scene in The Simpsons and Bart’s crush pulls his heart out of his chest and says “you won’t be needing this anymore”

Yeah that.

Five stars and a standing ovation even though I’m no longer human and just a husk.

‘Let's get one thing straight - Vanja Schmidt wasn't trying to start a cult.

Vanja had one great mystery left in her life: her long-lost birth family . . . and whether they would welcome a thief. But in her search for an honest trade, she hit trouble and invented a god, the Scarlet Maiden, to scam her way out. Now that lie is growing out of control - especially when Emeric arrives to investigate and the Scarlet Maiden manifests to claim him as a virgin sacrifice. Is there a future for a thief and a prefect, and at what price?’

This sequel starts shortly after the first book, now if you read that review you will see that I LOVED book one, so I was super excited to read book 2 when it arrived. You know a story is going to be good when the main character is immediately drunk.

I really enjoyed the straight into the story aspect and I was happy to meet up with characters we know and love but there were many new ones to meet as well and some characters from book 1 did not appear as much as I would like.

The one thing about this book that I did not like was the sheer amount of horny teenager vibe but no no no touchy! Whilst I very much appreciate the time taken around consent and people’s different speeds at what they are ready for, I just found it REALLY slowed down the first half of the book and once that petered out of the story I found the second half much more enjoyable. I think it just slowed the pacing a lot to have some sort of near sex act on what felt like every page. Tonally, it just felt like a completely different book to book one.

But aside from that I loved the story, there were heists and surprising twists and loveable side characters. I enjoyed the quips and smart arse comments, as a fellow smart arse myself! Or at least an arsey commenter!

It was nice to see more of the world and some more locations for the story to take place. Will I be back for book 3? Absolutely but I just hope it’s more mischief and mayhem and less awkward fondling.

What a sentence to end on. Thank you to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for the ARC copy.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing this eARC. Ohh how I loved this book. It was funny (don't make the same mistake as I did and read it at night. You won't stop laughing.) I really love the story and Vanric (Vanja & Emeric). They are soo cute together. But we don't talk about the cliffhanger here. Nope. All I can say is that I need the last book immediately. Like right now. Or somebody to tell me where I can find the Saint of Libraries so he can tell me how it ends....

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for this eARC

Painted Devils continues where Little Thieves left off. This sequel has it all, romance, one bed trope, found family and not forgetting the humour.
Painted Devils was written really well and it kept you just as engaged with the story as the first book. The rich descriptions are well plotted out and the characters are created with such creativity, they're strong, a bit sassy and their interactions are excellently written making them realistic.
I really enjoyed reading this.

4*

Thanks to NetGalley for the arc of this book.

I really enjoyed this novel, even more so than Little Thieves. Owen really stepped up her game and brought the perfect blend of pacing, magic, and the interlocking ways that her storyline progressed. The romance was very sweet and fumbling, and I found it suited Vanja and Emeric perfectly. The fairy tale/folklore vibes of this story were really well done.

I think Owens needs to be a little careful with the dialogue/language used that means that sometimes I was drawn out of the story. I think some consideration of the time in which she's writing vs the language we use to today was needed.

But overall this was a great book, and I'm excited to see what Owen does next.

This series has my heart! I love the humor, the sass, the badass FMC, the whole chaos of a story, and to top it off, of course there's a completely enamoured shy prefect and it's all so cute!
Tropes: one bed, found family.

In this book, Vanja accidentally starts a cult after trying to retrieve her rubies she had dropped in the river on a drunken night. The god she preaches about brings wealth and fortune to the village. This fame brings her more trouble, namely the attention of the Prefects of the Godly courts. Preaching about any unregistered Low God is a criminal offence and the irony is that her boyfriend gets assigned to investigate this finding.

Usually she wouldn’t mind trouble but now facing Emeric whom she had put distance from, made things awkward.

They soon patch up and set out to investigate if the Scarlet Maiden was whom she claimed to be or not.

Scarlet Maiden has other plans though, by claiming Emeric as an instrument for her plans. She gives Vanja an ultimatum to either choose him or bring blood from 7 Ros brothers who are spread across the country. It’s a difficult choice to make, all the more trying with more new problems and truths hurled her way at every step of her journey.

I didn’t know I was waiting for this story until I finished it. If there ever was a sequel that was as intriguing as the first book, this was it. It was a long, winding book, and honestly, I was lost with all the new problems that kept coming, but in the end everything, even those tiny freaking details, fell into place. There are two major plot-twists that had my jaws hanging and completely took me by surprise. Bravo👏

Vanja is a trouble magnet and I love her brand of chaos. Even though her past follows her like a shadow in this book, she was her witty self, accepting her scars and embracing love at the same time. Her relationship with Emeric was stronger here and I’m glad the author didn’t bring unwanted tension for the sake of the plot. They worked as a team and they were hella cheesy. As a romance reader though, this book was a tease.

On reaching the climax, I was not ready for this series to end. I wanted more of Vanja and Emeric to keep this world going. After reading that ending, I was ecstatic to learn we have one more book with our favourite characters.

This series has the right blend of magic, mystery, cynical/ witty MC with a splash of romance, and who wouldn’t want more of that?

A huge thanks to Hodder & Stoughton and Netgalley for the DRC of this wonderful book!

This story follows on from Little Thieves, a short time after the first books concludes, Vanja is lost and has fallen back into a number of her old ways and Emeric appears to have been left hanging. Of course she 'starts a cult', in Vanja's world - these things just happen! I won't reveal too much more, there are twists upon twists which shape this story into an unsuspecting masterpiece.

This book is a humour and heartbreak roller-coaster. Be warned you will need tissues to wipe away the happy/sad tears and you WILL laugh out loud when reading certain moments of this.

Emeric remains an absolute cinnamon roll. Without getting too far into it, Emeric and Vanja's relationship is explored in a far more realistic light for their ages than many many romances out there.

There are a couple of themes around negative self image and emotional/psychological child abuse that readers should be aware of but they are a woven into Vanja's journey and personal growth.

Putting this up there in the book of the year category! I loved the first installment Little Thieves, I ADORE this second installment.

Painted Devils is the sequel to Little Thieves and picks up not too far after those events. I remember not being sure about Little Thieves and then loving it by the end so I was excited for Painted Devils.

It had a strong first quarter, I really enjoyed getting back to the world and how Vanja is her usual cheeky self. But Painted Devils holds some darker content - it really delves into her background, her family and the abuse she endured when she was taken away from that. Her attitude to life is more understandable and laid bare with subtle drops of insecurity and there is also the developing relationship between Vanja and Emeric which is just so clumsy and sweet 💛.

I did feel a dip in my interest midway through the book but once I got over the hump it was happy unputtdownable reading until the end so fair play to Owen for dragging me back in.

(Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review)

I was so scared this sequel would not live up to the masterpiece that is Little Thieves but it did!

My fave morally grey protagonist is back and I absolutely love her. Vanja has great character development in this book and was an amazing narrator. She's funny and sarcastic and I love reading from her point of view. The writing was also just as good as the first book and the lore and world-building is as interesting.

The sequel builds on the Gods and magic/fantasy elements mentioned in the first to create a rich world full of depth. I also really liked how we got to explore more of the world and visit multiple towns/cities. The plot was great and the pace was pretty good throughout (there were a couple of slow moments but it picked up again almost instantly).

I had such a fun time reading this book and cannot wait for the next one!

This is a tough one to rate. I absolutely adored Little Thieves. I loved watching the romance blossom, the friendships form and the story unfold. I’m asexual, demiromantic, so watching two demi main characters develop feelings for one another was special.

Then this book happened.

The friends are gone, (two of the friends come back but they’re not around for long) and the sweet romance has progressed to horney teenagers…..

One of the main themes of the books is sex and what virginity means (which is nothing, gotta hand it to the author for that).

I am NOT a fan of teens who just wanna bone all the time.

A curse is placed on Emeric that can be broken if he ‘loses his virginity’, but he and Vanja are not ready to be intimate yet, so the pressure is there and I HATED it. It took me a while to work out why this didn't sit well with me, and it's because of how I felt like I had to put on a performance as a teen in order to seem normal (ie, not ace, I didn’t even know it was a thing). And because I had such a rough time as a teen I was uncomfortable that two characters were pressured into anything sexual. The message is definitely ‘you're ready whenever YOU are ready and not anyone else’ and Vanja and Emeric have great conversations about this. They're super respectful of each other's boundaries and how far they're ready to go with one another.

I want to make it clear that this IS a YA and the sex IS fade to black.

So naturally, because of this curse and because Vanja and Emeric are so into one another that book heavily focuses on sex. It drastically brought the book down for me. It was a drastic change from the first book and it makes me question whether to read the next one. Hey, I’m not a prude. I know it reads like I am but give me a spicy adult (queer) romance and I’ll love every moment of it. I just didn’t expect Little Thieves to be followed with this kind of content.

Vanja forms lovely friendships in the first book and they’re all left behind in this one. I get that Emeric is a friend as well as a crush/boyfriend (idk) but it’s sad she didn't have anyone to talk to about any of these situations.

Otherwise, the story was engaging. It felt like it stretched out A LOT in the middle and I had the case of ‘why does this book need to be so long’? It could have been because of the sexual content, I don’t know. The ending was satisfying with a little cliffhanger, but the big bad is solved nicely enough to not need to read the next book right away.

So what to rate it? 3 stars. I was too uncomfortable to enjoy the book as a whole. With different themes, and not getting rid of Vanja's friends it would have been 5 stars.

Thanks to Hodder and Stoughton and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I adored the first book, the action I cant fault but the relationship between Vanja and Conrad was too much for me. It took over too much of the story. I understand and agree with the importance of the message that is often portrayed. But it felt like every chapter had a section of the two of them talking about consent and not rushing their intimacy. I honestly got a little bit bored and wanted to go back to the action, it definitely took over more of the story than in the previous book and I found it took away from the story too much.

I would definitely read more from Margaret Owen in future and even more from this series as I love the myth and magic she creates.

Oh my good this books gets absolutely AÑL THE STARS!
A perfect read for pride with its aro representation, this book, much as the first, is fantastically written, incredibly well paced and full of the things every reader loves (intrigue, character development, twists)… combined with a dose of family drama, a love story and a very witty sense of humour that has me laughing out loud.
100% recommend this one and I can’t wait for book 3!

To have the sequel to the incredible Little Thieves be mediocre just feels depressing, I'm so done with sequels at this point. The relationship dynamic between Vanja and Emeric changes in this book, favourite characters from the first are missing for most of the story or never appear, and the new characters were never memorable enough to fill the void.

I really struggled with the way the romance was written in this book, as the "will they won't they have sex" became a plotline, and the writing started to mirror the style you often see used in insta-love. In fact, Vanja started thinking about Emeric in a sexual manner nearly every chapter, including one cringe inducing hand job I had to sit through.

The rest of the plot had a lot going on, which made it overall feel quite messy. I enjoyed the introduction of the haunted doll (whose name escapes me) but after one particularly entertaining scene from her she promptly disappeared for most of the story.

The ending was good, but just not quite good enough to save this one. I would consider reading it again if the final book manages to get anywhere near the level Little Thieves was at, and I was happy enough that this ending didn't leave us on a massive cliffhanger, just a few details to make me interested in the next book.

Despite the fact that my favourite character from the first book was barely in this one, I enjoyed this book a lot. It was a good adventure with the same level of excitement and creativity as the first book. It's a series that takes tropes like hauntings and virgin sacrifices and turns them on their head, making something original and unique. Really this is exactly what I want to see in a book, especially a fantasy book.

I really like the relationship between Emeric and Vanja and this book was all about them getting ready for the next step in their relationship. In short, they're getting towards the point where they might, maybe be ready to have sex and they need to talk about it. I honestly thought it was a really good portrayal of the awkwardness and need for assurance that comes into these conversations.

I really liked the ending of the book. I had a wonderful moment just before it was all revealed that it all came together and I figured exactly what was happened, which gave me the fun sense that I worked it out by myself, without it feeling obvious.

Really looking forward to the next book in the series!

"“If we go straight for the blood sacrifice— oh, that doesn’t sound good, does it?”“It’s not great,” he says dryly."

4.5 stars rounded up. Little Thieves was such a fun blast of a book to read, with a great blend of humour and emotional depth and Painted Devils as a follow up doesn't disappoint in either regard.

While the plot primarily revolves around a cult situation that may or may not be worshipping a god, it does feel like there is less of an emphasis on magic or gods in this one, particularly with a number of characters from the first book being mostly absent in this one, and with a quest style adventure taking up a chunk of a book rather than a stronger focus on the magical mystery. But if you enjoy character work and delving through characters inner turmoil and forging a path forward you'll like the focus on Vanja's character and her journey here, as she learns to let more people in as well as how to build a relationship with Emeric.

The ending of the book did frustrate me in that it seemed to be a bit in conflict with events in the book, which does make the rating drop a bit for me personally and I didn't love it quite as much as Little Thieves. But I still finished the book desperately looking forward to book 3, so rounding up for that.

If you liked Little Thieves, you will love this one too! Very fun plot, easy to read and keeps attention.

Vanja made trouble again (not on purpose!), and as always she solved it. It has more romance then first book, it fits well and is nice addition even to me who usually dislikes romance in books that is not super subtle. Emeric and Vanja are cute together.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I look forward to the last one. I am curious where we will go in it.