Little Thieves

"If you like Marissa Meyer, read this fantastic fairytale retelling. A wonderful, prickly, damaged thief posing as a princess cursed the slowly turn into treasure unless she restores what she’s stolen. A young detective trying to figure out who’s been stealing from the nobles. A very scary, nasty bad guy. Full of heists, political intrigue, and beautiful world building with just a little enemies to lovers romance. "

"The unexpected delight of a YA novel. Don't misunderstand, I've read many amazing young adult stories. It's just that wading thru the shallow depths of love triangles and burdensome heroines makes it seem fruitless at times.<br/><br/>Little Thieves is a retelling of a German fairytale, The Goose Girl, which I have never read myself. Still it had that uneasy whimsical feel that old fairytales do. The Narrator Saskia Maarleveld is one of my favorites. She does such a fantastic job of voicing spitfire characters. Vanja was especially feisty and since the narrator also voiced Loui from Serpent and Dove I was reminded me even more of these charaters tenacity at being annoyingly loveable.<br/><br/>The slow burn relationship was a breath of fresh air. It is so rare to see a couple telling truths and laying themselves bare. I admire it very much knowing how difficult it must be. Just goes to show we don't always need angst to make a story delectable. Emeric was a very rare male love interest. He wasn't tall, broody, or overly masculine. Emeric had a brain and it was very becoming. He and Vanja's cat and mouse games just increased my love of the story tenfold.<br/><br/>There were also introductions of gay and non-binary characters. It was nice to see how naturally this was done as apposed to having a forbidden trope attached. Also I loved how the protagonist talked to the reader. Of course it always makes the story more immersive and fun for me. Even as a retelling the plot was unique. And when I got to the chapter where Vanja was not trusted by her comrades, it hit a sore note with me which made her even more relatable. Then later, Ragne the shapeshifter stood up for her friend, it made my heart blossomed with pride. What a beautiful companion to have.<br/><br/>Quotes:<br/><br/>'I want him to chase me. I want to know what it feels like to be caught. I want to burn with him.'"

"Demisexual rep"

"Very good book. I would say it’s tame enough for a young teen but the story made me as a 31 yo still want to finish it. "

"This story was so great! Owen is one of my new favorite writers, now. Can't wait for book #2!"

"*3.5*<br/><br/>I listened to this for a Discord / Youtube related book club, and after attending a long video/livestream for it, I'm editing my rating to 3.5 stars. It was fine, but it felt drawn out and I'm questioning why there's going to be a sequel. I appreciated the demisexual representation and lesbian representation, but I almost wish they could have been one and the same for the princess and had more time with her, but also I think I would have enjoyed it more from her perspective. I think I preferred the second half to the first half but I didn't super love either half of it. I like the idea of Death and Fate personified and lesbian godmothers but again, I would have loved even more time with them and the consequences of being connected."

"Sapphic Goose Girl retelling "

"I’m 7 chapters in and it’s not really grabbing me yet. Does it pick up or should I drop it if I’m not liking it at this point?"

"It took me a while to get into this, but once the characters began developing, I was fully invested."

"As I was approaching the end of this book I had the thought: “I may never read something as good as this again” I don’t usually cry with with books, but this one really tugged at my heart strings."