Little Thieves
Summary:
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. (Summary and cover courtesy of goodreads.com)
Review:
Vanja is the anti-hero that you can’t help but root for throughout the story. She’s stuck in a series of events that are setting her up for failure and all she’s looking for is a way out. Unfortunately, the direction that she picked to get out might just be the last choices she makes. Throw in some fantastic characters that pop up to (begrudgingly) help her out and we have a proper mess to untangle.
I enjoyed this one thoroughly and the only reason it didn’t get 5 stars is because there were a few moments that felt repetitive that didn’t quite move the story along. Nonetheless Owens weaves together several storylines that pull the story together beautifully and still shows Vanja’s personal development along the way. The Germanic inspired medieval setting was a lovely change of pace and I will certainly will be continuing on to the next in the series!
Rating: 4 stars!
Who should read it? Folks who enjoy a good anti-hero!
Read the whole series:
Painted Devils
Holy Terrors