A review by sabrinz
Little Thieves by Margaret Owen

adventurous emotional funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The blurb (as well as the beautiful cover) drew me to this story, topping this up with being about fairy tailes and you had my full attention.

The book starts a bit slow and is (in my opinion) never really fast-paced as we follow Vanja, posing as a princess, who steals from the reach to flee the country (and the decisions her godmothers want to impose on her). But her greed draws the curse of a deity and she'll die at the next full moon if she does not give back what she took.
Enter a junior investigator who is more than he seems and a wrathful husband-to-be who schemes behind the scenes, but why?
As an unlikely alliance forms, the past and how Vanja came to pose as the princess come to light and maybe some amends will be made.

I was mad at myelf for not getting which fairy tale this was until after having read a very unmistakable name - and only then realizing what this meant after a few more hours. 
It's a great read with many elements from different fairy tales (a lot of it from German mythology) but also a lot of German influences (esp. the food - with some liberties in the spelling).

There is a second book, but this one can be read as a stand-alone. It does not end on a cliffhanger but is also not a definite end to the journeys the characters have gone on.

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