The way this book has emotionally wrecked me is astounding, considering it was supposed to be a very tongue in cheek, humorous adventure story about a thief that accidentally creates a cult and now she has to fix it before an entire town is destroyed. Instead, while the story is very much that, it evolved into a heartbreakingly beautiful piece about family, trust, and love.

And let me tell you, I have been fucking bawling my eyes out every few chapters. I don't know what Margaret Owen did and how she managed it, but my gawd, Emeric and Vanja constantly hit me in my feelings every time; it was like every few pages wafted onions into my eyes and I just sobbed some more.

Yes, the essence of Little Thieves is still there, and Vanja is an absolute joy to read on the page. I loved the back and forth between her perspective as a fairy tale and then her perspective as is. I loved her character growth, and despite her having grown so much as a character, it's clear that she still has so much more to learn. But oh my goodness, all I wanted to do was give her a hug and tell her that she is wanted, and she is not wanting.

And Emeric? Emeric my favorite protractor of a boy. He says the most beautiful things, and he's soft and vulnerable, but absolutely brilliant and competent as well. I love him to bits.

But the two of them together? My gosh, the two of them together is absolutely delightful to read. What I really loved about this book--honestly, I loved a lot about this book--is the fact that one of the major conflicts is the issue of sex between the two characters. It was clear in Little Thieves that both Vanja and Emeric are demisexual in nature, and have a hard time with physical intimacy, despite their obvious love for each other. Throughout the book, there was so much communication and constant check-ins between the two, and y'all, I am AWED to have seen this kind of care to addressing sex and sexual education in a young adult novel. And I VERY MUCH APPRECIATED THAT.

If there was anything to criticize, it was the circular and roundabout fetch quest adventure that slowed the story down for me. But honestly, my issue with this was so minuscule, considering that the longer they did go through this quest, the more time we got to spend with Vanja and Emeric. And the antics Vanja gets into at each town are entertaining enough that I didn't care if the overall plot was indeed a giant fetch quest.

So yeah, I came into this book laughing about the fact that Vanja somehow managed to accidentally form a cult and inadvertently sacrificed her boyfriend to said cult. And then I came out of this book emotionally broken and needing the next book like yesterday. YOU DID THIS, MARGARET. FIX IT.