Title: Painted Devils
Author: Margaret Owen
Genre: Fantasy, YA
Rating:4.5 out of 5

When misfortune strikes, the “reformed” jewel thief Vanja manipulates a remote village for help and in turn, accidentally starts a cult around a Low God, the Scarlet Maiden. Soon after, her nemesis-turned-suitor Emeric and a supervising prefect arrive to investigate the claim of godhood, and she realizes how in over her head she must be. But the Scarlet Maiden does reveal herself . . . only to claim Emeric as her virgin sacrifice. Desperate to save the only man she’s ever cared for, Vanja decides to seek an alternative: bring the Scarlet Maiden a drop of blood from each of seven brothers for the midsummer feast.

While the thief and prefect-in-training still have feelings for one another, Emeric must determine whether Vanja has committed fraud as his final test for prefect-hood. And as they travel the Haarzlands, a harsh land far from the rules of the city, the past that Vanja barely remembers comes into full view and she fears a future that does not require her to keep running.

The amount of snark in this novel is genius-level. I was snickering within two minutes after I started reading. Unlike the previous book, I was invested from the very beginning, and each obstacle the characters met only drew me further into the story. This is a gritty fantasy, not a sweetness-and-light one, but the characters and the world have so much depth that you feel everything they experience. I highly recommend this read and this author.

Margaret Owen lives in Seattle. Painted Devils is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Macmillan Children’s/Henry Holt and Co. in exchange for an honest review.)

In this sequel to Little Thieves, Vanja is still trying to figure herself out and come to terms with her past. After leaving Emeric, she tries to move on and ends up inadvertently creating a cult. This spawns a whole new disaster when Vanja's fake god suddenly appears as a seemingly real god and requires that Emeric be her sacrifice unless Vanja finds an alternate solution. Cue a quest and the inevitable wrenches that get thrown into the plan, which require Vanja's talents and knowledge of how people work to sort out. Overall, this installment provides more background about Vanja's family and continues to develop Vanja and Emeric's relationship. Told with Owen's usual humor and banter, though this one had a distinctly more modern vibe than the first book.

I have been super excited for this book ever since I read little thieves and it became one of my top favorite books. This book did not disappoint and I absolutely loved it. Margaret Owens is an amazing writer and can never write a flop.

With a swift pick-up right where we left off with even more adventure, Magic, and classic Vanja sass. The buildup surrounding the journey of uncovering her birth families story and reuniting was perfect.

Looking back now and knowing we’re setting up for a third book, Painted Devils definitely fits the typical ‘second’ book vibe. While clarity and answers from book one are given, throughout we’re building up for even more questions and getting deeper into the world. I loved Vanja in book one so being able to get a hearty dose again was perfection. That ending though? Uh, ok Margaret Owen. You win, I guess I’ll be sitting here waiting for book three.

This is story I’ve been waiting for since I devoured Little Thieves. At times I was hoping to sell my kidney or a soul to get my hands on this story even a day early.

It did not disappoint.

Vanja, as usual, continues to be so complex, so wild and make so many great yet terrible decisions that I was thrilled. She had so much growth and is the epitome of morally gray, and I adore it.

The additional world building here was expertly placed and this was the sequel I’ve been dying for.

Sure, the ending ripped my heart out and any resolution I might have felt has faded away.

But good god, this book is incredible and Margaret Owen could step on my neck and say here is a scrap of Vanja and I’d say thank you, more please.

Anyway, if you need me I’ll be thinking about this book until the third is out.

Margaret Owen's Painted Devil is the second installment in the authors Little Thieves series. After taking down a corrupt margrave, breaking a curse, and finding romance with a junior prefect named Emeric Conrad, 17-year-old Vanja Schmidt, the god daughter of Death and Fortune, is looking for a new home. It has been 3 months since Vanja started wandering from city to city trying to find a purpose after years of being punished and tortured by a psychotic bitch. But soon the jewel thief-turned reluctant-do-gooder resorts to her old tricks, and in the process, invents a god named the Scarlet Maiden after she dumps her rubies in a river.

Now that lie is growing out of control, especially when Emeric arrives to investigate whether or not a fraud has been committed by Vanja. Emeric is soon claimed as a virgin sacrifice by the Scarlet Maiden. Vanja is given an alternate to keep Emeric from being her sacrifice. She must find seven brothers and collect a drop of blood from each of them before midsummer feast. While the thief and prefect-in-training still have feelings for one another, Emeric must determine whether Vanja has committed fraud as his final test for prefect-hood.

And as they travel the Haarzlands, a harsh land far from the rules of the city, the past that Vanja barely remembers comes into full view and she fears a future that does not require her to keep running. While trying to stop the Scarlet Maiden from taking Emeric, Vanja must also deal with a Prefect Emeritus of the Godly Courts who stands in judgment or her actions. Vanja faces imminent arrest her for profane fraud if she can't prove that the Scarlet Maiden is truly a God.

Vanja also learns that she does, in fact, have a family, and that family has been searching for the Thirteenth daughter of a Thirteenth daughter for 14 years. Even though her mother clearly though she was the reason for all her problems, the back story tells a slightly different story, and one should really feel angry for what happened to Vanya from when she was 4 to escaping Hell. Vanja is a character who has plenty of the snark, moral ambiguity, and hidden wounds, especially when she finally meets all her brothers and sisters and extended family. Vanja would do anything to feel loved and to feel wanted, but her challenge is to deal with larger than life expectations which may drag her down one more time.

For me, the ending should have been the end of the series. Vanja has found the impossible; happiness, but the author has chosen to do something that I refuse to spoil. I even dropped my rating half a point because of said ending but I will try to read the sequel unless it takes another 2 years to be released.

Margaret Owen has a great way of reeling you in from the first line! I loved getting to see Vanja, Emeric, Ragne, and the whole crew again in this book. The journey they took in this one was pretty crazy after Vanja accidentally creates a cult. Vanja and Emeric went through a lot in this book and at the end all the progress was kind of erased so that was a bit frustrating, but I look forward to book 3

Another amazing offering from Margaret Owen!

Vanja returns in this sequel to Little Thieves, and in an effort to gain assistance retrieving some rubies she dropped in a river, she accidently starts a cult. Yep, that seems about right for Vanja. But being who she is, it's a fairly benign cult... until the Prefect show up to investigate and the scarlet Maiden decides the Prefect needed for her sacrifice is none other than Emeric.

And off we head, on a journey to find out how to best a low god, save Emeric and - hopefully- mend their relationship along the way.

Clever, fun, snarky, and altogether delightful "Painted Devils" was a joy to read.

Little disappointed that Death and Fortune were not as present as they were in Little Thieves, as they are wonderful, but the introduction of new characters did, mostly, make up for it.

Omg Margaret Owen hits it out of the park every single time. I absolutely loved this, and the way it made me feel.

Painted Devils is the perfect follow up to Little Thieves. I loved the character development and continuation of the story. I adored the development and continuation of the character development.

Little Thieves was one of my top reads of last year. I fell in love with the characters, the story, the writing, the romance, and everything about this world. When I found out the story wasn't a stand alone, but a trilogy I got so excited. Painted Devils was everything I hoped for and far more in a sequel. The character's I'd fallen in love with were developed further and we got to see a deeper side of all of them. As we got to know them more, we came to love them even more than before. While the story dragged in parts, overall I could not get enough. Vanja's story and childhood played an essential role throughout the entire story and it was incredible to see how Margaret Owen addressed that abuse. The romance between Vanja and Emeric was developed fantastically. The ending WRECKED me, but it was perfect! Overall, I cannot recommend this book enough!

I’ve been in a bad reading slump for a while now but I should have put my total trust in the author because her delightful writing made me gobble this up in just two days. I was already in love with these characters from book one and fascinated by this world of gods and witches and ghosts and thieves and more, but the author manages to give us an even more fun, engaging, fast paced thrilling adventure in this sequel, along with some very very sweet romance.

While the tension is taut from page one till the end and that last page will leave you breathless for more, it’s the earnest relationship and communication between our two demisexual leads that has my whole heart. Vanja and Emeric’s talks about what it means to be together, overcoming trauma to be able to trust and love someone, breaking down the social mores of intimacy and building something unique to them, it was all written with care and a delicate touch, and will definitely leave a mark on any reader. And I can’t wait to see what more the author has in store for them in the next installment because it’s surely promising to be very intense from the word go.

Painted Devils is the sequel to Little Thieves, and picks up where Little Thieves leaves off. Vanja is alone, having fled Emeric before he could reject her, and finds herself in a small village where she starts a scam that inadvertently grows out of control - not because of anything Vanja did, but because one of the small gods of the area steps in and ups the stakes, while a villager steps in and tries to take over the now-growing cult. News of the new cult spreads, and Emeric arrives with a supervising proctor for his final test to earn full status as a proctor himself - and he must investigate the situation fully and without bias, while trying to keep his supervisor from blaming Vanja out of hand for her past bad actions, and without losing his own life to the claim of the rising small god, the Red Maiden, who is at the heart of the cult.

For those who enjoyed Little Thieves, this is the awaited second half of the story. Vanja and Emeric rejoin and try to determine what their relationship really is, and how to move into the future, while also discovering much that neither of them knew about Vanja's past, the mother who gave her up to the low gods Fate and Death, and just what happened to her 12 older siblings. As with the first volume, this one gives Vanja a choice between two equally unpalatable options - the death of Emeric, or the death of 7 brothers whose blood the Red Maid has demanded in exchange - and she spends the novel seeking a third option.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

First line: “Let me state one thing up front: I wasn’t trying to start a cult.”

Right there and then, I remember exactly why Little Thieves captivated me so much last year and how brilliant of a writer Margaret Owen is. You can almost see Vanja, our protagonist, cringing with slight embarrassment and shrugging in a way that can only convey a feeling of, “Oops?”

Not only is that first sentence one hell of a hook, but later on in the book, Owen manages to sneak in a well-known Backstreet Boys lyric as the start of a poem, and I laughed even as my heart grew three sizes bigger in soppy adoration. Owen knows her audience and knows that even though not all of them may get the joke, the ones who would get the joke would be overjoyed by it.

The second novel in a trilogy is notoriously difficult to get right. There are so many that fail and fail spectacularly (not naming any because that’s just plain rude). Owen knocked this one out of the park, though, and she made it look easy as pie. In some ways, it was better than Little Thieves, and I didn’t even know that was possible. Painted Devils is more cathartic, for sure, and definitely more character-driven. There’s humor a-plenty, and a great deal of expanding on the excellent worldbuilding started in Little Thieves.

Not only does this book deal in false prophets and revealing truths, but it also deals with confronting your inner demons and the negative voices inside you, whispering their nasty filth in your ear and holding you back from being all that you can and should be. It also has a lot to say about the arbitrary scales of justice and sacrifice: How much good do you have to do to outweigh the bad? Is there enough? Is the order of the land so rigid that too many cases of gray injustice fall through the cracks? What do you do about those cases and those people? Just let them suffer? Can two lovers on two sides of the law be together or is that love doomed? Can you ever truly wash away the many ways you feel tainted by time and crime?

Where Margaret Owen shines the brightest is in her dialogue. It’s truly the brightest part of her novels. The witty banter, the heartfelt and intimate conversations, the high voltage arguments, the sly negotiations and scams, the genuine humor, the squirm of shame, the discomfort in navigating romance, the deep scars of fear, the high that comes with triumph, and the deep chill of horror. None of Owen’s dialogue feels contrived or disingenuous. Every conversation feels appropriate and real, relevant and well-written.

Speaking of relevant and well-written: This book is a fierce page-turner. If you pick this up, be prepared to settle down and ignore everything else for however long it takes to read it. It took me around eight hours to finish this, and I could hardly bear to set it down in all that time. I skipped my afternoon nap to keep reading, people, and I love naps. I just wanted to keep reading, because I needed to see how Vanja was going to get out of accidentally starting a cult. Because of course Vanja accidentally started a cult.

Just pick it up and you’ll see. If you haven’t read Little Thieves yet, pick that up first, and then pick this up. And then we’ll all collectively wait with baited breath for the third book and act like patience is our strong suit when we all know it’s not.

I was provided a copy of this title by NetGalley and the author. All thoughts, opinions, views, and ideas expressed herein are mine and mine alone. Thank you.

File Under: 5 Star Read/Fantasy Series/Book Series/Coming of Age/Dark Fantasy/Epic Fantasy/Fantasy Romance/YA Book Series/YA Fantasy/YA Fantasy Romance/YA Fiction

"There are moments when, as divergent as our lives are, I still see something in him so familiar, it might be cut from my own heart."

Margaret Owen is after my whole heart as always and Painted Devils has blown it out of the water and made me cry, sob and feel such incredible healing. A book with the tagline - "wow getting a boyfriend actually isn't a replacement for therapy" and paired with "I didn't mean to start a cult but I did whoops".

As for the plot - Vanja starts a cult by accident surrounding the Scarlet Maiden who comes up from dormancy as a low god and claims Emeric as a virgin sacrifice. Classic Emeric moment imo, but the god offers another choice - the blood of seven brothers so they set off to find them. But to make matters worse, Emeric's boss comes in and demands that he gather evidence to bring Vanja to court for fraud and she plans to join them on this adventure.

The journey brings her to the most burning questions of her past - who is she? why did her mother abandon her? Is anyone out there looking for her out of her 12 brothers and sisters? These emotional scars run deep in her - they're the basis of her trauma and had years to fester. Vanja wonders truly if they'll even want her after all these years and can spoil it right now to say that her happy and joyful reunion is everything she deserves and more.

I personally thought that little thieves was already perfect as a whole, but Margaret knows more than me and said "no, Vanja hasn't fully healed and solved her family trauma yet" and wrote this. And I love her for it so much. A book on family and healing and feeling worthy of the people in your life, but interspersed with many mini plots on justice and what that means in different moments, from Emeric's role as a perfect and Vanja's vigilante one. This is where Emeric really shows his growth from book 1 and how his views on how justice is doled out has expanded.

There WILL be a book 3 and by god I can't wait to see more of Vanja.

rep//demisexual MC, side wlw

cw// verbal & physical abuse, abandonment & bad family dynamics, mentioned animal death, cult, body image issues

Thank you to the publisher for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

MARGARET OWEN DOES IT AGAIN. Second books can be wonky sometimes, but I felt that this second Little Thieves was pretty strong. After reading the first book last year and loving it, but honestly not remembering much, I felt there were enough callbacks to the first book to help me remember what happened, but too much to be annoying.
Vanja is still our fave scammer with issues she really should address in therapy, and Emeric still love JUSTICE. And Vanja. I loved coming back to this world, learning more mythology, and watching Emeric and Vanja be angsty teenagers learning how to communicate. 10/10 from me.

Excellent as always. Little Thieves is one of my favorite YA reads from last year, and the sequel is just as excellent. Definitely highly recommended.

Painted Devils is everything I wanted and more. It has that signature charm of Owens, characters that scream personality, and heart wrenching emotions. For me, this one was even more emotional as Vanja struggles to negotiate family, her past of abandonment, and her fears of being unwanted. As an adoptee who has also thought about searching for my biological family, this hit me deep in the gut. It merely solidifies my love for Vanja and Margaret Owen's stories.

The ways Owen is able to make you laugh, put in cultural Easter eggs, but also make you cry. Vanja is strong, clever, resilient, and snarky. But she's also deeply struggling to see herself as being lovable, as beautiful, as warranting someone to stay with her. Her quick remarks and barbs hide her fragile heart. So her journey in Painted Devils feels very much like a Vanja thing to do.

Picking up where Little Thieves left off, Vanja ends up in a pickle and to get herself out of it, she accidentally starts a cult. Imagine everyone's shock when Junior Prefect Emeric Conrad shows up to investigate. But The Scarlet Maiden isn't just a figment of Vanja's overactive imagination. She's real, and she puts her mark on Emeric which has everyone scrambling to put an end to this horrible deity. To further complicate matters, Vanja is on the search for her family, desperate to know why they abandoned her.

I loved Little Thieves, so it's no surprise that I loved Painted Devils too. In fact, I was dying for this ARC, so I could get my greedy little hands on it. Owen again packs a huge punch with this story, but there's very little I can say here without spoiling anything. I will say that if you loved Little Thieves, then definitely pick this one up. You won't be disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC. I LOVED this book!

Painted Devils was a deeply heartfelt continuation of Vanja’s story that didn’t sacrifice plot, expanding the world as she and her friends embark on an even greater quest. But at its heart, it’s a story about loving yourself, accepting all the jagged pieces you may think are ugly but vital to who you are.

The author is incredibly gifted at weaving character development within the plot seamlessly. The story has many layers that are slowly unveiled as we navigate cults, rogue goddesses, haunted dolls, passionate kisses, and meticulous thievery. However, it’s the relationships that make this one even more special.

Emeric and Vanja’s romance has the heart-aching naivety of blossoming first love, but their past experiences have imparted them with a great appreciation for loving without constraints. Emeric’s unconditional love and support for Vanja just touches your soul. I think many of us can see ourselves in Vanja’s fear of being vulnerable, being rejected if she bares herself completely. And with everything she went through as a child, her hesitancy is rightfully challenging to overcome. But oh how fulfilling it is to witness her make that leap.

The thread of found family continues in this one in the most heartwarming manner, and we are introduced to a slew of new, diverse characters, Godly and mortal. Some you become very attached to, and others it’s an immediate dislike 😅. Regardless, I am waiting with bated breath to discover what adventures await Emeric and Vanja as it seems the story will come full circle in the third book.