This is a delightful YA retelling of the old Goose Girl story.  In the original story, the waiting woman/maid was truly evil and took away the Princess' life and identity.  In this story, we get the maid's point of view…

Vanja was abandoned by her mother who had too many children to care for and given over to the care of Fortune and Death.  Her new godmothers raised her until she was old enough to work and she was placed in a rich household to work as a maid.  She became the best friend to little Princess Giselle and believed she would be happy forever caring for her friend who would also care for her.  But people are weak, and young girls who don't know better can be unintentionally blind and careless.  Vanya's heart was broken and she determined that no one would ever hurt her again; she would be the one to hurt them. 

After stealing Giselle's enchanted pearls - which made her more beautiful, charming, etc. - Vanja kicked her out into the street with hardly a thought.  But even with the Princess' face and identity, Vanja wasn't satisfied.  She reveled in her thieving ability and loved being able to humiliate the rich by stripping their jewels from them.  But, one night she stole something she shouldn't have; something that raised the ire of a lesser god.  The goddess cursed her and gave her two weeks to solve it or she'd die before her seventeenth birthday.  Her greed now doomed her to become a living jewel; rubies and pearls would break out all over her body.  But eventually, the gems would reach her heart and it would stop.

And if that wasn't enough pressure, Princess Giselle is claimed by her betrothed Lord, Adalbrecht, and has just two weeks to prepare for her wedding.  Now, Vanja is well acquainted with Adalbrecht who visited Giselle before; yet another opportunity for Giselle to have protected her but who failed to do so.  Vanja, wearing Giselle's face, is determined she will never marry the odious Adalbrecht and is equally determined to break the curse.  Her fondest wish is to be able to leave the realm and start a new life elsewhere but for that she needs money…hence the stealing.  There is another way - she could ask her godmothers for help but their help comes with a steep price; one she absolutely refuses to pay. 

Her thieving exploits gain the interest of the lawful authorities who have sent Junior Prefect Emeric to find and arrest the thief.  Having met the young Junior Prefect, Vanja is confident she can use her enchanted wiles and run circles around him so she blithely continues her robbery rampage.  Unfortunately, her actions seem to be accelerating the curse.  And the Junior Prefect isn't all that naïve or stupid.  On top of that, it becomes quickly apparent that Adalbrecht has a very different agenda - instead of marrying the Princess and getting her with an heir, he seems intent on murdering her before the wedding date.

So…let's add all that up:  Vanja has to stop the curse but doesn't know what she's supposed to be doing, she has to keep the somewhat-interesting-in-a-gawky-way Emeric from exposing her crimes, she has to continue the robberies to have enough money to escape, she has to continue to thwart Adalbrecht's attempts to murder her while continuing to portray a silly, empty-headed princess.  She is also confronted with the results of her past actions in the person of the real Giselle, her next dearest friend, Joniza, and her old acquaintance, Yannec, (who turned into her fence) and maybe, just maybe, her heart begins to thaw.  Her growing attraction to the young (and possibly dashing) Junior Prefect is also interfering with her cold-blooded attempts to stop the curse…and her peace of mind.  But no matter what she does, the curse continues to advance…until one of her actions has a positive effect. She's just confused about what she did that was positive. 

Vanja has spent so much of her life hardening her heart and trampling all over everyone that she just can't easily change her greed and self-interest into selflessness; it just doesn't come naturally.  It's a hard lesson to be learned under so much pressure and in such a short time; it seemed to this reader to be unfair. After all the pain and suffering she experienced, to ask her to become someone else just to escape a different pain and suffering…well, I just thought it was expecting too much of her. I was also confused about the curse; it was never clear to me just what exactly she was supposed to learn; or maybe I just missed it.  Just what is the opposite of greed?  It wasn't generosity, exactly.

It was a charming story with likeable characters and appropriately dastardly evil ones, for a YA novel.  But it would fail as an adult novel; the plot wasn't clear and the motivations vague.  I enjoyed the characters very much but kept feeling as frustrated as Vanja when there was no clear direction for the character.  The best plot device was alluded to multiple times by Emeric with no explanation; until the end.  It may have looked like a deus ex machina but it worked quite well and was even appropriate for the direction and tone of the entire story.  Overall, I think a YA audience will enjoy the growing relationships and find the pace exciting.  ~~ Catherine Book