What a gorgeous cover!!
If you enjoy fairytale re-tellings, you'll love the Theif of Cahraman. This is a light re-telling of the Aladdin story. I enjoyed it and wanted more. Can't wait to read the next books in the series!!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Great start to a trilogy.
The selection happens with a sprinkle of Aladdin fantasy.
Bonnie was cute. The protagonist was totally cool until the start of the competition.
It was so chick lit than being a fantasy YA.
3 star rating with the hope for Prince of Cahraman.
Great book for the Selection fans.
Not much of a Aladdin retelling though.

This began with a bit of a rough road. At 5% I still was not hooked and was mostly skimming. However, I stuck with it in the hope that things would improve. They did, but there was another major aspect that continued to bother me. The world building. I was so confused. I wasn’t sure whether to imagine a medieval-fairytale type world or a mid-1800’s type world or a modernish but still medieval type world. Because, glitter and glue on masks, pink-rimmed cat-eyed spectacles, bicycles, trains, palaces, swords, horses, and wagons. So ya, I really wasn’t sure what to think.
But wait, my friends, don’t stop reading. Because at around 45% I was so hooked I finished it the next day. With the movement to the palace and the beginning of the competition, things got really exciting and interesting. Honestly, I loved the last 55% of this book and now I can’t wait for book #2! What changed?
One thing was that the world of Cahraman was described with far more clarity. It actually became a very intriguing and colorful place. The depth of the characters seemed to broaden as well. Ada’s little band of friends (Cora and Cherine) were totally loveable and entertaining and Ada was kind and loyal. I didn’t like how Cyrus was just sooo handsome, but after a bit, I did find him rather sweet.
The writing was good. It was neat, but I wasn’t blown away by it. After the first bit, the plot became super engaging and was well planned out. The twist to the Aladdin fairytale was unique and it was also interesting to see how Tempest wove the characters of other fairytales into the plot.
Lastly, I’ll give this one a 4.5/5 in the clean-read category. There was barely any profanity and there was no sex.
Wrapping it all up, I recommend this story to lovers of fairytale retellings.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Favourite Quote: “For endless moments, I felt as if the marketplace disappeared around us as our eyes locked. There was nothing left in the world but his eyes and my thundering heartbeat.”

Synopsis

‘You have been summoned to Sunstone Palace to compete as one of fifty eligible young women of status, in our search for the future Queen of Cahraman’

Since her mother died 5 years ago, Adelaide, also known as ‘Ada’, has been moving from town to town thieving in order to survive, mainly for necessity, but she can’t deny that she has adapted a skill for it over the years and may sometimes use it to her advantage – or vengeance. When she heard rumour that her mother lived in North Ericura, Ada felt suddenly drawn to the border of Man’s Reach to the town of Aubenaire, thinking it will be a nice place to settle down and be closer to her mother once again. With a good steady job, clean accommodation, plenty of food and a warm-hearted friend Bonnie who would do anything to make Ada feel at home, she finally felt happy.
One evening a stranger appeared, Lady Nariman Rostam, begging Ada to help her with her broken carriage at the edge of Hornswood forest. Confused by the story since there was only rumours of uncharted lands at the other end of the woods, Ada’s curiosity outweighed her fear of the woods and she followed Lady Nariman back to her carriage, only to find nothing there. The world turned upside down when Ada found herself transported to another world of sand and spices, the Kingdom of Cahraman, with a threatening mission to steal an object from the Sunstone Palace, or Bonnie and her father will die. With no choice, she poses as Lady Ada to enter the palace to fulfil her task.

‘”What is this?” I asked, getting dizzy keeping up with her pacing.
“This place or this situation?”
“Either, both – just tell me what you want so I can go home,” I pleaded.
“Where is home, though?”
That question hit me like a punch to the throat, choking me, making it difficult to speak. She knelt beside me, looking much younger than she did earlier, her features softening by some emotion that I couldn’t fathom. “Allow me to welcome you to mine in this realm.”

My Thoughts

One thing said for sure, I absolutely adored this book! I was given a copy to read via NetGalley because I fell in love with the cover and for all of my blatant obsessions with retellings of Beauty and the Beast, I’ve not yet read a retelling of Aladdin until now. I can’t say it will be the last either. This hit my favourites list instantly!

The characters were great, each had their own impacting personalities you come to love and hate, from Bonnie with her innocent disposition with her passionate desire to venture across fantasy lands with Ada, Cherine and Cora both different in temperament but unexpectedly become good friends whilst competing against each other both helping Ada become the Lady she claims to be, plus you’ve always got to have the competitive nasty arrogant character that will do what they can to win, Princess Fairuza.

‘She cupped my cheek affectionately. I again had a feeling Cora realised how afraid I was of being eliminated, and for a reason other than caring about the competition itself. She had no empty words or white lies to give me, but this quiet empathising gesture meant far more than any variation of “You can do it!” could have.’

I really liked Cyrus, our elusive disguised hero that takes pleasure in sneaking into the Palace vault with his demon accomplice, Ayman. Together they decided to help Ada in sneaking around the Palace to find her lost treasure, even when she couldn’t give them a full explanation as to what it was or why it was so important to her. Cyrus was charming, sneaky, witty and underneath it all, a perfect gentleman. Who wouldn’t be swooned by his pleasing personality and giving nature.

‘His nod was sympathetic. “I’ve found that I can’t stand the taste of anything orange. Apricots, carrots, and, well, oranges.”
“That’s nice,” I hissed. “But you really need to stop dodging my questions.”
The corner of his bright eyes crinkled and heart-melting dimples formed in his cheeks as he chuckled. “You’re focused, I like that.”
“Well?”
“Shouldn’t I have the honour of knowing who’s threatening to report me first?”
I mock curtsied. “Call me Ada.”
He bowed fully this time, tucking his free arm under his chest. “Call me Cyrus.”‘


Ada was everything you want as a fairytale protagonist; independent, determined, down to earth, courageous and well, herself. Not a false girl in a dress set on living happily ever after with her prince on a pedestal, but rather selfless and brave for those around her. She gives up everything to put others before herself, even if it means to steal from the crown in order to do it which is punishable by life in prison. She was so fixated on saving Bonnie, that she didn’t really take in everything going on around her. I really liked the fact that she didn’t get lost in the luxury or in the chance to win the Prince and start a new life for herself in the Palace. She was determined to take part in the act in the competition only to buy herself more time to look around for Nariman’s oil lamp.

The settings were fantastic with the beautifully stunning palace interior right down to the dusty market streets with it’s ancient shrines to the goddesses. It was easy to lose yourself in the story when the author was able to bring the scene to life so easily, even if it was getting lost in the palace dungeons.

‘We rounded the corner and sheets of water instantly dropped down on us, pouring down the windows as we went through a faintly glowing waterfall. Behind it was a cave, the ever-shifting reflections of the cascading water dancing on its walls. The train’s movement set off millions of blue dots and they came to life, lighting our way as we travelled deeper inside the mountain.’

I liked the whole fairytale aspect of this book, not only the Aladdin retell, but also how Cinderella was also subtly included in the mixture with her cruel stepmother and vicious stepsisters at the beginning. A friend of Ada’s that she wanted to help protect before being swept off to Cahraman. It had the perfect amount of our original Aladdin tale with a lovely little twist. I’m already itching to read Tempest’s latest sequel which I have already pre-ordered; Prince of Cahraman. I need to know what happens next!

This book was filled with delish fairytale goodness! Even the supporting characters paid homage to well known tales! Although the start was a bit slow for me, about 25% in I was absolutely hooked and couldn't put this book down! I loved watching as Adelaide was thrown into a world of Princes, mystery and competition. Reminiscent of, "The Selection" and "Aladdin", I thoroughly enjoyed traveling along as Adelaide made friends (and enemies) searched a new land for "treasure" and fell head over heals for a kind and compassionate prince. This well written tale left me wanting more and wondering how Adelaide's story will end and if we will get a deeper glimpse into the lives of her fairytale tribute friends. I can't wait!

A jewel! In all honesty, I almost stopped reading this book. But the reviews on it are so good I kept going and I am so glad I did. It started slow, but once you got into the book, wow. and then it stopped and now I want more. Of course!! Read this! its great!!

I received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.

Aladdin retelling with The Selection vibes!

I'll read anything comparable to The Selection. That series was good book candy. Moreover, I love retellings soo of course I adored this book. I thought it was unique and fun. I'm rooting for the romance potential (a good slow burn). Adelaide is an interesting character but there are many more I'm invested in. I need more.

Impatiently waiting for the next books.

I really liked this book, and look forward to the next. I hope we learn about her parents and Nariman, but I like that there is already set up for other stories in this world for Bonnie and Ella. It’s also refreshing to see characters not only be flawed, but understand they are and realize there are issues with their behavior.

While it was predictable, I thought it was well done and I loved the introduction of the other Disney characters. I thought Adelaide was a well-rounded character and I found her motives to be very believable: when you have nothing and then suddenly have friends that are practically family, you would do whatever you could to protect them. You wouldn’t let them be taken from you without a fight. I’ll be reading the rest of the series when they come out.

I enjoyed this thoroughly - it was quick and fun, and contained what I guess you’d call a “spark” one of those enticing feelings that grows with every word - pushing you, albeit forcing you to keep reading to find it what comes next! Highly recommend.

I have to say, I am a little bit shocked that this book has received such a high overall rating on Goodreads. I am a big fan of fairytale adaptations, so I am always excited when I see such a highly rated new series in this category. Unfortunately, this did not live up to my expectations. I personally felt that the characters were flat and the story predictable. I always felt that I was several steps ahead, predicting the events that happen chapters before they actually occur. This was partly because the "reveal" set-up was not subtle, and partly because I have read this story before. This book was marketed as "The Selection meets Aladdin", but I did not realize exactly how similar to The Selection this book would be. This book lost big time originality points with me for this reason, and I have no desire to read the next two books in the trilogy.

On a more positive note, the cover art for this book is gorgeous!

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review Thief of Cahraman. It reminded me of The Selection but it also reminded me a little of the Red Queen series and Throne of Glass.

First off, I would like to thank the publisher and author for providing me this ARC to review. Please note that the version I read was an advanced copy, and certain events/language may be changed in the published edition.

Stars (Out of 10): 5/10 Stars

I took a few days to think over this book, and what I thought of it, as different parts of this book spoke to me more than others. All in all, I’d say it had a pretty weak start, and didn’t play up the plot points I thought it would, but I still found myself sucked into the story by the end of it.

I’m just gonna start off by saying that the synopsis gives away the entire main twist of the book (I had guessed it before I had even started reading), and even when I started reading, the foreshadowing was a smidge too obvious. Since that twist ended up being the climax of the plot as well, it led to a subpar finale overall. It also made the book feel as if it didn’t truly have an ending, as both the knowledge of the twist and reveal of the twist made it feel like more was needed to tie everything together.

Additionally, the beginning was fairly weak too. We spend a few chapters learning a small bit of the world, and of the main characters in Adelaide’s life, as well as the mundane worries in her day to day life, including of wanting to be liked by a boy. It wasn’t an intriguing start at all, and the only thing that kept me reading was the whispers of something grander and more magical later on. Additionally, the beginning was so heavy with obvious fairy tale references that it became tacky, especially in regards to the Cinderella character. I assume this is to either introduce the author’s other future works in the world, but it felt out of place here, since she never came again, not even in the narrator’s thoughts.

While Adelaide was interesting in her unique motivations, wanting to settle rather than travel and explore, it didn’t make for as interesting a narrator. Adelaide wasn’t interested in learning about the rest of the world + her/her mother’s past, even as more and more clues were laid before her, which made the reader less interested in it all as well. Adelaide also has the tendency to steal, and is seen as a successful thief, due to her rough childhood after her mother’s death. However, I had two main issues with this. Firstly, she doesn’t seem to be all that successful at all. The book starts with her in the middle of a robbery, and she explains how long it took to plan, but she still makes a mistake (just to introduce the Cinderella character). Then, throughout the rest of the book, she almost never is able to be successful alone, in terms of stealing and sneaking, and always requires being led by other characters. Secondly, Adelaide seems to randomly steal things, even though she doesn’t need to in the competition, as she’s surrounded by gowns and jewelry that were given to her as well as entirely taken care of. Since her stealing habit was born out of need, it feels weird to see it continued as strongly throughout the book, though I get it is a habit. Additionally, it seems to be an active trait as well, in the sense that the author needs to continuously remind us that she does this, with the moments sometimes breaking the flow of the story.

In terms of plot, it felt like there was both too much in focus and not enough actually happening. We seem to have two main plots, the competition and the heist, but instead of blending together well, they fought with each other instead. And still, even with two main plots battling for the domination of a scene, there were many dull moments, of simply characters hanging around or just to show time is passing. Also, even though the pacing didn’t feel weird, in hindsight it all moved rather fast. There was more than a week between stages of the competition, but we almost never saw any of it, making it seem like people were getting eliminated every other chapter.

However, despite all the issues I had with it, I still ended up getting hooked into the story around 50% of the way in. Something about the writing kept interested in the story (once the competition started/Adelaide left Ericuria), and it all seemed to move by really fast, perhaps due to how the story was paced. Most of the individual parts were fairly well planned and written, I just wasn’t a fan of how it all came together to form the overall novel. I’m curious about where the story will continue to go, but I’m not sure if I’ll be picking the next books up yet.

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to read this for an honest review. The Selection meets Aladdin is definitely the best description of this book. Adelaide is a thief forced by a witch to compete in a selection of young women, who will try to become the bride of the prince of Cahraman. I found the book started off a bit slow, but it picked up. There were hints of other fairy tales here and there, and my one big peeve was the book ended abruptly.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The story is about Ada, who has been homeless and moving from place to place since her mother died. Once she's found a place she wants to stay, she's taken away by a witch who puts her in a contest against 49 other girls, and the winner gets to marry the prince of Cahraman.
This book was really entertaining. When Ada first goes to the competition, I didn't think I'd be able to remember one girl from another, but I was. Not every girl was focused on, which was good, because the four who were focused on each had their own personality.
The big I saw the twist coming, but the main character didn't so seeing her emotions when it happens was great. I'm honestly really excited to read the sequel.

I received a free copy for an honest review.

What I liked most about this book was the combination of The Selection with Aladdin. Being a fan of The Selection series, just having that alone would be enough for me to want to read this book, but to combine it with Aladdin?

I definitely view this book from several perspectives of fascination. The two ideas are so different, yeah Tempest was able to merge them in a story-line so well. Not only does this actually make a very interesting story, it actually works. It makes sense, it's not awkward, and it's good. I am so happy to say that.

I also really like the level of mystery and suspense the author had through the book. you can clearly see the hints she's setting up for the series in general, but she was able to organize and separate the book's individual arc with the series general arc very nicely, making a clean, comprehensible, yet still fun to read at the same time.

However, despite me liking the book and its idea, I just can't feel a huge missed opportunity with how this book did not involve a hate-love relationship or even a general slow-burn between Cyrus and Ada. They had really steady and slow encounters before their official "first meeting", and their entire scenario wouldn't have the potential to become an amazing shippable hate-love couple. Hopefully/maybe, the author could do that more in book two...but I doubt it *sigh*.

This book was definitely one of the most pleasant ARCs I’ve read recently! I appreciate how slowly (but stability) the author is building up the series arc, and I can’t wait to read book two to see how Cyrus and Ada’s relationship continues to prosper and grow.

Ok I almost quit this book! I’m a firm believer of the 3 chapter rule and I almost gave up, but something deep inside said keep on going so I pushed thru the first few chapters and was not disappointed! It is so good. It’s a twist on your favorite “Disney” princess/Prince and other fairytales. I feel in love with Ada and Bonnie and the world the author created. I’m looking forward to the next book and can’t wait to see what happens to Ada and Bonnie! This is a must read!

I loved this book! This book started off with a girl living in a village scraping by and stealing to help herself survive. Then comes the twist, she is suddenly whisked off into another world and a beautiful romance happens! I’m wanting more! I became so engrossed in the story I stayed up late and finished the book in two days! I loved the puzzles, action, and the turmoil. All The characters are interesting, funny, and some are sad. The love story that is woven into the story kept me turning the pages to see what happened. It reminded me a little of the story “The Selection” but with a much better plot and interesting characters. It’s an awesome book and I want to read the sequel today lol

I really enjoyed this novel about Ada as she competed with highborn young ladies to win the hand of the prince while she tries to steal a gold lamp from the palace to free her friend and her friend’s father. There is intrigue and humor, as well as cat fights among mean girls as Ada and the others try to stay in the competition. What a fun read! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to be an early reader in exchange for my fair and honest review. I can’t wait for book 2!

Omg. I... loved this book! And I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

The story was just so entertaining and the writing was absolutely great. You can easily picture everything that happens and the world it's set in.

I was a little afraid I wouldn't enjoy the competition since it's compared to The Selection (and I did not like that series mostly because of the characters if I can remember correctly since I read it years ago). I really didn't have any expectations for this book so it was a really nice surprise.

I loved the main characters (Adelaide and Cyrus) and also the side characters. I'm rooting for Aymen and I can't wait to learn more about him.

Besides the romance, I'm also curious to see if Adelaide manages to find what she's looking for in order to (view spoiler)

Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for letting me read and review this book!