So I love retellings and this one did not disappoint. As with all retellings you get a familiar sense of deja vu when reading them but this one was more unique then any other Aladdin retelling I've read. First of all this is a gender swapped version where Adelaide is the thief after the princes heart. Unlike Aladdin there is a competition for the princes heart but Adelaide isnt there for romance she is there to steal a lamp. If you enjoyed the Hunger Games and the Selection then you will definently enjoy this series.

I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange of an honest review.I love fairytale and folklore so I was excited to read this book. It's a reimagining of Aladdin and I didn't really notice too many obvious nods to the original material this was still a very enjoyable read. If you enjoy romance, fantasy and a lead with wit and street smarts. Check out this story.

First off what a stunning cover! I can see how this is described as The Selection meets Aladdin!
I was drawn to this book because its supposed to be loosely based on Aladdin. And I have never enountered an Aladdin retelling before. Having said that, it was different enough from the actual retelling, that it kept my interest. Having the female MC; Ada as the thief I think definitely helped. As it switched what could happen. I thought it was a fun read, and the characters were well rounded enough to be engaging. I would definitely carry on with this series.

This book reminded me of everything I deeply enjoyed about The Beast of Rosemead. It was a fun take on a familiar story and just a good time overall.

We start off with Ada and Bonnie (the main character of the Beast of Rosemead duology) helping to prepare for the big campfire. During that time, a woman knocks to their door and asks Ada to help her find a missing part of her carriage. Ada quickly realizes it's just a trick when the woman starts questioning her about her stealing abilities. Before she knows it, she's being sent to another part of the world, completely unknown to her to take part in a competition to become the future queen and use it to steal a mysterious golden lamp.

I was familiar with the world of Folkshore from Lucy Tempest's other series and I was really happy to seed characters from that book mentioned here. It's one of the things I really enjoy about this series - the characters from different fairytales living in one world, their stories intervening. It makes the world seem so much bigger and developed. Other than that, what I love is the regular fairytale stuff - magic, princes, amazing adventures, and the way the author interprets different well-known stories.

What also gets me about Lucy Tempest's series are the characters - I loved Bonnie and Leander and I have to say I like Ada and Cyrus even more. And Cora. Gosh, I love Cora, I lowkey wish she could have her own series. Maybe in the future? Ada is so kind-hearted but also strong and Cyrus is a smug little bastard but I love him and he's not as much of an asshole as Leander was. This was an ARC and I have an Amazon tab open next to this, ready to buy the next two parts.

The only thing that bothers me - for an Alladin retelling, the main characters should be POC. And as much as Ada is described as "with skin like tea with milk", WHATEVER THE HELL THAT MEANS, the picture on the cover is of a girl that's 100% white. So yeah, thanks, publishing industry.

Other than that, if you're looking for fun fairytale retellings that are a bit cheesy but overall just a ton of good time, Lucy Tempest is where it's at, folks.

Unfortunatley this was not the book for me, so I had to DNF at 25% in! I think the concept is quite solid, but the execution was lackluster.

I’ve loved fairy tales from a young age and I was especially obsessed with Disney movies (I might still be)… Over the years I’ve read a few retellings based on popular Disney movies/Grimm fairy tales and this one was my favorite by far. There was something unique, magical even, about Lucy’s writing.

Her characters (gender-swapped in their roles) felt real, flawed, human, and while I might have seen some typos, I still enjoyed every single moment. Ada, or Adelaide, is an average girl who steals for a living. When she is sent through a portal, on a mission in a far land, her world is turned upside-down. There is definitely more to her past and current journey that I cannot wait to learn more about.

The world Lucy created was unique, seamlessly blending the non-magical with the ‘magical’, and incorporated different fairy tales, giving you a glimpse into other characters and their possible stories. What the outcome will be is undetermined for now, but will have me investing in the next book for sure!

Oh my goodness what a great book! Although I would more refer to it as Gender Swap Aladdin meets The Selection. Our MC Adelaide (Aladdin) has been roaming for most of her life and finally finds what could possibly be a permanent home with Bonnie and her father. The beginning is a little slow (like most are) but it really helped me connect with Adelaide. I also got some feels for Beauty and the Beast here with how Adelaide ends up in Cahraman. Adelaide's new journey takes her inside a palace where she must compete in a contest with 49 other girls to win the Crown Prince's competition to find a wife. While in this competition Adelaide must search for and steal a golden lamp (all the Aladdin feels). I loved the differences in the girls competing and who Adelaide chooses as her close friends. We also met Ayman and Cyrus who I thoroughly enjoyed reading about. I will say it's a pretty obvious plot twist, however I did find myself questioning it several times. I truly enjoyed reading Lucy Tempest's work and devoured this story in one night. I look forward to reading the rest of her series.

I received a review copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thief of Cahraman by Lucy Tempest, 322 pages. Folkshore Press, 2018. $12.
Language: PG (8 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
After years of wandering, Adelaide is enthralled by the idea of settling down in Aubenaire, where she has finally managed to make friends. Not too long after entertaining that thought, however, Adelaide finds herself in the land of fairy -- kidnapped by a witch. If Ada doesn’t comply with the witch’s demands, she will never be able to return to the life she was just beginning to believe was possible.
In this gender-swapped retelling of Aladdin, I loved finding all the details that evoke memories of the familiar story while still getting a unique spin-off. However, I was disappointed by how slow the story moved, especially in the beginning. I had a hard time engaging with the story until Adelaide gets to the palace, but even that progress on her quest became repetitive. Two sequels follow this book, and I can’t imagine how the loose ends can fill that many pages.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

I was provided an e-arc from netgalley to read and review

I unfortunately missed the opportunity to read

I was pretty interested in this book, though I'll admit I didn't expect much. However, I'm a huge fan of fairytale retellings, and I've always loved Aladdin, so a gender-bent twist on the Aladdin story got my attention! And this book didn't disappoint!

CHARACTERS
Our main character in Thief of Cahraman is Adelaide, a young orphan who just wants to live in peace with her best friend Bonnie and - maybe - discover where her mother came from. She's a former thief, and though she is trying to change her ways at the start of the book, she can't resist a shiny object or six. I found Ada to be a very interesting character - smart, resourceful, and not afraid to be both feminine (she wears stunning gowns through the ENTIRE book, and doesn't shy away from cooking!) and badass. She's a strong lead, for sure!

However, I did think that sometimes Ada let her thoughts run away with her, and spent more time in her own head than would be expected of an experienced thief working with a very limited timespan, as she is in this book. She could also be a little uppity when it came to the other girls in the story - she consistently mentally belittles the princess and ladies for expecting a life of privilege and for everything to be done for them, even though she knows that this is all they've known. Despite this, though, I really liked Ada.

Now, of the minor characters, only a few are given a focus: Nariman, Fairuza, Cherine, Cora, Cyrus, and Aymon. Of these, only Fairuza and Nariman are antagonistic: Nariman being the witch who forced Ada into this situation in the first place, and Fairuza being an uppity princess who fully believes she's god's gift to the world. Cyrus, predictably, is the love interest, but I really enjoyed his character and the way the romance was handled! Though there was an instant attraction between Ada and Cyrus, I could easily see their relationship growing into romantic attraction through their interactions. Other than this, each of these minor characters is given depth and treated as realistically as possible in a fantasy. My favorite is Cora: a tough as nails farm girl who really just wants to go home and not spend all her time sitting around a palace.

All in all, Lucy Tempest handles her characters very well, making each of them distinct and rounded.

PLOT
So this book has two plots running next to each other. The main plot, the one Ada focuses on, is her mission to find a golden oil lamp in the palace and steal it to give it to Nariman. This is the reason she was taken from her home and placed in the palace, and she's determined to complete it. The second plot, which is much less important to Ada, is that of the Bride Search: the Prince of Cahraman has decided to choose his bride from 50 young women of high standing who will be brought to the palace to compete for his hand. This plot element has led to comparisons to The Selection, which I have to agree with. The two are very similar, even ending at the same point in the competition. However, I enjoyed this more than The Selection.

I was surprised to find that the Bride Search was treated more as a subplot, as Ada spends much of her time and the most amount of narration is focused on her search for the lamp. This was actually refreshing to me, as I expected the Bride Search to take up all aspects of the book as soon as Ada arrived in the palace. Of course, we do get a good idea of the sort of tasks the potential brides go through, and what kind of woman the prince wants to marry, but to Ada, that matters far less than stealing this lamp.

I liked the plot, though I'm still not completely sure why Tempest chose to include a Bride Search plot in an Aladdin retelling - a way to get Ada into the palace, sure, but why this specifically? However, I think it works. I did guess the plot twist very early on, but I quite like this, as it lent a sort of dramatic irony to the story.

Though I liked the plot of this book, I do have to acknowledge that Thief of Cahraman has a very slow opening. It took until about 40% of the way through for the book to really interest me, and then I couldn't put it down! So if you're interested in this, be aware of that, and keep pushing through!

WRITING
Lucy Tempest's writing is very easy to read, but still very evocative and descriptive. She manages to build a strong world, and I could really envision every environment and person she describes throughout the book. Though this is fantasy, Tempest does use some more modern turns of phrase, which startled me from time to time, but they didn't bother me too much.

I do have one problem with the worldbuilding, however: the abundant majority of the characters were described as "pale" or "fair"...in a story based on Aladdin, set in a desert country. I expected Cherine and Cyrus, both characters from Cahraman, to be people of color, but Cherine is described as only "tan" with "glossy dark blonde" hair and "a...face dotted with freckles". Cyrus, at least, is described as having a "golden skin tone", but even that doesn't quite bring to mind a person of color. Besides, he also has "eyes the icy-green color of northern lights." I honestly expected more POC in this book, and I'm disappointed at what I got.

RATING
I gave this book four stars, as it was very enjoyable, but dragged a little at the start and had some other elements I took issue with!

RECOMMENDATION
I'd recommend this book to fans of The Selection, similar YA fantasy books, and fairytale retellings!

Author: Lucy Tempest

Publisher: Folkshore Press

Huge thanks to Netgalley for the e-review copy!

I love fairytale retellings. They offer a fresh perspective on stories I've grown up loving and often resolve the misogynistic or patriarchal undertones in the original. So, when I spotted this book on Netgalley, I had to read it.

Thief of Cahraman is the first in a gender-bent Aladdin trilogy. Adelaide has always been a wanderer. After her mom's death she's kept her head down, earned her keep, stolen to supplement it and moved from city to city until she reached . As she starts to think putting down roots might not be a bad idea, the only people she considers family are taken. To rescue them she must participate in a competition to win Prince hand and pull off the toughest heist of her life

My Review

Thief of Cahraman is a well thought, well written read. I love Adelaide's character- she's a tough as nails, sharp-witted and sarcastic girl who deals with her insecurities and fears very maturely. While the Prince is absent for most of the story, it's very easy to guess where he is. The language is simple yet effective and the situations Ada manages to get into while trying to pull her heist, are very entertaining.

Do give it a read if you love fairytales!

Rating: 4/5

Conceptually, this story had tremendous potential, but something about it fell flat for me. Maybe it was the setting that felt like it was trying to be several things at once. However, since reading this work, I have continued reading the series. Tempest has a clever imagination and a way with words that sticks long after the last page has been read.

Aladdin is personally one of my least favourite fairytales, so I almost gave this one a miss but the idea of the competition really drew me in.

This book is set in a world with interconnected fairytales which I think is fantastic. We meet Cinderella and Belle early on in the story, though unfortunately they don't get much page time. It does however open the reader up to the different possibilities of how their individual stories may intertwine.

I thought this book was well written, it flows nicely and I think it's the perfect length. For the most part, Ada is passable as far as strong female protagonists go, I actually didn't mind her narration.

"I would have clapped too, but the risk of missing and slapping my own cheeks over and over in despair was too high." 😂😂😂😂😂😂 That is gold!

However, her goldfish memory and her inability to see what's right in front of her, even after it's been laid out for her, was terribly annoying!

During the first challenge, she has already forgotten about the curtsie and the rule with the tea, after only being told what to do mere minutes beforehand. But the main issue I have is her blindness. I don't think it's a spoiler, as I'm positive every single reader will be much quicker on the uptake than Ada and will know what's going on as soon as you hear the name in chapter 11 (if not before). She is then given a spattering of clues which she also doesn't see. But the real icing on the cake comes at the very end...

"..moved around the room with the other servants, who were dressed nothing like him, maybe denoting his rank among them." 😂😂😂😂😂😂 Girl, what?

"Haven't you figured it out yet, my dearest Lady Ada?" 😂😂😂

Aside from the issues I had with Ada, the reason for the lower rating was because I was disappointed by the competition. It had some good moments, I thought the food challenge was great and I really liked the first challenge as well but overall there was just something missing. It fell flat for me. Also, something about the way the girls were acting wasn't believable. I don't believe they'd ever squabble and whine that way in front of the judges or anyone of significance, they'd be far more subtle and keep up the pretence of perfect ladies. But that's just my opinion.

Although I don't plan on continuing Ada's journey, I will be looking out for other retellings from this series.

This book is a retelling of Aladdin and has elements of the Selection mixed in with the royal competition to win the hand of the Crown Prince. It is the first installment of the Fairytales of Folkshore by Lucy Tempest.

I liked the protagonist being a thief and being able to compete in the royal competition for the prince. It was good that the competitors didn't know who he was so they would be free to be themselves and not act fake. The romance between Adelaide and Cyrus was good.

ONE MONTH. FIFTY CONTESTANTS. ONE PRINCE. AN IMPOSSIBLE HEIST.

Adelaide has been on the run for years, but when she finally thinks she's found a place to call home, a dangerous witch steals her away and threatens her new family. Adelaide must use every skill as a thief she's honed in order to make her way through a competition for the Prince's heart and find the missing oil lamp without getting caught. While Adelaide fears her constant elimination, she manages to make several friends including a mysterious man named Cyrus.

This is named as The Selection meets genderbent Aladdin and wow is that a spot on description for this story! I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy myself, because The Selection is a favorite of mine. But Thief of Cahraman managed to surprise me in the best ways possible! While some of the storyline was quite predictable, especially the identity of the prince, I still really enjoyed it. I guessed who the Prince was about 25% of the way in and every time Adelaide interacted with him, I was repressing chuckles.

The romance and competition aspect take up a majority of the page time, however, we do get to see Adelaide bonding with her fellow roommates, Cora and Cherine. I really loved this trio and their developing friendship. Cora's sarcasm and overall grumpiness never failed to bring a smile to my face. I'm really curious to see what the friends will do in the next book.

This book was a bit too boring for me. There is far too much summary and useless scenes, it would have been better if the story had started from the conflict from the start. The first 20% was boring, after that the story picks up. If you enjoy The Selection series you’ll definitely enjoy this book as well.

A combination of the traditional Alladin and Selection stories brilliantly done - orphaned thief who was given a chance to go legit and finds herself in a wedding selection pool. In this version, the thief is a female, and she is given the opportunity to steal a lamp and save her friends. The circumstances allow her to do all this and more!

Intriguing plot twists and keep you captivated as a reader - it was hard to stop reading and go to bed! I can't wait to read her other book adaptations.

I received a free ebook copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

It started out a little slow and I was about to put it aside when about 20% in, the story kicked off properly and I pretty much raced through the rest - a sweet, humorous, modernised take on the Aladdin fairy tale, it made for a great start to the trilogy. While everyone apart from our heroine of course realises the ‘big reveal’ right from the start, it was great fun watching Ada make new friends, struggle through her tests and search for the elusive lamp before finally coming face to face with the prince. I’m also not too keen on YA as a genre, but I found the characters in this one likeable enough to get drawn into their world.
I will certainly read the next one!

A retelling of the fairytale Aladdin. I love all things fairytales. A delightful book.
Ada, a thief, who has lived on the streets most of her life and befriended by Bonnie has meet a witch and to save her friends must steal a lamp for the evil witch. This lamp is kept in the palace and to gain access Ada must join in a princess contest for the hand of the prince.
I most definitely will read more from author Lucy Tempest. A very well written story.

Thank you to Publisher and NetGalley for the eARC

I am a sucker for fairy tales. Give me a novel approach/revamping of fairy tales and you've got a captive audience!  The Thief of Cahraman by Lucy Tempest is a well done re-imagining of the Aladdin tale.  The book only contains the first 1/3 of the story, but luckily for me (and you), the rest of the story is published. To make the delightful story better, there are hints and tie ins from other tales that promise to make a widely elaborate world stitched together from the fabric of different tales.  Very much ala "Once Upon A Time", which I also very much enjoy.


The  Thief of Cahraman is a tale of a thief who gets forced into pretending to be a princess to have access to the castle.  Throughout trying to obtain her objective, which will free her family and allow her to leave, she has the adventure of the lifetime.  In a story which takes every scrap of skill, impulsiveness, and heart, the reader will see how Adelaide (the thief) fares in her quest.