Sandhya Menon writes teen romance in a way that is swoony and sweet and this star-crossed lovers Beauty and the Beast retelling is no exception. I loved the setting (who doesn’t love a boarding school novel?) and aspects of the story that made just a hint of magic sparkle, even though this book is billed as contemporary.

This was just alright. Overall, I liked the story but it is a little forgettable.

The beginning chapters were really rough and it took awhile to get into. I am not a big fan of plots where all the problems are caused by lack of communication between characters and this was very much that. The ending also felt thrown together, not as composed as her usual works. I had a hard time getting into the arc I was given and had actually set it down many months ago until I got an audio copy. I think this would be best enjoyed by younger teens. The synopsis for the next book sounds more interesting, so I'll definitely give it a try if it's available on audio.

I tried to give it a chance, I didn't want to put an end on it like that, but the whole action was not going anywhere so I had to end it.

I am a fan of this author, but didn’t find myself connecting to this story. As a retelling, it felt disjointed and messy.

I tried so hard to enjoy this one, as I'm a big fan of retellings. However a lot of the story felt like it was fighting itself.

There were a lot of very on the nose, over the top references to Beauty and the Beast, and then there were really random moments that I couldn't tell if they were necessary to the story and only left in to be an obscure reference.

I was also not a huge fan of the insanely long chapters, and flipping the POV multiple times within a chapter.

I think there are a lot of elements teens will be drawn to--boarding school, royalty, mistaken identity, fairy tale inspired. For me, I sort of found both characters not likable and I wasn't rooting for them to get together. The nice thing is that there are are a ton of characters in here with the potential for lots of spinoffs.

I’m a huge fan of this author and have read a few of their books and have enjoyed them all, this was no exception. Books that take place at boarding schools always intrigue me, so I was excited to see this one was set in one.

I enjoyed both Jaya and Grey’s points of views. Jaya and Grey were great characters to follow as they struggled with the choices they made. You could tell it was so hard for both of them to seemingly betray their families or not.

Overall I enjoyed the shenanigans the characters got into and loved that they we just teenagers being themselves. It was interesting to see how the elite children of prominent families behaved while away from their families. I highly recommend this book.

This story is an interesting contemporary take on a Beauty and the Beast retelling set in a boarding school for the rich and royal. Jaya is determined to get revenge on fellow student Grey for the damage he believes he did to her sister because of their family’s generational feud. Unbeknownst to Jaya, Grey believes he’s cursed to die at 18 because of that feud and keeps his distance from everyone. Jaya sets out to court Grey and break his heart, but as she gets past the distance he tries to put between them, she develops real feelings for him.

It works well as a cute coming-of-age romance with several good, heartwarming scenes. The characters are lovable and relatable, and I particularly enjoyed Jaya’s character and her struggle between duty and dreams of her own. I am down for any Beauty and the Beast retelling, and this book delivered on several of my favorite elements like the ending, but it also suffers from being a retelling. The Beauty and the Beast comparison only roughly fits the circumstances, and the story might have worked better with a different fairy tale template. The narrative also labors to introduce a number of other characters and their relationships with each other to set up for later books, which often distracts from the romance of this book. Overall, I enjoyed it, but felt it would have been improved by a more singleminded focus on this book instead of its place in a series, and I would have appreciated more of a “beast” element instead of a hate-to-love dynamic.

This was a delightful read that I was able to enjoy relatively quickly, but it was a pleasant one that got me through an entire weekend. The overall pacing of the romantic development was good, although some parts were a little less fleshed out than others, but not enough to detract from my overall enjoyment of the book.

This was an enjoyable read for the most part. It did feel a little bit slow or dragging but I may just be getting a little over all of the Beauty and the Beast retellings. This is a solid option for those who are looking for one though.

Of Curses and Kisses is a Beauty and the Beast retelling set in modern day. It was a unique take on the much done retellings that have come out based on this fairytale. The beast was Lord Grey Emerson, the son of a Duke, who was cursed long ago by the Rao family after their prized ruby was stolen by his ancestors. Since he was young, Grey was convinced by his father that he would die on his 18th birthday due to the curse. Because of that he isolates himself from having any meaningful relationships, friends or otherwise. Princess Jaya Rao wants revenge on Grey Emerson because she believes he was behind the leaking of a scandal that involved her younger sister. But, Jaya's plans for revenge go awry when she herself starts to fall for Grey. The "rose petals" falling to count down the demise of the "beast" was portrayed by a ruby rose necklace Jaya wore. The closer Grey's 18th birthday came, more and more ruby petals would fall off Jaya's necklace. Drama ensues in this original retelling as family obligations, betrayal, and being true to yourself come to a head in Menon's new YA romance series.

Overall, I enjoyed this as a retelling because it was unique and not what I was expecting. However, I think Jaya and Grey's relationship needed a little more time together. After being so adamant about not getting involved with the other, they fell for each other over a couple of weeks. Sometimes the story did drag a bit, and I found myself waiting for something more interesting to happen. The use the "F' word occurred quite a bit throughout the book and I'm not sure why but it just seemed unnecessary. Other than that, the writing and storytelling was good and I would definitely pick up another book by this author.

I've always loved Menon's previous books. When I heard she was doing retellings I was instantly intrigued. I loved the spin on the Beauty and the Beast modern retelling.

I've tried to read this a few times but I can't get into it. I've been trying to get Menon a chance since her debut but this is the third book by her that I've DNF'd so I've just come to terms that this author isn't for me. Thank you for the chance to read and review this title.

For those who enjoy classic fairy tale retellings -- this one, Beauty and the Beast (with some Romeo and Juliette in the mix). Some role reversal, plans going awry, and romance unexpected. Reaches a wide range of readers.
Those who enjoyed When Dimple Met Rishi will enjoy the romance story here. And fairy tale retelling fans will also be happy.

The retelling is unique enough to grab my student's attention, and it's low enough to get their attention and hold it without being too hard for them to read. I'd recommend this to them if we had it in our library.

This was sweet and an entertaining Beauty and the Beast retelling. This is the second read in a row for me though where I feel like the magic element didn't really need to be there but it was cute and fun to just binge so I could definitely see myself picking up more books in this series.

I love Sandhya's writing, and this book was no reception. The plot did feel a little predictable to me, but was enjoyable nonetheless.

I was bored for most of this book. I just was not a fan of Jaya. Her character was so frustrating and judgmental of everything and everyone around her, especially what doesn't fit her conservative view of the world. While there is character development, it took so long to get there. Grey was a bit more interesting but not by much. I liked the boarding school setting but that didn't really play a role in this story sadly. Overall, this book had flat characters, an extremely slow pacing, way too many clichés and a plot that only picked up towards the last fifty pages of the book.

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This was a unique twist of beauty and the beast. We are centered around jaya and grey in a nice private school! It almost had a romeo and Juliette feel for a second with the revenge against each other and not supposed to be liking each other but I really enjoyed seeing them together and their story. It was a good ya contemporary and wrapped up nicely!

I was happy to be given an early access edition to this title, especially as I have enjoyed other books by this author. However, several months after publication, I still have not been able to force myself to finish this book. It is well-written and full of engaging characters, but unfortunately the two main characters are not among them. They were each as unlikable as the other, and I could not muster up enough enthusiasm to root for either one of them. I would have enjoyed a story following the younger sister miles before I could have cared about Jaya. I put this book down well before the end and do not plan to pick it back up again.