If you're a fan of YA retellings then this may be a good one for you. This is fun twist on the classic Beauty and the Beast story set in a boarding school. The modernization, the diversity, the wit, the friendship, and the many family connections were all very well done.

Something about the writing didn't work for me with this one, despite having enjoyed Menon's realistic YA fiction in the past. There was something too juvenile and cutesy for me, so in future I'll stick with her realistic contemporaries. I do think teen readers may enjoy this diverse, lighthearted take on the Beauty and the Beast story.

Retellings are always tricky, and this one missed the mark for me. I like the South Asian representation, and some of the aspects about royalty in India were drawn out. Nowadays barely anyone cares about royalty in India, and it’s nowhere near to what Queen of England has, but this book made it seem like that. Typical YA but I wish it had a better drawn out storyline.

I couldn't really get in to this book but I did enjoy the premise of the book.The pacing of the book was nice. I typically love a good boarding school setting but this one missed the mark for me.

4 stars. Very much enjoyed this especially because of the Indian representation, specifically South Indian rep. I really resonated with Jaya as an older sister and found Grey and the supporting characters likeable despite the use of cliches and tropes. This was a fast, enjoyable read that is along the lines of usual YA romance. The plot/retelling aspects was genuinely interesting and the references to the original tale/movie were so creative. This was my first Sandhya Menon book and hopefully not my last!

Of Curses and Kisses was a fun read - but it reminded me of everything BUT Beauty and the Beast (the fairy tale on which it was based.) Yes, there was the rose, and yes, they described the male main character as a beast - but it reminded me more of:

1. Romeo and Juliet - Family feud, forbidden romance
2. Pride and Prejudice - Female character misjudges male character, learns that someone she thought was good was bad
3. Anna and the French Kiss - Boarding school
4. Never Have I Ever - An arranged marriage in a modern Indian family with characters living in the US and trying to balance their heritage with the US culture

That being said, I think that Beastly was a better reimagining of the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale - but I enjoyed Of Curses and Kisses as a romance more than Beastly. It just depends on what you're looking for.

This was such a fun read! I am such a sucker for any book set in a boarding school. And Sandhya always develops such diverse and interesting characters that I felt like I knew them all personally.

I enjoyed reading several aspects of this book! The pacing was wonderful, characters were well drawn, and the reading experience on the whole was delightful.

Not really my cup of tea. However I think there are many readers who would enjoy a Beauty and the Beast retelling set at an elite boarding school. I’m just not that reader.

A fun romance novel with a great interpretation of the Beauty and the Beast myth. I like that the plot and characters tackle "what makes a beast"--is it a person's looks? Their actions? Their family? And of course, the beast is not always what it seems. I really loved seeing how the characters developed individually and grew to better understand the world around them, rather than relying only on Youtube videos (as Jaya does!).

Thank you so much @SimonTeen & @NetGalley for giving me this eARC in exchange for my honest and unbiased review (Release Date | 18 February 2020)

SYNOPSIS | There is a centuries old feud between the Rao & the Emerson families over a stolen ruby, however when Princess Jaya Rao finds out that the Emerson heir is attending the same elite boarding school as her she plots her revenge on him & his family.

WHAT I LIKED:
- Alternating perspectives between Jaya & Grey

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
- I genuinely didn't understand why Jaya's "revenge" was to make Grey fall in love with her and then break his heart... how on earth is that justification for his ancestor stealing a ruby?!
- I wanted more familial storyline between Jaya & her sister. The majority of the book was Jaya being overbearingly protective, Isha is then absent for the entire middle of the book and then at the end of the book Jaya suddenly changes her mindset and encourages Isha to take robotics.
- Grey... i like broody boys (Edward Cullen started this love), but Grey was just bland.
- I like elite boarding schools (thank you Harry Potter & Gossip Girl), but this story could have literally been set anywhere.

I wanted to love this book. The authors YA RomComs are some of my favorites and I was really looking forward to a Beauty and the Beast retelling by her. After 5 chapters I was still struggling to find a connection to the characters or determine what the plot was. I may try again at another time.

***Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***

Not enough character development and I could not finish.

If you like stories with boarding school settings, try picking this one up. It has a fairytale-ish quality to it with a princess, Jaya, and a rich, well-known boy from a feuding family, Grey Emerson. As the story goes on, the Jaya concocts a plan to get Grey to fall in love with her and then break his heart as payback for what his family did to hers.

However, things don't go as planned and they begin to fall for each other, but there's a hitch. Grey has a curse on him and his time is running out until his 18th birthday. He believes he may die once his birthday hits.

This was cute. I was expecting a little more fantastical elements since it seemed to err on the side of a fairytale story. It was was a nice surprise from the author's usual contemporary though.

Of Curses and Kisses was a book that I was really anticipating as I love a good twisted fairy tale (and Beauty and the Beast is my favorite)! To be honest this was a very slow starting book for me. I just kept reading a few pages and setting it aside. Even though this book took a long time to pick up for me, I did end up liking it in the end. I like how the story is told in the POV of both Jaya and Grey. Grey was my favorite character in the book. It was a cute YA romance and if you like retellings, I think you would enjoy this one. This was my first book by Sandhya Menon but I definitely want to read more from her in the future.
Thanks netgalley for this arc!

Fairy tales are....tales as old as time, and I do enjoy reading modern re-tellings of some of my favorite books. This one was a little slow for me at the beginning, I like the modern setting of the novel and some of the small connections to the original story. There is also something a little Darcy and Liz Bennet about the main couple as well. Read this one for a fun read, and for anyone who loves a good fairy tale. Since this is to be part of a series, I look forward to reading more of them.

Cute.
Predictable from the first pages, but cute.
I’m not sold on the Indian Princess in the highly Americanized boarding school angle, but I liked the characters well enough. I do wish more attention to cultural details would have been given for Jaya. I felt like something was missing.

Also missing was the sister that supposedly propelled most of this story. Once they made it to St. R’s she MIA. That was a bit odd to me considering she was essentially one set of stairs away.

I had no idea this would be a series. And honestly, I’m not entirely sure what could be covered in the next book without dragging a story out. If this were a stand alone title I’d probably like it more. It I’m sure I’ll read book 2 all the same because this was an enjoyable, light hearted read.

Sandhya Menon is an auto=buy author for me, but while I enjoyed "Of Curses and Kisses," it's not my favorite of her work. I love her ability to write about the pressures of familial expectations, and the narratives that we tell ourselves that aren't always true...but in this case, the plot was a bit too outlandish and contrived for me. A male hero whose father has told him his whole live that he was under a curse that had caused him to kill his mother, and would make him die on his 18th birthday? If that had happened, it would lead to a character who desperately needed massive amounts of therapy -- not someone ready to walk straight into a romance, as Grey is portrayed. The other characters, too, felt a bit one-note: attached to almost didactic stereotypes: the girl who takes familial responsibilities too seriously. The awkward but sweet neurodivergent student. The wealthy snob who is vulnerable underneath. I liked the setup -- it just never deepened for me, alas.

This book was a 4 star read!

The beginning started off slow and the attraction between the two characters felt a little rushed, but as the layers of complexity evolve it takes your breath away.

The plot of the older sister taking care of the younger sister and all the political intrigue was fascinating! I did find it weird that the only princess at the boarding school kept bein blown away by the finery of the places they visited. I just felt it was weird that one of the only brown girls in the book was in awe when she's a princess.
Nevertheless, the passionate sister relationship was palpable.
I also like the female friendships and how the girls didn't hate on each other through the plot could have easily turned out that way.

I also struggled to find him beastly beside his size and lack of conversational skills but his whole storyline was so captivating! I loved how the curse and what his father had done to him really weighed his decisions. You could really understand his struggle.

Really enjoyed it!

After her sister Isha is scandalized, Jaya Rao vows vengeance on the one she believes is responsible for the scandal, Grey Emerson, by making him fall for her then breaking his heart. In this contemporary romance, the “beast” believes he is destined to die after turning eighteen because of a curse cast by “beauty’s” ancestor. The alleged curse is the extent of actual magic of the book. Without a fantasy element the emphasis is on romance and character relationships. The sisterly relationship between Jaya and Isla is a strong relationship, which readers wish for more Isha in the book. Readers are introduced to several characters but with the arguable exceptions of two, best friend Daphne Elizabeth and antagonist Caterina they don’t get much development. While the other relationships could have been more fleshed out, the romance between the leads is a nice slow burn. As the first book of the St. Rosetta’s Academy series, the school’s Aspen, Colorado setting comes to life. Readers might look forward to learning more about the school in subsequent books. Readers of Menon’s other novels would enjoy this one, as well as fans of Kasie West, Adi Alsaid, and Becky Albertalli.