Of Curses and Kisses had quite a few things going for it: international boarding school, Beauty & the Beast inspired, a swoon-worthy hero named Grey, a feisty younger sister, a bit of magical realism, and Menon's compulsively readable writing. And yet, the book fell flat for me due to the heroine, Princess Jaya Rao. She takes the dutiful daughter who puts her family first to a whole other level. I can respect that mentality to a certain degree but not when it's at the expense of kindness to others or open-mindedness. Jaya believes her little sister is the target of their family's centuries-old feud with the Emersons. So when she and her sister enroll at the same boarding school as Grey Emerson, the plan is: make him fall in love with her and break his heart for revenge. Even though this premise is written in the synopsis, I guess I didn't really register it? Because once I realized this was her goal, it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth especially as her motivations and behavior made no sense whatsoever. And of course once she actually gets to know Grey, she's "drawn" to him but won't abandon her plan. On the other hand, Grey was someone I could root for! The Raos put an ancient curse on his family and he truly believes he's doomed on his 18th birthday, which is why he's always kept everyone at arm's length. Then he meets Jaya who he's simultaneously intrigued by and wary of because she seems to be hiding something (clearly he's not wrong). But because of how I felt about Jaya, I couldn't immerse myself in the romance which is at the forefront of this story or sympathize with her. (Grey, you deserve better!) That said, if the the next book is about Jaya's little sis, I would be tempted to read that.

This one was a little hard to follow for me. There are a lot of characters introduced off the bat and I had difficulties keeping them straight. It is a mix of contemporary/fantasy and that’s not my typical book. I think YA readers that enjoy fantasy should check this one out. I have enjoyed the authors contemporary work so I wanted to give this one a try.

I absolutely adore Sandhya Menon's books. They are so wonderful. Of Kisses and Curses is about an ancient feud and a dangerous curse that has played the Rao and Emerson family's for centuries. When Jaya Rao and her sister are sent to boarding school after a scandal, they are surprised to find themselves classmates with the heir to Emerson title, Grey. Jaya has a plan to destroy Grey for what he's done to her sister and her family.
Both Jaya and Grey are fantastic characters. I loved seeing them interact with each other. I also loved a lot of the side characters since they all have their own story lines that help develop the book.

This book was loosely based on Beauty and the Beast. I will always read one of those, because they are so much fun! I like seeing what parts of the original story will be woven into a more modern tale. In this version, Princess Jaya Rao, who comes from Indian royalty, is starting a new school with her sister. Grey Emerson also attends this school, and of course, their families have a centuries old rivalry that is still going strong. Jaya’s family has been in the news for some negative reasons, and she plans to do something about it. This involves falling in love with Grey, and then breaking his heart. Of course, things don’t go according to plan, and they fall in love. Commence the drama and betrayal.

It was all the usual tropes, but I loved it. The characters were fun, and the story kept me interested. I liked the integration of the rose, and how it tied in with the “curse.” I also really enjoyed the side characters, and the plots that went with them. This is a great book for anyone that is in the mood for a quick read, with a happy ending. And for Beauty and the Beast lovers, this is a must!

I was given an advanced reader's copy via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own

I struggled to read this book. I found it incredibly boring. The characters were indistinguishable. The boarding school setting had little effect on the story. The "curse" felt out of place in the modern setting. The book felt like.a first draft to me; great idea, but unfinished.
I expected more from Menon, having loved her previous books.

Jaya is really judgemental and kind of annoying and Grey is brooding and really annoying so I don't think I will finish this. It's not a bad story but I just find the two narrators to be too obnoxious to continue reading. I think certain people will like this, I am just not one of them.

Six word summary: Beauty and Beast at boarding school.

Loved: That Menon was able to give us a fresh take on this tale while adding in several allusions to the Disney classic! Each little "easter egg" I came across made me smile. While this one felt a little over the top with the drama as compared to her prior books, Menon's characters' chemistry wins me over every time!

Recommend for: Fans of fairytale retellings, YA romance, and Sandhya Menon.

Reminds me of: A combination of the movies Disney's Beauty and the Beast and Dirty Dancing with a pretty generous dash of teen angst.

Another lovely novel by Sandhya Menon! While I wasn't as in love with these characters as I have been with Menon's previous novels, I did really enjoy the plot and character development.

I don’t love DNFing arcs, but this is a case of where I should have looked into the book more before requesting it. I literally just saw Sandhya Menon (I loved When Dimple Met Rishi!) and Beauty and the Beast retelling and immediately requested Of Curses and Kisses because I’ve been meaning to pick up more of her books.

I started reading it and was pretty confused by what was going on. There were a lot of references to a curse and a family feud and something terrible that happened this last summer, and it just annoyed me rather than making me want to keep reading and solve the mystery of what’s going on. But then I got to the point where the heroine lays out her master plan to make the hero fall in love with her and then break his heart in revenge, and it was such a silly idea that it was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me, and I had to stop reading.

Turns out, if you read the description, it says right there in the summary that that’s part of the premise of the book. If that doesn’t bother you, then you might want to give this a shot! Menon did an amazing job with her debut novel, and I can only imagine she’s gotten better since then. But for me, I couldn’t take the plot seriously. That combined with having no idea what was going on and finding the heroine a bit of a spoiled brat just made me really reluctant to pick up this book when I had time to read, and I ultimately went ahead and DNFed it.

This was an OK modern re-telling of Beauty and the Beast. There wasn't anything really original or new to it which left me a tad disappointed. It wasn't a bad read, it was really just ok. I think teens who are into re-tellings would enjoy the book.

Of Curses and Kisses is unique, modern re-telling of Beauty and the Beast. In Sandhya Menon's fresh perspective, Jaya Rao is Beauty. Jaya is a seventeen-year-old Indian princess, shipped off to a prestigious boarding school in Colorado with her younger sister Isha to escape a scandal in India. Apparently someone leaked a photo of Isha cavorting in a young mechanic's garage covered in oil and kissing one of the boys. Jaya is positive that Grey Emerson, a brooding young British lord is responsible for leaking the photo and causing the royal Rao family all this trouble. Her plan is to make him fall in love with her then callously dump him, gaining revenge and putting Grey in his place. Things are not at all as they seem. Isha struggles for independance, Jaya is torn between duty to her parents, her arranged marriage, and living her own life. Grey is being forced out of his self-imposed isolation and begins to enjoy life. In spite of being intrigued by Jaya's charms, Grey can't escape the shadow of a prophecy that calls for his death once he turns eighteen. All this dramat takes place against a backdrop of the beautiful Colorado mountains, high fashion and the lives of the rich and famous. But Menon also digs deeper for a great coming of age novel that deals with the conflict between duty to family and country and duty to be your own best self.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a lot of fun to read and different from the typical fairy-tale redux. I can't wait to get if for our library - middle school and high school readers will love this. As an adult, I can recommend it to their parents and teachers with confidence. - this would be a great book for readers of any age. I appreciate the opportunity to read an ARC!

I started skimming this book at 50%. I was incredibly disappointed in Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon. I loved her Dimple series, so I was extremely excited to get my hands on an arc of her new book.

I have two primary issues with this book. First, I dislike how terrible everyone in this book is. Like, they’re awful people who I’d probably flip off if I met them in person. Jaya criticizes people for doing things that she herself does two pages later. She gets mad at people for being misogonistic, but then she spews anti-feminist rhetoric to her sister? Like, you won’t allow anyone else to belittle you, but you think it’s okay to belittle other people? Sure, Jan.

And then Grey is terrible to his friends. He never talks to them. He just broods in the corner for ninety percent of this book. Grey and Raya’s relationship is so unbelievable because they’re just terrible for each other. It’s pretty awful.

Which brings me to number two. There is no magic in this world. This is modern day contemporary. So why on earth does Grey spend the entire book thinking he’s going to die?! It’s incredibly unbelievable that he’d think this, even if he’d been told it his entire life. It would make sense if there were a magic system in place for this book, but there isn’t. It makes the entire execution of the beauty & the beast retelling fall flat.

Unfortunately, I did not like this book. It was cheesy dialogue and neither the plot or the characters kept me interested. I’m so disappointed in this book, because I know the author is capable of great things.

I didn’t realize this book would vanish on the pub date/archive date. When I tried to read it a few days later, I am unable to access. Not able to review.

This book was so amazing! It was such a unique take on a fairy tale retelling and I immediately was sucked in to this book! I love the main characters and I feel like there were never any cliche' situations. I will be recommending this book to all the teens at my library.

Sandhya Menon’s latest book, Of Curses and Kisses, is a modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast and I really enjoyed Menon’s spin on the classic fairytale. I thought it was very original and I especially liked the fact that she set her story at an elite international boarding school.

When the story opens, Princess Jaya Rao and her younger sister, Isha, have just arrived at their new boarding school, which is nestled in the mountains of Colorado. The sisters have relocated halfway around the world to escape some negative media attention that Isha found herself caught in the middle of. Their parents are hoping the time away will lead the media to get bored and move on to another scandal. Even though Jaya herself has done nothing wrong, she is completely devoted to her family and preserving the Rao reputation so she agrees to go and keep an eye on Isha. Jaya also has an ulterior motive. She knows that Grey Emerson attends the school and thinks this is the perfect opportunity to exact revenge on him. There is bad blood between the Rao and Emerson families that can be traced back to a stolen ruby and a subsequent retaliatory curse and Jaya is certain that the Emersons are responsible for her family’s latest troubles.

Ironically, Grey Emerson is also at the school because of the curse. His cold-hearted father believes so thoroughly in the curse that he has cut all ties with his doomed son and shipped him off to boarding school. And since the curse threatens to wipe out his family line and he’s currently the last male heir, Grey can’t help but be concerned.

As one expects when reading one of Menon’s novels, both of her main characters are quite likable. I loved Jaya’s devotion to her family and how thoroughly she watched over her sister. I also liked getting inside of her head once she actually meets Grey and realizes he may not be the monster she thinks he is. I really felt for her as she becomes more and more conflicted about what she should do. I also really liked Grey and just felt tremendous sympathy for him. He has spent his whole life tortured by this awful curse and feeling unloved by his father. Grey believes there’s a good chance he will die once he turns 18, so he keeps others at a distance so no one will end up devastated if he really does die. As much as I enjoyed reading Jaya’s conflicted internal monologues, I thought Grey’s were excellent as well, especially once he starts getting to know Jaya and wants to be close to her in spite of the curse and the Rao vs. Emerson feud. My favorite character though was actually Jaya’s sister, Isha. Isha is a STEM girl (YES!) who just wants to live her life without feeling constricted by her family’s royal status. Isha is a firecracker who stole the spotlight in every scene she was in, and I adored her. I wanted more of her and would totally be on board for reading a story that focused more on her.

While I really did enjoy Of Curses and Kisses, I won’t say that it’s my favorite Menon novel. I liked the characters, but didn’t love them with quite the same intensity that I’ve loved some of Menon’s other protagonists like Dimple and Rishi or Sweetie and Ashish. I also thought the pacing was a little slow at times. Overall though, I still thought it was a solid read and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it, especially to anyone who enjoys Beauty and the Beast retellings.

An entertaining twist on the traditional Beauty and the Beast tale, modernizing it for royal misfits in a boarding school w/typical teen high jinx.
Quite fun, and a world I'd be happy to visit again.

I’m 1000% here for anything Sandhya writes and it breaks my heart that I won’t be gushing over this story.

I liked Jaya and Grey. She’s a bit uptight, he’s quite stand off-ish, and they’re both good people with a lot of potential. I thought Jaya’s sister Isha was delightful and I hope we get to see more of her. There are a good amount of secondary characters and some of them did feel flat.

Plot wise, it was just okay. There’s loads of inner monologue and since I thrive of dialogue, it became a bit of a slog to get through. For me, it felt like we were told Jaya and Grey we’re getting closer. Yes, there are scenes of them together, but everything read as superficial. I definitely didn’t see the jump from hated enemy to like to love. Also, I really loved the idea of the cursed and wished we could have got more about that.

Overall, this was a great idea with a lot of potential, but it didn’t spark for me. I will absolutely be reading the next book.

**Huge thanks to Simon Pulse for providing the arc free of charge**

Of Curses and Kisses is a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I really liked this modernization of it. Grey was convinced what he was cursed and it made him into a bit of a beast. He didn’t turn into a monster, but he thought he was one.

Jaya was bent on revenge. I did appreciate that this part of the storyline wasn’t drawn out too long. Was this story predictable? Yes, it was. This is one of those situations where the journey is more interesting than the outcome. I enjoyed Jaya and Grey’s interactions and seeing them get to know each other. They were both so good for each other. It was nice to see them become better people.

I have been pleasantly surprised by the number of young adult books that have been coming out recently with mature characters and this is certainly one of them!

Of Curses and Kisses, it's me, but it's also partly you. There isn't necessarily anything bad about this story, but there isn't anything new and exciting about it either. That being said it is a Beauty and the Beast retelling, so maybe that's on me for high expectations.

The story is told from the perspectives of both our main characters; Jaya, an Indian princess, and Grey, a member of the British aristocracy. She's the beauty, he's the beast. Grey was a fine character - disjointedly broody and maybe good looking? It was sometimes hard to tell from Jaya's descriptions. Either way, he worked well for the "beast" trope. On the other hand, Jaya was not my cup of tea at all. She's prim and proper which fits the ideal princess description, but boy, was she uptight. I think I could have liked her more if she was a little more honest with herself. Her inner monologue was all about duty, royal expectations, and propriety. She sees herself as her sister's protector, rather than a girl stuck in a pretty backward role. It's not until the end of the book that she admits she's not happy to be a perfect princess. It would have been better if the seeds of doubt were there from the beginning.

It's on me, an adult (ha ha) for reading a YA book, but this just felt so young. I'm hopeful it's intended audience will enjoy it, but Of Curses and Kisses was not necessarily for me. I've enjoyed other Sandhya Menon books I've read in the past, but I think I'll have to skip the rest of the St. Rosetta's series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This one was not for me. The premise of the storyline was good and I enjoyed the spin on the characters. I loved how inclusive this book was. The main character and her sister are both Indian and there are also LGBTQ+ friendly characters as well.

I just felt there was WAY too much drama. I know this is a YA book and there tends to be drama in them, but the amount of drama in one book was just a bit much for me.

The feud between the Raos and the Emersons, the feud between Jaya and Catarina, the feud between Catarina and DE...and that’s not all of them. I just felt this retelling of such a classic fairy tale fell really flat for me.