Sandhya Menon never disappoints!

Of Curses and Kisses was such a cute read! Boarding schools are my all time favorite setting so I knew right away that I’d love this one.

I instantly fell in love with Grey. He was so misunderstood and I really enjoyed learning more about him.

I can’t wait to read more in the series!

I could not get myself interested in this story. I think Sandhya Menon is a brilliant writer for teens and I will purchase this book to have available for students, but I was not personally invested in the story.

I love fairytales with a twist. This book puts a whole new spin on Beauty & Beast. Yes there is a library, a rose (love how it fits into the story), and two characters who break a “curse” all on their own terms. The mountain setting was fitting for this story (swipe to see the #bookmap). I love that the others characters have more to depth to them than just playing a secondary character. . I’m really looking forward to getting to know them more as the series continues.
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If you haven’t yet, pick up @sandhyamenonbooks’s first 3 books. Her YA contemporaries are some of my favs! .
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Thanks to @simonteen @netgalley for the e-arc I read

I enjoyed this book but did not love it. I always pick up fairy tale re-tellings and this was no exception. It has all of the charm of Beauty and the Beast but there was one main flaw. And that is the main character, Jaya. She was very annoying and while some of her actions made sense, some seemed very out of character. Jaya is forced to do things for her family by her father rather than decided to do things herself. Sometimes she seemed strong and stubborn. She would then do something that would make you question if this was the same character.
Overall, the story was cute and I enjoyed Grey as the "Beast." I just wanted Jaya to be stronger, more consistent character.

3.5 out of 5 Stars

Thank you to @simonteen and @simonandschuster for an advanced copy! ⁣⁣

⁣⁣𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗔𝗟𝗟 𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚: 3.8/5 STARS⁣⁣
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𝗙𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦: Rahul, Daphne and Leo. ⁣⁣
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𝗟𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗧 𝗙𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗘𝗥𝗦: ⁣⁣
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𝗙𝗔𝗩𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗔𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗖𝗧𝗦: I’m a sucker for anything, absolutely anything, with a boarding school in it. Don’t know why, maybe it’s the after effects of Harry Potter/Mallory Towers, but I loved the setting. The story itself felt a lot like the Princess Diaries, in its tone and atmosphere. However, there is a definite modern aspect to this book; it handles female friendships, difficulties in communication, the implications of media coverage on individuals, without needing a serious overtone to the story. It’s light hearted, it’s funny, it’s sweet, and it’s a unique re-telling of Beauty and the Beast as it doesn’t rely on many of the tropes from the original fable. ⁣⁣
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I dock off a couple of points, not because of the writing (which I found fun to read) or the plot, but because I was invested more in the secondary characters. I liked Jaya and Grey, they were good MCs, but they didn’t hold my attention as much as Daphne, or Rahul or Leo or Isha. I wanted to know so much more about them and their storylines as they felt more complex. I realized this was a series when I checked it up on Goodreads, and I was so excited because I hope the next few books focus on the secondary characters, as Sandhya Menon did a fantastic job in making them all so interesting! ⁣⁣
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𝗦𝗛𝗜𝗣𝗦: Grey and Jaya. They were very adorable, and Grey was the perfect brooding “beast” and Jaya wildfire “beauty”. ⁣⁣
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𝗥𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗠𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗗𝗘𝗗 𝗙𝗢𝗥: readers looking for a contemporary Beauty and the Beast retelling for a romantic read.

Of Curses and Kisses was a heartfelt book about finding one's self worth and following one's heart. Jaya made for a compelling and complex heroine, with her strong sense of duty and attention to status and tradition balanced out by loyalty to her family and compassion for those around her. Her protectiveness of her younger sister was understandable but also frustrating because of the way she ends up trying to stifle her sister's pursuit of happiness. Grey was a classic brooding love interest, feeling little control over his future and unworthy of love and happiness. The changes and growth that happen to both Jaya and Grey as they grow closer had me rooting for their happily ever after. While the curse and Jaya's pending engagement were sources of external conflict for the couple, I think the center of the story's conflict was ultimately about their internal issues and what they chose to believe they deserved. I'm happy with the choices they made, and the ending was everything I wanted.

I received an eARC from Simon Pulse via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My full thoughts can be read here: http://twincitiesgeek.com/2020/02/beauty-and-the-beast-get-schooled-in-of-curses-and-kisses/

Of Curses and Kisses is a cute modern YA adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. Taking place at an exclusive Colorado boarding school, Princess Jaya has hated the Emerson family her entire life. As the heiress of a royal Indian family, she is ready to do anything to keep in line with her family's wishes and traditions. Grey Emerson, the cursed heir of the Emerson clan, has lived a life of isolation. Told in alternating views, the two clash in typical fairytale fashion but with a modern twist.

I'm a big fan of Sandhya Menon and was thrilled to read this first book in her new series. I can't wait to see who from St. Rosetta's Academy will be the focus of the next in this series!

Did someone say new favorite beauty and the beast retelling? Oh, right, I did. I love Sandhya's other books, so I fully expected to love this one. I was not disappointed. While it took me a little bit to get into it, I really adored this book. It was different from her other works while still retaining that feel of adorable (and fantastic) romance. I recommend this one wholeheartedly. Jaya and Grey will have you sucked into their story in no time.

The Disney princess inside me love love loves a retelling, especially the story of Beauty and the Beast but ONLY when it is done well! This book delivers! If you have ever been let down by a book that promised more than it could provide or if you need a palate cleanser after tackling something long-winded or complex, look no further than this one!

This book was a very sweet read, and a nice retelling of a classic fairytale. I really enjoyed how Menon wove in modern elements with the classic ones, creating a rich story and one that I'll be sure to recommend to teen readers. Very well done!

Thanks for the opportunity to review an ARC!

Reading this as a pdf was difficult. The formatting issues got in my way and I had trouble getting into the story.

This book comes out tomorrow and since I had an ARC of it I decided to speed read it yesterday. It wasn't anything special which is why I was able to get through it so quickly. I thought it was a cute read and I think a younger audience would really enjoy it.

The two main characters are Jaya and Grey. First off I want to talk about Jaya. She was an interesting character. At the beginning of the book, she stuck to her beliefs and didn't let anyone tell her otherwise, which was annoying at times. However, as the book went on she started to change and see things from a different perspective which I really enjoyed reading about. She's still not one of my favorite characters but she's was fun.

Next up is Grey. Out of the two main characters he is the one I liked the most. He starts out the book as an odd duck but he grows to be a character that you start to care about a tiny bit. At the beginning of the book, he kind of feels a little flat but he does definitely go through a lot of growth that makes him an enjoyable character to read about.

The writing was very cringey. I think I need to stop reading YA contemporaries as the writing is not something I seem to be able to take. This book specifically was not good writing-wise. For some reason, the race of characters was capitalized and I found that annoying and unnecessary. Honestly, I found the fact that the character's race seemed to be mentioned a lot annoying as a whole.

The plot was not anything special. It was cute and romantic which fit the general mood of the book. I did like the female friendships a lot. I thought those were done really well. There were some times where I thought the characters were being stupid but then I remembered there were teenagers and it made more sense. The is it magic or is it not wasn't my favorite but it was okay. It was a cute story and I enjoyed it.

I think this is a cute light read that you could read in between heavier books if you're looking for something fun. I do think it would suit a younger audience more but I still enjoyed it. I am interested to see where the rest of the series goes as this is the first book in a new series from Menon. I don't know if I'll read them but I might if they look interesting. I recommend this if you're just looking for a cute romance that doesn't require too much effort.

Sandhya Menon is one of my all time favorite YA romance novelists, and so I was excited to see her do something a little bit different. Overall, this one was just alright to me. Beauty and the Beast is just felt a little overdone to me, and so it all felt just a tad predictable. I also was surprised to find that I really didn't enjoy the boarding school setting as much as I hoped :/ I found the side love triangle absolutely insufferable- it gave me Anna and The French Kiss vibes (a book I dislike) and so every scene with those side characters just put me off. There was just a little too much miscommunication driving the conflict for my taste. But I really liked Jaya and Grey as main characters, and I thought the most compelling relationship was Jaya and her sister Isha. Menon is still one of the greats, but I don't think this will go down as my favorite of hers.

Of Curses & Kisses was a fresh and delightful take on a classic, Beauty & The Beast from Sandhya Menon. I've been a fan of the author ever since her debut novel. With this book, she offers a story that is different in tone from her previous books, but you'll still find all the elements that make Sandhya's books compulsively readable here.

Of Curses & Kisses stars Jaya Rao, a young woman who hails from Indian royalty. After a scandal in the Indian media leaves her younger sister's reputation in tatters, Jaya and Isha arrive at St. Rosetta's Academy, a school for elites in Colorado. When Jaya finds out that Grey Emerson, the person she believes is behind the media leak is also at St. Rosetta, she sets out to take revenge on him. Her plan is to get him to fall in love with her and then break his heart. What she discovers, however, is that Grey is not exactly the guy she made out to be in her mind.

What makes Sandhya's books enjoyable for me are her characters. I have yet to read a character from her that I dislike and thankfully, Jaya and Grey were not an exception. Jaya was a character that had grown up to be obedient and devoted to her family duties. She took her obligations seriously and would do anything to protect her family's reputation even at the cost of her own happiness. As a result, she came across as somewhat rigid at times and stubborn almost to a fault. While these may sound like qualities that make her difficult to connect with, that was not the case for me. I found myself admiring her loyalty and her desire to want to protect her sister, perhaps, because I could see parts of myself in those traits? Her love for her sister was so pure and it warmed my heart to see the lengths she was willing to go to ensure that no harm would come to Isha. As the story progressed, Jaya's character underwent a lot of growth and she began to show more of her own desires. The battle between what she wanted and what she thought was expected of her played out beautifully.

The "Beast" of the story is, as you probably guessed, Grey. Ah, this soft, broody, lonely boy. My heart ached for the situation that he was in, and I wanted nothing more than to protect him and convince him that happiness was right around the corner. Grey grew up feeling utterly unloved by his father who blamed him for his mother's death. His father believed that his destiny was tied to a centuries-old curse tied to his family and the Raos and that he would die on his 18th birthday. He lived in constant fear of his impending death and as a result, he has isolated himself from most of the students at St. Rosetta's Academy. He began to experience moments of happiness when Jaya appeared in his life, but he was very cognizant about the fact that his life would be ending soon. It was very distressing to agonize so much about his death.

Jaya and Grey's relationship may have started out as a lie, but it became clear very quickly that these two were meant to be with each other. As with Beauty & the Beast, this a slow-burn romance and one that is extremely satisfying as the two begin to open up to each other. What I liked best here was how they taught each other to believe in themselves and that it was okay to put themselves first for once. There were several obstacles in Jaya and Grey's relationship that prevented them from being together and most of this book has to do with them attempting to overcome these challenges. Theirs was an angsty romance and I loved every swoon-worthy moment of it.

Sandhya weaved a truly beautiful story with Of Curses & Kisses. I loved how she incorporated the core elements of Beauty & the Beast with her own twists and made this retelling unique. The boarding school setting with all the scenic descriptions was also to die for. I loved meeting all the students at St. Rosetta's as they made for a great secondary cast. There were plenty of relationships besides the romantic one between Jaya and Grey. I am eager to learn more about them in the subsequent companion books of this series!

If you like Beauty & the Beast and boarding school settings, Of Curses & Kisses is a book I definitely recommend picking up. I think you'll love the sweet romance and everything else the book has to offer as much as I did!

There's nothing wrong with this, but nothing wonderful either. Supposedly this is based on Beauty and the Beast but it feels more like the tale was shoehorned onto a YA romance more than anything. Also, two POVs? Both Grey and Jaya sound exactly alike, so why bother? Hearing more about the curse, more about Isha's life at the school, more about the Indian side of things would have really strengthened this. Having said all that, the way the two main characters connect felt real, and the friendships between the students (as well as the rivalries) were also very realistic, once you get behind the elite setting and lives.

eARC provided by publisher.

I must start this out by saying that I think with better editing, this book could earn a 2 star rating. The writing, primarily the dialogue, is very stilted and unnatural, making it very hard to be invested. I have never struggled with more with NOT DNF’ing a book. I felt as if the author was grasping at every straw they possibly could to make this story as similar to the Disney Beauty and the Beast as possible, but I think the story really would have benefitted from some good ole’ fashioned originality. And that necklace. We’re tired of hearing about the necklace.

Included in SBTB's monthly New Releases post, which highlights upcoming books for the next month: https://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/2020/02/februarys-new-releases-part-two/

Reviewed for the Alliterates: Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon. (3 1/2 stars)

tw: abuse, media exploitation of girls, manipulative bully

This book is a romantic tale of revenge curmudgeons slowly transforming into a bunch of softies.

Jaya starts school with revenge on her mind. St. Rosetta’s International Academy is an elite boarding school for the wealthy, except the cast is diverse. Yes, queer people and black people exist in wealthy circles. I mean who knew. It’s not like publishers forgot you could have a diverse cast of characters or anything…

Sandhya Menon gives the people what they want. She gives gorgeous dresses, old European castle aesthetics, queer people, black people, an Indian princess, a girl mechanic who should be my bestie.

This book is fun. It is a contemporary YA romance striving to emulate the heightened emotions of Bollywood films and Gossip Girl, with a dash of Disney Channel campy fun. Told in the traditional style of romance novels, one perspective is from Jaya and the other from Grey.

The melodramatic flavor is everything that I am trash for. This is a book you take to the beach or you cozy up on a couch with a blanket when life is just Donald Trump’s face planted everywhere. You need a break. You need to exit the trashy reality. Sandhya Menon is here for you. She cares deeply about your reading life.

Menon gives us a contemporary romance where Indian girls aren’t side characters or the stereotypical best friend but a heroine just as deserving of a fluffy romance. Not only is this giving Indian girls a romance at its center but it’s not relegating the royalty trope to white people or to make the entire point about painful struggles of marginalized people. Wow, air? How refreshing.

After India’s independence the Emerson’s refused to return the ruby they stole from her family. Jaya’s ancestor cursed the ruby, bringing misfortune to the Emerson line. Menon applies magical realism to her book, something many only associate with Latinx postcolonial literary traditions. Many South Asian cultures also use it in their literary traditions. Like Latinx authors, Indian authors write magical realism, blending the realities of colonialism with magical elements as a tool against the oppression their people face. She twists the fairy tale. Fairy tales once centered white Europeans and made marginalized people into the villains. Menon plays with that idea and makes the history of fairy tales all about an Indian girl who loves her family deeply. She has microphone.

I should also note that magical elements also frequently show up in Bollywood romances and Disney Channel shows. Both of which are my favorite things about Bollywood films and Disney’s crazy sauce plot lines.

Grey Emerson is the son and heir of the Emerson family. His father is emotionally abusive. Grey is influenced to believe that the Rao’s conflict with the Emerson’s is not because of colonialism but to mere historic rivalry between aristocratic families. Grey does not believe, at first, that he should be blamed for his ancestor’s past. Oh, sweet summer child. This characterization is based off the types of things Indian people hear from white British people when it concerns their supposed ‘inability’ to ‘get over’ the violence still impacting their people. His acknowledgment of his white male privilege was refreshing to see. That’s what separates ownvoices from non ownvoices: nuance and details. It’s just generally a better story if we’re being honest here.

Jaya does not just come to this school to get revenge on an Emerson without her reasons. A picture taken of her sister lead to a public outcry against their family. Jaya believes Grey is the source of the media inflicting shame upon her sister’s image in India. Reminder, colonialism impacted India’s expectations of women in their society. Feminism is viewed from a euro-centric point of view and therefore not seen as a positive ideology in Indian society. However, Indian women are putting their own perspective on how feminism can work within Indian traditions instead of white euro-centric ones. Menon addresses feminism but applies it to a valid space for Indian women, for characters like Jaya and her sister.

Jaya is complicated. The experiences and history of her family makes her complicated. Some reviewers have commented that they empathize more with Grey, an abuse victim, more than they sympathize with Jaya, struggling with the remnants British colonizers inflicted on her family. Jaya is very judgmental at the begginning of this book but you learn why she’s that way. You see the layers of her unravel and change into someone amazing. White men will always get more empathy than complex girls dealing with real world problems. Jaya deals with all the problems of most teens in addition to the colonialism inflicted on her people. Her right to have empathy from readers is just as valid as the emotional abuse that Grey experiences from his father. I would say these two experiences have a relationship to one another.

It seems Menon is not just trying to tell a contemporary romance but also how the violent past can impact a person’s heart.

Complex girls, especially girls of color, deserve love just as much as boys. The book community should seriously think about what it’s doing when it praises white boys above girls of color.

Jaya is ambitious which is the way to my heart. Jaya wants to discover herself, who she is outside of Jaya, a Rao Rajkumari. I have a soft spot for girls who develop into this new person by the end of the book. I like to see those layers peeled. Give me the developed girls. The complicated girls. The revenge girls.

Caterina is one of the side characters in this book that fascinates me endlessly. It’s obvious that she’s not a good person. She collects people for power but her character is still dealt with empathy instead of veering into the type of misogynistic stereotypical tropes set out for toxic people like her. There’s this complex development going on that I find intriguing. I hate villains that are obviously bad. Caterina is not a clear-cut bully. The interesting bitches are unpredictable.

I do have some negative opinions on the book that keep this from being a 4 star. I felt aspects of the book to be missing or lacking. There’s a development between the characters that takes off at a certain point and loses the slow burn I thought this would be. It relies too heavily on fast pacing at a certain point in the character’s development. I understand the author wanted to keep a fast pace but I didn’t feel as gripped by the book because of this. The climax left me feeling a little empty.
I would recommend this if you’re looking for something light, fun, and intelligent.

Thank you to Simon Pulse for an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review.

Sandhya Menon breathes new life into the Beauty and the Beast fairy tale with her diversely cast Of Curses and Kisses. The author’s humor creates a nice balance to her look at serious issues like teen loneliness and parental expectations in this fun YA novel.

The Emersons and Raos are the English/Indian equivalents of the Montagues and Capulets. Back in the days of British colonialism, the Emersons stole a priceless ruby from the Rao family, and even though the matriarch of the clan cursed the Emersons, they still didn’t see fit to return the stone. Modern day Princess Jaya Rao didn’t think too much about either the curse or the feud until someone released pictures of her younger sister Isha hanging out – in private – with a group of young men. The pictures, while completely innocent, were like a bomb going off in their conservative community. Hoping to keep the girls out of the limelight while the scandal dies down, their parents send Isha and Jaya to St. Rosetta’s near Aspen, Colorado, a posh school that has a reputation for protecting the privacy of its wealthy students. Unknown to Jaya’s parents, research has led her to believe it is Grey Emerson, the scion of their sworn enemies, who leaked the pictures. Also unknown to her family is that she wants to go to St. Rosetta’s not for privacy but because Grey is there and she has sworn vengeance on him; her plan is to have him fall in love with her and then break his heart.

A hallowed dream stolen, A world darkly despairs

A Storm, a life, a sudden death heralds the end, the last heir.

As the glass rose dims, So the hope of redemption. Eighteen years, one by one, until what’s left is none. Mend that which is broken. Repair that which is severed. Or the Northcliff name is forsaken. And shall vanish, at last, forever.

Those words have controlled the life of Grey Emerson, heir to the Northcliffe title. Because of the curse, he has always been treated like the mud beneath his father’s shoes. His father does pay for his education at St. Rosetta’s but that doesn’t negate the fact that Grey is never welcomed home for the holidays or shown love in any way. His father blames him for his mother’s death in childbirth, since his was the life that came during the storm causing her sudden death. His dad also claims “the curse has tainted your blood. It’s like a virus and because of that, you won’t ever have any friends. People will sense there’s something wrong with you; they’ll hurt you. Best to keep your distance and save yourself the pain.” As if all of that weren’t enough, the family is convinced that Grey will die at eighteen, eradicating his bloodline so that the Emersons are no more.

When Jaya and Grey first meet, she is surprised to find a kindness in him that she had in no way expected. He, on the other hand, is obsessed with her necklace, a rose made with eighteen ruby petals. One of them is already missing. Jaya talks easily of having it replaced but Grey, already concerned about the curse, wonders if that dropped stone heralds the beginning of his end. Will he die when the last petal falls?

Those who don’t like paranormal elements in their romances can relax. The curse serves as a catalyst for conversation between Jaya and Grey but the woo-woo factor here is limited to stones falling from a necklace and Grey freaking out about it. Typically, that would make Grey seem a bit of a loon but it’s natural that someone who has been told he will die on his eighteenth birthday would be preoccupied by the thought of it. Most of the story, however, is a very typical teen romance that involves two likable, privileged kids falling in love.

It makes sense that since Jaya’s stated goal was to have Grey fall in love with her, she takes every chance to be with him she can. ‘Fortunately’, she meets people who hang out with him the very first day she is at St. Rosetta’s. Equally ‘fortunate’ (okay, let’s call it what it is and say deus ex machina) they quickly become her friends, giving her an excellent excuse to be near him. Our third piece of good fortune? Jaya stumbles upon Grey doing a good deed early in the story, signaling to her that he is no monster but a young man with a good heart. This puts just enough doubt in Jaya’s mind about Grey’s purported misdeed that she treads carefully in regards to her vengeance, a fact for which I was extremely grateful. This is perhaps her strongest quality – Jaya doesn’t stubbornly stick to her own opinion regardless of the evidence. She looks at the information she receives and reforms her thinking if necessary. Along with that, Jaya is a loving older sister, responsible young woman and genuinely nice person.

Thanks to his father, Grey spends a lot of time pondering the curse and how it makes him a blight to humanity, having him be responsible for the death of his mother and the end of his family line. A part of me wanted to slap him for not taking advantage of the counseling services available at the school (all schools have some form of this service in the U.S.) so he could learn that his ancestors bore the brunt of the responsibility for the problems since they never tried to Mend that which is broken. In his defense, Grey did recognize the wrong his family had done, tried to fix it by repairing Jaya’s necklace and was wise enough not to let the curse embitter him. In spite of his father’s advice to avoid friendships, he’d managed to gather around him a good group of mates (more their doing than his) and has used the time he does spend alone to become an avid outdoorsman. He, too, is a responsible, kind (albeit a tad grouchy) person.

The romance is typical of most YA published today with a relationship that develops rather quickly and revolves around the two characters pushing each other to achieve their dreams. There is a strong theme of independence, and of forming the future you want rather than the one your family/society dictates throughout the story, and the romance serves as an impetus for both characters to take charge of their destinies.

The book has one main flaw and that is its superficial handling of the conflicts in the text. The author never explores why Grey’s father is such a stupid jerk, which makes him a cardboard villian. The other villain of the story is dealt with in such an easy, perfunctory manner that it bordered on the ridiculous. Given what they had done, they would not have gone down without more of a fight than they put up in the final confrontation.

Even with its flaws though, Of Curses and Kisses is an easy to read, enjoyable story that is sure to please its youthful audience. Fans of Beauty and the Beast retellings are sure to enjoy it as well.