Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

This is an incredibly cute and fun contemporary book. Sandhya Menon has a beautiful writing style and never disappoints.

I LOVED THIS BOOK! This is the second book in the series but in Rahul and Catarina’s PoV. They were the side characters in the first book and this time the story is a retelling of the Frog Prince but with fake dating! I really enjoyed this book and more then the first one. I enjoyed the writing in this book as it had amazing pacing, plot structure and is a binge worthy read. Sandhya really captures everything in this book with connecting different themes of family, friend and love them making it into one. (It that makes sense). I enjoyed how it just wasn’t about the romance but also growing into a better person and making friends along the way. I also haven’t read a retelling of The Frog Prince before which I thought was very unique and amazing that the author chose this story for her retelling.

I enjoyed both of the main characters in this book. Rahul is the awkward but smart guy who has been love with Catarina for a long time and would do anything for her. Then there is Catarina who is the queen bee at school but struggles with having the right friends. I enjoyed both characters development as they both grew so well throughout the book and in different ways. Rahul grows in a way where he starts to love himself more and Caterina grows in a way where she starts to surround herself with people who care for her. I also enjoyed the side characters as they brought in the drama which the main characters had to grow through but there were some that helped them. I also enjoyed the fake relationship romance as it was super cute and I ship the characters with all my heart.

I really thought the ending was cute and can already see who the next book is going to be about. As you can see by my rating, I was not disappointed with this book at all. I will for sure be reading the next books in the series and any other books by Sandhya. She never disappoints and brings the best books! Plus her books her diverse which makes it so much better especially for her books as I can feel closely connected to them. I recommend this series to fantasy lovers and those who want to read a PoC book.

This novel is a retelling of The Frog Prince. The Frog Prince is one of my favorite fairytales so I was curious to read this retelling! It was very simple and charming. There is not a lot of twists, and I like how it stayed faithful to the original! I recommend this fans of Shannon Hale, Alethea Kontis, and Gail Carson Levine!

This was sadly so poorly written that I could not get into it at all and only read the first bit. the cover is rather juvenile for the intended audience.

I didn’t like or dislike this book. It just was a bit meh for me. The cover redesign is gorgeous though!! But the story inside? Not so much. It barely caught my attention :(

I did not get the chance to read the first book of the series and I feel like I missed out! I will be tracking it down. As far as this book, it stands on its own. The characters developed at a great pace (not the rushed "suddenly the character takes off their glasses and *GASP* they're hot!) that it felt extremely satisfying to reach the end. Just enough surprises to keep from being predictable.

This series by Sandhya Menon is criminally underrated. I love how she incorporates elements of fairy tales into this modern boarding school setting. The romance here was a super adorable opposites attract between a popular girl and a not-so-popular boy. Caterina and Rahul have fantastic chemistry together but there's some prejudice that they needed to overcome to actually get their HEA. The forced proximity that their deal puts them in allows them to get to know each other and become close. It's sweet and fulfilling. I can't wait for more in this series!

This series continues to baffle me a little bit. I enjoyed this book a similar amount to the first one. I was really hoping it was the characters from book one that prevented me from loving it but that turned out to not be the case here. If I were to read this without knowing Sandhya Menon wrote it, I'd be shocked to learn that she did. It just does not have the same feel as her other books, like the Dimple/Rishi universe. I think it's mostly because she writes the characters as posh boarding school kids and her writing style feels weird as a result, like she's trying hard to be fancy or something?

In any case, this story followed Catarina and Rahul. She's the pretty rich girl who rules the school and Rahul is the socially awkward kid whose family doesn't even include him in public photos (his cousin stands in). The two of them had a ~moment~ after the school dance and Rahul is dying to capitalize on this. Catarina starts to "train him" to be a prince instead of a frog; she wants to make her cheater-ex-boyfriend jealous at some important events with a transformed Rahul on her arm. They acquire a magical hair gel that transforms Rahul into RC, the suave, attractive, and confident version of himself.

Rahul starts to wish he was permanently RC, despite the fact that Catarina seems to be falling for plain ol' Rahul. There are lots of miscommunications during this part of the story relating to a few other characters coming in to mess everything up. I don't want to spoil it but the ending of this was pretty surprising. It was an interesting surprise that wrapped the book up in an unexpected way.

I think I liked this one a little more than the first just because of the ending, but my feelings about the writing style and characters were the same as book one. I really adore the concept/plot of these though: "fairytale retellings set in a boarding school" is like a dream come true for me. I'll continue to read them and hopefully find the next one even better. Maybe if the characters are less posh rich kids it will be easier to read?

All in all, I still recommend this series, but not necessarily because "if you like Sandhya Menon's books, you'll like these too." It's mostly because the concept is fun and others may not be bothered by the miscommunications and writing style that I'm not a huge fan of.

unfortunately, I don't think I'll be picking up Sandhya Menon's books anymore. I didn't love the way the MCs were written -- it felt very much like that "how do you do, fellow kids?" millennial meme and it gave me such an ick. i think the cover and premise was so fun but unfortunately it let me down.

Oops. Forgot to review this ridiculously fun book! So here we go: it was ridiculously fun and cooler than the first one and just edgy enough to be interesting and I am jazzed for the next story in the series! I especially love how I end up caring for characters who I never thought I’d care for, whether MCs or not. And the setting? Delicious. Delightful. Decadent. So good. It’s pretty clear who gets the next story and I am wondering who that dude is that just showed up. So, let’s do this, Ms. Menon! Can’t wait! 💜💜📚

This was an amazing second instalment in the St Rosetta's Academy series! This can definitely be read as a standalone - the mentions to the first book the series "Of Curses and Kisses" don't spoil it - but I definitely recommend reading it in order to get the full immersive experience

Cute coming of age story. Very young characters. There’s a heavy focus on outer appearance but unravels into something much deeper. Great lesson for students.

I DNFed this book halfway in. I didn't like either main character that much. I liked Menon's Dimple & Rishi series, but won't recommend this series.

3.5 Stars

This was a sweet YA romance with some really great themes and characters, but there was something missing; I wanted the story to go to the next level but it never really got there.

In this sequel to Sandhya Menon’s Of Curses and Kisses, the trademark mean-girl-queen-bee at St. Rosetta’s Academy, Caterina LaValle, has only one thing on her mind: her plan to show everyone how untouched she is after her boyfriend, Alaric, cheated on her. She’s Queen Cat, and to stay on the throne, she needs a hot date to the Hindman Foundation Gala – one that will shock the smug looks off of Alaric and his rebound model girlfriend for good.

Rahul Chopra is head-over-heels in love with Caterina, and has been for a long time. And he can’t stop thinking about the night they danced together at the winter formal, when Caterina looked so hurt after Alaric’s betrayal. Rahul is socially awkward and feels no confidence in his own skin, but he still holds onto hope that Caterina remembers that dance between them, too. And so the only plausible answer when Caterina asks him to go to the Gala with her is yes. The next two weeks, Caterina begins Rahul’s makeover into RC, the hot prince on Caterina’s arm at all the high society functions. But what happens when Rahul likes RC better? And does Caterina really want Rahul to change?

Of Princes and Promises has so many great aspects to talk about. When I started reading, I didn’t jive with either of the main characters, but I especially didn’t relate to Rahul’s perspective; he’s so awkward that he comes off as unnecessarily cruel to his friends, and it was hard to read in his perspective at first. However, he is also easy to empathize with, and Menon does a good job of showing why he acts the way he does.

Both Rahul and Caterina have interesting character arcs, and it makes for an interesting main conflict I was not expecting; Menon took a fresh look at the “character changes himself” trope and I liked being surprised at that. At first, Rahul doesn’t feel right in his own skin, but it’s amazing to see his true transformation into someone comfortable and confident while still being himself. And Caterina learns that pretending to be invulnerable only hurts her in the end. Their romance rises to the occasion because of this interesting conflict twist, and I’m really glad they could find their happy ending (that’s not a spoiler, you definitely already knew they’d get together.).

In all honesty, perhaps my problem is that I didn’t read Of Curses and Kisses first. As soon as I started reading, so many characters and settings were introduced and I could tell I was supposed to have a familiarity with these people already. That could have been the barrier between me liking the book and me loving the book. However, this book still didn’t take the leap into the plot, and I think I could sense that hesitation throughout the entire read. It was all surface-level, never really diving into big conflicts or extra tense moments. In the last 20%, it gets close to that next level as everything comes together in the climax, but I really wish there had been a deeper plunge throughout the rest of the book.

Also, my understanding was that there would be a little bit of magic in this book, so I never grasped the purpose of the little hints of magic since I don’t think anything was actually magical? There were characters I suspected as soon as I met them, yet their conflicts were completely realistic. And most of the plot revolves around a bottle of hair gel that seemingly magically completes Rahul’s transformation into RC, yet I don’t think it ever ended up being magical? There needed to be a lot more explanation there because its purpose to the theme and the character arcs is never fully explained and that left me very confused by the end.

Ultimately, this book is a sweet romance with some great themes and an interesting twist that will take you by surprise. However, for me, I wished there was more depth because I never felt truly immersed in the story. I recommend this book to YA romance readers who want something quick and heart-warming to entertain them!

a very well done retelling of a less popular classic. it is always easier in my opinion to create a fresh retelling of a less popular fable. the frog and the princess is one of my favorites and Menon executes a crafty modern take on it.

A perfect book for fans of light and breezy YA modern fairy tales. This novel is the second in the Rosetta Academy series by the author of another great YA romcom series - When Dimple Met Rishi. This one takes on the Frog Prince story when Caterina who is rich, beautiful, and intimidatingly popular recruits Rahul who is slightly awkward, incredibly intelligent, and kind to help her make her ex-boyfriend jealous. Of course, calamity and unexpected twists and turns occur. It would make a great 'beach read' any time of year. Note that the characters are in high school and go to parties with drinking, drugs, etc.

I bought this for my kindle! I haven't been able to review it yet because of issues with downloading. I plan to review 100% once read!

I have read a lot of books in my years. The majority of them being YA. A great many of those books have been formulaic and full of tropes. It has gotten to the point that I can almost always figure out all the plot twists and reveals long before it comes. But, let me tell you, I had no idea what came next in this book. Every time I thought I knew where it was all going, something else came up that turned everything on its head and yet! It was not enough to make me love this.
Full review to come on my YouTube channel.

I enjoyed the first book in this series, and I looked forward to reading the sequel. Unfortualry, "Of Princes and Promises" didn't live up to my expectations. The premise of this book is good, but the execution didn't work. Caterina and Rahul had the potential to be great, but neither character felt developed enough for me to like them. Also, their relationship felt rushed and never fully developed. The book has a "surprise twist" that wasn't necessary and detracted from the plot. However, the book will appeal to readers looking for fairy tale retellings. Plus, I appreciate how nicely the author integrated diverse characters.