Small Town Hearts was an immediate new favourite when I read it a few years ago, so I was very much looking forward to this book. It's very different from Small Town Hearts, but also at least as good, and it absolutely needs to go on everyone's summer reading list!

Beauty and the Besharam is kind of a gender-swapped Beauty and the Beast story, which should be enough to draw you in. At the same time, it's a story where the main character is both the beauty and the beast. It's also a grumpy (her) and sunshine (him) childhood friends to academic rivals to lovers, which is to say it's basically pure catnip if you love a good YA romance.

A couple of things made this book really stand out to me:
- A main character who is unafraid to be her competitive self, and who doesn't make herself smaller to be palatable for other people. She's imperfect but you will love her, and she goes through a lot of character growth.
- Very strong voice and writing style, which makes me really want to read Lillie Vale's adult romances as well (lucky for me I already have The Shaadi Set-up waiting for me).
- One of my favourite love interests I've read about in a while. I promise you will love Ian Jun, he is truly just the best.
- The setting: summer vibes, with lots of food, love of reading, and Disney princess magic!

Many thanks to the author for providing me with an eARC!

My Rating.4.5/5

“I don’t want to fight you for the world. I want to share it with you. A rivalry requires a winner and a loser, but a relationship would only have winners.”

This is a highly entertaining rivals-to-lovers romance book with a great friendship and sibling rep. All I want is to get myself a physical copy and read it again. Highly recommend it!!

(Thank you so much to Viking Books for Young Readers, TBR and Beyond Tours, and NetGalley for the free digital copy of this book!)

There was too much going on in this one and it made it hard to follow. I felt like some of the scenes quickly jumped from one scene to another. Felt a little choppy to me at times. These types of characters that are very academically driven are sometimes hard to like too. I think this book is for somebody but it’s not for me.

Indian-American teenager Kavya has often been called “besharam” (Hindi for “shameless”) but she’s still unapologetically loud and boisterous and competitive. Ian Jun is her class rival and she’s constantly competing with him, hating him for being perfect and for always being ahead of her. Ian, on the other hand, likes her. As in, *like* likes her. But all Kavya sees is competitiveness.

There’s more going on in the book, of course (and I’ll add all of it on Goodreads, promise) but that’s basically the plot. Which is starting to tire me out, because the whole “Asian-American overachiever protagonist falls in love with their rival” thing was also the plot of the last three YA contemporary/romance books I read. I guess writing about strict Asian/desi parents is overdone now (which I’m happy about) but I kinda feel like it’s making things worse when the protagonist always has a friend or cousin with mean and unreasonable and super-strict Asian parents?! I need to process this a little more, I think, being desi and raised by crazy strict parents and all.

Did love the queer representation in this book, though! The plot is kinda similar to TJ Powar but while that book fell a little short in terms of LGBTQ+ rep (read my review!), BATB did an effortless yet wonderful job with it. I was very pleasantly surprised to see the aro/demi representation, specifically!

Overall, a cute albeit slightly clichéd read!

Synopsis: Kavya hates being called “besharam” by people in her community, since it usually means “shameless.” Boys never get called besharam. But Kavya has to be ambitious, otherwise her nemesis, Ian Jun, will have the upper hand. This summer, Kavya is excited to spend time with her squad, work at children’s princess parties, and finally have a break from competing with Ian, until her dream summer is ruined. Instead of being cast as her beloved Belle, she gets assigned Ariel, and Ian is Prince Eric.
💗💗💗
My review: I LOVED THIS BOOK! Kavya is hilarious, driven, and full of references I didn’t know anyone else remembered like the Arthur library card song and Ramona Quimby naming her doll Chevrolet. She even has a Bookstagram account!

Kavya and Ian gave me full Anne and Gilbert vibes, which I LOVED. Just like Kavya, Belle was my favorite princess because she had brown hair and liked to read. Beauty and the Besharam is full cast of diverse characters, including a trans character with gay parents. Another character identifies as demiromantic. I loved the Desi representation, Korean representation, and portrayal of anxiety.

One of my favorite reads of 2022 so far!

TW: death of a sibling (occurs before book)

3.5 stars rounded up!

Okay, so this book disappointed a little :(( I was super excited to read it, and the first half was very much fun, but the second half wasn’t so much. Also, the copy provided had really bad font, which made me not want to read the book a little. It took me A LOT of time getting used to.

Anyhoo, let’s get into the detailed review!

Plot:

The plot, obviously, is very intriguing and everything, and it does carry throughout the book. I just feel that the second half of the book, was a little elongated and the book could have been at least 50 pages shorter. The whole competition over the summer thing was awesome, but it was sidetracked a little, too.
I also feel like a little backdrop could've been given on certain events that happened before the book. For example, Ian and Kavya were childhood best friends, but the explanation of how their friendship stopped existing wasn't very nicely provided.

Characters:

Ahh, these were fun! I loved reading all of them, and honestly, as far as the Indian rep is concerned, pretty accurate, I’d say! Also, the mention of Bhel, yum!!!!!!!!
I’d say that the rep of Kavya’s sister Simran, felt a little forced, but that’s fine.

Writing Style:

This was fun, and the banter was especially well written! It did seem a little as though the author was painfully trying very hard to bring the romance down to PG-13 level, especially since she’s originally an adult author, but that could be put aside as well.

Overall, not an awesome book, but not something amazing either! It disappointed a little, but I still recommend it to everyone looking for a light fluffy YA!

'Beauty and the Besharam' was everything that I love about a fantastic YA contemporary. There were great family dynamics in the story, strong friendships, and of course a sweet romance!

When it comes to reading I must absolutely love the characters in order for me to enjoy the story. The connection has to be there otherwise the plot falls flat.

From the first page, I immediately loved Kavya. She’s been told her entire life that she’s besharam, or “too much”, and it’s always been said to her like it’s a bad thing. I never saw Kavya this way, though.

She’s brave and unapologetic. She stands up for what she believes in and isn’t afraid of people knowing how much winning means to her. I absolutely adored her. She’s also incredibly vulnerable at times, especially when her classmates are constantly telling her to be the “nice girl” or to smile more.

Speaking of her love for winning, Kavya’s best friends know how competive she is so they come up with a plan to test this. It’s a competition against her longest rival and oldest friend, Ian. Their friends may say they’re doing this as a friendly contest but they’re all getting tired of Kavya and Ian’s rivalry. This is going to finally prove who the real MVP is between them.

I’m a huge fan of rivals-to-lovers romances and theirs is a new favorite of mine!

I think a lot of readers might find Kavya and Ian’s romance predictable but there were a lot of fun surprises. Plus, it was a lot of fun to read about their unique jobs of playing Ariel and Prince Eric at children’s birthday parties.

This story is for those who have ever felt lost or invisible like Kavya does. Everyone in this story learns to shine on their own and be proud of who they are, flaws and all. This is the second book I’ve read by Lillie Vale and her writing is still fantastic! Her books are now on my automatic-buy list.

Overall, I enjoyed 'Beauty and the Besharam'. If you’re looking for a beautiful and heartwarming story about learning to love who you are then this book is perfect for you.

How do I even describe Beauty and the Besharam?

It was a wonderfully weird combination of so many of my so many parts of my childhood:
🥀 Beauty and the Beast
⚔️ academic rivals-to-lovers (Gilbert Blythe, anyone??)
✨90s anime Easter eggs
📚 library summer reading programs

and some of my favorite things: contemporary retellings, grumpy and sunshine, he falls first, and childhood friends-to-lovers. It sounds as weird as a Korean-themed old school diner, but it works.

I read Beauty and the Besharam while I was clawing my way out of a reading slump, and it was just what I needed.

Kavya Joshi is often described as besharam - too much. Ambitious, headstrong, and unafraid to speak her mind, Kavya is the type of girl who doesn't mind being competitive, even if everyone else mocks her for it. When she breaks up very publicly with her loser boyfriend towards the end of the school year, Kavya resolves to reset by working as a princess for children's birthday parties, but heads but and sparks fly when she is cast opposite her academic rival, Ian Jun. Ian and Kayva have always gone head to head to be the best, so to save everyone endless confrontations over the summer, their friends hatch a plot to get their rivalry out of their system and determine who is superior once and for all. But as the two spend time together at work and during their competition, they start to realize there may be more to their rivalry than they thought...

This novel is academic rivals to lovers at its absolute finest. I was completely blown away by the depth and range of emotions and ideas explored, including the unique intricacies of being a young, ambitious, and career-oriented Indian-American woman. Both Kavya and her sister Simran's navigation of these intricacies were so well-written, and they really hit close to home. I wasn't expected to feel so seen reading this story. The representation in this novel is fantastic, and I think so many people will be able to look at a character and go, "that's me". Kavya and Ian's chemistry was off the charts, and the ups and downs of their relationship were so realistic and relatable.

I highly recommend this novel for fans of YA fiction! Thank you so much to Penguin Teen and Net Galley for providing me with an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Kavya has always been told she's a little bit too much. She stands up for herself, says what's on her mind, and loves a good competition. Not everyone sees these as positive traits, but Kavya isn't going to change for anyone. In fact, heading into senior year, the competition is only ramping up. Her rival, Ian, is giving her a run for her money in everything from class valedictorian to the library's summer reading challenge. When he also decides to get a summer job at her workplace, a princess party business, Kavya and Ian are forced to work together as Princess Ariel and Prince Eric for the whole summer. But for Kavya, this isn't a love story, it's a competition, and this summer, with a series of competitions they're friends have put together for them, she's going to prove who wins between them once and for all.

I loved this super cute rivals to romance story. The main character was headstrong and confident, but also flawed and allowed to make mistakes. I loved her relationship with her family and friends, and especially the dynamic between her and the love interest. I think the pacing hit a little rut about halfway through, but nonetheless, this was a fast and fun read, and perfect for a cute summer romance.
Thank you Penguin Teen for an ARC of this book!

This was so! much! fun! We follow Kavya, who is strong-willed and stubborn, and is constantly being reprimanded by family and classmates for her competitive streak and defiance. She also has a long-time rivalry with her childhood friend-turned-enemy, Ian. First, Kavya was such a great main character! She was outspoken and driven and I really enjoyed reading about her; she did frustrate me at times because of just how competitive she was, but she was overall really endearing. Ian was the sweetest love interest--this is definitely he-falls-first and their progression from rivals to friends to more was so well done over the course of the book. I also loved the friendship element--Kavya has a group of three best friends and they actually *act* like a group of teenage best friends, which I very much appreciated. This book is full of diversity and commentary on being the perfect child and living up to others' expectations, and I would highly recommend it.

Fresh, swoony, and absolutely charming, BEAUTY AND THE BESHARAM is the perfect coming of age YA novel full of diverse and quirky characters. Never have I found two romance rivals that reminded me so much for f Anne and Gilbert. Vale mixes the teen angst of peer pressure and family expectations with the right balance of humour and heartfelt moments.

4. 75
When I started this book, I had a feeling that I would really like it. And I was right! The chemistry between the MCs was off the charts and the banter was *chef’s kiss*. And Kavya described Ian so perfectly - “Prince Sunshine-Too-Good-For-This-World-Cinnamon-Roll”. This boy, when he wants to, can absolutely charm the socks off of anyone.
This book had me squealing and flustered multiple times. So freaking adorable!
I also enjoyed that this wasn’t just the romance (which is my favorite). There is the element of family (nuclear and extended), the expectations and pressure from the family. There is also the friend group and their coming-of-age, too. This was such a great read!

This book was a delight to read. I thoroughly enjoyed it! It sounded like something I would love from the description, and I am so happy it didn't disappoint. This is basically a gender swapped contemporary take on Beauty and the Beast, and it was really well done! I really loved the main character, and I loved how unapologetically herself she was. She was so confident in herself, even when some people might have found it grating, but she still remained true to herself, and I love seeing that in a lead female role so much. I also loved all the different relationships in the book. The main story was between Kavya and Ian, and their romance, but she had such deep connections with her friends and family too, and we got to see issues arise in all of this, and how they were resolved, and it was just really well done. I do think the overall plot could have been a little stronger, but I think the characters were so multi-dimensional that this wasn't really an issue. It really was character driven, and even all the side characters were great. Overall, I really enjoyed this and I definitely recommend it to fans of contemporary YA novels!

*actual rating is 4.5 stars*

This book is exactly how I like my young adult contemporary. With characters who feels human and that you root for, wholesome romance, wonderful characters, and able to bring me joy while reading. This is because it takes the tropes and your typical contemporary story arcs, and do something more with them.

Like having a reverse grumpy/sunshine relationship. This is one of my favourite book tropes, and I just love that we here get a soft, sweet and romantic sunshine guy! Also, let’s be honest, Ian is up there as a great book boyfriend and it’s not just the characters in the book that swoon over him. The grumpy in this case is our MC Kavya, who never backs down from a challenge and has a very “Anything you can do, I can do better” attitude. Which at first had me a bit worried that I wasn’t going to like her, since a lot of books write these kinds of female characters as very unsympathetic and annoying. But I’m happy to say that it wasn’t the case here. Kavya is very head-strong, independent and maybe a little bit to over-competitive, the rivalry did feel one-sided at times, but that’s just who she is. Because of the way she is written I was able to enjoy these aspects of her personalty as strengths, and rooted for her as she grew. Throughout the story the Kavya and Ian dynamic and chemistry really shone through the pages, and it’s been a while since I’ve been this emotionally invested in a book couple. They’re just really cute together.

While Kavya and Ian are the stars of the book, it also features a large and diverse cast of supporting characters. Both ethnically and sexuality wise, as the majority of the cast is POC and LGBTQ+. My favourite supporting characters has to be Kavya’s best friends, the Moon girls, and they really added to the story. Without all of them it would just have felt a bit empty, as you need someone to support the main characters. I specifically liked Catey and Blair, and would love a sequel or spin-off focusing on the two of them and their adventures in life.

Overall it’s just a really fun and joyful read, that’s perfect for summer and that will most likely make you fall in love with at least one more book character. I highly recommend reading this book, even if you’re usually not that into YA contemporary, and especially if you want a diverse read.

Beauty and the Besharam is one of my favorite books of 2022. Lillie Vale is amazing at writing contemporary novels about girls who are trying and learning and have amazing friends. Kavya's inner monologue is very relatable. It can be hard being a teenage girl/teenager and having to deal with the pressures of the world around you. I also thought the enemies to lovers romance was one of the better ones I've read in a while because both characters respected each other in spite of their competitive spirits. Ian Jun is a complex love interest, and he's not the "bad boy" stereotype at all.

This book brought me so much joy, and I really needed it right now because it's almost the end of college applications season. I would love to see more books with this friend group.

This book was everything I didn’t know my heart needed. I would have loved having this as a teen but I enjoyed it just as much now. This is for the girls who are told they are too much, too intimidating, too smart, too competitive. Friends to academic rivals to lovers. Single POV. Always love rivals to lovers when it’s clear one of them is just participating in the rivalry because they like the other person, especially when it’s the guy. Their banter is immaculate (the amount of times he said honest things that shocked her into silence was so good). This book had me grinning like a fool with how cute and witty it was and also had me dying laughing at parts. The “can I ?” part? Had me melting. If you love oblivious girls, a sweet guy, and meddling friends then definitely pick this up. There was also some time spent on harder topics like grief, anxiety, jealousy, family/society/culture expectations and more. I love this book.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher. This in no way impacted on my view.

Kavya Joshi loves nothing more than proving her nemesis, Ian Jun, wrong, and getting one up on him. She's often been told she's too much, but with Ian, it's as if her competitive side can't stay down. So when Ian spots her public breakup with her ex, and then to add insult to injury, is her new partner at her summer job as a Disney princess, Kavya needs to do whatever it takes to win. But soon she realises that the line between hatred, and love, is closer than she ever thought, and the one person she could never imagine herself falling for, is her perfect prince charming all along.

What initially drew me to this book, I will admit, was the cover, but once I started reading it, I was hooked by Kavya's character, and her growth as a person. She was such a strong character, who knew what she wanted, but there was a vulnerable side that she really kept hidden from others, and her worries about being the perfect daughter, and not being too besharam, was a real struggle. Because of this nature, she's been on the outs with Ian since they were about 10, and he 'embarrassed' her by rescuing her at a water park. She's so independent, that she couldn't abide that someone else had to help her, and that's where the rivalry grew from. Honestly, I love enemies-to-lovers romances, and though this wasn't quite that big, for Kavya, it was hard to start to see Ian as a friend, and then something more, rather than a rival. There's a whole bucket-load of secondary characters, and though one really got on my nerves at times (looking at you, Val), they really added to the story, and I sort of want a sequel, or spin off, to see more about this glorious cast. Beauty and the Besharam is a joyful book, full of fantastic representation and diversity, that I think needs to be added to everyone's TBR's!

As someone who was told for years that I was "too much", this book speaks to me. Add in a reading competition, hand lettering, and all of the Disney vibes? Yeah, I'm in.

We follow Kavya, a rambunctious teenager who is *obsessed* with winning. When she finds herself going toe to toe with her rival Ian, we get to see how close hate and love can be. This book is perfect for summer and has all of the things I want in a book - LGBT rep, realistic conflict, and amaaaazing food. Plus Ian's favorite author is Rick Riordan, so clearly he has good taste. And there are SO many fairytale references between Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, the parallels never end.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a cute YA romance, as well as fans of Sailor Moon, Disney movies, and fairytales.

*Thank you to Viking Books for Young Readers and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review*

Reverse grumpy/sunshine is my favorite trope. Throw in rivals to lovers and I am in love. This was such a cute YA romance.