When I hear anything about a Beauty and the Beast retelling I grab it as fast as I can. What can I say? I’m a creature of habit. 😂 Strong lead character? Check. Cinnamon roll character? Check. Ian is just *chefs kiss* 😍 one of my favorite things with retellings is to find the similarities used and this one had some fun ones I enjoyed!

I was provided an eArc for an honest review.

A cute summer romance about a girl who dresses up as Disney princesses for work? Sign me the F up! I absolutely adored this, and the witty banter between Kavya and Ian made my life. I loved Kavya's determination and brashness, along with the overall tension of the competition. Plus, more desi rep, which we desperately need in YA, so also for that, it gets all the stars!

I didn’t love it. I didn’t see the comparisons between beauty and the beast. It was more rivals to lovers, but the girl is super competitive and driven and clueless when it comes to the rival who has been pining for her for years. It was too long. There was a lot of random friend drama that wasn’t important enough for deep backstory but then took up way too much time with arguments filled with telling. The diversity in the story was great, but also felt overplayed as every friend in the group checked off a diverse box. The characters waffled between sounding like college students and sixth graders.

I’ve really enjoyed Lillie Vale’s previous works, and I was particularly excited for her rivals-to-lovers story! Especially because it’s a forced proximity book, which always adds some fun. Beauty and the Besharam was a heartfelt story of being besharam, or “too much,” and finding love where you least expect it.

Kavya Joshi has spent her entire life being told she’s besharam, or “too much” — by her aunties, by her sister, even by the people at school. She’s accepted who she is and knows that being besharam is okay, but it doesn’t ever stop stinging a little. When her rival Ian is hired to work opposite her at her job as a princess for children’s birthday parties, their rivalry hits a peak. Their friends finally get fed up and contrive a series of three competitions to see who the true winner between the two of them is. However, as Kavya and Ian spend more and more time together, she finally begins to realize that not everything has to be a competition — especially with someone whom she’s developing a crush on.

I really liked the characters! Kavya knows that being besharam isn’t necessarily a bad thing; she knows what she wants and what she wants to do. Her competitive spirit is a natural part of her that she knows she doesn’t have to tamper down, although she does eventually have to realize that sometimes going too far can be a thing. As much as she dislikes Ian, it’s obvious that he is very caring and attentive. They’ve engaged in their rivalry for so long, but he’s never disrespected her like other people often do.

The side characters were great as well. Kavya has a close-knit friend group, who call themselves the “moon girls” after sharing a Sailor Moon obsession. This group includes Val, Blaire, and Catey. They’re incredibly supportive of each other although they’re also not without their own fights. Ian also has his own friend group, Claudia, Rio, and Samer, all of whom work with the moon girls to set up the challenges for Kavya and Ian to compete in.

The romance was cute! If you haven’t been able to tell yet, this is a rivals-to-lovers romance, with the added estranged-childhood-friends tacked on. Kavya and Ian haven’t been close in ages, and high school only exacerbated a natural rivalry between them because they’re both overachievers. I enjoyed their banter throughout the book, and it was sweet to watch them gradually take down their walls. This was more so on Kavya’s part because again, she can’t let a grudge go.

I also enjoyed reading about Kavya’s complex relationship with her older sister Simran. Simran is constantly judging Kavya for being so loud and taking the hard way out, while Kavya can’t understand why Simran doesn’t stand up for herself against their aunties’ constant nagging. Over time, they begin to understand each other and the other’s opinions more.

Kavya and her family are Indian-American, which she bonds with her friend Val over. However, Val grows jealous of her because her parents are more traditional and protective while Kavya’s parents allow her to be more free. Kavya notes that their other two friends don’t truly understand the pressure they undergo from their parents. and their community in general, not to stand out and to always do well.

Ian is Korean-American, as is his friend Claudia. Rio is Mexican-American and transgender; Samer is Lebanese. Amie, whose mother runs the company Kavya and Ian work at, is a lesbian and half-Senegalese; she reconnects with Simran, whom she went to high school with. Simran has been struggling with her identity and realizes that she is queer and demiromantic.

Overall, Beauty and the Besharam was a heartwarming story of embracing being besharam and “too much.” I liked the characters and found the romance to be sweet. If you’re looking for a cute contemporary with a rivals-to-lovers romance and strong friendships and family relationships, you should pick up Beauty and the Besharam!

This title is honestly top tier I’m just going to lead with that because it made me laugh and I just love the play on words!

I loved Kavya so much because she was outspoken and loud and funny and passionate! She was relatable and I loved hearing her thoughts especially when it came to talking about some of the more “scandalous” topics that desi communities tend to find Besharam😆

Also??? Shoutout to Lillie Vale for making Kavya a bookstagrammer and having a whole plot line related to summer reading! And the Percy Jackson love??? My HEART.

This was such a fun, cute summer romance with the academic rivals to lovers vibes I always love to see!

Not only do we get forced proximity because of a ‘friendly’ competition, we get some Party Princess (totally not inspired by Disney at all) fun, scrabble competitions that end up having a bit of flirtation wordplay, reading competitions, and a whole lot of cuteness!

My only complaint is that the ‘second act break up’ felt so weird and didn’t really have the impact it should have had? While I liked seeing Kavya face her flaws and seeing her grow, the second act breakup just didn’t hit the way I wished.

I truly enjoyed Kavya and Ian Jun’s relationship and the ex friends to academic rivals to sort of friends to lovers vibes!

-- 3.5 stars

Grumpy/Sunshine is one of my favorite tropes, especially when it's grumpy girl x sunshine boy. I loved the banter between Kavya & Ian. Their dynamic was so entertaining and fun to read about. I absolutely adored Ian. This book has a summer reading contest and high school kids dressing up as disney characters and a lot of disney references in general. I love how super competitive Kavya was in the book, even if at times that felt like it was what her entire personality was based on. If you're looking for a summer read then I would definitely recommend checking this out.

This book was absolutely fabulous! The writing, the characters, and everything in between was a 10/10 for me.

Kavya is amazing! I'm usually more in love with/more obsessed with the love interest because they're typically made to be charming and lovely and everything else that is good, but time was different. Don't get me wrong. I'm still obsessed with the love interest (and will be dedicating part of my review to him), but Kavya was such an awesome character! She was loud and rude and honest and everything else she "wasn't supposed to be." She was also courageous and confident and caring and I'm obsessed with her. Her bold personality made her someone that made mistakes, but also made her that much more real and relatable. I wish I could read a thousand stories with her as the pov character.

Now onto Ian Jung. Wow. Ian was everything I could have possibly wanted for a love interest plus some. He was sweet and loving (so was a great complement to Kavya in that way), but was also brave and honest. Similar to Kavya, he also felt very real with his struggles and doubts. There's was so much more to him that I was happy we were able to uncover as the book progressed.

Also, this book most certainly had one of the best rivals-to-lovers I've ever read. Kavya and Ian's relationship throughout the entire book, whether they hated each other or not, was electric. The chemistry flowing between the two of them was masterful and incredibly well written. I wish I could watch them fall in love again and again because they're so amazing together!

A couple of other random things I loved:
- There was an amazing and gleeful amount of diversity in this book
- The smiles thing! It reminded me of 'Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!', a 2000s rom-com
- Kavya and graphic design. yes yes yes
- The characters' deep love for YA books

Overall, I loved this book and could read it a hundred times over. Can't wait to read more of Vale's books!

From the first paragraph, I knew this book would be a good one. I immersed myself into the book from the first chapter and I cannot say enough good things about this book! Honestly amazing! The writing is incredible and the plot is just one to die for. I am absolutely obsessed with this book. My favorite part would have to be the character development throughout the book. Character development is something I look forward to and this book did not disappoint.

I love Lillie Vale’s previous book, The Shaadi Set-Up and I plan on reviewing this one on pop-culturalist.com but if Lillie is available for an interview I would love to interview Lillie!