Sophie Reads YA: Of Curses and Kisses

Waiting On Wednesday: Of Curses and Kisses (St. Rosetta's Academy #1) by Sandhya Menon

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2019 Contemporary Romance Challenge

ARC Review: Of Curses and Kisses (St. Rosetta's Academy #1) by Sandhya Menon

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Of Curses and Kisses
Series: St. Rosetta's Academy #1
Author: Sandhya Menon
Published February 18th 2020 by Hodder Children's Books

Goodreads Synopsis
From the New York Times bestselling author of When Dimple Met Rishi comes the first novel in a brand-new series set at an elite international boarding school, that’s a contemporary spin on Beauty and the Beast.

Will the princess save the beast?

For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime. She knows what she must do: Make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. But much to Jaya’s annoyance, Grey’s brooding demeanor and lupine blue eyes have drawn her in. There’s simply no way she and her sworn enemy could find their fairy-tale ending…right?

His Lordship Grey Emerson is a misanthrope. Thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch, Grey knows he’s doomed once he turns eighteen. Sequestered away in the mountains at St. Rosetta’s International Academy, he’s lived an isolated existence—until Jaya Rao bursts into his life, but he can't shake the feeling that she’s hiding something. Something that might just have to do with the rose-shaped ruby pendant around her neck…

As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it’s possible to write your own happy ending.
Goodreads

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

This book, I mean, was just simply amazing. As soon as I heard that Hodder would be publishing this book in the UK, I quite cheekily emailed and asked for a copy, and ended up first on the list. Waiting for the copy to arrive was a bit of a struggle, but when I got home on the Friday before Christmas, having broken up from work for the holidays and free to read as much as I wanted without feeling guilty, my copy was waiting for me to dive right in.

Of Curses and Kisses is a new view of Beauty and the Beast with a centuries long curse going back to the time of British rule of India. The Emerson family once stole a sacred ruby from the Rao's, and the matriarch of the royal family cursed the Emerson line. Since then, a feud has been rifting between both families, and they despise each other. Jaya is the heir apparent and princess of the Rao dynasty, and when her sister Isha is targeted by someone she believes to be linked with the Emerson's, she vows revenge, and Grey Emerson, a student at St. Rosetta's, seems to be the perfect target.

Grey, on the other hand, knows of the fated curse since his birth. Blamed by his father for his mother's death in child birth, he has been shunned by the family and told he was cursed from the get go. Never wanting to make any connections or unnecessary relationships with people when he believes he will die by the time he turns 18, when Jaya appears at his school, and seems to want to get close to him, and has with her items he believes vital to the curse, he can't help letting her in. What once might have been a tale of revenge, soon becomes a tale of love, but with familial expectations and the weight of reality hanging overhead, both Jaya and Grey don't know whether they can trust themselves, and each other, to truly let go, and give into their feelings.

I love retellings, but sometimes you find that they're all very samey. However, that definitely was not the case here. This retelling was unlike anything I've read before, with Sandhya's signature writing style and lyrical approach coming through on every page. Both the main characters had their own PoV's, which really helped me, as the reader, to understand them even more Neither Jaya nor Grey were perfect people, rather they both had worries, flaws, and imperfections. I adored each character in their own right, though Jaya's love for her sister and willingness to give up a part of herself and her happiness to best serve her people did endear her to me slightly more. Even so, all of the characters, from Isha, and the group of friends, Rahul, Daphne, and Leo, and even some of the other secondary characters were all fleshed out properly, and weren't just there for decoration.

The romance was simply phenomenal. Even from the first time they meet, when they don't fully understand who the other person was, the sparks were flying, and whenever both were on page together, you could just see the emotions flying. Yes, there are angsty moments, and times when I wanted to scream at them just to kiss, but nothing was done unnecessarily. The pain and the heartbreak was needed to fully encompass the story, and I was that hooked, that I flew through the book in less that a day.

All in all, Of Curse and Kisses was everything I needed it to be. From fantastic characters, to an amazing plot, I couldn't have asked for better, and now I need everyone else to read it, and then I also need to have book 2 ASAP!

Dates Read:
December 20-21, 2019

Rating
5 Stars