It’s no secret that I am not a fan of YA contemporaries. It’s not the genres fault, it’s just that I’m not in the age range these books are targeted towards. So, when I first saw that this book was being released, I wasn’t dying to get my hands on a copy, but it’s a Beauty and the Beast retelling, and being someone who loves a good retelling, I thought why not give it a chance. I’m so glad I did!

I have read so many Beauty and the Beast retellings, and Of Curses & Kisses by Sandhya Menon was so refreshing to me. It may be because this one is not set in a fantasy world, but at an elite boarding school. Also, I think the introduction of Indian culture and superstition surrounding the curse may have played a big part in my enjoyment of this book. Plus, the characters were such a treat. They had their moments, when all I wanted to do was knock some sense in them, but they ended up growing and changing for the better.

Like I mentioned above, our main character, Jaya, may have needed a swift kick in the butt. I had such a love/hate relationship with her, because while she is so rigid and manipulative, she was also, without a doubt, loyal to her family. Jaya would do anything to protect her family and their reputation, even if that meant hurting others or herself in the process. The growth that occurs with Jaya is a little abrupt, but it does happen, and I can’t be mad about that.

While Jaya could be a bit insufferable, I don’t think there was ever a moment in this story that I didn’t care for our male main character, Grey. This poor boy has lived his life believing he’s cursed, so to protect himself and the feelings of others, he lives his life trying to keep everyone at arm’s length. But, like I said there’s not much not to like. He’s kind and attractive, and while he doesn’t go out of his way to have friends, he has them.

Speaking of which, the side characters were a necessary addition to show that Grey is not a lost cause and to move the story along, but they were also a fun addition. Now, I have never read the original Beauty and the Beast — I know, shocking — but I am very familiar with Disney’s take on the tale, and the Lumiere character in this book has those same French phrases as the animated character, and I was there for it! We are also introduced to who must have been inspired by Mrs. Potts and Cogsworth. The Cogsworth character really stood out to me on a personal level because I am a mother to a child that has high functioning autism, and seeing that representation but not blatantly saying anything about it, along with other characters being accepting of him, made my heart so happy.

Another thing that made my heart go pitter-patter was the romance. This book does it right! The relationship is slow to grow, and just so sweet. Plus, there was a very romantic moment that was a total nod to Disney’s animated edition. Those little Disney moments added just that little extra to this book.

In the end, this take on Beauty and the Beast was a lot of fun. I highly recommend you getting your hands on this one when it releases on February 18, 2020.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon Pulse for sending me an e-arc for review.

'Of Curses and Kisses' is an entertaining story that delves deep into the lives of elite school students.

'Beauty and the Beast' is one of my favorite fairy tales. When I heard that Sandhya Menon was writing a modern re-telling of it I was extremely excited. I’ve always been a fan of her writing as her stories feel like a breath of fresh air. 'Of Curses and Kisses' is another great book from her but sadly it felt lacking.

Jaya Rao and her sister, Isha, transfer to a new school to get a fresh start from the scandalous rumors that surround Isha at home. Everything runs smoothly as they begin their classes until it’s revealed that Jaya is hiding a secret from her sister. And the truth behind why they landed at St. Rosetta’s International Academy instead of a school closer to home lies with Grey Emerson. The guy Jaya is determined to break.

It was hard to fall in love with these characters at first because many of them felt like the typical elite students constantly found in YA contemporaries. Jaya is a strong willed person who has her whole life planned out as the heiress in the Rao family. Grey is brooding and hard to read at first, but one thing is for certain: he isn’t looking for anyone to enter his life — especially Jaya.

I had a hard time loving either of their characters but their individual development eventually made me hope for their happily-ever-after. They clash in a fun way and I think that made the book very enjoyable. Just like in 'Beauty and the Beast', Jaya and Grey compliment each other and there are some sweet moments between the two.

As the story progresses, it moves along quite slowly and the pacing always felt off. We do get to know and understand the characters better, though. There’s more than meets the eye and having this book set at an elite school was a great choice. There’s a lot of drama between these groups of friends and although they did fit stereotypical roles, I liked the way Sandhya Menon added a unique trait to everyone.

Overall, I enjoyed 'Of Curses and Kisses'. It was a sweet, easy read and perfect for fans who have loved Sandhya Menon’s past books. The story blends what we already love about 'Beauty and the Beast' while adding new things to make it its own.

While I liked this book, it is very different from Sandhya Menon's other books which I do admit I liked more. The fairy tale retelling part of the story feels like it could have been a little less obvious. I really knew the entire time I reading that she was really letting me know that this was a a Beauty and the Beast retelling and that was a bit annoying. Other than that this has all the elements of a winner, a fancy boarding school setting, a rebellious sister, romance, and complicated friendships.

The premise is really interesting. Who can resist a diverse Beauty and the Beast retelling? I loved so many of the details and the setting, but it never really meshed for me overall. It felt like Jaya was trying to be the moral compass surrounded by very normal people.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑷𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑫𝒊𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔 meets 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒚 & 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕

"𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏'𝒕 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕. 𝑩𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝒔𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒅, 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓, 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕."

In this modern retelling of the classic fairytale, we have Princess Jaya Rao as our beauty, and His Lordship Grey Emerson - the male heir as our Beast; also a direct descendant of the sworn enemy of the Rao's. When Jaya applies to an elite national boarding school, believing Grey to be the sole cause for her family's scandal back in India, she swears to exact revenge. But, of course, as she gets to know Grey - things change. And I'm sure you can guess what happens next...

Overall, this was a swift, cute, and easy read for YA Contemporary Romance lovers. What sets this book apart from all the other B&B retellings, is the diversity. Not just our main character, but the entire cast of the book. Although I found myself wanting to shake the main heroine sometimes for her strict sense of duty, the character development she undergoes is quite inspiring. Towards the end of the story, we see her change for the better. Eventually, it becomes about loving herself and her sister, and going after what she wants, regardless of other people's opinions.

And now, Grey. GREY. It was really interesting to see a character who is classified as misanthropic. I'm a sucker for love stories where big, burly men fall in love and turn out to be cinnamon rolls. And that's exactly who Grey Emerson was.

I wished there had been more of a magical aspect; more of an understanding of how the magic worked within the world, or if it was even real. It all seemed a bit mystical and foggy. However, this WAS a modern interpretation.

All in all, this was a cute romantic retelling for all the Beauty and the Beast stans, out there!

I am all about a Beauty and the Beast retelling, and one told in modern times at a private school? Yes! I was so excited for this book and so grateful when I received a review copy from Netgalley. This was such a great book. Great story, great writing, great characters, great everything!

There isn’t much to say without giving anything away. Just read it. I know you will fall in love with Jaya and Grey as I have. Especially Grey. That poor buy broke my heart so many times. He’s lived a very sad and lonely life and I loved how Jaya brought him out of his shell.

There is honestly nothing negative I can say about this story. I highly recommend it. It’s a fantastic and fast paced read that you wont be able to put down!

I struggled with this book. I liked the premise and the character being diverse. I usually love fairytale retellings. This one just fell flat. The main character had no backbone and let herself get walked on and the boy was a little whiny. Then the ending was very anticlimactic. I LOVE this author, but I did not love this book.

Finally, Sandhya Menon has brought us a Beauty and the Beast retelling that doesn't feel like the dozens of others that have come out in the last 10 years!

What I loved about it:

I am a sucker for a boarding school setting, and this was no exception. We don't get to see too much of the classrooms or general layout of the school, but St. Rosetta's had an amazing Colorado atmosphere that I really loved. The students were all so posh and perfectly snobby-it was so much fun to read about.

The characters were all so diverse and fleshed out. We really get to know a lot of the side characters really well; even the ones who didn't get a lot of page time still felt so real and memorable to me. Daphne Elizabeth, Rahul, and Leo were amazing characters, and I really hope we get to follow them more closely in the sequels!
I loved Grey as well. I felt like he was the perfect amount of broody and sympathetic. I really enjoyed seeing his character development throughout the course of the book.

The retelling! I thought this was such an interesting way to retell the Beauty and the Beast story, and I especially loved how Menon was able to tie in themes of colonialism into the history/curse. The fact that Grey's family chose to believe in this supposed curse and paint themselves as victims, rather than focus on the fact that they stole part of a culture's history and kept it as their own was so poignant.

What I didn't like:

Jaya. She was so, so unbelievably frustrating to read about. For the majority of the novel she was so uppity, snobby, and stuck in her ridiculous familial viewpoints. She acted like it was the entire end the world that her sister, Isha, wanted to take a computer programming class-like taking one class was going to decide her entire future. She did grow and develop into a slightly less annoying character by the end of the book, but I still never really loved her.

The ending/parts of the retelling. I feel a little silly saying this, especially when there were so many parts of the retelling that I *did* like, but there were just a couple parts that were a little too much for me.
First, that Grey would sometimes go to brood in the neglected West Wing of St. Rosetta's was a little too close to the Disney tale for me. Also, that he was referred to as a beast in the least subtle ways imaginable...that was a little too cheesy. I won't give away the ending, of course, but I thought it was a little rushed and too fairytale-like (which again, sounds ridiculous, but in the context of the greater story I think it makes sense).

Overall, I thought this was a really great story! If you liked any of Sandhya Menon's other books I'd highly recommend this one as well!

*Thank you to the publisher for providing me with a copy in exchange for my honest review!*

This retelling of Beauty and the Beast with Jaya Rao as Belle and Grey Emerson as the Beast was...fine. It was somewhat compelling, but I was also able to walk away from it easily.

I'm glad Menon went with a dual third-person POV, as we got to learn more about Jaya and Grey that way. It was also an effective way to weave the curse throughout the narrative. Grey was oddly endearing even as a "misanthrope;" his character development was by far the strongest in the book. His pain and desire for a normal life shine through in a genuine way. Jaya was strong and a loyal friend but was a bit more grating with her stubborn sense of "doing what's right for her family" despite EVERYONE'S insistence that she doesn't need to. I also take issue with the way other characters reveal information to each other, especially one scene at the end. (I won't describe it here--because spoilers--but it takes place on a mountain and refers to "wind tunnels" carrying sound.)

If you're in dire need of a sweet fairy tale rework for a YA audience, this is a decent pick.

This re-setting of Beauty and the Beast takes place at an elite boarding school nestled in the mountains of Colorado, where the wealthy and the noble from around the world send their kids - and where Princess Jaya Rao and her younger sister arrive from India after a media scandal that Jaya thinks was set up by the youngest heir of her family's longstanding enemy, the Emerson family of British aristocracy. She's determined to get her revenge by tricking the Emerson heir into falling in love with her and then breaking his heart. Instead of a literal beast, in this retelling, we have broody misanthrope Grey Emerson, who has been told since he was very young that he is the focus of a curse put on the family many years ago by an angry Rao, and he believes the old prophesy that the family line ends with him at his 18th birthday. Of course, fitting with the fairy tale, as they slowly get to know each other, they find the person beneath to be someone entirely different than they expected... While I didn't love it as much, it did give me a little satisfaction in the American Royals-shaped hole in my life, with the teenaged royalty/nobility and their antics along with their sense of duty conflicting with their personal dreams; also reminded me a little of books that involve boarding school with unique students/storied family history, like A Study in Charlotte (modern-day Sherlock Holmes retelling) and Truly Devious. And of course there's the comparison with A Curse So Dark and Lonely, given the same fairy tale focus. This was fun, and I'm definitely curious to see what is planned for book 2 in this series, but I'm clamoring more for the sequels to American Royals and A Curse So Dark and Lonely, perhaps because their characters gave me a little more of the swoony feels I want from this YA category, and not enough of the spark of the characters I adore from this author's other (excellent) books.

I do love a fairy tale retelling! Of Curses and Kisses is a new spin on Beauty and the Beast. It built up slowly with lots of background and detail and then took off about halfway through. I really enjoyed watching Grey and Jaya figure out who they are and find each other through the course of the story. I loved how the retelling definitely paralleled the original story, but wasn't always obvious about it. It's a fun light retelling with family struggles, personal challenges and the friendship drama we love from a high school story.

This book was adorable. I love a good retelling! Anything Sanhya writes is bound to be amazing. The story was cute, but there were real life issues in there. I loved the symbolism and how they included a rose in a modern time. I also love any story that takes place at a boarding school. The only problem I had was the random weird metaphors strewn throughout the story that completely threw me off. At one point it said she was 'tranquil like a lake in Costa Rica'. What the heck?! The story takes place by Aspen.

Posted to goodreads: Princess Jaya Rao takes her roles as heir to her family's dynasty very seriously. She lives every day striving to leave up to her family and society's expectation however Jaya's hard work is threatened when a scandal involving her sister breaks in the papers. Jaya learns that Grey Emerson, the horrible son of Roa's biggest rivals, is the one who leaked the story about her sister and she vows revenge. Jaya transfers to the elite boarding school Grey attends with a plan to make him fall in love with her and then break her heart. There is just one thing that Jaya wasn't planning, Grey has a complicated past that includes her family and a curse and their feelings may become entwined in ways she hadn't expected.

I liked this book and there were a lot of good aspects however it didn't quite live up to other books by this author. I enjoyed the story and the premises but I never fully connected with the characters. I will keep reading this series but I don't think I will revisit this particular book.

I have been a fan of Sandhya Menon's work since I read When Dimple Met Rishi. If you are familiar with that book, you will find a similar hate-to-love romance brewing here.

Menon has taken the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast and given it a modern, cross-cultural twist. The main characters find themselves at the same elite boarding school, but it's no chance encounter: Jaya is there to seek revenge on Grey, the heir of her family's sworn enemy. Their feud goes back generations and involves a ruby stolen from Jaya's Indian royal family by Grey's British noble one. Jaya's mission is clear: capture Grey's attention and break his cruel heart.

While the fairy tale backbone of the story will be familiar to readers, other characters and elements will keep it refreshing. Jaya's younger sister Isha, who has a knack for finding trouble, is endearing, as is Jaya's new friend Daphne Elizabeth. Grey is a "beast with a thorn in his paw" and elicits compassion rather than resentment from readers. The cross-cultural family feud and Jaya's struggles with choosing duty to her people over her heart's desire give a new perspective to the tale.

Overall, a recommended read!

LOVED this! So cute and romantic and effervescent. The perfect romance read in the doldrums of winter, plus I'll never get enough of Indian characters in literature. Sandhya Menon hits all the right notes once again. If you loved any of her other books, this is a must read as well.

After rumors about Princess Jaya’s younger sister Isha have spread in their home country, they are sent to St. Rosetta’s Academy for boarding school. Until the dust settles. And, among these elite group of students is the cursed Grey Emerson—the last heir of the Duke of Westborough, and also an enemy, one that Jaya thinks is the culprit for leaking rumors about Isha. Their families have a long-standing rivalry. Jaya makes it a goal to retaliate by making him fall in love with her only to break his heart. How successful is she in her plan? What is this curse Grey thinks he has been living with?

This book was packed! I’m talking a Beauty & the Beast x Romeo & Juliet x Penelope mash-up with a side of coming of age. Menon delivered a strong message about standing up for and believing in yourself, doing what makes you happy, and loving who you choose to love, despite all the family expectations. Even as a royal, life doesn’t need to be mapped out. There was so much heart—the relationships between Jaya and Isha, Jaya and Grey, and Jaya and other friends. I liked the Indian cultural flare and the woman empowerment. If you like all the things I’ve mentioned, definitely check this one out!

One of my absolute favorite fairy tales is Beauty and the Beast and so, I might be more picky about re-tellings because, it really is such a classic. And even though I can be picky and maybe even a bit harsh sometimes in what I do and don't like when it comes to those that mess with such an amazing classical tale, I have to say, I still pick them up and read them like they are candy.

Of Curses and Kisses was no exception. Combine and classic retelling of my absolute favorite fairy tale and an author I already love and adore and you had one read that is pretty much irresistible to this girl.
And happily, I can say that neither the author nor the retelling disappointed.

I adored this book. The characters, the classic spin on an old favorite. The modernization, the diversity, the wit, the friendship, the family connections, truly, just all of it. Completely worth every single minute I spent reading it. So much fun and I am so excited it is going to be part of a series. I can't wait to see what she will do next with all of these fun loving and adorable characters.

Honestly, this was such a breath of fresh air. I'm a simple girl; if you use phrases like "elite boarding school" and "contemporary spin on Beauty and the Beast", I'm here for it. Of Curses and Kisses is a retelling that stays fairly true to its origin material, and the soft romantic vibes worked really well for me. I thought the way that the curse is woven into the narrative is clever, and while I know some readers have stated that this was a book that was easy to put down at times, that's precisely why it worked well for me as a buffer read between some heavier material. If you enjoy books that make you feel good, this is definitely one that you want to put on your 2020 TBR.

Plot (1/1)
This was actually one of my favorite retellings of Beauty and the Beast, for several reasons. It stayed close enough to the original story and it’s values but the author added her own touches to the story that made it unique. With fairytale retellings, there’s the copycats a la Beastly that barely change much of the story at all and just use a modern setting but then there are others like A Court of Thorns and Roses that have some vague similarities but really just veer into their own plot. Of Curses and Kisses is that perfect middle ground because the storyline feels incredibly similar, but interactions and setting are changed just enough that the story could stand on its own as just a regular romance novel and not a retelling. Also, I loved that no kidnapping or hostage holding had to happen in order for the characters to spend time together and talk.

Writing Style (0/1)
This was honestly the part of the book I struggled with the most. The writing style felt awkward and the conversations occasionally felt stilted. There were descriptions and metaphors used in the book that just didn’t fit the tone of the book and threw me off. Whenever I would get absorbed in a good scene something would just pop up and break my focus because it was so out of place in the scene. Since this was my biggest criticism of the book itself, this could also just be attributed to my personal preferences in writing styles I enjoy.

Setting
I greatly enjoyed the private school setting. It lent a lot more intimacy for the story events and helped keep the plot and characters moving, since most story events happened during school activities. The setting was also a convenient aspect of the story because the school is small enough that the two main characters couldn’t avoid each other, so the main characters are constantly interacting for some reason or another and I LOVED it.

Characters
I genuinely enjoyed both characters, despite being extremely skeptical of them at the beginning. Originally I disliked Jaya’s character because she was stern and mean, I remember thinking that if she didn’t figure her stuff out, she would drag the story down. However, she shows SO much growth throughout the story, which is one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much. When Grey was introduced the writing felt awkward and his description of his outfit made me think, “Oh god this man is actually feral.” Regardless of his introduction, Grey quickly won me over with his sweet heart and brutal honesty. Also, I enjoyed that instead of having a rude love interest who treats the girl like crap, Grey was respectful and kind-hearted. The biggest change his character underwent was with his confidence in himself and that character growth was *chef kiss on hand* beautiful.

Theme: Change, but for the better (1/1)
My favorite part of the book is that both characters are better around each other and they recognize this and then work doubly hard to be better. I’m a sucker for couples who push each other to be the best possible version of themselves. At the beginning, both of them are technically “the beast” since they’re both self-centered, but as they spend time with each other they both become the best versions of themselves.
This concept of both characters changing for the better is one reason why I think this retelling works so well. In the original tale, it’s just the Beast changing himself to be better for the princess. In this story, both characters help each other acknowledge their flaws and work to be better.

Overall
Retellings so often focus on putting these clever twists on classic stories but they don’t always focus on creating genuinely wholesome improvements to the story overall. Of Curses and Kisses takes the romance of the original Beauty and the Beast story and improves it in the best way possible.

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.

Buy it at: Amazon
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