Love a boarding school setting and a fairytale retelling (The Frog Prince). I flew through this book on a recent flight. It's YA and reads like YA - and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that - but it does come with the teenage drama you expect. Add in fake dating, makeovers and more and you have a lot of drama and some fun scenes. Whenever I read about a high school makeover of an unpopular kid by a popular one, I always think of She's All That.

Overall, cute & quick read, not one that will stick with me.

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada & Netgalley for the e-arc to read and review!

4.5/5⭐ to Of Princes and Promises by Sanhya Menon. Much thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada for the egalley to review! When it comes to sequels, I tend to hope for the best while preparing to be disappointed. I am very pleased that this one lived up to the delight and whimsy of [book:Of Curses and Kisses|43985469]! This time we get a reimagining of The Frog Prince at St. Rosetta's with Rahul Chopra pining after the beautiful Catarina LaValle. When Raul gets his hands on some magical hair gel that transforms him into his suave alter-ego, RC, he finally catches her eye and they are able to continue the special moment they had at a Christmas party last year. Like most magic, it isn't without consequences, and Rahul finds himself getting more and more lost in the persona of RC at the expense of creating a true connection with Catarina. Will he find himself again? This was such a cute modern fairy tale, and I really enjoyed everything! The setting is a new fave as far as boarding schools go, and the characters are all so endearing! Catarina continues her character development from the first book and proves that there is more behind her cold heiress persona. Even better is the lesson we learn from Rahul, that you are enough just as you are and to make sure the others in your life love you for exactly who you are (and ignore those who don't). I don't know if Sandhya is planning on continuing this series, or will write something else YA, but I hope so! Definitely will pick up anything she writes!

I absolutely loved this book! I found it hard to put down. I highly recommend reading it! You won’t be disappointed.

I enjoyed this much more than the first in the series! I am definitely a sucker for a fake dating story, so I had a lot of fun reading about Caterina and Rahul.

The magical twist on this tale was fun, and I really liked Rahul. His conflict between being himself vs being who he thought people liked better (RC) and whether he liked being RC better was really interesting and made me totally sympathetic towards him.

I'm looking forward to more books in this series now!</p>

Caterina LaValle is the queen of St. Rosetta’s Academy. Everyone wants to be her friend and will do anything to be close to her. When Rahul Chopra comforted Caterina at a winter dance following her breakup with her boyfriend, Rahul fell in love with her. Now, they’ve returned to school after their winter break, and Rahul is hoping his relationship with Caterina can begin. When Caterina finds out that her ex-boyfriend is bringing a supermodel to a gala, she has to find a date quickly. She decides to transform Rahul into the perfect date. With some magical hair gel, Rahul becomes the confident and charming RC, who dazzles everyone at the party. Rahul loves this new persona and thinks he has to keep it up to be with Caterina. When his two identities begin to merge into one, he has to decide who he really is to win Caterina’s heart.

I wasn’t very familiar with the story of the Princess and the Frog before reading this story. I knew that a Princess kissed a frog, turning him into a Prince, but I haven’t read or watched any adaptations of that tale so I didn’t know what to expect from this story. I love how this series has a touch of magic in these fairytale retellings. Most of it could take place in the real world, except for the magical hair gel that literally transforms Rahul into RC. That brings a fairytale element into a contemporary story.

I was surprised at the twist at the end of the story. I knew one character was acting a little strangely, but I didn’t know why. I couldn’t have predicted the twist, so it made the ending tense and exciting. There was a bit of a teaser for the next book in the epilogue. I hope there will be another St. Rosetta’s Academy book because I love this setting and the characters.

Of Princes and Promises is another fun Sandhya Menon book!

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m really loving this series. Menon has such a great voice for YA, and having her infuse her trademark charm with a bit of magic makes it all incredibly special.

I haven’t even been able to figure out if I liked this book more or less than Of Curses and Kisses. I have a feeling I love them just about the same. They’re both so different that it’s hard to compare.

All you need to know is that Menon delivers yet again with a book that leaves you smiling and with a good feeling deep inside your heart.

☆☆☆☆ /5
(English review below!)

Avant de commencer, sachez que ce roman s'inscrit en effet dans une série mais que tous les tomes peuvent se lire de manière indépendante (je n'ai pas encore lu le premier par exemple). Il y a quelques allusions au tome précédent mais rien qui n'empêche une bonne compréhension de la lecture !
¤
J'ai beaucoup apprécié cette réécriture. C'était original tant dans l'univers dans lequel l'auteure nous plonge, tant dans la manière dont elle réinterprète le conte de La Princesse et de La Grenouille. J'ai aimé l'ambiance du roman. On se retrouve dans une école pour riches, une école d'élite. Entre hypocrisie, rumeur et romance, il y a plein de rebondissements dans le récit et je ne me suis pas ennuyée une seule seconde.
L'écriture de l’auteure est fluide. Je n'ai pas eu de soucis à entrer dans l'histoire et j'avais l'impression d'entendre la voix des personnages à chaque dialogue que je lisais. J'ai été impressionnée par le bon équilibre entre la narration des événements, les pensées des personnages et leurs paroles. L'écriture et la lecture étaient, pour moi, naturelles.
Concernant les protagonistes, Rahul et Caterina sont très différents, que ce soit au niveau de la personnalité ou tout simplement de la classe sociale. Au début, j'ai eu de la difficulté à tolérer leurs comportements, notamment l'arrogance stupide de Caterina et l'amour naïf de Rahul. Puis, au fil de l'histoire, j'ai appris à les connaître, à comprendre comment ils se sont construits au travers des années et à les voir évoluer au contact de l'un et de l'autre. On finit par les trouver adorables et attachants.
Aussi, je trouve que l’auteure transmet des messages tellement importants à travers son roman. Elle questionne sur l'apparence, le sentiment d'appartenance et le regard des autres. Doit-on vraiment changer pour plaire aux autres ? N'est-il pas mieux de rester authentique ? Est-ce que le regard des autres nous définit-il ? La transformation de Rahul, sa détresse et son désir de plaire à Caterina ont plutôt été confrontants pour ma part. À quel point souffre-t-il de qui il est et à quel point aime-t-il la jeune fille pour ressentir tout ça ? Rahul m'a énormément touchée.
¤
En bref, ce fut une réécriture originale d'un conte que je ne connaissais pas très bien avec une ambiance légère, des personnages intéressants et attachants et des questionnements profonds et pertinents.
Je pense que j'irai m'attarder sur l'autre roman de cette série !

•°•°•°•

First, I would like to tell you that this book is the second one of a series but for this series, all the books can be read independently (I have not yet read the first for example). There are some allusions to the previous book but nothing that prevents a good understanding of the reading!
¤
I really enjoyed this retelling. The universe in which the author plunges us and the way in which she reinterprets the tale of the Frog Prince are original. I liked the ambiance of the story. We are in a school for the rich, an elite school. Between hypocrisy, rumor and romance, there are plenty of twists and I wasn't bored for a single second. The author's writing is fluid. I didn't have a problem getting into the story and I felt like I heard the characters' voices with every dialogue I read. I was impressed with the good balance between the narration of events, the characters' thoughts and their words. The writing and the reading were natural to me.
Regarding the protagonists, Rahul and Caterina are very different, whether in terms of personality or simply social class. At first, I had a hard time tolerating their behaviors, including Caterina's stupid arrogance and Rahul's naive love. Then, over the course of the story, I got to know them, to understand how they were built over the years and to see them evolve in contact with each other. I ended up finding them adorable and endearing.
Also, I find the author conveys such important messages through her book. She questions the appearance, the feeling of belonging and the gaze of others. Do we really have to change to please others? Isn't it better to stay authentic? Does the gaze of others define us? Rahul's transformation, his distress and his desire to please Caterina have been quite confronting for me. How much does he suffer from who he is and how much does he love the girl for feeling it all? Rahul touched me enormously.
¤
Finally, it was an original retelling of a tale that I didn't know very well with a light vibe, interesting and endearing characters and deep and relevant questioning. I think I'll check the other book in this series ahah!

I loved this book so much. The way the author writes these characters and their development over the course of the story is fantastic. I disliked Caterina in the first book, but this book really gave me an insight into her and she grew on me. I can’t wait for the next romance she writes, and I love the little hints of magic she puts into each of them to give us that fairytale quality.

*Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I cannot decide whether I like Cat and Rahul more that I like Jaya and Grey, but I am definitely digging the frog prince retelling because it is something you do not see that often. This book centres around self-acceptance and how that looks differently for different people. In this book Rahul learns to accept that people love him for who he is and that he doesn't need to be a better, shinier version of himself. Cat learns that she can be vulnerable and let her guard down around her friends. She accepts that she can show her emotions and that she doesn't always need to be so guarded with her feelings.

The deeper meanings of this story are so good, and when you add the fantasy elements into this story and set it at a remote boarding school.... it's like a win-win situation. I'm really excited to see where this series goes. I know that I will be anxiously awaiting the third book in the series.

The premise of this book appears to be well thought out. However, I was disappointed in its actual delivery. I thought there was a lot more that could have been towards the characters and was a little thrown off at how easy it was that Rahul turned his backs on his friends as soon as Caterina gave him the option to help her.
I think if I had read this book when I was in high school I would have loved every minute of it

I did enjoy the writing style and how easy it was to fall into the book.

I don’t know if I’ve outgrown Sandhya Menon’s writing or if this book was just a bit off, but I just didn’t love this one as much as I’ve liked her other YA books.
It was fine, it held my interest, though it felt like there were parts that didn’t make sense. Seriously, who in their right mind would take a Bugatti for a drive in the Colorado mountains in February?

I gave this book 3.5 stars.

I thought this book was really cute and I enjoyed watching Caterina and Rahul's relationship develop.
I think it was really interesting to take these two very different characters and throw them into this slightly magical situation.
One not completely unlike the classic popular kid makes nerdy kid popular, but with a little something extra that made it riskier and more entertaining.

Watching Rahul's transformation was incredible. In part because he was so socially inept it made a stark difference, but also because even with the new confidence and charm the transformation gave him it didn't provide him with all the social skills he was lacking and he still made mistakes that were extremely similar to ones he did before the transformation.

As for Caterina, watching he maneuver through the entire situation and how her feelings towards a lot of things changed because of it was really interesting. I think her character growth was very well done. Especially considering it had a lot to do with how someone else situation was affecting her and not necessarily her own personal battle.

For her second book in the St. Rosetta’s Academy series, Sandhya Menon takes inspiration from the classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale “The Frog Prince” to craft an important story about self-worth.

Rather than a traditional retelling, Sandhya Menon takes a large amount of artistic license while crafting her story, and the amphibian references are minimal. In fact, I wouldn’t have even made the connection if it wasn’t explicitly stated in the synopsis.

Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed “Of Princes and Promises.”

Sandhya Menon crafts two central characters that are at first glance incredibly one-dimensional, but who undergo such immense change and growth throughout the novel that they become so intensely relatable and emotionally enthralling.

Each of these characters really has been changed for the better, simply by getting to know one another. And I really was rooting for Rahul and Caterina.

The only thing preventing me from awarding the novel a full five stars are the occasionally hokey plot devices used by the author, like the magical hair gel and the cozy mystery subplot.

Yet the message that prevails throughout the novel is so important that I was willing to put aside these unnecessary additions.

In the words of RuPaul: “If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell are you going to love somebody else?”

A frog prince and an ice queen, an unlikely pair who are destined to befriend each other, for better or worse. With a fake dating plot in the works, nothing can go wrong, right?

In Of Princes and Promises, Caterina LaValle and Rahul Chopra, an unlikely duo, are brought together under special circumstances. Dumped by her jerk ex-boyfriend, Caterina combs through the boys in her school, searching for the perfect one to be a fake date to each ritzy gala event. Settling on Rahul, a unique bond forms between the two, filled with tension brewing beneath the surface.

The sequences of the book move like a movie montage, full of blooming blushes and eloquent etiquette. With witty moments and a charming sense of teen voice, Menon carefully creates a fun, swoon-worthy novel with its fair share of awkward moments. Distinctive voices are given to each character, showing Menon's skill for writing romances that sweep readers off their feet.

With a sweet dose of heart, sass and social uncomfortably, Of Princes and Promises is a stellar, light summer read. Fans of Of Curses and Kisses will adore this sequel, with cameos from favourites from the book before.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGallery for providing me with an arc of this book. It's greatly appreciated!

Thank you to the publisher, Simon and Schuster BYR, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A new term is beginning at St Rosetta’s Academy and Caterina is determined to prove that she is still the best, even after her breakup with Alaric. To prove to her social circles that she has definitely moved on, she comes up with a plan. Rahul Chopra hasn’t been able to forget his dance with Caterina at the winter formal, and is convinced it meant something more, so he readily agrees to Caterina’s idea for him to be her date at several social events. Several etiquette lessons, a makeover, and a mysterious pot of magical hair gel later, the socially awkward Rahul transforms into the charming RC. The plans goes off without a hitch and soon Caterina and RC are becoming quite popular on the social scene. But with each time that Rahul uses the hair gel to become RC, the more he loses himself to the cooler version, starting to hate his original self, believing that Caterina could only ever like someone like RC. But does he really need to change himself to win Caterina over or will she come to like Rahul for himself?

When I saw this ARC available to request, I didn’t have to think twice at all. The first book in this series, Of Curses and Kisses was such a fun read that I couldn’t not pick up this sequel. Besides, Sandhya Menon is pretty much one of the authors on my auto-read list. I really enjoy her narration and writing style, and this book was no exception. It took all of two pages to descend back into the elite world of St Rosetta’s Academy with these familiar characters, this time in a modern day retelling of The Frog Prince.

I did have some doubts as to how this book might turn out since it’s technically more of a spin off than a sequel, but Caterina and Rahul made for such amazing protagonists and the author did a great job with both their character arcs. I quite surprised at how interesting a main character Caterina in particular turned out to be, especially given her portrayal in book one. I did feel however, that Rahul’s arc with his family should have been resolved in some fashion just as Caterina’s was as it was the one thing missing in an otherwise great story on his part. This book had far more drama than I’ve come to expect from Sandhya Menon’s works, but I loved how the characters still remained so relatable and genuine on so many levels, and despite all the glamour, mystery and magic, the message of this story still comes down to the importance of being yourself and loving yourself the way you are.

In contrast with the first book however, there were large portions of this book that were quite unrealistic. These characters are all in high school and are probably underage, so there’s no way they could just leave school and go to all these parties every weekend even if it is a really elite place. With all the parties and outings, so little of the book actually takes place at St Rosetta’s that the boarding school vibe I loved in the first book was definitely missing here. I would have also liked to see more of the supporting characters like Grey and Jaya, and the group of friends in general, who were rather neglected due to the plot’s almost single-minded focus on Caterina and Rahul.

Overall, an enjoyable read and another really cute installment in the St Rosetta’s Academy series. There is some potential for a third book as hinted at in the epilogue as well, and I’m curious to see what it might be a retelling of if there is one. If you enjoyed any of the author’s previous works, or are a fan of more contemporary retellings with a dash of magic, I would definitely recommend this book!

Where do I start? I felt like the story was pretty original, as I had never read anything quite like it before (and I have read A LOT of books). However, the characters themselves were, in my opinion, not very likable. I didn't find myself caring about any of them (especially Cat). I do have to say, though, that I liked how the author talked about social anxiety and the feeling that you aren't enough for someone else. I did think that was a nice touch.

This book was very well done! I liked it even more than the first book. The story was well paced, and the writing was beautiful and honest, while still being enjoyable and easy to read.

When I had the opportunity to review Of Curses and Kisses last year I was over the moon, I fell in love with Sandhya Menon and all of the characters within St. Rosetta’s Academy. When I was accepted to review Of Princes and Promises, let’s just say. Only dogs could hear my squeal!
I’m always hesitant on reading the second installment of a series, some of them are considered “filler” novels, but Of Princes and Promises is not! Of Princes and Promises contains as much fantasy and romance as Of Curses and Kisses, not to mention it's based on one of my favorite fairy tales, The Frog Prince! Am I a bit bias to say that Of Princes and Promises was better than Of Curses and Kisses? Possibly… I just cannot begin to express my overall love for this series and for the characters and the world that Sandhya Menon has created.
Overall a very well-written YA Fantasy, perfect for those who are wanting a whimsical quick, care-free read!
4/5 stars

Rounding up from 2.5. I have mixed feelings about this book, as I think it was very well written and engaging, but the storyline was not for me. I feel like the story of rich kids partying has been told way too many times (gossip girl, clique, etc…) and for me the story lacked a substantial plot, and Caterina needed more character development.

Of Princes and Promises by Sandhya Menon is the second book of St. Rosetta’s Academy.

Caterina LaValle has recently broken up with her boyfriend Alaric, who cheated on her. She is determined to show everyone that she is still the queen of the school. When Caterina finds out that Alaric is taking a supermodel to the upcoming gala, she plans to show him up. Tired of the same boring boys, she recruits Rahul Chopra to be her date.

Rahul Chopra fondly remembers the moment with Caterina at the winter formal, and he is sure it meant something to her too. He has loved Caterina for years, but he is unsure how someone like him can fit in her world. When Caterina invites him to the gala he is ecstatic. Rahul uses a magical and mysterious pot of hair gel he was given and becomes a completely different person. A person who is charming and loved by all at the gala and quickly invited into elite social circles. This transformation comes at a price, though, as he begins to lose sight of who he really is.

This series is just so great! The modern spin on classic fairy tales is so addicting and fun. Caterina and Rahul are such a breath of fresh air. I haven’t read a couple like them before!