Enjoyed this twist on the Beauty and the Beast retelling, and how the narrator was both the beauty and the beast. How Kavya was in a one-sided competition with former friend, Ian - thinking he's her worst enemy; but it turns out she's her own worst enemy. I liked how Kavya is forced to work with Ian, and the two (well Kavya) are finally able to clear up misconceptions and work towards rebuilding their friendship and then start dating.

Granted that this is first person POV, but I do wish Kavya could have been a bit less self-centered and checked in with her friends a bit more. I really wish we could have gotten additional scenes with them and hear their problems.

CW: death of younger sibling from terminal illness

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

The book is very engaging and fun to read from the very first. Kavya's character is super relatable and her love for books made me fall in love with the character. Her never back down character and speak up for what's right made her a super strong lead character. But her love for her family and friends is what makes her a gem of a character. On the other hand, the simplicity and jolly nature of Ian is like icing on cake. Both Kavya and Ian are poles apart in their character like fire and ice but one thing is common: their love and commitment for what they are truly passionate about. The author also covers some really important issues like anxiety, sexuality, discovering yourself, parental control etc. and put them in a very easy and understanding way.
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Another aspect I absolutely love about the story is the friendship shown. The friends here are like 'a friend in need is a friend in deed' and anybody would be lucky to get friends like them.
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The fight and love between siblings shown here are what we can see in possibly every household. I love the Indian culture representation and also like the way the author showcase different parent-child relationships. The language is quite easy and the title and the cover perfectly match with the storyline.
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Overall I really liked the Grumpy*Sunshine trope showcased here. A very fun, warm, interesting read. Perfect for Summer.

Thank you so much to Penguin Teen for sending me an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review! It pains me a bit to write this review because this is the type of book that I normally fall in love with (see Perfectly Parvin by Olivia Abtahi and TJ Powar Has Something to Prove by Jesmeen Kaur Deo). Honestly, all the stars for the diverse cast of characters (Indian American lead and Korean American love interest, perfection), the realistic flaws, the supportive friends, and the overarching message of self-acceptance. Kavya's relationship with her sister, Simran, was one of my favorite parts of the book; it was so sweet seeing them grow closer by acknowledging each other's strengths.

I probably would have loved this one without reservation if I were reading it as a teen or a generally more patient person. It's a stretch to call this a retelling despite the title and numerous references to different fairy tales. Especially toward the end, the writing was so repetitive that I found myself slogging through page after page of fairy tale analogies, continuously surprised when my Kindle still had 30% remaining. With some tighter editing I think this book would have been amazing. (I also found it kind of pandering to make Kavya a Bookstagrammer; based on her age it would make more sense for her to be a BookToker, if anything.) Please don't let me steer you away from this book, especially if there's a teen in your life who might enjoy it! It's still incredibly important representation and I'm glad teen girls will now have Kavya to remind them that they're never "too much."

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the copy in exchange for a review.

This was adorable, I loved reading this sweet YA Romance and I definitely want to read more from this author. I loved meeting the characters and I really loved how this book flowed, I wanted to keep reading. I would definitely recommend this book to fans of YA Romance and fans of main characters who like books.

I absolutely LOVED Beauty And The Besharam by Lillie Vale. This charming audiobook is about Kavya Joshi. Kavya can be a little bit tenacious and maybe perceived as difficult. It's just she is super driven, competitive and smart. Kavya's nemesis Ian Jung happens to witness her very public breakup with her boyfriend just before summer. As it turns out though, Kavya and Ian are about to be thrown together a lot over the summer. First, they are competing with each other to win the summer library reading program. Second, it turns out Ian has just been hired to play Prince Eric to Kavya's Princess Ariel at the princess party business that Kavya works at. What was a rivalry turns into a friendship as Kavya and Ian learn they have a lot in common.

Lillie Vale's Beauty And The Besharam was such a GREAT listen. I loved Kavya and her friends who call themselves the moon girls after SAILOR MOON. Oh my god. How could I not love it. Also Kavya loves reading YA books. She's so strong willed. I also loved how much she grows as a character. She makes some big mistakes along the way as expected, but her development as a character is very well thought out. The audiobook is so easy on your ears. It is narrated by Shimali De Silva. It is 10 hours and 19 minutes long but just feels so much faster because I kept wanting to listen.

thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an arc in exchange for an honest review!

THIS BOOK WAS SOOOO CUTE!!!! I LOVED IT!!

beauty and the besharam follows kavya, who is perceived as being "too much" and isn't quite likable, as she navigates a challenging summer due to the presence of her rival. ian, kavya's former childhood friend turned into academic rival, constantly annoys and frustrates kavya during the school year, but now he's here to press her buttons during the summer too hehe. they end up both working the same summer gig - which btw is them dressing up as disney royalty for kids' birthday parties like how cute!!! - and so kavya has to learn to tolerate ian's presence during which she may or may not end up developing feelings for him ;)

while the romance was really, really cute, i also loved how the book explored kavya's relationships with her girl friends and her older sister. i also liked the diversity featured in this book!!

LThis was such an adorable YA read and I'm surprised by how much I ended up loving it! I haven't read any of Lillie Vale's books before but I was really curious about this one based on that blurb alone! Childhood friends turned rivals-to-lovers is my jam and add in a feisty, unapologetic heroine, I was hooked!

Kavya Joshi is used to being told that she's too loud and 'besharam'(basically translates as shameless in Hindi and in this context refers to Kavya being a bit too outspoken). It doesn't bother her much anymore, but she does have a vulnerable side as well. When her longtime rival Ian witnesses her public break-up, it brings back memories of embarrassment that she's not comfortable with. And just when she thinks that she can spend the summer quietly, she finds out that she'll have to work with him lol. 😂

Their friends end up making a plan to have these two participate in a series of challenges to end their rivalry and this rouses Kavya's competitive spirit(of course)! And as Ian and Kavya spend more time with each other, Kavya ends up discovering more things about him and herself as well, which brings them closer!

The relationship between these two was so adorable! Ian was the sunshine to Kavya's grumpy, competitive personality and I loved how they brought out the best in each other! It was so cute watching their relationship grow and having them be there for each other! We get to witness Kavya's character growth as well, as she navigates personal and familial relationships! Kavya is Indian American while Ian is Korean American, so there's lots of Asian rep that made this book so relatable!

She's also got an amazing group of friends that were such great characters honestly! All of them were so unique and such well-developed characters, unlike the typical cardboard cutout supporting roles.

In the end, this was a great read that left me with a goofy smile on my face! Would definitely recommend if you are looking to read something different this summer!

*I was provided with an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review*

This is a rivals-to-lovers YA summer rom-com. After a very public break up Kavya decides she will lay low for the summer. But Ian, who she is always in competition with, is her coworker for the summer. This novel is full of banter, tension, and a cute teen romance full of competition.

A cute academic rivals to romance with a grumpy heroine and a sunshine hero. This book was full of charm, and the romance was adorable. It was an easy read, and made me smile. Definitely one I would recommend to a YA romance lover. 3.5 stars rounded up.

Rivals to lovers. Grumpy girl x sunshine boy. Diverse characters. Realistic relationships. Cute banter. And most important of all, being your unapologetic self. Beauty and the Besharam by Lilly Vale is an easy summer read that is full of heart.

The beautiful cover sets the tone of the book. Although it is primarily a rom-com, it also has well-developed sub-plots. And side characters who actually add to the story. The parents. Kavya’s sister, Simran. The Moon Girls – Catie, Blair, and Val.

The LGBTQ rep is well done and does not appear to be mere tokenism. Although I do hope they were more built upon, particularly Simran’s.

The desi rep is highly relatable. Parental pressure on choosing the right career (that is not necessarily the one you want to choose). You aren’t a success until you snap up the most eligible man around, degrees and education be damned. Nosy aunties. That said, the book does not go down the done-to-death path. Kavya’s parents do support her choices.

Rivals to lovers high schoolers. The plot may sound similar to Netflix’s Never Have I Ever but that is where the similarity ends. The book is more about being comfortable being in your own skin. Love does not mean making compromises and diminishing your light. It is okay to make mistakes and learn from them. Everything is not a competition.

I would recommend this book to every girl out there who has been asked to tone it down. To not be competitive. To be more girly. To stop being too much. In other words… stop being besharam.

This is such an amazing story and I am absolutely in love with it. This has been an anticipated title for me for a while now and I'm so happy that it lived up to the hype. Vale is one of my favourite authors and she's proven her mettle yet again with this gorgeous book.

I loved both the main characters so much. Kavya is a great protagonist. She's a proper teenager. She's messy but she's trying her best and that's what's important. I did feel that she was too competitive and the rivalry between her and Ian definitely felt very one sided for most of the story, but also, it made sense to me because people are like that sometimes. I see a lot of people calling her unlikable in a bad way, but in my opinion her messiness and her "unlikability" made her more believable to me and drove the book home.

Ian is a great love interest. I adored him so much right from the start. The way he had Kavya figured out so well was a treat. I adored the way he adored Kavya.

I did think that the third act could've been a little better, but other than that, it was so amazing! Definitely would recommend this to all my friends!

Hi my name is Nikki and I am addicted to Beauty and the Beast retellings. Of any kind. And I’m so serious. I’ll give any of them a try. And because of that, when I saw that Lillie Vale was writing a gender-bent one, I knew I needed to get it into my hands. So as soon as I could get my hands on it, I immediately started reading it.

Let me start this review by saying I didn’t have any idea about the audio problem until after I finished it. Had I known, I would have read the e-book or the physical book. But with that said, it took the performance down for me. Knowing that things aren’t exactly like Vale wanted them and knowing that it was because no one listened to her? I can’t support that. So I won’t be saying anything more about the performance. It’s enough to know that she, the author, wasn’t happy. As for the rest of the representation in the book, I have no affiliation with the racial/ethnic representation in this book, so I won’t speak on it. However, I know that all experiences are not the same. I did feel that the mental health (anxiety) was accurate tho. Anxiety/Panic attacks will freeze you in place and nothing matters a lot of the time. And it wasn’t a long drawn out scene, so it didn’t cause me to spiral or anything after that. In fact, I understood where he was coming from. I can definitely understand not wanting to have to do something like what Ian had to do in that situation.

As for the book, I LOVED it. I loved the Beauty and the Beast parallels, like the “Beast” like behavior and the library/reading. It was a really cool, modern way to tell one of my favorite stories. I do wish there were more B&TB instances, but alas… On the other side of the re-telling, the romance in this one was super cute. I loved seeing them figure things out and finally get to each other. And man, it was so cute watching (reading?) the love interest try to tell her without telling her that they liked her. It was so cute. And their feud and their little tasks they did with their friends was cute as well. It all felt incredibly realistic also.

The characters were also a large (and great) part of this story. Although I did get annoyed with her sister and mother sometimes. They were always worried about what someone else would think. Although I get it, it’s from their culture, but that didn’t stop me from being happy that Kavya was her own person and how she didn’t take any crap from anyone. It made me respect her so much more. And even though I did like her, I did feel like at some times she was doing too much lol Like always having to win or always having to be right? Like even Ian was like “Didn’t know I was supposed to be competing.” (Yes I know that was the point of the book, but I also would never tell her I thought she was doing too much and it would have nothing to do with her culture. I would say that about anyone that acted that way.)

I will never turn down a Beauty and the Best re-telling. No matter what it looks like. And the fact that this one was gender-bent, made me even happier. Although I wish there was a bit more of the story in there, it didn’t stop me from enjoying the things that Vale did add.

this topped my favorites shelf!

i already read through it twice - once to enjoy & the second to annotate.

as a bengali person, i felt like kavya was my doppelgänger. to have iconic diversity & interracial relationships as well as the candid narration of being besharam, i've never felt so fulfilled upon reaching the end of this super light read. kavya x ian are everything. & these side characters w/ so much dynamic are a breath of fresh air.

this was a super adorable trope filled romance! i adored the main character and the love interest and the rest of the cast. this was sweet and a perfect summer read. absolutely would reccomend to all beauty and the beast fans and everyone else.

thank you to Netgalley and penguin teen for an arc in exchange for my honest review.

I was instantly sold by the cover of Beauty and Besharam - so cute and fun! This book was equally adorable and definitely kept me smiling the entire time - I did NOT want to put it down! All of the characters are unique and fun and you will fall in love with them all.

Thank you to Netgalley and TBR and Beyond tours for sending me a copy of this book!

My Rating: 5 stars 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

You got enemies to lovers, past friends, grumpy and sunshine, gender-swapped Beauty and the Beast, the NICK-NAME trope, and throw in some forced proximity and there, a super cute romance! I love their nerdy rivalry and how natural their dialogue felt, especially their teasing. And little memories from when they were kids were awesome! One thing I really loved and appreciated is that even after their confession their relationship was still fun and they still had banter. I noticed that often in ya contemporaries, after the two get together, they lose the enemies-level banter and it gets boring for me, but that wasn't the case here!

Kavya is our MC who’s fiercely competitive and unquestionably outspoken. She works at Poppy’s Party Playhouse where she dresses up as princesses for little kids and is a bookstagrammer, both of which I feel are important details :) Her character was refreshing for a YA contemporary and I really enjoyed it, though she could be slightly annoying at times.

The love interest, Ian was obviously the *sunshine* and he represent the Beauty of Beauty and the Beast with his hairstyle which Kavya admitted didn’t look terrible and his effortless charm. Ok, and also? He’s a Rick Riordan fan?? Yeah! I also really really appreciated the anxiety rep as someone with anxiety myself. It's pretty rare to find accurate representation of it, at least in the books I 've read.

I really liked the side characters, as in the Moon Girls! The Moon Girls are her friends named after their love for Sailor Moon. They were diverse, and fun, and just totally awesome. I also really liked how complex her relationship with her sister was. Her relationship with her parents is the first one I’ve seen with Indian parents like this which I liked, though of course not everyone will relate to how lenient they are.

And the representation was on point! As an Indian myself, I really related to some aspects and it nice to see! Also the food descriptions were soo goood. Like yesss bring on the puriss

Overall, this was a very fun read that I’d recommend! And I even added it to my favorites list because I really loved it that much! Most of the time contemporaries are three to four stars for me and even the few five star ones have never been favorites until now so yay :) Some books have a comforting quality to them that's hard to explain and this has it!

Thank you to PenguinTeen and Colored Pages Tours for providing me an ARC for participating in the tour, and in exchange for an honest review!

Beauty and the Besharam is definitely one of my most beloved books now! It got me out of the intense reading slump I was in, not to mention how amazing the book itself is!

Kavya Joshi is what some would call “besharam”— brash, shameless?, isn’t afraid to speak her mind, ambitious, and so much more. But her so called “besharamness” is what made her stand out as a character I started to love. Kavya’s obsession with books, Sailor Moon, and her need to win at all times energy reminded me of myself? I guess? And that was amazing to read about!

I also loved the dynamics in this book. Kavya and her sister’s relationship grew throughout the book and it was so endearing to read about! Even her relationship with her parents was a nice aspect! I love ALL the Moon Girls and their shenanigans! And finally let’s not forget Ian!!!

Ian and Kavya’s dynamic was soo cute!! They had been rivals for years and because of that the romantic tension between them was impeccable. There relationship was really well developed and not at all rushed, honestly it was one of my favourite aspects of the book.

Kavya Joshi know what she wants and what her worth is, and that is why I believe she is one of the finest characters I have read about, and if you want to read this super cute and fun book please order it if you can!! I highly recommend it!!

Outspoken, driven Kavya Joshi is unapologetically bold in her style, personality, and ambitions. When a party game kiss with her academic rival, golden boy Ian Jun, leaves her dizzy with butterflies, she struggles to reconcile her insecurities and shield of competitiveness with the increasingly open, understanding person her rival seems to draw out. As the summer progresses the stakes rise alongside tensions in part-time jobs, blooming romances, and friendship groups.

YA contemporary romance is often a hit-or-miss genre for me and I dislike when they feel overly reliant on clichés and tropes. However, I have been impressed by and thoroughly enjoyed more recent YA romance books and authors, "Beauty and the Besharam" included! The supporting cast of characters are well-rounded and represent diverse races, cultures, sexualities, genders, and personalities without tokenizing (speaking from the perspective of someone not a part of all represented communities). The main leads are even more so developed and both have flaws they face and demonstrate personal character growth throughout. I loved the way Ian was suave and flirty and also had moments of vulnerability and sensitivity -- more male love interests who are emotionally intelligent AND secure in their masculinity, please! I liked how Kavya's characteristics were genuinely multi-faceted and the way her arc showed her learning to play to her strengths and rectify the weaknesses of her strong personality and how it affects her and the people around her.

"Beauty and the Besharam" is an adorable YA summer romance where sparks fly almost as fast as the witty comebacks. If you love a good rivals-to-lovers, cute romance, and diverse representation, you will love this book!

Going into this book I was quite sure what to expect because within the first few pages I wanted to smack Kavya in the face. However as the book went on it unfurled into this beautiful story filled with family, friendship, discovering one’s identity and the sweet tang of romance. Ian is such a sweet character and all of his kind little gestures towards Kavya made him utterly perfect. I’m so happy to have seen Kavya grow as well and become more comfortable with herself as well as expressing that to those around her who cared about her. Whether that was her sister, her parents, her friend group or a certain boy I’m so proud of the growth she went through during this book.
I also loved the bits of different cultures that were thrown in there whether we were in Rio’s kitchen, the Jun’s restaurant, or hearing about Val’s store it was so intriguing to me to learn bits of who each character was based on their upbringing and how that surrounded and influenced them.
I was so happy this book brought the perfect happy and ending and more to Kavya and Ian as well as their friends and the other characters who made this book come alive and feel like home. It was such a sweet book to start off summer with and the perfect feel good romance to make every reader feel warm inside.