Review: Of Curses and Kisses

Important life question: do you ever say something in your head and realize you said it aloud? Like, does this happen in real life? In so many books the characters are like, “Whoops, I didn’t mean to say that out loud.” This has never happened to me, but I’m wondering if this is a real thing or if authors made it up as a plot device?? Either way, it’s annoying.

Book: Of Curses and Kisses

Author: Sandhya Menon

Published February 18th 2020 by Simon Pulse

Format: physical book

trigger warning

parental neglect, slut-shaming, blackmail, bullying

Family comes first to Princess Jaya Roa. When a family feud threaten’s Jaya’s little sister and family Jaya must act. She packs up her belongings and heads to the same boarding school as Grey Emerson, whose family created this whole mess. It is there were she will plot revenge and destroy the enemy.

I really love Jaya’s character growth. I lowkey wanted to hit something during Jaya’s beginning chapters. I know, she was trying to emulate royalty, but she was sooo annoying. Kindly have a personality beyond being royal please and thank you. At least her being annoying in the beginning made the payoff of the character arc that much better.

I was so happy when Jaya began speaking up for herself. She became fierce and stopped putting up with people who didn’t respect or appreciate her. And when she finally clapped back in that email… *claps in appreciation*

Why did so many of the beginning  chapters end with “I intend to find out,” or something along those lines. I swear, I didn’t know that many ways to say that single sentence. I get it, you want to find each other’s secrets, but it made the chapters feel a bit choppy. There are other ways to create suspense, but that wasn’t it.

I know that Of Curses and Kisses is a Beauty and the Beast retelling. That is part of it’s charm. I did not need to be reminded of the parallels every few pages. I KNOW it is a Beauty and the Beast retelling, that is why I’m reading it. Both of these, combined with some other writing issues, kept me from enjoying this book to it’s fullest extent. I mean, I was emotionally invested and really enjoyed the contemporary with subtle magic undercurrents, but some parts of the writing took me out of the story.

As far as Beauty and the Beast retellings go, this is one of my favorites. I really vibed with the contemporary spin with subtle elements of magic. The character development was excellent as well. If you enjoy contemporary retellings and boarding school settings, then Of Curses and Kisses might be worth checking out.

Do you like retellings? Which is your favorite? Have you read Of Curses and Kisses? What did you think?