Of Curses and Kisses, a romance book by Sandhya Menon, is a spin off of the classic The Beauty and the Beast. 

This novel is about the protagonists Princess Jaya Rao and Grey Emerson. Jaya Rao is a person who cares for her family so when she found out that someone from the Emerson dynasty is targeting her younger sister, she knew she had to get her revenge. The two families have been enemies since the Emerson’s stole a ruby from the Rao’s. Enraged by what they did, Jayas great great grandmother cursed the ruby and also ended up cursing Grey. 

Most readers gave this book 5 stars, some of their most memorable aspects of this novel was the curse, a review on Goodreads says “There are underlying hints of a curse throughout the book, which added suspense and heightened the stakes. I was flying through this book, not just for the romance but because I had to know if the curse was real, and if they’d escape it.”

Jaya was then informed that she and her younger sister are going to attend the same private academy as Grey, Jaya knew this was the chance to get her revenge. She came up with a plan, have Grey fall in love with her and then break his heart. But things don’t go as planned. 

Grey Emerson, however, wants nothing to do with social interactions. Due to the fear of the curse, his family left Grey at St. Rosetta’s Academy.  So when Jaya Rao shows up at the academy, wearing the same ancient cursed ruby, Grey feels as if his fears of the curse are becoming a reality. 

A online review of this book says “My favorite part though, was how “the beast’s” curse played out and how Menon used it to explore emotional parental abuse and how that can wreck a child and leave them unable to properly interact with the world for more reasons than one, one of which is fear of being hurt.” 

Menon wrote this novel from two points of view, one is Grey’s and the other is Jaya’s. Another online reviewer states “I appreciated how the story was told from the points of view of Jaya and Grey, so that we got both of their perspectives.”

This novel is the perfect read for fans of humor and romance, the library does not have a copy of this book so you will have to request it by filling out a form at the library.