Of Curses and Kisses (St. Rosetta’s Academy #01) - Sandhya Menon

Title: Of Curses and Kisses (St. Rosetta’s Academy #01)
Author: Sandhya Menon
Rating: 2/5

Thanks to Hodder Paperbacks and NetGalley for letting me receive a digital copy of this book.

For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. That's why when she finds out she'll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, a member of the rival royal family behind a humiliating scandal involving her little sister, she schemes to get revenge on the young nobleman in order to even the score between their families. The plan? Make him fall in love with her and then break his heart the way his family has broken hers.

Grey Emerson doesn't connect with people easily. Due to a curse placed on his family by the Raos that his superstitious father unquestioningly, annoyingly believes in, Grey grew up internalising that he was doomed from the day he was born. Sequestered away at St. Rosetta's Academy, he's lived a quiet existence in relative solitude. That is, until Jaya Rao bursts into his life. Jaya is exuberant and elegant and unlike anyone Grey has ever met before, but he can't help feeling that she's hiding something behind her beautiful smile and charmingly awkward attempts at flirting. Despite his better instincts, though, he starts to fall for her.

Jaya's plan isn't totally going according to plan. For one, Grey is aggravatingly handsome. And for two, she's realising there's maybe more to him than his name and his family imply.

The stars are crossed for Jaya and Grey. But can they still find their fairy-tale ending?

I was so very over the moon when my request to read this book was approved by the publisher on NetGalley. I've heard so many positive things about the author, about her previous books that I haven't read yet, that I couldn't wait to start devouring Of Curses and Kisses. And then... I got so utterly disappointed in it. I've had high hopes since these sort of fairytale-retellings are being a huge thing right now and I've read some which I quite enjoyed. Only this one let me down, which makes me sad.

Granted, I can see why the author has so many fans. The writing itself wasn't bad, it just wasn't for me. And the story itself was dragged into eternity, such few dialogue included, way too much telling instead of showing. Or is it the other way around? I'm not sure, but it's like nothing ever really happened and it's still an average-length book. I didn't see the chemistry between the main characters and Pricess Jaya annoyed me throughout the novel. The story idea might be cute, but to me, it was poorly converted into words and a good book.

At some point, I just started skipping the pages, looking for the rare dialogues happening and read those instead of everything that happened - or didn't actually - between the lines. Maybe I should have been more open-minded for this one, because if you're into fairytales, then the way Of Curses and Kisses is written, actually resembles that well. There's a lot of explaining, a lot of thoughts you get to read from the characters' point of views. But I still missed sparks, I missed something. The drama didn't feel real to me, the pain, the curse, just anything, really.

Which is why I'm having a hard time deciding whether I should give the author's other books still a chance. Most of them have this super high rating on Goodreads or other platforms, but I'm not convinced yet. It might take some time for me to try again.