hello and welcome to my post for the blog tour of Beauty and the Besharam!
Synopsis
Heated competition leads to even hotter romance in this YA summer rom-com for fans of Sandhya Menon, Emma Lord, and Wibbroka.
Seventeen-year-old, high-achieving Kavya Joshi has always been told she's a little too ambitious, a little too mouthy, and overall just a little too much. In one word: besharam.
So, when her nemesis, Ian Jun, witnesses Kavya’s very public breakup with her loser boyfriend on the last day of junior year, she decides to lay low and spend the summer doing what she loves best–working part time playing princess roles for childrens’ birthday parties. But her plan is shot when she’s cast as Ariel instead of her beloved Belle, and learns that Ian will be her Prince Eric for the summer. [Cue the combative banter.]
Exhausted by Kavya and Ian’s years-long feud, their friends hatch a plan to end their rivalry by convincing them to participate in a series of challenges throughout the summer. Kavya is only too eager to finally be declared the winner. But as the competition heats up, so too does the romantic tension, until it escalates from a simmer to a full-on burn.
Review
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.
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!
Moodboard
About the Author
Lillie Vale is the author of books for both teens and adults, includingThe Decoy Girlfriend,Beautyand the Besharam, The Shaadi Set-UpandSmall Town Hearts, an American Library Association’s2020 Rainbow Books List selection. She writes about secrets and yearning, complicated and ambitious girls who know what they want, the places we call home and people we find our way back to, and the magic we make. Born in Mumbai, she grew up in Mississippi, Texas, and North Dakota, and now lives in an Indiana college town.
Book Links:
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beauty-and-the-besharam-lillie-vale/1139996466?ean=9780593350874
IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780593350874
Author Links:
Thank you for reading!
Comments