Although Of Curses and Kisses incorporates a familiar trope, the story of
Princess Jaya and Grey Emerson is engaging.
Jaya has been raised to be an Indian heiress, following all the protocols her parents have set in place without question. When scandalous photos of her younger sister's escapades are exposed in the
media, Jaya willingly accompanies her to a new boarding school away from the
attention. When Jaya discovers Grey Emerson attends the same school she vows to avenge her sister. You see the Emersons family and Jaya's family are feuding and Emerson is the author of the vicious attack on Jaya's sister. She
will compel him to fall in love with her, only to break his heart.
The reader
can see from page one where Of Curses and Kisses is going. Of course, Grey is not what he seems, and
these two are destined for true love, even though Jaya is practically betrothed
to a neighboring prince (to build alliances for her father) and Grey has been cursed (by Jaya's family) and will
die on his 18th birthday. The group of friends (and enemies) surrounding these two are interesting
and canny. There is the friend who is "in love" with a cad, and the cad is dating one of the most popular girls at school. Jaya's sister is falling for a totally unacceptable mate, in Jaya's eyes. There is something mysterious about Jaya's ruby broach -- stones keep falling out of it and Grey seems to think it has something to do with the family curse. So there are plenty of barriers to true love and many surrounding issues adding substance to this "hate to love" imagery.
Another bizarre issue is that Menon throws in obscure vocabulary so much that at times the phrasing is awkward as if she is trying to throw in as many SAT words as
possible. I kept a list of just some of them: puerile, insouciant, vitriol, imbibed, ennui, loquacious, innervating bespoke, misanthrope, disingenuous, untenable, nihilism. Some of these words were used in the dialog between the teens -- it was just awkward, and some teens may find this daunting. Of Curses and Kisses is being marketed to ages 12 and up. I just don't see that, given the vocabulary.
The happy ending is frenetic, but everything gets tied up nicely in a bow. Nothing special, but romance junkies will probably find Of Curses and Kisses charming.
Published by Simon Pulse, February 18, 2020
ARC obtained from School Library Connection Magazine
361 pages
Rating: 3/5
Too bad this one isn't good as I've really enjoyed her books, the latest I read was There's Something About Sweetie, which was really fun.
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