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bubblewombat 's review for:
Of Curses and Kisses
by Sandhya Menon
This was a cute and fast read, just as expected.
The setting was cool (Alex Rider cemented my boarding-schools-high-up-in-the-mountains obsession), the retelling faithful, but with its own spin and the characters were likable.
I liked Jaya the most. She's a very traditional, but also very protective, older sister who only wants the best for her family. It was nice to see her stick to what she believed in (even if some of it wasn't correct) and not have her mind be swayed too easily. She grows throughout the book.
Grey I didn't like that much. I think he was the blandest character, possibly because he's similar to so many others who hate the world and won't let anyone come close to them. These are either a hit or a miss with me and in this case it turned out to be the latter.
One big missed opportunity however, was not making Grey an actual beast. For every time he was described as feral/lupine, or his hands as paws, I kept thinking "here it comes, the werewolf change"...and it didn't. I think that would've added an extra layer to the already existing curse.
The storyline wasn't the strongest but I think the side characters make up for it. Their lives are interesting enough to warrant their own books so I'm excited to see what becomes of them in the next installment.
3.5 rounded up.
The setting was cool (Alex Rider cemented my boarding-schools-high-up-in-the-mountains obsession), the retelling faithful, but with its own spin and the characters were likable.
I liked Jaya the most. She's a very traditional, but also very protective, older sister who only wants the best for her family. It was nice to see her stick to what she believed in (even if some of it wasn't correct) and not have her mind be swayed too easily. She grows throughout the book.
Grey I didn't like that much. I think he was the blandest character, possibly because he's similar to so many others who hate the world and won't let anyone come close to them. These are either a hit or a miss with me and in this case it turned out to be the latter.
One big missed opportunity however, was not making Grey an actual beast. For every time he was described as feral/lupine, or his hands as paws, I kept thinking "here it comes, the werewolf change"...and it didn't. I think that would've added an extra layer to the already existing curse.
The storyline wasn't the strongest but I think the side characters make up for it. Their lives are interesting enough to warrant their own books so I'm excited to see what becomes of them in the next installment.
3.5 rounded up.