Blog Tour | Beauty and the Besharam by Lillie Vale | Review

BEAUTY AND THE BESHARAM

Author: Lillie Vale

Pages: 400

Publishing Date: 10th May, 2022

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐.5

Synopsis:

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.

Content Warning: Please be aware that through the course of the novel, Ian processes grief of a younger sibling’s death (takes place during his childhood, off-page) and Kavya experiences infidelity (not with love interest Ian. Early in the book, she catches her then-boyfriend cheating – this relationship is ended swiftly.)

Book Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Indigo | IndieBound

Author Info:

Lillie Vale is the author of books for both teens and adults, including The Decoy Girlfriend, Beauty and the Besharam, The Shaadi Set-Up and Small Town Hearts, an American Library Association’s 2020 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.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Thank you to TBR and Beyond Tours, Netgalley and the author for providing me with a free digital copy to review. This in no way, has influenced my thoughts on the book. You can check out the other posts on the tour here.

Pre-read thoughts (Not part of the book tour):

Okay, so I’ve wanted to read The Shaadi Set-Up, the first YA novel by the author, but I just didn’t get around to it. However, when I saw this tour, I immediately signed up to it because:
1. Indian rep
2. Bisexual main character (You do not get a lot of these!)
3. Rivals to lovers!!!
4. A premise like that of TS’s ‘this is me trying’

Review:

Okay, so this book disappointed a little :(( I was super excited to read it, and the first half was very much fun, but the second half wasn’t so much. Also, the copy provided had really bad font, which made me not want to read the book a little. It took me A LOT of time getting used to.

Anyhoo, let’s get into the detailed review!

Plot:

The plot, obviously, is very intriguing and everything, and it does carry throughout the book. I just feel that the second half of the book, was a little elongated and the book could have been at least 50 pages shorter. The whole competition over the summer thing was awesome, but it was sidetracked a little, too.

Characters:

Ahh, these were fun! I loved reading all of them, and honestly, as far as the Indian rep is concerned, pretty accurate, I’d say! Also, the mention of Bhel, yum!!!!!!!!
I’d say that the rep of Kavya’s sister Simran, felt a little forced, but that’s fine.

Writing Style:

This was fun, and the banter was especially well written! It did seem a little as though the author was painfully trying very hard to bring the romance down to PG-13 level, especially since she’s originally an adult author, but that could be put aside as well.

Overall, not an awesome book, but not something amazing either! It disappointed a little, but I still recommend it to everyone looking for a light fluffy YA!

Have you read The Shaadi Set-Up? Will you read this one? Let me know in the comments!

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