Will the princess save the beast?
For Princess Jaya Rao, nothing is more important than family. When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge.
Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime. She knows what she must do: Make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. But much to Jaya’s annoyance, Grey’s brooding demeanor and lupine blue eyes have drawn her in. There’s simply no way she and her sworn enemy could find their fairy-tale ending…right?
His Lordship Grey Emerson is a misanthrope. Thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch, Grey knows he’s doomed once he turns eighteen. Sequestered away in the mountains at St. Rosetta’s International Academy, he’s lived an isolated existence—until Jaya Rao bursts into his life, but he can’t shake the feeling that she’s hiding something.
Something that might just have to do with the rose-shaped ruby pendant around her neck…
As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it’s possible to write your own happy ending.
Book Stats ( You can also read on my GR.)
Stars: 2.5 Stars
Start Date : 3/19/20
Ending Date: 3/21/20
Genre: YA Romance , BATB Retelling
Form: Digital/ Audiobook
Page Count: 384
Publishing Date: 2020
Point of View: 3rd Person Alternating Between Jaya and Grey
Setting: St Rosetta’s School Aspen, Colorado, USA
I having a hard time rating this because while I don’t find it horrible per se , I don’t find it good either. It’s like one of those books that really feels like a rough draft. Like the it has the full potential to be really really good but need a couple more edits. This is my first Sandhya Menon book and I’m not impressed at all. I wanted to read ” When Dimple met Rish” but with the hype surrounding it and the some of things I heard ( like the main character being a bitch) I decided to passed it. But me being a huge sucker for BATB retellings , I decided to check this one out. Also the fact Scribd is doing a free 30 day subscription to all their books, documents, and audiobooks due the fact Corona got everyone practicing social distancing to stay safe. So I’m taking an advantage of this by listening to as many audio books I can with in these 30 days. lol ( So I put down Crescent City for the time being) lol It first it did have the makings are being a good BATB retelling but then it started to feel like it would have been better as a Pride and Prejudice retelling..
I mean the plot of the book was pretty much Jaya Rao, A 18 year old princess of an Indian country, flies across county to an boarding school in the America with her baby sister Isha. Which her main plan is to seek revenge on Grey Emerson, the current heir of the Emerson family. A British family that has feuded with the Rao’s for centuries( over a stolen ruby that the Emerson’s stole that belong to the Raos’ that Jaya great grandmother put a curse of it . So the British Colonization of India comes into play. ) over the fact a couple pics of Isha got leaked to the press with her fixing motorcycles up and kissing on a boy. So she goes to this school in America with her plan to make Grey fall in love with her in order to make him pay about leaking those pics and messing up her little sisters “Reputation”. Even tho her sister can give two shits about it and would rather go into robotics and kiss boys. The kicker is that Grey haven been in that damn school since he was six and really is antisocial due to the fact Grey thinks that he only got to his 18th birthday to live due to the fact his dad was shitty enough to blame his mother’s death on him since she died in childbirth. So this poor dude thinks he’s cursed for his damn life and when the last ruby on Jaya’s Ruby Rose Necklace fall, he’s dead.
That’s pretty much it.
Also dumb secondary plot involving a love triangle that was stupid as hell that I may get into but I don’t know.
Let’s grade this on My BATB retelling Rubric. It worked when I did A Curse so Dark and Lonely. Lets see if it works here.
Here’s the things I look for.
1.The Curse- How does it work and how was it enacted? How can it be broken? Was their enchantress/ witch who did it?
2.The Beast- Is he(or she) really turns into a beast or still a human who acts like a beast which the may have some type of disfigurement?
3.The Beauty- Does she (or he) have special interest that maybe a possible thing for her and the beast can bond over? ( Ex Books, Music, Theater,Sports etc.)
4.Rose Imagery- To me Roses are always synonymous with BATB retellings.
5.Parent Figure- Does the Beauty have a parent ( most of the time it’s the father) who dotes on her (or him)? Was they the reason why the beauty meets the beast.
6.How the beauty and the beast meet? Was it because of a trade off or any other interesting way they find a way to meet?
7.A Cast of characters who get curse along with the beast. Did one or two befriend the beauty?
8.How the beauty and the beast fall in love? Was it hostile? Was there a misunderstandings they had to address that become the turning part of their relationship?
9.Does Stockholm Syndrome is at play?
Totally Bonus but it’s awesome if it’s in there:
1.Do they take certain plot points that are not in other adaptations but are true to the OG version? ( Beauty having sisters, Beauty actually being a princess and actually cousins to the Beast/Prince, The Beast/Prince being curse cause he refused to marry the Fairy that he looks up like a mother figure, The Beast/Prince Mom being a warrior queen.)
2.Ballroom Scene. Not in the OG BATB but such an iconic scene in the Disney version that most versions do.
3.Gaston Type Character- Is it a character that wants the Beauty?
Let’s see
1.The Curse – I’m so damn confused on this one because it not really explained. Ok The Ruby was cursed by Jaya’s Grandma because of the Emerson stole the ruby from them. So that’s makes sense but how the curse can be broken doesn’t make sense. Every Time Jaya and Grey had a interaction the Ruby fell out it’s shoket but it was never explained why. Was because a Rao and Emerson are getting along? Was it because ti shown that a Emerson was nothing like past Emerson’s? It doesn’t make any sense! You always have to make the curse be explained. I guess the GrandMa in the enchantress but it’s really no magic in play.
2.The Beast– Grey- He supposed to be cursed to die on his 18 birthday cause he father told him he’s the reason why he’s mom died. That’s pretty much it. He did nothing to be cursed. He was more antisocial than an ass.
3.The Beauty– Jaya- Honestly Jaya was to judgemental to be the beauty and too wrapped up about duty and reputation. I wanted to root for her but I wanted to tell her ” Shut the Fuck up!” and honestly rolled my eyes everytime she got on her high horse about Reputation and Duty.. I guess their love of books which kind of highlighted but not as much.
4.Rose Imagery- This was the ONLY thinking that was very clear and was done very well. The Rose Ruby Necklace Jaya was wearing and how it Ruby was falling symbolize a rose petal falling.
5. Parent Figure– I mean Jaya’s parents was there but they really didn’t have nothing to do her meeting the beast per se. It was no trade off. Just her and her sister going to the school to lay low over the scandal.
6. How to BATB meet? They met because Jaya wanted to go to his school to seek revenge by making him falling in love with her.. No trade offs.
7. Cast of Characters-You can say the Students of the School but that wasn’t cursed cause it’s really no magic in this. You have Leo,Rahul, Daphne Elizabeth aka D.E( A girl whose family neglected her who also was the side booty for Alric a dude going with Caterina, Who was honestly dumb as hell with the whole sistrauon) , Caterina ( who actually could have been the schools local mean girl if she was written better, Who wanted Jaya to tell her about D.E/ Alric even tho Jaya ad every right not to put herself in the middle of that mess since she really wasn’t friends with Caterina but was becoming friends with D.E) Alric ( An asshole who was bullying a kid in the begging than was cheating on Caterina with D.E which both chicks couldn’t take a hint and see was an asshole he was and was playing both of them.)
8. Felt forced. I guess the Aspen trip when he told her about the curse was the turning point in their relationship.
9. Nope
Bonus.
1. No.
2. Ballroom Scene . No. Was so close but they didn’t dance.
3. Kurian – A character who family was friends to Rao’s for a long time to the point that it was expected for him and Jaya to get married to form an alliance between the two families. Come to find out he’s the one who took the pics of Isha and leak them to press along with the Rumors of her being pregnant in order for Jaya to marry him to solidify his political power. Like I figure out in two seconds flat that he was the one that leak that pic about Isha to the press. Grey didn’t even fucking know about it since he was at that damn school since he was six. He had barely had contact with his father so he had no social contract with the outside world.
It was an OK read for me. I think this is supposed to be a series but I don’t think I’m going to read the other books in the series since the next to people supposed to be Catrina and Ruhal which I really wasn’t interested in them as characters to be invested enough to read book all about them. I think this is enough for me from reading from this author.
Tanya
Tanya's Reading Soapbox 