Hi besties !!!
Today I am extremely happy to post my review of Beauty and the Besharam + author interview with Lillie Vale as part of the #BeautyandtheBesharamTour organised by the wonderful team @coloredpagestours!! This post is one of the most fun things I have done on my blog so I’m excited !!! Be sure to stick around as there is a fun GIVEAWAY at the end!! Let’s begin.
click on the banner to view the entire tour schedule!
Beauty and the Besharam by Lillie Vale
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.
RATING
Thank you to PenguinTeen and Colored Pages Tours for providing me an ARC for participating in the tour, and in exchange for an honest review!
Beauty and the Besharam is definitely one of my most beloved books now! It got me out of the intense reading slump I was in, not to mention how amazing the book itself is!
Kavya Joshi is what some would call “besharam”— brash, shameless?, isn’t afraid to speak her mind, ambitious, and so much more. But her so called “besharamness” is what made her stand out as a character I started to love. Kavya’s obsession with books, Sailor Moon, and her need to win at all times energy reminded me of myself? I guess? And that was amazing to read about!
I also loved the dynamics in this book. Kavya and her sister’s relationship grew throughout the book and it was so endearing to read about! Even her relationship with her parents was a nice aspect! I love ALL the Moon Girls and their shenanigans! And finally let’s not forget Ian!!!
Ian and Kavya’s dynamic was soo cute!! They had been rivals for years and because of that the romantic tension between them was impeccable. There relationship was really well developed and not at all rushed, honestly it was one of my favourite aspects of the book.
Kavya Joshi know what she wants and what her worth is, and that is why I believe she is one of the finest characters I have read about, and if you want to read this super cute and fun book please order it if you can!! I highly recommend it!!
Is this book for you?
PERFECT FOR: Readers who love contemporary romance, a well developed set of characters, sunshine x grumpy dynamic.
THINK TWICE IF: You do not enjoy contemporary or books with many characters.
GENRE: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance.
TRIGGER WARNINGS: 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.)
Goodreads | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Amazon
Interview with Lillie Vale
Hello Lillie! Thank you so much for joining me over here on Misty Realms. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your writing journey till now?
Hi Kashvi! So, as you know, I’m Lillie! I write both Adult and YA, and Beauty and the Besharam is my third published novel. While my published books so far have all been realistic, my first loves were fantasy and thrillers! Fingers crossed that one day soon, I get to flex with some spooky stuff!
I conjured up so many small little stories when I was a child, and that evolved into writing fanfic and text-based roleplaying, and from there the next step was writing novels. My journey has been a lifetime of learning, and each step brought me closer to being a published author.
Pitch your YA novel, Beauty and the Besharam in a short sentence!
Rivals-to-lovers modern fairytale with a grumpy girl and a sunshine boy who must work in complete sync at their summer jobs but go head-to-head to prove themselves #1 during a series of friend-devised summer challenges.
What made you choose Beauty and the Beast as inspiration for this book? How was the overall experience/writing process?
I’ve always wanted to write a story inspired by Beauty and the Beast, but one where their personalities and growth-arcs were swapped, so the girl became the grumpy one and the boy was the sunshine one—and the grumpy/sunshine and rivals-to-lovers tropes were both ones I wanted to write, and they came together so well in creating Beauty and the Besharam!
Kavya seems like a fantastic character, some may call her “unlikable”, but I for one love “unlikable characters”. Can you tell us a little bit more about her? What she likes, what is her personality like, favourite song, food, etc?
Kavs is into Sailor Moon, Disney, Pokémon, Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X, Taylor Swift, Schitt’s Creek, and, of course, reading! She loves romance books, but as she starts falling for Ian she nopes right out because the emotions taunt her and at this point she’s still a little averse to acknowledging what she feels.
She’s also ambitious, driven, outspoken, observant, and tenacious. And a little proud and prickly, too! But underneath, she has quite a soft heart that she fiercely protects. Ian is the
first guy to see beyond the “beastly,” thorny, besharam traits and appreciate every part of her personality.
Kavs loves her dad’s bhelpuri, bulgogi burgers, and cherry-flavored everything, but especially Jolly Ranchers!
What would each character’s (main & secondary) favourite book be?
Now that Kavya’s brave enough to acknowledge her feelings, she’s definitely devouring romance again, and lots of other genres, too! She refuses to pick a favorite, but she could probably give you her top 100!
Ian, to no one’s surprise, is currently rereading the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series and making his way through the fantastic fantasy books in the Rick Riordan Presents imprint. He’s also a huge Aiden Thomas fan and has gifted all his friends copies of Cemetery Boys!
Ian, to no one’s surprise, is currently rereading the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series and making his way through the fantastic fantasy books in the Rick Riordan Presents imprint. He’s also a huge Aiden Thomas fan and has gifted all his friends copies of Cemetery Boys!
What is one dish that reminds you of ‘home’?
My mom is an adventurous home cook, so I grew up eating a lot of different things! The foods I most associate with home is probably beef stew, Tom Yum ramen, and Goan shrimp curry.
How would you describe the dynamic between Kavya and Ian?
Cutely combative 😉
That was it!! Thank you so much for your time Lillie, it was so lovely having you over on my blog! Is there anything you would like to add?
Thank you for having me!
GIVEAWAY!!
We’re teaming up with ColoredPages and PenguinTeen to give away 5 (FIVE) finished copies of Beauty and the Besharam by Lillie Vale! Follow the link in the bio to enter this US ONLY giveaway! You must be 18 years or older, or have parental permission to share your address if you win.”
ENTER BELOW!
a Rafflecopter giveawayLink for the giveaway (in case embed is not working): http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/c5f831b92/
About Lillie!
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.
If you enjoyed reading this post and wish to support the blog, please consider checking out my WISHLIST ! You’ll be helping me read and feature more books 🤍
Thank you so much for reading, and again— a big thank you to Lillie for joining me for an interview !!!
Leave a Reply