Beauty and the Besharam

Description: 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. 

  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. But as the competition heats up, so too does the romantic tension.

Review: Beauty and the Besharam is a delightful enemies to friends to lovers rom-com between two high achieving high school students. There is also a light fairy tale touch to the story in a gender swapped Beauty and the Beast.

  Indian American Kavya Joshi is aware that people in her orbit think that she's besharam. Besharam literally translates to shameless but it's also the umbrella term for being bossy, bold, rude, mouthy, and assertive among other things. Despite people's opinions, Kavya is proud of her devil may care attitude and refuses to change herself in order to fit into people's neat boxes, including the people she dates. And no one brings out her competitive spirit more than Ian Jun, her Korean American former friend–turned-rival, who not only excels with ease at everything, but infuriatingly looks great doing it. 

   The rivalry between Kavya and Ian is legendary, ranging from grades to club activities, and even the summer reading challenge at their public library. As junior year wraps up, their friends decide to settle the long-standing rivalry over the summer with three mystery challenges. Kavya is eager to win and be declared the undisputed victor, especially after Ian joins her in working as off-brand Disney character children’s entertainers. But as she spends more time with Ian, Kavya starts to wonder if she’s misjudged him all along. 

  Kavya is a fresh breath of air of a heroine and I really admire her for being assertive and not wanting to compromise who she is in order to be liked at such a young age. I would actually place her as the "Beast" in the fairy tale of the story. She can't actually see the beauty within herself and often times gets in her own way. I enjoyed watching her character grow throughout the book. 

  Ian is the definitely the "Beauty" in the story who sees the best in Kayva and admires her for being so confident in herself. Kayva actually pushes him to do better. I found Ian to be incredibly charming, considerate, sweet, and he genuinely likes Kayva for who she is. The chemistry between Ian and Kayva definitely sparkles and their witty banter made me smile and giggle out loud. 

  This is a smart rom-com in which there is an equal balance between discussing friendship, family relationships, and romance. There is some discussion of mental health and grief, as Ian deals with anxiety and the loss of his sister. There is great diversity in the ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation among the secondary characters who also get lots of page time.

 Beauty and the Besharam is an adorable rom-com perfect for fans of Netflix's Never Have I Ever and a joyful reminder to be true to yourself. 

Rating: 4 stars

Words of Caution: There is some strong language, scene of underage drinking, and an allusion to behind doors hookup. Recommended for Grades 9 and up.

If you like this book try: Today, Tonight,Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon, If I'm Being Honest by Emily and Austen Wibberley, When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon