Mini Review: Cruel Beauty

Book: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
Publication Date: January 28, 2014
Series: None
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars







Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.
Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.
With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.
But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.
As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

Actual rating 3.5

Let me start off by saying this was an enjoyable read, but I didn't love it. The writing was so beautiful. I was captivated immensely by its wonderful prose. Yet even with its lovely writing, it also had its flaws.
First, it dragged tremendously through out the book. I was waiting more and more for something to happen but nothing happened! Secondly, there was way too much info dumping that it left my head spinning. The author wrote so much folklore and difficult names, such that it became a little difficult to remember the significance of a certain name or story. Third, was the main character Nyx. I both liked her and was frustrated with her character because of the way she acted in the book. One minute she's thinking about avenging her loved ones by killing the bad man, her husband Ignifex. Then next she's fawning all over him! Don't get me wrong they had good chemistry, Nyx just left me frustrated because she wouldn't make up her damn mind what she wanted. Aside from that, once she came to the realization that she did love Ignifex, the relationship flowed smoothly. I really like their relationship because they accepted each other for who they were, flaws and all. They knew that they both weren't innocent people, so it allowed them to open up and try to become better person's to one another. Lastly, the ending of the book was a good ending to the story, yet I was left confused. I'm not sure how I feel about it, but I feel little underwhelmed by it.
Overall this was a good book, just not sure if I would recommend it. I believe this is a standalone so at least this would be a quick read. It is said that this is a beauty and the beast retelling, but I wouldn't consider it really. There were hardly any similarities that was like the fairy tale. This was a beautiful story though and I liked it despite its shortcomings with me.