Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

First things first: cover art! 

Ah! I love this cover art, I love the spiral staircase and rose combination. I think it's cool when the main character is in the cover art but not the main focal point so it allows us, the readers, to really look at the beauty that is the focal point. The endless spiral of the staircase combined with the rose petals is just simply stunning. Whoever did this cover art: good job! It has seriously become my favorite! 

*******

Summary:

"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."

*******

My Review:

I love anything that takes a fairy tale and turns it into something unique and new. I don't see a lot of Beauty and the Beast books out there so when I found this one I was really, really excited! The cover art is really the thing that made me put this book on hold at the library in the first place. The characters in this book were AMAZING! Oh my goodness, Nyx I think is one of my favorites of all time. The poor girl really just needs a hug.

Basically Nyx has a twin, and her twin was basically the one who was chosen to live while Nyx was chosen to basically be sacrificed to save her people. The poor girl has basically grown up resenting her family while trying to love them at the same time. I as a reader felt extremely bad for her from the very begging. She is trying so hard to define who she is and what the world around her is like in the limited scope of sight that she has been given since the life as she knows it pretty much has an expiration date. She wasn't born to be saved, she was born to save everyone else and most likely die in the process. Any other heroine in books like this pretty much just gives up, becomes a mindless human being and a dull character. *cough* Bella Swan *cough*. 

However Nyx is a fighter, she's resigned herself to the things she can't exactly control but everything else? She's not exactly going down without a fight. The love story in this book is one of my favorites. Beauty and the Beast is usually criticized for the fact that some people see it as Stockholm's syndrome. However this book, Nyx finally has someone who loves her. She doesn't want to like him, she was sent there to kill him. She has to make some really hard decisions and I sympathized with her through ever single page. The relationship between Nyx and Ignifex is extremely complex, but as a couple I love them, a lot! He's extremely willing to give Nyx her space, this Demon Lord is in love with her from the beginning however it takes Nyx a while to come around.  

This pretty much explains her relationship with Ignifex, she doesn't want to care she knows she shouldn't care but yet she wants to be his so badly. This book was gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. The ending was kinda weird, and not at all like I expected. But after re-reading some things it made perfect sense! Ignifex as a character is complex and rich, he's written as the bad guy is supposed to be the bad guy but you can't hate him. You really can't, he is trapped just as much as Nyx is and his love for her draws him to seek how to fix his predicament. I really really really loved this book. Nyx... I haven't laughed and cried and loved a character so much since Puck (main character in Maggie Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races.) You will fall in love with this book and the characters just as much as I did. 

Rating: 10 out of 10! Ending was a little weird but the story lines and characters make up for it! 

Content Rating: 3 (16-18). There is some teen romance and a few suggestive comments. As well as some violence.