From Goodreads:
Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about ourSince 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.
deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.
I grew up loving Beauty and the Beast (yes the Disney version, but I realize the real version isn't like that) and Belle is my favorite princess. (I am a Disney girl through and through :) ) so I was really excited to read this take on the classic fairy tale. I wanted to love it. I wanted to like it even. But it was only okay for me.
It took me a while to get into Nyx. At the beginning I really couldn't have cared less about her. Over time, she grew on me. And the flip flopping between her love of Shade and Ignifex kind of got old. Although I do admit that I understood the flip-flopping at the end.
Let's talk about relationship between Ignifex and Nyx. It bugged me. She was raised to be tough and knowing that she was going to die for her country. But the minute she sees the Gentle Lord, she feels something for him. Really? I can understand attraction growing over time once you get to know this person you've been raised to hate but not what seemed to be pretty much instantly. (Although she instantly fell in love with Shade too so maybe she's just that type).
The last part of the book confused me. I think I get the general gist of the story but all the hows and whys escaped me.
I found myself trying to find similarities to the movie I love. I loved the mention of the rose garden under the dome. And the way dinner would magically appear. So it wasn't a horrible book by any means. It just didn't make me fall in love with it like I'd hoped it would.
I gave this book a rating of 3/5.
*FTC Disclosure: I was given this book for free for an honest review as part of the Around the World Tours.
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