Rosamund Hodge

Cruel Beauty

Betrothed to the demon who rules her country and trained all her life to kill him, seventeen-year-old Nyx Triskelion must now fulfill her destiny and move to the castle to be his wife.

Cruel beauty

Allyssa Fritz

"Water is born from the death of air, earth from the death of water, fire from the death of earth, air from the death of fire."

ploral

3.5 (0.5 just for the end)

Very rarely, do I find a book with an end that overshadows the whole book, this book is one of them, in a good day, which is rarer.

Monicap

Finished. In, like, four hours. What does that tell you?

I need more of Nyx and Ignifex!!! Please?

This book had great dialogue. Like, the dialogue was SO THE BEST. Also, the rest of the writing wasn't shabby either.

The characters! Like I said, I loved Nyx and Ignifex... and they were sorta the only two characters that we spent a considerable amount of time with. (Shade doesn't count... well, he does. (view spoiler)[he counts as Ignifex (hide spoiler)])

I just have one eensy little problem... if you have no idea what your name is, why do you tell people to call you Ignifex? That's just... why? It's names like Ignifex that keep most people from reading fantasy and scifi, and, moreover, the name has absolutely significance. If it had some sort of significance... if it was even in one of the books in the library I'd be mollified. But no. Nothing.

The world!!! I LIVE for world like this one... intricately thought out, with relevant history... and most of all, RULES. 
I Love worlds wherein the magic has rules that it MUST abide by, and then it does. So I was all for this. 

What else is Rosamund Hodge writing? I need it now.

This book really f*cks with your head but in a good way. I was so confused about what was going to happen that I couldn’t put it down. I found it very interesting, complex and with great world building. Right when you think you get what is happening, you realize you don’t really. If you love fantasy, romance and fairytales this is for you. I didn’t mind that it is a standalone because in the end it just all snaps into place and there is no need for another one. 

Danae

Madelen Ehlis

Miranda Danielson

** spoiler alert **
           I could not finish this book. I made it about 250 pages in and I have never not finished a book before. The characters actions were so random and made no sense, the strong female lead going form independent to desperate and back again. One moment Nyx is hating Ignifex and the next she loves him when NOTHING happened. The only applause I can give this book is the plot wasn’t terrible, but that’s because it is based off a beauty and the beast retelling. This book idea was fine but the execution was terrible.

Courtney

I enjoyed this as a retelling of Beauty and the Best and it was an interesting concept incorporating mythology, which I don't know how to really feel about, hence my 3 stars.

Colleen

I picked up this book because I loved the cover. It's a gorgeous cover; dumb title though. 

The book is described as being based on Beauty and the Beast. But it is much closer to Greek mythology than the classic fairytale. Even nearly all of the characters names are straight out of Greek mythology. I love mythology, so I was perfectly fine with this switch. I wish there were more creative retellings of mythology rather than so many regurgitation of the same fairytales. But I can see how a reader might be miffed or confused if they picked up this book expecting something more Disney. It's a creative blend of a couple different myths, so if you are a hard core Greek enthusiast you may be annoyed by that as well. It was a fun read though.

I'm still on the fence between 3.5 and 4 stars. There were some rough spots in the book, and the ending felt rushed. Still, I did read it entirely in one day. And for a debut novel, it was quite good. I'm definitely interested in reading other things by Hodge in the future. I'll also give it a bump for being a YA novel without a cheesy love triangle!

This review fulfills the "book based entirely on its cover" category of the Popsugar reading challenge. http://www.popsugar.com/love/Reading-...

Cristina Iglesias

I have absolutely no idea how this book managed to get such good reviews because I truly hated this book. I was close to marking it as DNF but I thought okay, just for the fun of it I'm going to finish it, maybe closer to the ending it gets better, and if not I'll be able to dislike it even more. 

Well the second one is exactly what happened. First I didn't connect at all to the characters, second, I did not understand half of the time the plot, third, what was this book??? The ghost?? The "monster"?? The love triangle?? The jump in time with lost memory??? Like??????? No, simply not. I'm not even gonna write a whole essay about this book because I don't wanna recall all the things I didn't get or disliked.

Not so perfectly written, but I was thoroughly entertained.

Arianna M

This book was recommended to me a couple days ago on twitter by Natalie, who told me right away this book wasn't the ~best book ever written!~ So I was prepared for a light read last night when I started this.
Honestly, this wasn't even an enjoyable light read. I've read better written fanfiction. The writing is utterly weak. Two pages into the book, a day has passed. Time jumps are inconsistent. The characters are paper-thin, the worldbuilding tries to be something but nothing is ever really explained, especially at the end, which seems to have been written in a rush.
(view spoiler)[Everything makes sense because of some things that Nyx saw, understood, then fainted and forgot, or she saw, understood, and did not explain to the audience. Which is probably a good thing because everything is an info dump in this book. But honestly, how is a reader supposed to accept that what happens happens for reasons that we're not even given? Or we're given in chunks and bits? (hide spoiler)]
E.G., this book is an info dump after another, with Nyx telling the audience how she feels in between. I never felt emotionally connected to her. For one, she never makes you feel how she feels, because she'd rather tell you. It's "I did this, I felt this" the whole way through, which is obviously bad writing and annoying as hell.
Another important reason I couldn't emotionally connect with the story is because the main character makes no sense at all. One moment she says she hates her family, she has poison in her heart!, the very next she feels so bad about hurting her sister. Nothing is ever seen in-depth; the narrator always stays very clear of introspection, in favour of exposition and info dumps.
The plot and the worldbuilding are frankly laughable — we're supposed to believe that Ignifex is so evil! He's so bad! [Really, really obvious spoiler under the cut] (view spoiler)[Then a single thing happens, obviously she feels attracted to him, and bam! He's actually just a victim. He's so mistaken. (hide spoiler)] But he's still so wicked. And she's so wicked. It's all just words, words, words. Nothing is seen in action, not truly.

Another thing: why the Greco-Roman pantheon (Not that the Roman pantheon makes an appearance)? Just like that? Why the liberal use of the word "Arcadia", which used to mean something? Why mix it up with "Anglia" and why are the anglican gods pagan?

Oh, and the title. Cruel Beauty. The book states clearly that she's not really a beauty, that's her sister! And cruel? She's not cruel. There's even a sentence in the book that says she actively doesn't want to be cruel. So what's the point of the title, except that it sounds cool?

Janice Hopper

This was a very annoying book to me. The author manages to mash up a bunch of different things:
- Beauty & the Beast
- Greek mythology
- Sidhe-like characters
- Tam Lin
- Rumplestiltskin or something like it

and I don't know what all else. This mishmash actually would work pretty well, if the protagonist wasn't so damned annoying, forever swooning into the arms of a character or two who is borderline abusive. DO NOT WANT. 

The world-building is pretty decent, but at its heart this is a Kissing Book (romance) & Kissing Books almost never work for me. 

I listened on audio & really wish I'd put the last third on fast-forward. So annoying.

Inês

Then I let go and forced a smile. “I wasn’t born to be saved.”


This book is amazing. I just couldn't stop reading. I finished the book so fast, that hurts.

Dee B. 

That ending was beautiful. In fact, the last few chapters redeemed this story for me. (view spoiler)[Seeing him saved, and both of them trying to heal, was worth all of the nothingness that happened in earlier chapters (hide spoiler)]

Varshh

Lost of confusion and logic hole in the end. A good pastime.Nothing more, nothing less.

Allison Garrett

A little trippy and kinda confusing but overall I liked it. I liked the way the author mixed the elements, the beauty and the beast aspect, and the Greek mythology as well. All of this was enjoyable but was a lot to follow and remember if you don't already know some Greek mythology and if you aren't paying close attention.

Bunnhi

Cruel/Wicked/Beautiful

Didn’t care for the family. Did a good job at making you side with one man over the other only to pull the rug out from under you. The ending had me spiraling to the finish just as they had fallen.

wildemononoke

Scarlett A.

3/⭐️
0,5/🌶

“Where you go, I shall go; where you die, I shall die, and there will I be buried.” 

◾️ Blend of Beauty and the Beast retelling and Greek mythology
◾️ Arranged marriage
◾️ Enemies to lovers
◾️ The romance was entertaining but at times it felt underwhelming and unconvincing. There is not much detail given about this world. 
◾️This book can be read as a stand alone. There are more books in the series, but these revolve around different characters. 
◾️ Heat level: there was definitely some tension between the characters, but no spice at all.

Shannon Arputharaj

Cruel Beauty took the bet parts of Entwined and the best parts of The Night Circus and created a world akin to Beauty and the Beast. The characters are relatable and realistic, while the whole book is so deep in fantasy. This book quickly became one of my favorites as it had me flipping pages in anticipation. Not only was the concept and plot intriguing, but the descriptions and pace were perfect, as well. If you want to enter into a world of dark magic and complicated love, read it.

Nicki

I wasn't as impressed as I wanted to be and in truth it kinda dragged in some parts and with that out of the way I will say that the world the author created was a magnificent one. I just wished I enjoyed it a bit more.

Hannah Williams

Really enjoyed this book it was a nice quick read! It is branded as a beauty and the beat retelling but certain aspects reminded me more of Rumplestiltskin. Loved it!

Marissa Killian

I really really really wanted to fall in love with this book. I kept going back and forth with 3 or 4 stars because part of me did love a lot of things about it but another part felt like some areas fell flat. I ended up going with 4 stars because even though it didn't live up to the love I wanted to have for it, I still really enjoyed reading it. I didn't put it down once and finished it shortly after starting it. *spoiler alert - don't read any farther if you do want it to be ruined!* I was just really upset she decided to listen to her obnoxious sister and betray him. I know, I know.... It ended up saving him and giving them their happily ever after BUT STILL! It annoyed me but that's just my personal opinion.

Sheila

Yeeeaaaahhh...the characters more or less ruined this book for me. Multiple counts of insta-love, bizarre decision-making, cardboard characterization, just to name a few things. The setting was weird too, like if a Greek city-state was separated & transported to an alternate reality, forward 900 years & somehow got like early 19th c. clothes & started making strangely European foods while maintaining faith in the ancient Greek pantheon?? Like IDEK at this point. I don't think I'm going to be picking up this author again.

Cruel Beauty

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