I love twisted fairy tale retellings, and “Cruel Beauty” definitely hits the mark for me. This is more than a retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” though. It is a story on its own, with hints of a familiar tale yet completely new. There's a really weird love triangle in here. Our heroine insta-loves not just one guy, but two simultaneously. With guy #1, Nyx kisses him within a few minutes of meeting him. With guy #2, Nyx cycles between fearing him, slapping him, shouting at him, and kissing him. Any time he says something she doesn't like, she slaps him. That seems to be her preferred way of handling disagreements.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge | Goodreads

The mythology aspect was pretty cool. I’ll admit that. I enjoyed that more than the characters, the nonexistent plot, and the weird as hell ending. Cruel Beauty (2014) is a Young Adult novel by Rosamund Hodge, and a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, blending the traditional fairytale with classical mythology.I knew it was insane to be happy, to feel this desperate exultation at his words. But I felt like I had been waiting all my life to hear them. I had been waiting, all my life, for someone undeceived to love me. And now he did, and it felt like walking into the dazzling sunlight of the Heart of Earth. The second book that Rosamund Hodge has written is called Gilded Ashes, and it is a classic reimagining of the classic Cinderella fairy tale, and it is set in the same world as her debut novel, Cruel Beauty. The book tells us the story of an orphan called Maia who doesn’t think that love is important because it only leads to pain. When her mother was on her deathbed, she bargained with an evil and all-powerful ruler that if anyone hurt her daughter, they should suffer punishment. When Maia’s father passed away, her stepmother was inconsolable while her stepsisters desperately sought the approval of their mother who always dismissed them. Sibling Yin-Yang: Nyx is regal, resentful and sardonically sarcastic. Astraia is described as pretty, naive and very sociable.

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge | Goodreads Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge | Goodreads

Nyx has spunk, she has fire. Instead of cowering to Ignifex, she turns against him, surprising him and herself...and earns his respect in the process. She hates Ignifex, but Nyx is not a person of absolute cruelty. Despite herself, she is a gentle person, she wants to be more than that girl with hatred in her heart. Despite knowing Ignifex is evil, she finds that she is unable to ignore someone when they are in pain. She is better than that. She wants to be better than that. But I was a girl who had broken her sister’s heart and—for a moment—liked it. I had left somebody in torment and liked it. Shade has been Ignifex's servant, and in fact one of the halves of the last prince - Marcus Valerius Lux - with all the malice and hatred removed. Eventually he reunited with Ignifex and regains his body. While I wasn't a big fan of the love-triangle, I kinda got it. That's all I can say without saying any spoiler. Betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom, Nyx has always known that her fate was to marry him, kill him, and free her people from his tyranny. But on her seventeenth birthday when she moves into his castle high on the kingdom’s mountaintop, nothing is what she expected—particularly her charming and beguiling new husband. Nyx knows she must save her homeland at all costs, yet she can’t resist the pull of her sworn enemy—who’s gotten in her way by stealing her heart.” Okay okay, lastly, let me just add that the first scene with Nyx and the Gentle Lord made me burst out laughing, and I don't mean that fake laughter where someone says they're laughing and they're not. I mean I was actually laughing and crying at 3 in the morning - holding this book to my chest because I knew I was going to freaking love it.

Did we miss something on diversity?

From the first chapter, I loved Nyx. She is probably one of my favorite characters now. Her fearless attitude, snarky comments, and random moments of punching someone in the face had me laughing nearly every chapter. Not only that, but she had very real thoughts of hatred and annoyance towards her family that were refreshing to read (they were not nice people). Overall, she was just a believable character since not everyone is so "pure-hearted" in life, and I'm getting really tired of all the goody-goody main characters I come across all the freaking time. I really enjoyed reading from a dark POV. It was intense, to say the least. 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. So, this girl, Nxy, is supposed to save her kingdom by being wedded to the Gentle Lord. She and her father devised a plan to kill him to free their land yada yada. Now when this kid gets there, she’s all defiant but it takes less than four dinners for her to realize she’s actually in love with the beast There are creepy demon shades roaming around in the book along with some other weirdness. Nyx gives her all to save Ignifex and in the end it all pays off.