Book Review - Cruel Beauty

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge 
Series: Cruel Beauty Universe
Published January 28th 2014 by Balzer + Bray
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Romance, Young Adult 
Pages: 342
Source: Bought
Rating: 2 of 5 stars
Review by Shon

Synopsis

Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl's journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.

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.

My Review: 
Cruel Beauty was not what I expected it to be.

The book was supposed to be a retelling of Beauty and the Beast but it was hard to get into the story.

The characters were nothing special.

Spoiler alert! I'm not sure you can call it a love triangle when two of the people in the triangle are the same person. I suppose that was the big shocker at the end of the book, however, by the way the book was written, I figured that out right from the beginning of the story. No surprise there.

And speaking of the writing, in my opinion, the book wasn't really well written. 

The best part about this book was its cover. I love the beautiful cover art for this book; it was what drew me into wanting to read this book in the first place. Two thumbs up to the artist(s) that designed this cover.

I don't think I'm going to continue with the series even though the second book is a different story with different characters but set in the same world universe. I'm gonna have to take a pass. I highly do not recommend this book.