Guest Book Review with Skye: Cruel Beauty

I am very excited to tell you that Skye is going to guest review for us! I encourage you to visit her blog Ink Castles. She's pretty cool.

Cruel Beauty

5 stars

I am trying very hard to order my thoughts on this book, but I'm finding it increasingly hard. First off, even though this book is Y.A, I found it a bit more on the mature side. I would recommend it to sixteen and up because I'm iffy on some of the content.

It's a Beauty and Beast retelling that is cleverly entangled with some Greek mythology.

This  story starts with Nyx a seventeen year old girl on the eve of her wedding day, when she is to be given to the Gentle Lord as his bride. Her father made a deal before she was born and that was the price.

 

He is technically a demon, so Nyx has always thought of this day as the day she dies. I was kind of concerned at this point. Because there is a lot of fuss about what is expected  of her, and her aunt even goes so far as to  give her tips on her wifely duties, which wasn't anything to explicit but made me and Nyx uncomfortable. 

 

Not to worry though, when her betrothed finally makes an appearance he is less than interested in ravishing her, and  seems to have a rather uncaring attitude towards her. It leads to an awkward exchange, with Nyx trying to use her womanly wiles in an assassination attempt. It was both humorous and  I repeat awkward

The  thing I love about Nyx  is unlike most self sacrificing heroines she, silently despises this burden her father has placed on her shoulders, and she starts to hate her sister who she is dying for. She is a seething ball of fury for most of the book and I found it a welcome change to the damsel in distress routine. 

Her husband, Ignifex, even remarks that  she might even deserve to be his wife.  Coming from a presumably soulless demon, you can imagine just how cross she is. I found that amusing, between her frequent vows and attempts to kill Ignifex, I found myself liking her tenacity and dedication.

For the first bit of the book, we are told how frightening and evil Ignifex is, and then you meet him  and he is a sassy, black haired hellion. I couldn't not love him, I mean he is horrible a bundle of sarcastic quips and innuendo. He also has had eight previous wives, who each have met horrible ends. Yet, all he asks of Nyx every night is if she wants to guess his name.

Nyx refuses and spends her nights investigating the ever-changing castle they reside in looking for clues that will lead to his undoing and her freedom.

Things I love

1. Ignifex, I'm not sorry.  I still have no clue how to pronounce his name.

2. The world and settings, Rosamund has a knack for drawing such a vivid picture that you can't help but get lost in it.

3. The aspects of Beauty and the Beast, and how they were unique.

4.The Banter, nothing beats good dialogue. Nyx and Ignifex have great chemistry.

5. The lack of anything graphic, the author could've made the story far more mature, but settled for the less is more mentality that I vastly appreciated.

Things I  didn't particularly like

1. Nyx went back and forth from conservative to essentially throwing herself at people.

2. There was quite a bit of kissing and sexual tension, though kudos to the author for leaving it generally at 'and they kissed'. Eventually Ignifex and Nyx fall in love and make their marriage official, but  it's a very brief paragraph and it cuts at the right moment. ( They were also married so it didn't feel wrong)

3. Nyx's sister, who's name escapes me, has quite a personality switch, which didn't seem natural.

Conclusion

I really loved this story, despite a few misgivings. I would recommend it for anyone who is a fan of fairy tale retellings.

Skye Hoffert is twenty- one year old writer, dreamer, and Lord of the Rings enthusiast. You can find her @ Ink Castles, most likely talking with her sassy characters. (I happen to think her characters are fantastic; meaning: go read her blog!) She also has an instagram.

Thank you so much Skye! I'll definitely be checking this one out. 

Have you read Cruel Beauty? Do you like B&B retellings? Oh, and have you ever heard of Cupid and Pysche?