Book Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

 Cruel Beauty
Author: Rosamund Hodge
Pages: 352
Buying links: Amazon/ B&N/ TBD
Source: eARC provided by publisher
Summary:

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.

*A huge thank you to Harper and Edelweiss for the eARC of this book*

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge is an intriguing and dark read. Fans of re-telling will love this one.
Hodge mixed perfectly the story of Belle and the Beast with Greek mythology.
The author created an amazing world, full of suspense, magic and dark elements.

Since the first page this book got me trapped. The world building was fantastic, and with Hodge’s gorgeous writing and phenomenal characters there wasn’t a second where I stopped reading.
What I loved more about this book is the fact that Nyx wasn’t the typical good girl. She was angry, she hated, and she wasn’t looking for the right things to do. She was just a girl with no choice… a strong and brave one, I have to say.

"If one of us had to die, it ought to be the one with poison in her heart."

In the other hand, Ignifex wasn't what I was expecting at all, he was mysterious and gorgeously described. Every time he made an appearance I ended up with a huge smile on my lips. He was an incredible Beast, it was impossible not to like him.

"That's what makes you my favorite." He reached up and wiped a tear off my cheek with his thumb. 
"Every wicked bit of you.”

Cruel beauty is unique in its way because the author managed perfectly the way to put all the mythical factors in a love story about Belle and the Beast.

The romance was a very important part in this book, but not the main topic. Although the “love triangle” bothered me at times, it just ended perfectly. It also felt like insta-love, but somehow Hodge developed it in the right way.
But definitely, what made of Cruel Beauty an unforgettable story is the writing. The descriptions were so detailed and well created that I didn’t have a problem picturing all the things in my head.
The world-building and the magical scenarios were breathtaking.
I’m not a huge fan of high fantasy but this one leaves me begging for more.
Cruel Beauty is a wonderful debut, a must read. I’ll an eye on Hodge new projects.