The official summary from the book:
“Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom – all because of a reckless bargain her father struck. And since birth, she has been training to kill him.
Betrayed by her family yet bound to obey, Nyx rails against her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, she abandons everything she’s ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, disarm him, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.
But Ignifex is not 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 un-willingly drawn to him. But even if she can bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him?”
Essentially Cruel Beauty is a remaking or Beauty and the Beast…. with a twist that I have never seen before. Instead of the beast being a man that was turned into a hideous monster until he can change his ways and find someone to love him, he is a man that gets turned into a wish granting demon. You better be careful what you wish for though because, as the people learn, there is always a price.
Nyx’s engagement to Ignifex is the result of one such wish gone wrong…. a wish that cost not one but two women their lives. She has never seen Ignifex before, not even at the wedding where the groom was a statue that represented Ignifex. She is incredibly unhappy about the fact that she has to marry this man but knows that she has to to save here sister and father, a fact that she was raised with.
After the wedding Nyx moves into Ignifex's castle where she meets him for the first time. When she finally sees him he is not what she expected. He learns quickly that she doesn't want to be there so he makes her a deal. If she can figure out his real name than she is free to go but she only has one chance and if she guesses wrong....well I'll let you read and find that out for yourself.
When I started this book I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about it. The concept sounded interesting so I thought I would give it a chance. It started out a little slow, to be perfectly honest, but I felt drawn to the characters, especially Ignifex, and that kept me interested enough to finish the book.
In the end the book turned out pretty good. There was a love triangle, which I am almost always a sucker for, which contained a bad boy type (my favorite) and what we think is a good boy type. In the end you learn a surprising connection between the two guys.
There is romance, mystery, suspense, and best of all a happy ending.
While I enjoyed the book and the new and different take on the classic Beauty and the Beast I don’t think I am going to read any more of the series, which is comprised of different fairytale remakes. The writing and the story were both good but not enough to inspire me and make me want to read the rest of the series.
Now it’s your turn…. read the book, if you dare, and let me know what you think.
Live a thousand lives with me!!!
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