Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Publisher: Balzer + Bray    
Publication date: January 28th 2014
My rating: 4 stars

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.

Cruel Beauty has been on my wishlist since the moment I read the blurb.  You see, I wad one of those kids who had a ton of Beauty and the Beast coloring books, stickers and wore Belle pajamas, so and when my friend Glass offered me a chance to read the ARC with her I just couldn`t pass the opportunity. Gosh! And look at that beautiful cover. 

The first thing you need to know about this book is that Rosemund Hodge created her own spin on BatB with weaving a breathtaking fairytale with a splash of Greek mythology thrown in there. This alone should be enough to capture your attention. 

Nyx's father has been training her to marry and one day kill a powerful immortal Ignifex who's been striking bargains with mortals for ages. In one of these bargains Nyx's mother died after delivering Nyx and her twin sister into this world. Nyx doesn't have a great relationship with her father because he never cared for her like other fathers do. She's glad to be rid of him even though she's forced to live with a demon until one of them died. She is convinced Ignifex is a devil with the angel's body ans she will do whatever it takes to destroy him. But what if there's something more to this story? What if Ignifex in fact isn't the bad guy?

The best thing about this book is the colorful description of the castle. The never ending staircase leading to Nyx's room, dark bedrooms, the dining hall, the ball room which lights up with water at night, the garden and that field. Just beautiful. Oh I don't think I've ever been in love with the portrayal of a house/castle so much I wanted to move there, but only if Ignifex would be kind enough to proviide me with a wifi connection. 

I would recommend it to readers who enjoy exploring fairytales with a mythology variation. Don't miss this incredible debut novel! 

This is the first book I read in our little club. I'll share the link for Glass' review once she posts it. 

Balkan Girls Reading: Introduction

I've been having buddy reads with these girls for at least 2 years. We met on Goodreads and we've been inseparable ever since so we decided to create Balkan Girls Reading or BGR. I'm really excited to start this  project.

We will be posting reviews on Thursdays, whenever we have a buddy read scheduled. We already created a GR shelf with the book we plan to read together so we're set at least until December. HERE is mine so you can see which books we will be reviewing in the future. Most of the time all four of us won't be reading the same book collectively but it may happen from time to time.

Hi, I'm Zemira from Bosnia. I'm a crazed fan of YA contemporary novels and adult urban fantasies with kick-ass heroines and heroes who make us swoon. Other things I enjoy are tumblr, Toblerone, Warner, rainbows and Tom Hiddleston. Not necessary in that order.

Glass likes to talk in third person about herself, so here it goes. The most simple way to describe her? Book addict. Chocolate addict. She doesn't really like real life teenagers but enjoys reading about them. Big fan of taboo and kink in her books. Glass absolutely hate when people touch her Kindle or her mobile phone or her laptop. Glass adores Goodreads and Twitter, doesn't have Facebook profile. The end.

Hello. My name is Tanja and I'm from Bosnia as well. I'm a student but we could say that book-worm is my primary profession. I love all books with good story and great characters but I mostly tend to enjoy fantasy novels. My better half is Aiden St. Delphi. 

Ohhaii, I'm Anatea and I'm from Croatia. Something else about me: I am an AIESECer, a Financial Management student and a bookworm. I enjoy reading YA novels with a bad boy, I love chocolate and I love hanging out with my friends. And the thing I enjoy most is traveling.

You can check their blogs:

Glass & Tanja @ I'm a Reader, How About You? 

Anatea @ Anatea's Bookshelf