Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

“Where you go, I shall go; where you die, I shall die, and there will I be buried.”

Blurb:
"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.

Genre: Young-adult, fantasy, fairy tale retelling
Series: Cruel Beauty Universe 
Rating: 4.5 ☆s

Top Ten Tuesday #5

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's topic is your Top Ten Most Intimidating Book. I have to say this is a hard topic. Hmm..

1. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

2 Reasons. (1) It is one of the most hyped book of 2012 and (2) people start telling me how they end up bawling their eyes out.  I hate reading books with unhappy endings. Ironically enough, I read it and end up loving it.
2. Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Incest. *Awkward* Have yet to read it.
3. A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin 

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the tv show. I just never got around to reading the book, so I am kind of scared to now.  Fingers-crossed that it won't ruin my experience with the show.
4. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo 

Have you ever had reader's block with continuing a series? When I first read Shadow and Bones, I fell in love and was devastated to hear that the sequel won't be out until a while. However, now that it is out, I'm too occupied by my current read to even spare it a second glance. Now it's sitting on my tbr shelf collecting dust. (To be honest, I may have forgotten the storyline of the Shadow and Bone but hey it's been over a year!)
5. Stolen: A Letter To My Captor by Lucy Christopher 

Abduction, Thriller, and suspense. Oh my! I have been eying this one for a while but I heard it has a devasting ending. YIKES!
6. The Shining by Stephen King

This one takes the literal meaning of intimidating. If the book is anything like the movie...

This is an accurate representation of me. Stay classy Wendy Torrance.

7. Unwind by Neal Shusterman 

Oh My God. This book sounds so disturbing. I mean making people out of intestines...I'm wary of it but I am curious too. #Curiosity killed the cat. #But cats have 9 lives
8. The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

I know you shouldn't be comparing this book to HP. But come on, HP is legend. Am I expecting way too much?
9. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

Face it, this one is a no brainer. " Incest, castration, suicide, racism, misogyny  " Who had to tough this one down in english class?
10. Books with Negative Reviews
Be careful with what you say on the internet. A person's opinion can easily cloud my judgment. You can take an immensely popular book with millions of 5 stars ratings and make me turn 180 about my decision to read it with 1 persuasive, negative review.

Feel free to link me your TTT. 

June Favorites

Favorite Books of the Month 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Blurb:

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s groundbreaking novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau. 

The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

5☆s Probably one of my favorite books ever. Death is haunted by humans. 

2 in 1 Review: The Great Gatsby

“I was within and without. Simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible variety of life.” 

Genre: Classics
Series: N/a
Rating: 4 ☆s  My opinion is not relevant.