Cruel Beauty sadly did not live up to the hype for me. Maybe it was a book case of its not me, its you, but something just did not click.

Cruel Beauty is supposed to be a Beauty and the Beast retelling, however, I did not really get the Beauty and the Beast vibe beyond a young girl being trapped in the house of a demon. The story itself is quite inventive as it draws demons, fairy-tales and Greek mythology to craft a world that is ruled by the demon of bargains, Ignifex. Nyx, the heroine of our tale is bargained away by her father to marry Ignifex. Nyx's mission with her marriage is to destroy Ignifex and save the world from his bargains.

Despite saying the world-building was quite inventive as it draws together, demons, fairy-tales and Greek mythology I found that it still fell a bit flat. The main story is set around the house that Ignifex occupies as it is a magical house. This felt like a very loose reference to the Beauty and the Beast retelling, as the Beast lives in an enchanted castle. Ignifex's house is full of locked doors, shades and shadows that want to eat you alive, dangers and the four hermetic hearts: earth, air, fire and water. Behind each door is an unknown mystery or danger and this was a fun concept. However, I wasn't immersed in the world like I hoped to be.

The most disappointing of all were the characters and the romance. Ignifex, Demon of Bargains was not as wicked or even as interesting as I may have liked. His counterpart Shade was even more lame as he could barely speak,

dragged Nyx to her near-death to help her understand

and just generally hovered around not doing a lot. This is why, I couldn't really fathom the romance that blossomed between Nyx and her captor. There seemed to be absolutely no ground for their relationship and she went from a mission of hating and wanting to kill him, to suddenly loving him. It all felt conveniently resolved with no real direction. For me, this was the biggest disappointment as Beauty and Beast (at least the Disney version) is all about the magic of the romance as the Beast comes to love Belle and he has redemption through this love. There didn't feel like a natural building of the relationship between Nyx and Ignifex, which is why this was a massive disappointment. I also didn't really feel like Ignifex gained real redemption by the end of the book.

Nyx herself was an okay heroine, and she seemed determined and spunky. However, again she wasn't very memorable and her relationships and characterisation felt off. Her relationship with her sister was the most confusing of all; her sister Astraia I didn't really like. She was a very weak character who was seemingly ignorant and happy-go-lucky before her sister was married off. Then suddenly she becomes obsessed with ending Ignifex and full of hatred and cruelty. It just didn't feel very realistic and natural.

The overall twist to the story at the end redeemed the story for me a little bit and made it feel more worthwhile investing the time to read. The book is fairly short and it was free through Kindle Unlimited, so I wasn't too put out by the fact that I didn't enjoy this one. After this though, I don't think I'll be in any rush to pick up another Rosamund Hodge book.