By Rosamund Hodge
Cruel Beauty is an adaptation of Beauty and the Beast with some Greek Mythology thrown in. Our main character, Nyx, since birth, has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom, because of a bargain struck by her father. Also since birth Nyx has been training to kill her future husband, Igniflex. On her seventeenth birthday, Nyx has to leave her home to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. She has to not seduce this awful man as well she must destroy the enchanted castle to break a 900 year old curse, this will help set her people free. But it turns out that Ignifex is quite charming and sort of wins over Nyx. She starts falling for him.
note: this one takes a bit to get into as the author Hodge is creating a whole new world for the reader to become immersed in.
I liked the way that even though this is a fantasy the main character Nyx reacts very realistically, she is not perfect and not always likable but she is very real.