Cruel Beauty

Cruel Beauty - Rosamund Hodge

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.

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THOUGHTS:

Hi Everybody,

It has been a while since I last did a review. I am really caught up with work and exams, so unfortunately I have not been updating my blog. In addition, I am trying to catch up on some HOT new YA books that have been coming out like hot cakes. Recently, I have finished reading Cruel Beauty. It is a new book written by Rosamund Hodge, which has some elements of Beauty of the Beast. However, if you are thinking that it is like the Disney version or like Beastly by Alex Pettyfer, which Hollywood made a movie out based on that book starring Vanessa Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer

I found this book really interesting and I enjoyed it a lot. At the beginning, I thought it would be very unoriginal where where the Beast and the Beauty meets, the Beautiful looked past the ugly and fell head over heels in love with him. It was actually different, and I was surprised.

Also, I really liked the choice of personality the author came up with. I appreciate how the main character not Belle but Astraia. Astraia brings out such a rich and organic life to the story. I think most of the time in books, the author tries to glamorize the character being only good or bad. Usually, the main female character is always the nice or understanding who does not have any grudge against anyone. We see here in this book the Princess Astraia is different from Disney Princesses. She thinks "cruelly" about people and has a bitter heart. She isn't pure as most people think princess are, which made me like her a lot. She comes across very realistic.

The moral story is not about getting past physical appearances, but to understand who the person is in the inside and learn to accept them for who they are. The beast who is regarded as a monster for killing people. All they see is a monster even Astraia, herself, but they don't know why he is killing.

The character Astraia reminded me of my favorite character, Celestine, in Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. I recommend you read this book and Throne of Glass, if you want another book that has similar characteristic.

RATE: 5/5

Graceling

Graceling - Kristin Cashore

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight - she's a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king's thug.

When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change.

She never expects to become Po's friend.

She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace - or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away...

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THOUGHTS:

I am shaking.... This was such a good book. I really liked the main character, Katsa. She has these cool strong powers that make her appear powerful, but on the inside she is insecure. I like how the author just layers these characters. It gives them more complexity. I also liked the character Po. I like how he grounds Katsa, and show that she is not the monster that everyone think she is. It is pretty much them against the world and it is glorious. This is what makes a great duo and a great couple.

The ending was so sad. I know the author was trying to make a good thing out of everything, but I felt so sad for the character. I will not spoil it for you, but it was so heartbreaking to know what the author did to the character. UGH! After everything, I think the book was exceptional. I read the excerpt for the other books in this series, and unfortunately I found out that it doesn't follow the same characters. I was really disappointed. Instead of following the amazing couple Katsa and Po, we will be reading about Bitterblue and other characters mentioned in Graceling. I won't be reading the other two books.... well may be.... at least for now, I decided that I will not read it.

If you would like to read the two other books in this series, they are called Fire and Bitterblue.

RATE: 5/5

WARNING: Contains Blood and Biology

As you all know, I do weekly personal posts about myself. Today, I would like to discuss what had happen to me two days ago. If you have not guessed, I am a girl. I have girly traits like my period. I feel weird posting about periods on the web, but I think that it should not be an embarrassing topic and people should learn not to be afraid to talk about it. Although I feel weird about it, this is a good way for me to overcome this. For audiences intended, I will be using this symbol < . > to express the word period.

Two days ago, I had my < . > It was really annoying to get it, because then I have to spend more time on hygienic needs than necessary. Point is that it is time consuming. Anyway, I was sitting in class and everything felt fine, until class ended did I feel something wrong. I had a feeling of something "rushing" down my body. It was a weird sensation, but I felt reassured by the fact that I had my pads to catch anything that was going down. However, my right butt cheek felt something oddly wet, and then I knew. I knew my pads were not strong enough. I bled through my pants.

IT WAS EMBARRASSING! I hope no one was looking, but once I had my premonition I tried to run out of the classroom as fast as I could. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't go home after that class. I had a ten minute interval to get to my last class of the day, so I have to endure another class of my < . > accident.

I made my way through the next building and put my bags in the classroom, before I went to the bathroom. Once I got there, I checked to see how "bad" the damage was. It was bad. I hoped the spot was not as noticeable, because I wore dark jeans that day but that didn't happen. My jeans are dark, but my < . > made an awkward region that was darker color than the rest of the jeans. I was mortified.

I devised a plan to take off my jacket and tied it around my waist. This way no one will suspect anything and it would not be humiliating to walk around with a conspicuous < . > spot. I sat through class and nothing happened. It was all good until the end of class. Likewise in the other class, once I stood up, I felt the same "rushing" feeling, and then I knew that I made the region a freaking continent. Mortified once more, I got my butt out of that classroom and tried to get home as soon as possible. Unfortunately, my walk home was miserable and cold, because I place my jacket on my waist and it is 19 °F, I suffered through the freezing air all the way home.

Another day of being me and it was a sad day. Do you guys have any embarrassing stories about yourself? It doesn't have to be < . > stories, but peeing in the pants or milk coming out of your nose or anything else. If you would like to share them, please leave it in the comment box below. If you felt uncomfortable learning this part about me than express that in the comments as well. If you want more of this than please say so, and I will be sure to share with you my embarrassing accidents.