Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine where we spotlight upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating.
This week's pick:
Expected Publication Date: January 28th, 2014
Publisher: Balzer & Bray
Genre: Retellings, Romance, YA
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.
My Thoughts
When it comes to fairy-tale retellings, the word obsessed doesn't even cut it. I love finding the connections between the original story and the new one. And it has to do with Beauty and the Beast. That was literally one of my favorite Disney movies as a kid; I think I watched that VHS tape until it wore itself out! Just two more weeks, and I'll finally have a copy :D
Can't wait!
Renée
