Categories
Books

Review: Cruel Beauty

Cruel Beauty (Cruel Beauty Universe) by Rosamund Hodge

I give this book a solid 5.

LoveIt

I listened to the audio version of this book so that may have had an effect on the comments I make below.

I don’t usually make comments on the narrator because I try to focus on the story at hand, but I really enjoyed the reading of this story. The narrator gave a wonderful and engaging performance.

A dark twist on the Beauty and the Beast tale, Cruel Beauty tells the story of Nyx, a daughter raised as a sacrifice and tribute to the demon ruler of a world in captivity. Filled with hatred and contempt, but bound by duty and a sincere desire to do at least one noble thing in her life, Nyx sets out to destroy her would be husband and then die, with no hope for anything greater.

I know there will be no way for me to fully describe how much I truly enjoyed this story so I’ll just babble on a bit and then stop.  The first thing that I noticed about this story is that it was promoted to me as a YA/New Adult book. I haven’t had the best of luck with these kinds of titles. They are either too teen or too adult for my liking, but this book is what New Adult should be, though I’m sure some will argue for a little more steam and I’d  let them.

I describe this book as a dark twist to a fairy tale for two basic reasons. Traditional fairy tales aren’t that lighthearted, but recently people have forgotten what fairy tales once were, mostly due to the success of the Disney Corporation. Now, I’m not hating on Disney, but some of the things they’ve done to fairy tales is ridiculous.

  1. I want readers to understand that this is a dark story and not because of explicit violence and heavy gore. This story is dark because it touches on the truth of people’s nature and the sense of self-loathing, hatred, and disgust that could arise in any of us at any time given the right circumstances.
  2. This story is also dark because it challenges you to face the reality of choices you make every day and to see whether or not you are always as virtuous as you may think you are.

This book did something to me that not many books have. It made me look forward to reading and experiencing the romance that was taking place between the characters. I think I was pulled into this romance because it’s not at all what you’d expect it to be; especially after you learn that there are others involved you hadn’t expected to even be factors in the equation.

I loved the fact that I really hated Nyx’s family. I don’t use the word hate a lot and I am talking about a work of fiction, but even with all the twists that take place, I’m still not fond of her family, and I love it. This is one of those stories where none of the characters are truly worth rooting for when you get deep down to their souls and see the things they’ve done because they are all human and so beautifully flawed. Even with their lack of virtue, there is still a clear sense that all these lives are still worth saving, simply for the sake of living.

This author may become one of my faves. I’ll definitely have to see what else I can get my hands on from this author. At this point I’ve stopped trying to describe this book and want to say, just read it if you dare. It’s not for kids, and men may not cling to it, but if you are open to really trying something new and different, and have an appreciation for mythology, fairy tales, complicated romance, and or fantasy, then give this book a try.

This review has been posted to GoodReads. If you’d like to obtain a copy of this book, try this link.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Categories
Full Moon Tea & Conversation

Tea and Conversation 21: Italy

teaNtalk

Today I’m sharing a picture of “biscottea” by stephsus I posted on my tea pin board.

Please do not copy this image. Click image to share on Pinterest.

Today in my meditation I’m thinking about Full Moon and I’m writing about: Why Italy?

I have never been to Italy, but I’d love to visit one day. I have friends and family who’ve been, even my husband has been at least twice before we started dating. The main reason, however, that I write about Italy in It’s Like the Full Moon, is because of the movies that helped inspire the story. Two of the three movies that inspired the plot of It’s Like the Full Moon are connected to Italy in some capacity.

There are many places that are known for romance if you go at the right time. Paris, New York, Las Vegas, The British Isles, and more, but it seems the whole country of Italy is connected to romance. Of course, I’m exaggerating and embellishing a bit, but you get the idea. You don’t typically have to mention a specific city or town in Italy for people feel romantic at the mention of a trip there. Some places you go to for adventure, some places are for site seeing, and some places are for good food, but Italy is all that and more all wrapped up in romance…At least it is in my head.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords

Categories
Full Moon Tea & Conversation

Tea and Conversation 19: Love Triangles

teaNtalk

Today I’m sharing a picture a Rose Chintz Cottage tea cup I posted on my tea pin board.

Please do not copy this image. Click image to share on Pinterest.

Today in my meditation I’m thinking about Full Moon and I’m writing about: Why love triangles?

This is a question I often ask myself. Why did I write a love triangle? I hate love triangles. For the most part, they are filled with unnecessary drama and people behaving selfishly. I always figured that the person at the center of the triangle was just a mean person, probably, undeserving of the affections of the other two.

Then I got the idea to put myself in a scenario where I’d ever be caught up in that kind of situation, just to see if I could be compassionate about the predicament. I thought about three movies that I actually like that contain love triangles, to some degree, to use for inspiration. In the end, I decided that the characters of these movies were just as I had originally thought- selfish, but not so undeserving of affection. In truth we are all selfish to some degree.

So after considering all that, I decided to write a love triangle that made sense to me. I came up with characters and situations that seemed plausible to me while also being fairly entertaining. I don’t see many more love triangles in my future. This one has been more of a challenge than I ever imagined, but I’m glad I did it. It forced me to point my judgmental finger at myself and see that not all drama is bad and or superficial. While this is a work of fiction, people really do go through this kind of stuff. Just because it was easy for me to find the love of my life, it doesn’t mean that everyone else has to have the same story.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords