“Waiting on Wednesday” is a weekly event hosted by Jill at the Breaking The Spine. It showcases upcoming releases we’re anticipating!
My pick of the week is:
Cruel Beauty
by Rosamund Hodge
Coming: 8 January 2014
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Summary:
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.
A Beauty and the Beast retelling? I’m IN! I love the story of Beauty and the Beast. I love the movie, I love the Broadway production. I love it all. Greek mythology?! Have you seen how much I’m in love with Brodi Ashton’s Everneath series? I’m a total Greek mythology nerd. I have an Artemis statue on my office desk straight from Delphi, Greece, I bought in 2007. I am totally excited about this incredible looking book! I’m thankful to HarperCollins and Balzer + Bray for granting me permission to read an ARC.
Why I need you to be excited:
Retellings are the hot thing right now. Fairy tale PLUS Greek mythology? Let’s do this! Get pumped up! Look at the cover! It’s beautiful! I am so excited to read Rosamund’s debut novel! Show her some love!
The Whimsical Mama 
Beauty and the Beast’s one of my favourite fairy tale retellings, so yes, definitely looking forward to this one! I think I remember reading there are aspects of the Bluebeard fairy tale in this one as well? Anyway, hope it lives up to the awesome description and cover!
Thanks for stopping by! Hmm. I haven’t heard any Bluebeard mentioned. Maybe so! (: I love Beauty and the Beast so ridiculously much. I can’t wait to read it! Hope it lives up to our expectations!