$1.99 today on kindle 9-15-2016When I first started the book I was disappointed and thought I would not like it because it seemed to drag for me. It took a few chapters for me to get interested, pretty much when Nyx got to her wonderful husband's home, the evil Ignifex. She is supposed to be killed by her husband at some point in time, how is that for a honeymoon! But, and there is always a but, Ignifex is not what he seems. Yes, he has the corpses of his eight other brides in a dungeon all laid out, but I digress. He seems to be under some kind of evil spell and he's not like I said what he seems to be. I love the hell out of Nyx snarky attitude, she is great and doesn't take any lip from Ignifex, which he finds divine and doesn't seem to want to kill her. They have this wonderful banter together, he kisses her, she threatens his life, that kind of stuff :) I do not know why, BUT, I didn't like her sister Astraia at all. Why? I don't know, I just said that, she just rubbed me the wrong way throughout the book. She can suck it and go on down the road. So, Nyx has to find out all of these clues to try to save her world. I'm not going to go into all of that, you can read the book, or read another review. :) She is finding... that she wants to save Ignifex because she knows he's really good inside. How does she know? She just does! There are creepy demon shades roaming around in the book along with some other weirdness. Nyx gives her all to save Ignifex and in the end it all pays off. Fin MY BLOG: Melissa Martin's Reading List

"You are losing your ability to terrify me."--NyxI have never been so frustrated in my life. I started this book in exams for this ending?!! I really want to hit myself on the wall so hard to get unconscious. Because I don't want to think about this ending. Yesterday was my last exam. Now I am free from exams for a month. But I am not feeling that this book really deserved my interest during my exams. Don't know what got in my mind so badly to start it then. THINGS I DIDN'T LIKE=> What the hell was that ending?! It could have been sooo much better. In trying to make the unique ending, the book spoiled it. I didn't like it. 3rd last chapter was the end for me. Last 2 chapters were the HUGE disaster for me.=> Beginning was awesome. Breathtaking to be exact. But the way this book was in the middle made me: => I don't think this book is a Beauty and the Beast re-telling. Where is the damn beast?? Ignifex was supposed to be evil. But he was keeping himself gentle. Even though I liked him I wasn't expecting him to be gentle. Or Nyx! It seemed to me that she was our BEAST!! Because she was full of hatred. And Ignifex changed her. Well, I prefer males in the category of beast. => Shade. I just don't know why. He is the most boring character I have ever read. For some people he deserves pity but for me he don't. I cared for Ignifex more. => The major fault I found in the book is the way how it unfolds. The moments of revelations are not appropriate. Things reveal wayy after the time they are told. Maybe I felt this fact more because of my exams. I can't be sure. So I didn't consider this point while rating this book.=> Nyx's falling in love with Shade was completely despicable. But I liked that this book didn't create a sense of love triangle. THINGS I LIKED=> The very thing which kept me reading this book and not DNFing was writing. I was soo in the need of DNFing it and try it some other day but the writing was excellent enough for me to finish this book. And the other reason was I don't want to make the habit of DNFing. It might unfair for the author. Don't know if I am right. But I feel it.=> Ignifex's castle. Loved it. It was one of the most magical places I have ever read. "This house has many dangers". I cannot save you from most of them." Then I let go and forced a smile. I wasnt born to be saved."=> I liked some parts of Greek Myths in background.This book has many elements of fairy tales. Like Rump, Sleeping Beauty... [both are my least favourite tales]. I liked the concept of original Beauty and the Beast. But couldn't like this book as I should have. It was just little above fine. Don't know if I'd be reading Crimson Bound anytime soon. But I will must give the writer another chance because of her writing. Not soon. Maybe latter. 3 STARS with open heart. I can't open more...Because It hurts. :/April 22, 2017

If one of us had to die, it ought to be the one with poison in her heart.Actual rating: 3.5Maybe it's just me, but I've rarely encountered a Beauty and the Beast retelling that I haven't loved. Ok, except Beastly. That abomination was just horrible all the way around. And let's not even mention the movie. Some people just have the kind of face that just begs for an encounter with my fist, and pretty boy Pettyfer is one of them. But I digress.This was a very enjoyable read, though not without its faults. It is supposed to be a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, but I felt like it had hints of the fairy tales Rumpelstiltskin and Bluekbeard as well. I can go on for days about the plot, setting, grammatical structure blah blah blah, but let's be honest, what makes or breaks a book is its narrator. If you don't like the narrator, screw the rest of the book; I really liked this book's main character, Nyx.I like my heroines flawed, strong, and strong-willed. I like it when they're angry. I like it when they're defiant. I like it when they lose control. I like it when they snap like a rubber band strung past its tautness. I like it when they see their own weakness. I love it when they fall apart. I love it when they hurt someone they love, while hating themselves for it because they are past their breaking point. Nyx is strong, but not to the point where her overwhelming bitchiness eclipse the book; she never, ever, ever comes off as bitchy.I do have a few problems with Nyx, and my problem with her ties into the plot as well, my main complaint about this book is that it is just overwhelmingly romantic at times. "But Khanh!" you protest, "It's a romance novel, I mean, it's based off a fairy tale, what did you fucking expect?" Well, yes, my friends, it is a fairy-tale, but the premise promised me more than that. It promised me intrigue, it promised me a kick-ass heroine, one who is the savior of her people, one who will sacrifice herself and become a killer of an evil immortal. I didn't exactly get that.I wanted bad-assery. I wanted more plotting. I wanted an assassin. Instead, I got not a lot of plotting, I got a lot of illicit kissing, I got a lot of falling in love. As beautiful as this book was, it felt to me that the MAIN plot of mayhem and murder got tossed aside for a love triangle. It wasn't exactly Throne of Glass bad, but it bothered me a lot the way Nyx skirted her mission for romance and dreams. In terms of plotting, the second half of the book was a big mess of confusion for me.The Summary: Some people are born to a grand destiny, others have it forced upon them. Nyx was born to be a sacrifice. Demons have control of the country of Arcadia. There is no sun, there is only a parchment paper sky, painted with an artifice of the sun. Her country lives in fear. To gaze upon the demons is to lose your mind as the shadows prey upon your soul. For 900 years, this has been Arcadia's curse.Nyx was intended by her father to be the savior of her people. It means she will most definitely die. Her father made a deal with the king of the demons, the Gentle Lord; in exchange, Nyx will be given in marriage to the Gentle Lord when she turns 17. In return, her beloved twin sister, Astraia, will be able to live a normal, happy life. Nyx truly loves her twin sister, the innocent, sweet Astraia, but it is so hard not to feel resentment at one who has been the recipient of all their father's love, while knowing that her happiness will come at the cost of your own, but she is determined to fulfil her mission:I had broken my sisters heart. I would never see her again, so I could never beg her forgiveness. I had let hatred fester in me so long, I didnt think I could ever learn to love her properly, either. But I could make sure she lived free of the Gentle Lord, no longer afraid of his demons, with the true sun shining down upon her.Nyx has been groomed half her life to be the Gentle Lord's bride, but her father and his secret society has other plans for her: she will marry him, she will seduce him, she will kill him. Nyx will save Arcadia from the demons.The Gentle Lord is not what she expected. He tells her to call her Ignifex, but that's not his true name. Instead of ravishing her, he leaves her in a tenuous peace. He has but two rules for her (which are so reminiscent to me of Rumpelstiltskin and Blackbeard): "One. Every night I will offer you the chance to guess my name. If you guess right, you have your freedom. If you guess wrong, you die."Rule two. Most of the doors in this house are locked. This key will open all the rooms you are permitted to enter. Do not try to enter the other rooms or you will regret it dearly...though not for very long.Instead of someone unimaginably cruel, the stuff of nightmares, she finds him full of laughter, full of mockery, full of games. He likes her spirit, he likes her defiance.I do like a wife with a little malice in her heart.But Ignifex is also capable of unimaginable cruelty; he makes her shudder with fear. Unexpectedly, she finds an ally in his magical castle, one named Shade. One who is close to the Gentle Lord, but who can never betray him.Who can Nyx trust?The Setting: Interesting...but it didn't quite work for me. The setting is not the star here, and it's a rather vague alternative universe that is rather jarring at times. It is based off of an ancient Greco-Roman world, as far as I can tell, gods and goddesses in the Greek Pantheon such as Aphrodite and Hermes and Zeus are mentioned, and it seems as if they are part of the traditional belief system. There is a vague system of magic, alchemy of sort, called the Hermetic sciences. There is not much detail given about this world, short of the fact that it exists under a dome of parchment sky due to a demonic curse, and honestly...I just didn't get it. I never felt immersed in the actual setting. The names and places are strange, you have all these Grecian-based names like Damascus and Adamastos and all of a sudden...Lily Martin? What the fuck?The castle itself and the setting are a lot more well done. This book truly runs very parallel to Beauty and the Beast in that regards. We have a magical shifting castle, we have wondrous ballrooms filled with sparkling water. We have ivy-covered libraries. We have a wondrous library, we have a magical wardrobe (I NEED ONE FOR CHRISTMAS), we have invisible hands conjuring up feasts and utensils (except without the singing and dancing, the best part!), we have a forbidden object.But of course, all is not wondrous, and some corners of the castle is filled with horror.My fingers found cloth, then something soft and cold.I shuddered, but my mind refused to recognize it until I groped farther and my fingers slid past teeth into a cold, wet mouth.With a scream, I bolted back against the door. I rubbed my hand viciously against my skirt, but the fabric could not wipe away the memory of touching the dead girls tongue.The dead wifes tongue. Because now my eyes were growing truly accustomed to the light, and I could see all eight of them, laid out on their stone blocks as if stored for future use.Dead wives. Shadowy horrors that drives a person into madness. The castle is equally splendid and sinister.The Characterization: I really liked Nyx. She was frustrating to me at times, but overall, I felt she was a really good, flawed character. Nyx is so, so very angry at the beginning of the novel, and I seethed with anger along with her. She has been dealt a crappy blow by the fates, and who can blame her for her bitterness? Nyx has been doomed since she was born, thanks to her parents' selfishness.I hate you [Mother], I prayed silently. Father only bargained for your sake. If you had not been so weak, so desperate, I would not be doomed. I hate you, Mother, forever and ever.I love a good depiction of sisterly relationships, and Nyx's relationship with her twin sister, Astraia, was so well done. There is absolutely no doubt that Nyx adores her sister while simultaneously hating her as well. Astraia has been adored by everyone since she was born, while her twin sister, Nyx, has been groomed to die. Nyx has lived her life in resentment, and who can blame her for that? Even so, she never, ever shows her bright, innocent sister any hate until she is overwhelmed by her emotions on the day of her wedding...which might as well have been a funeral.I had thought the words so often, they felt like nothing in my mouth, like no more than a breath of air, and as easily as breathing I went on:The truth is, Mother died because of you, and now I have to die for your sake too. And neither one of us will ever forgive you.Then I shoved her aside and strode out of the room.Nyx speaks her mind, regrets it immediately, and spends the rest of the book tortured by those final words to her beloved sister.Nyx has spunk, she has fire. Instead of cowering to Ignifex, she turns against him, surprising him and herself...and earns his respect in the process. She hates Ignifex, but Nyx is not a person of absolute cruelty. Despite herself, she is a gentle person, she wants to be more than that girl with hatred in her heart. Despite knowing Ignifex is evil, she finds that she is unable to ignore someone when they are in pain. She is better than that. She wants to be better than that.But I was a girl who had broken her sisters heart andfor a momentliked it. I had left somebody in torment and liked it.I didnt want to keep being that person.The Romance: It was well done, but there were entirely way too fucking much of it. As I said above, there were too much romance at the expense of the actual plot. Once Nyx got into the castle, I expected her to plot, to finalize her plan to kill Ignifex. She didn't. She spends her time moping. She spends her time making googly eyes at Shade, then after resisting Ignifex (who is technically her husband), slowly lowers her resistance...then kisses Shade. Then kisses Shade some more. COME ON, YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE PLOTTING TO KILL THE EVIL GUY. What pisses me off is that Nyx and her father has a plan to kill Ignifex using Hermetic sciences and she did not follow through except in the most halfhearted way. Instead, this is what we get: It was nothing like kissing Shade. That had been like a dream that slowly enfolded me; this was like a battle or a dance. [Ignifex] took possession of my mouth and I took possession of his, and we held each other in a perilous, perfect balance like the circulation of the planets.Less romance, more plot, please.Thanks to the wonderful Faye for lending me this book.I received this book as an Advance Review Copy; all quotes are taken from an uncorrected galley and is subject to change in the final edition.