Finished ~ Dorothy Must Die & Cruel Beauty

Finished Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
Started 4/30/14 & Completed 5/4/14
3 of 5 stars

Finished Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
Started 5/7/14 & Completed 5/8/14
4 of 5 stars


I read both of these really trendy and popular books right now. I enjoyed both of them, but preferred Cruel Beauty to Dorothy Must Die.


Dorothy Must Die wasn't what I expected. I went in thinking it was one thing and it was entirely another. The problem that I had with this book was that it didn't start to really get interesting until halfway through the book. I wasn't to the point where I was going to give up on it, but I was definitely reading it more slowly than I would have if it had kept my interest.

In it, Amy arrives in Oz to find out that everything is different than what she has know of it. Dorothy is now evil and Amy is expected to kill her, so that all will be right in Oz again.

It was really good from the last half on, it finally really picked up and finally caught my attention. It was enough that I will likely try the next in the series, to see where it goes. I hope that it continues on its more active storyline. If it starts out dull again, I'd probably give up on the series. Overall a fun read.


Cruel Beauty was really really great and caught my attention from the beginning. Nyx was raised to marry, and defeat the ruler Ignifex, setting their land free from his cruel ruling. But he's not what she expected and nothing was what she was taught it would be.

My favorite thing about the story was the castle. It looks in ruins on the outside but inside lays an ever changing labyrinth of rooms that are constantly changing. It was always wonderful to see what room she'd end up in next, it would have been fun to wander the corridors exploring as Nyx did. The only drawback of the story was Nyx. Granted, she wasn't really loved or at least cherished in any other way than that of the savior of their land, so she hates her family but feels called to her duty, for a while. She was back and forth some. If I was her, I'd forgotten about my family and lived peacefully ever after. :) I didn't like the one part, near the end, when things changed, but in the end it all worked out.

I do plan on trying the other book(s) in the series. If nothing else, the covers are amazingly beautiful!!