This books premise IMMEDIATELY caught my eye, and diving into it was such an adventure. I love multi-dimensional characters, as there’s so much depth they can have but unfortunately these didn’t quite hit for me. I had no interest in what the characters were put to which really impacted my enjoyment.

Some positives of this book were the unique twist on this story, it made my English studying brain search for so many of the nuanced connections. I’ll absolutely recommend to a friend and I’m intrigued to read more from this author!

DNF @ 39%

Gatsby meets twilight. I really dont love anything about this. Daisy has some stupid abilities? Jay is a vampire? Just dumb....

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

Beautiful Villain by Rebecca Kenney is a steamy paranormal retelling of The Great Gatsby that puts a fresh spin on a classic tale. Set in modern times, the story follows Daisy Finnegan as she gets entangled in a web of lies, secrets, and escalating violence after reconnecting with her childhood sweetheart, Jay Gatsby. The author does a great job of capturing the essence of the original story while adding her own unique twist with the inclusion of vampires.

I found the book to be a super fun and addictive read, with a good balance of romance, action, and intrigue. The magical system was quite unique, even if some of the explanations felt a bit lacking at times. The characters were well-developed, with the protective and possessive Jay Gatsby being a particular highlight. While it may not surpass the author's previous works for some readers, Beautiful Villain is still an entertaining escape into a fantasy world inspired by The Great Gatsby. If you're a fan of steamy paranormal romance with a dash of nostalgia, this book is definitely worth checking out!

The only parts of this book I liked where the parts from the Great Gatsby - all the other elements I found to be poory written, awkward and unoriginal.

This was an interesting book. I do have to say it's not my favourite. The cover is amazing, the title is also great and I was really excited about the blurb but it felt to me to not be a very unique story. It might just be that I need to read it at another time again, because the writing was not bad, something just didn't click for me.

I loved this book! Anyone who is a fan of retellings or general fantasy and mythology in general, will end up being a huge fan of this book. I thought it was gripping and well-paced, and I devoured it from page one. This was a great adventure and I think most romantasy readers will find something to love about it.

There were quite a few things that made me turn my nose up.

But let’s start with what I actually liked:
- The focus on mental health awareness
- The healing journey after a toxic, abusive relationship
- Given the previous points, the "friends-to-lovers" trope worked well, even though it's not usually my favorite
- The characters had distinct personalities and were fairly well-defined

However, I didn’t particularly enjoy the tone of the dialogue.
(view spoiler)

Another thing I didn’t love, and this isn’t specific to Beautiful Villain but confirmed my preference, was the single POV. It didn’t make the reading experience feel as fluid or dynamic as I would have liked.

Overall, I think I had higher expectations for this book, which might be why I was disappointed. It's not bad, but it didn’t resonate with me the way I hoped.

I’d recommend it if you enjoy:
- Retellings
- Single POV narratives
- Human x vampire dynamics
- Spicy YA
- Friends-to-strangers-to-lovers tropes

Thank you, Rebecca F. Kenney and NetGalley, for the ARC opportunity!

I was intrigued by the premise of this but I think the ELA major in me just couldn't get past the concept of TGG with vampires to fully connect with the tale. Well-written, for sure, which is why Im still rating semi-highly -- just not for me.

Also: should've been called The Great Bats-by! It was right there! Haha

This Great Gatsby retelling was everything I could have wanted and so much more. What a fun modern take on a classic story but add in a dash of vampires.

Great Gatsby with vampires?? Yesss please 😍😍 this was a steamy read and entertaining to read. I thought this was an incredible and interesting read! I loved this book

When Rebecca Kenney writes something... I READ it! She has never done me wrong and this one is no different. I loved the vampire take on the Great gatsby (two of my favorite things). Though it is only inspired by GG, the vibes were there and I really enjoyed it.

Beautiful Villian is Rebecca Kenney's take on the beloved story The Great Gatsby. Seven years after she lost touch with Jay Gatsby Daisy thought she would never see him again. Jay is back in town except there's something different about him. Not only is he rich, but there's a dark aura to him that Daisy can't put her finger on. Until Jay is shot in the heart but survives.
I loved the Great Gatsby both the book and the movie. I loved this modern remake. Jay Gatsby is my absolute favorite. He definitely had his justice in this book and it was extremely satisfying.
Compared to the original book, Daisy is strong and outgoing. But like the book Daisy was problematic. Daisy had no reason to truly be upset with Gatsby knowing his background and knowing his home situation. Yet it was a constant issue that was brought up during their arguments.
My only other issue was the dialogue between Daisy and Gatsby. At times it felt unnatural. I think it was the constant TikTok slang. While I like the modern twist I thought it would be more of a mature dialogue.

Overall I enjoyed the story. I am glad that Gatsby and Daisy got the happy ending they deserved from the beginning.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to be an ARC reader in exchange for an honest review.

Seriously Rebecca F. Kenney never misses! If you like her writing you’ll like this although it is very different than her other series (ex. Wicked Darlings).

Thank you NetGalley for the E-ARC!

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Woooooow am I over due for this review!

I quite thoroughly enjoyed this little read! It was sweet and suspenseful in all the right places.

What I loved about this story was the obvious love and adoration Jay and Daisy had. When Daisy found out Jay was a vampire, she didn't over react and not talk to him for days on end. She communicated she needed a bit of space, that she was not upset but just needed time to process, and when she came back she asked her questions and Jay answered. I also loved that the background story plot was far more interesting than most romance books, involving old cult-like groups of vampires, and their war against Jay and his people.

I do wish we had gotten more of a view into the world of the vampiers. Knowing this is still a romance all considered, I still wished we had seen a *teeny* but more of the vampires instead of just explaining it with ✨m o v i e s c i e n c e✨

But over all this was an easy and light read!

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You'll like this if you like...
- Retellings
- Steamy romance
- Vampires
- Childhood friends to lovers
- Billionaire boyfriend

This was a refreshing take on The Great Gatsby. With a supernatural, modern twist, this isn't a book you'll want to miss.

Daisy is home from UNC Chapel Hill, returning back to Greenville looking to find who she wants to be. After a rough breakup, she just wanted to be herself, hang out with her cousin Nick and get a great tan by the pool.

After attending a Gatsby party, Daisy gets reconnected with the boy she shared her entire childhood with. Jay Gatsby. In full disbelief that he was truly in the same town as her, and a showed a little resentment at first because he never reached back out to her when her family got ahead in life, and moved across town to a more upscale neighborhood.

Jay Gatsby had orchestrated everything for her. He had worked his way to the top to be able to give Daisy everything. Can he tell her how he got to this point? Can he fully give her everything that he is and more?

A steamy paranormal retelling of The Great Gatsby

Beautiful Villain is the first book in Rebecca Kenney's Gilded Monsters series of modern day retellings with a paranormal twist. Here we have The Great Gatsby retold with vampires.
I was so curious about this paranormal retelling & was quickly taken in by the vampire aspect. We see all the characters and lots from the original plot as well with some clever changes that suited the paranormal aspect well. This definitely has more action, chemistry and steam than the original. I also enjoyed that Daisy was a badass in her own way here.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for this ARC. I recently did a review on the audio of this book and I loved the narration and this entire book from cover to cover! This book was a retelling of the book the great Gatsby and it was done so well. I really loved the character development and the plot of the book was so exciting. I love vampires so much and this book did not disappoint me in the least. It had action, adventure, romance all wrapped up in this wonderful story! This is a new author for me and I highly recommend this read to everyone who enjoys a great story with some exciting romance along with paranormal characters!!

The Great Gatsby with vampires? Seeing that was all it took to make me pick this book up! And what a fun read it was! Daisy had some cool compulsion speech thing that was a fun twist as well. Really enjoyed this one!

I'm glad it's not a standalone, though, because I have so many questions...

Daisy Finnegan has just split with her abusive boyfriend, Tom. When her cousin Nick and best friend Jordan bring her along to a mysterious host's party, Daisy realizes that the host is her ex, Jay Gatsby, the man who left her 8 years ago. But he's not the same as he once was.

On the surface, *Beautiful Villain* is a *Great Gatsby* retelling with vampires. Before I go any further, I need to say that *The Great Gatsby* is one of my favorite books of all time, so I'm a hard sell. I'm also not a romance reader, so that's another strike against me being the target market for this book. Props to Kenney—she did her research and included several threads from Fitzgerald's original (though I did miss Gatsby's signature pink suit). However, I didn't particularly love or relate to any of the characters. I found the dialogue a bit odd; it felt like the characters were younger than they were supposed to be, which made the spicy scenes feel out of place. I didn't hate this book, but I didn't love it either.