I did not finish this book because it never captured my attention, so it would be unfair to give it a rating.

This book was a surprisingly enjoyable read, with a storyline that pulled me in more than I expected. The characters felt genuine, and the pacing kept things moving without dragging. It wasn’t just entertaining—it had a few moments that really made me stop and think.

While this is the third book in the Over The Top Love series, this was my first to read and I felt that it stood alone well. The Villian Edit was a fun read with a new take on fake dating. The FMC's journey from being cast as the "villain" to reclaiming her narrative was entertaining and empowering. I loved that Brenton really leaned into her characterization as a messy, unlikeable heroine but in a relatable and raw way, making me root for her from the beginning. This book kind of snuck up on me with its depth and caused me to think a lot about stereotypes and media manipulation. I did find frustration with how the MMC handled the miscommunication element during the third act, but this also did feel true to the story Brenton was telling about how we often label and misjudge others. Overall, I enjoyed this messy, spicy read and will read more from this author!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC!

I thought the vibes of this book were great. It was an easy read, I felt like I flew through it and wasn’t really wanting to put it down. However the pacing of the spiciness felt a little bit off for me. I don’t know exact percentages, so I’m just ball-parking it here, but spicy scenes start at around 25/30% of the book and boy are they good. Loved the scenes. But then they just sort of stop around the 55% mark and we don’t get anything else until the epilogue where it feels like one last quick mildly spicy scene is hastily thrown in. I wish there was a bit more spice sprinkled in the last half of the book.
I really like Ashley, but Michael was not my favorite. Kinda didn’t like him to be honest. Nevertheless, this was an entertaining read and I will definitely look forward to reading more of Sarah Brenton’s books in the future.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁 by @sarah_brenton.author 💗

sᴛᴀɴᴅ-ᴀʟᴏɴᴇ ᴏʀ sᴇʀɪᴇs: series but can be read as a stand-alone
ғɪɴᴀʟ ʀᴀᴛɪɴɢ: ★★★★★/5
sᴜʙ ɢᴇɴʀᴇs/ᴛʀᴏᴘᴇs:
• fake-dating
• enemies to lovers
• celebrities
• road-trip
• redemption arc
• she’s in love with someone else

𝗺𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 (𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲):
I love discovering new authors! I first saw this on NetGalley and once I read the blurb I immediately requested an ARC. It did not disappoint😍.

As someone who isn’t a big fan of fake-dating and celebrities romance books, this was GOOD!❤️

Ashley Foley was branded a villain after appearing in a reality TV series. She’s in love with her cousin’s fiancé and on their wedding day she has this big plan to seduce him, but when that fails and instead of the man she loves she’s granted with Gabriel Sinclair. They’re both forced into fake-dating and agree that only under cameras they’d act as a real couple.

It’s a pretty quick read this one so if you enjoy a celebrities, fake dating and enemies to lovers romance book this one is perfect for you😍✨

I did not realize this was part of a series, it says they’re standalone but based on my experience I definitely think you need to read the previous books. I did not care for the characters and I think that may have changed had I read the first two books.

It was my mistake requesting this when I've never read the first two. It says this is a interconnected stand alone but I would disagree and say that you need to read the others as there's almost an expectation for you to know who these characters are right off the bat. For that, I only got about 15% through but continously felt lost so I did not finish.

The Villain Edit is the third book in the Over the Top Love series, but it can be read as a standalone.

I really didn’t like Ashley in the beginning of the book, but I guess I wasn’t supposed to. She definitely went through a lot though, and she had so much growth.

Gabriel was supposed to be the good guy, and he was fake dating Ashley (for his own reasons, not to help her). But he was an a**hole to her, and I really hated him.

Honestly, I love a fake dating romance, but this was not my favorite. Ashley got better, but I wish she made Gabriel grovel more. Sure she wasn’t the best person in the beginning, but she changed, and she didn’t deserve the way he treated her.

Despite not really liking the story or the characters, I also couldn’t stop reading this. I had to know what was going to happen next, so it did keep my interest.

I would call this one clever! I liked the twist on the enemies to lovers. It was a very fun read and I will be going back for more!

This is a good book. The two main characters are Ashley and Gabriel. They are actors. There agents decide to make Ashley and Gabriel fake date. They go on a road trip across the United States. They post pictures of where they are at online. They have feelings and act on them. The paparazzi are at each stop. They both have issues but together they work them out and fall in love.

i ate gabriel up and then i spat him straight back out. i’ve never known a golden retriever love interest to turn out to be such a prick. initially, ashley was the infuriating character but by the end of the book, she was the only thing getting me through it.
i just didn’t like the portrayal of romance in this book, and he didn’t grovel nearly enough for me to root for them or even be happy once the conflict was resolved.
poorly written although it was bingeable and fast paced, i had to put the book down every time gabriel spoke to scream into a pillow.

3.75⭐️

You say fake-dating, morally grey and road trip and I am THERE.
I think this is a contemporary romance for all those Nesta Archeron fans out there- Ashley has been labelled as the villain, so that is the mask she wears, the person she is because <I>‘I can’t be hurt because I don’t care and in that lies power’</I>.
She is an unlikeable character who openly uses people for her own gains and never lets anyone close to see the real her.
<I>‘Heartbreak was my friend. I knew how to make armour out of my pain’</I>

But having to fake-date Hollywoods Golden boy Gabriel Sinclair really pulled her into her own. I loved the character growth in this, and how she learnt to become herself despite (or in spite of) not having the family or romantic attachments to help and support her. Her friends were ride-or-die, and even though they were few it was great to see her realise that she’s not alone, and she doesn’t have to be what everyone expects of her.
<I>’ I’m not broken. I’m not bad. I’m whatever I want to be, and I get to decide every minute of every day what that is’</i>

I expected a bit MORE of Gabe, but it was kinda good to see him NOT act the way I would have liked, as it showed his own battles with his own demons and expectations that were put upon him. It was great that they are both flawed and learning, evolving into who they are because they had the chances to be themselves around each other- unmasked and messy and flawed.

Plus the spice In this was spicing 🌶️🔥
A really easy and addictive read.

***Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review***

The Villain Edit starts off really promising, the opening scene gets you hooked while you meet Ashley truly at her worst, however it lost me somewhere along the way.

Cute, fun and steamy what more could you ask for? Nothing ground breaking but I liked them together and always love a celebrity culture subplot though the reality show ones are less my jam than others.

i put it down weeks ago and never felt compelled to pick it up again so i never finished it and im not mad about it

I wanted to like this but it unfortunately just did not work for me. It was very insta-lusty and the plot was unfortunately not compelling enough to keep me drawn into the story. DNF @ 40%.

📚The Villain Edit by Sarah Brenton
📖Pages: 320
📗 Genre: Romance
⭐3/5
🔥5/5
📝CAWPILE: 36/70
💥 Read Dates: 01/18/24 through 01/21/24


Synopsis: Ashley Foley is the villain of reality TV. Gabe Sinclair is Hollywood's golden boy. When a slight mishap lands them in a fake relationship, what could possibly go wrong?


Review: I was excited for this book, as I had this author recommended to me, and then found myself with the opportunity to do an ARC read for her newest book! The premise seemed enticing, but unfortunately this one didn't quite land with me. The writing was sometimes repetitive; I swear I saw the same sentence verbatim a few times. For example, there are a few instances where the author explains something and it feels like it was copy and pasted from the last time we heard about it.

The book is meant to be an enemies to lovers fake dating trope, and the enemies part of enemies to lovers fell through very quickly to them lusting after eachother.

This book was entirely spice driven. I didn't expect that, and it felt like a bit much to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm down for a nice smutty book every once in a while, but this seemed almost excessive. I swear, once these characters got going, they couldn't go one chapter without banging it out.

There were also some other issues I had with this book, for example I had the E-Book and the formatting was off, anytime there were texts on the page the right hand side would have the last few letters cut off and it would show on the next page overlapping with that text.

Overall, I think I would have liked the book more if it had more plot. The only time we had plot felt very chaotic, and there were details that were glanced over in favor of adding more spice.


This ARC copy was provided to me courtesy of Netgalley and Victory Editing in exchange for an honest and fair review. All my opinions are my own!

I love a good fake dating element with steamy scenes! Just up my alley! Thanks for this opportunity and will be getting my friends into this one!

The author did a great job with the character development over the entirety of this book. It was an enjoyable and quick read, but I felt like I was missing a connection to the characters. The main characters’ differences lead to a miscommunication that could have definitely been avoided and it went on for too long in my opinion. Overall it was a pretty fun read.

thank you to netgalley for the advanced reading copy. I really enjoyed this and will be getting copies for my shop.