So. Delicious.

Katee is such a unique writer that pulls off the most jaw-dropping ideas, including smutty Disney villain retellings. Welcome to Wicked Villains and Yasmina and Jafar.

This delux edition comes with bonus storys you may have read before in the "Wicked Villain Shorts." They give you a taste of the characters after the end of the book which is one of my favorite things.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for an arc in exchange for an honest review!

Read for: age gap

4 stars
3 spice

HOT HOT HOT

I love the Jasmine & Jafar remix! Katee always manages to write actual plot and engaging stories while keeping them full of hot scenes. I love it and can’t wait to read more!

I loved reading this book again! It has been a while since I first read it, so while I know at least one thing was changed (besides her name), because it was mentioned in one of the annotations, I don't really remember those changes. So I had such a blast reading this story again!

Yasmina has lived a very contained life, what amounts to a cage, and when her father is caught up in a coup, she ends in another one. Her need for freedom, but her ability to live a life outside of what she's been sheltered in, well, as the annotations noted, that was something only time could help.

Her relationship with Jafar, with their kinks and desires, fighting with their positions in this world, before and after the coup, was so much fun to read! Their fighting and banter had me flying through the pages, and while consensual non-consent isn't my thing, it is theirs, and I'm glad that they have that together!

I'm not sure if I've read the proposal scene before, but it was such a delight to (and I do have hope that the Sabine Valley series will be returned to) and their kink questionnaires, and seeing how good they are together, make me glad that we're getting this republished version.

Loved reading this book again, and I can't wait for the rest of the re-releases of this series, and the spin off series with the 2nd generation!

I read this book with the old cover and hardcore requested it only because the new one looks so good. Did I enjoy it? Idk, there is something profoundly unsettling about reading smut inspired by characters from my childhood animated favorites. I don't know that I've ever really loved a Katee Robert book, but I think they're fascinating to study if you're interesting in writing this genre.

This book was okay.
I will be honest,there doesn't really seem to be much love/romance between the main characters. I found them calling each other "daddy" and "baby girl" gross/off-putting.
I was super excited about the storyline but I wanted more plot and the sex scenes were not realistic enough. I love erotica but keep it real.

Katee Roberts never disappoints when you’re looking for dark romance. The romance bookseller at my local Barnes and Noble recommended Desperate Measures after we chatted about the genre for a while. Really, all she had to say was “Aladdin retelling” and I was sold.

In this retelling, though, Aladdin in the bad guy and Jafar is the love interest.

This is an enemies to lover dark romance with lots of steam. Desperate Measures the first in the Wicked Villains series.

This gorgeous edition of Desperate Measures by Katee Robert (thank you @sourcebookscasa for the #gifted copy! ♥️) includes annotations by the author, steamy black and white art inside and additional scenes that weren’t in the original printing.

This is a spicy Disney retelling of Jafar as a mob boss and Yasmina (Jasmine) as a mob princess. When Jafar overthrows Yasmina's father he takes her for his own as a symbol of his new power. There are major trigger warnings from the first chapter for consensual non-consent and bdsm so make sure you're OK with them all before you head into this one.

Yasmina is a strong, wilful heroine that has been caged all of her life. And although she has been transferred to a new cage with Jafar, it comes with small freedoms she never thought she would have. This helps her to find the courage to fight for her rightful place as queen. Jafar is dark and dominating with a special obsession for Yasmina. It was always his plan to overthrow her father but his timescales were moved up because of his need for her.

I love the enemies to lovers trope and adding a twist on Disney magic really drew me into this book. I think it would have been better to see the suspense build up between them in the years leading up to this book instead of it just being referred to but I still enjoyed the story. And the ending was everything!

I enjoyed this book. Katee doesn't disappoint.

My only gripes are that it seems to start in the middle of a major plot point and that it was long enough for my taste.

Ahhh Jafar is incredible sexy! I love the chemistry built between Jasmine and Jafar. The story is well written and very dark, there is so much spice in this book ( who’s b I LOVED)). Kate’s never disappoints me! . Enemies to lovers is one of my favorite tropes and you never go wrong with her books. Please check your trigger warnings as it may contain some tropes that might be too much for some readers.
One of my favorite reads so far!

A solid book from Katee Roberts earlier writing career. This is actually one of the first books of hers that I read way back when. I loved the addition of annotations and additional scenes. I don't have the physical copy to see the beauty of it in person, but I love the new cover and artwork. Overall still a solid and fun book to read and worth the re-read.

I love everything I have read by Katee Robert. That being said, this one wasn't my favorite. I liked most of the characters and the general direction of the story. There were parts that simply felt rushed when they could have been fleshed out a bit more. The reader wasn't allowed to sit in the suspense long enough. I'm still looking forward to the next book in this series, though!

Desperate Measures by Katee Robert is a perfect book for a spicy mafia romance.

✅ mafia/ mafia’s daughter
✅ plot twist
✅ sheltered princess
✅ marriage arrangements
✅ angst
✅ action
✅ suspense
✅ high sexual tension
✅ plenty of spicy scenes: intense and explicit 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 (bdsm,virginity, exhibitions, anal, 3some)

I’ll definitely need to read the next book by Katee Robert.

This was actually my first Katee Robert book, and not only was I really curious to see what her rwriting looked like, but I was always very excited to read this take on Disney villains.
Spoiler alert, I loved it !!
Honestly, it was a fast and fun read ; the perfect book to distract myself during a tough weekend !
The MCs were great together and I loved seeing their relationship evolve and how they both come into themselves, no matter what we expected in the beginning.

Thank you NetGalley, Sourcebooks Casablanca and the author for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I adore a good Katee Robert book. This is the first book in the Wicked Villians series, it’s a dark ‘retelling’ of Aladdin. I enjoyed the story and the development of the relationship, but whenever there is a Daddy kink mentioned it throws the book off for me. I did enjoy it but it lowered the rating. Solid opening to the series though.

Desperate Measures was my very first Katee Robert book back in 2019, and I was so excited to see it being updated and rereleased. It's the first in the Wicked Villains series and explores an alternate take on Aladdin, where Jasmine falls in love with Jafar instead. It jumps head first into the spice, right out of the gate, and it doesn't really let up. This new version has illustrations, too, which are somehow both swoony and alluring, and which perfectly capture how I imagined the characters in my mind.

If this is your first time reading Katee, be prepared for some serious spice. And a ménage à trois. And a special kind of club. And cameos from other Disney-ish characters, heavily smut-ified. If you grew up watching Disney movies but also love dark romance, you HAVE to pick these books up. You 100% won't regret it.

Check out trigger warnings, though, if you're sensitive to violence, because it can get a bit intense.

Wicked Villians indeed! This was definitely a super spicy dark romance with the retelling of Jafar and Yasmina. It was really cool with the deluxe version because Katee Robert actually has written in footnotes about their thought process while writing and re-reading it. I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for providing me with an arc for an honest review.

Quite the kink classic, only improved with the author's comments, which are truly entertaining. Underworld machinations, betrayals, power plays, and more than a little domination (and submission). Some very fun epilogues, almost as fun as the book itself.

One of the best things about this book is it knows what it is.

It's a smutty book with a bad ass female character who overcomes her circumstances to be the queen she is ment to be.

And I am here for it.

While this wasn't my first katee Roberts book. It was mh first time with this series and I loved it. The characters and the writing are both excellent examples of escapism.
However I didn't like the footnote additions at the end of chapters as k felt like it took me out of the story and into the writers heads headspace and u didn't want that. I enjoyed the flow of tjr story and this derailed it

However if it was a re read o would understand it

I always know exactly what I’m getting with a Katee Robert book, and this definitely delivered!

I wasn’t a returning reader to this story, so the footnotes and extras might not have meant quite as much to me as they may have to others, but I still had a TON of fun getting into Katee’s head throughout the story. This is a very spicy story about a Jasmine x Jafar AU, and while it’s really wildly different (obviously) I really did enjoy the little nods and the brand new take on these characters, as well as the other Disney characters who arrived as side characters and who have books of their own later in the series. This is a quick read with immaculate spice, a FMC who goes on an emotional journey, a princess who saves herself, and an unexpected partnership that makes sense in the end. I really enjoyed it!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca for this eArc!

Katee Robert has done it again. I am so happy for them to have the chance to rerelease this series. The covers are gorgeous, the extras are fun, and the footnotes throughout are fascinating. Yasmina and Jafar have a great story to kick off the series, and it's just in time for the second generation. A fun twist on a classic that does not disappoint.