Ruthless Devotion is an addictive, emotionally charged romance that blends dark tension with heartfelt vulnerability in all the best ways. Rebecca Kenney delivers a story that is equal parts seductive and soul-stirring, exploring the complexities of love, control, and redemption.

At the center of the story is Cathy, a heroine, who is strong yet scarred, thrown into the path of a man who is as dangerous as he is devoted. Heathcliff is intense in every sense of the word, his possessiveness, his power, and above all, his unwavering fixation on the woman he cannot let go. Their connection is magnetic, filled with simmering tension, layered emotions, and the kind of slow-burning chemistry that makes you hold your breath with every page.

Kenney writes with emotional precision, diving deep into the characters' psyches and traumas without ever losing the thread of romance. The power dynamics are intentionally provocative, but never gratuitous, and always grounded in character growth. There's a dark beauty to the story, a reminder that devotion doesn’t always come softly, but it can still be healing.

The writing is sharp, the pacing tight, and the emotional stakes sky-high. If you love morally gray love interests, obsessive romance, and stories that aren’t afraid to explore darker emotional territory, Ruthless Devotion is for you.

Thank you sourcebooks Casa for this advanced copy to review!

This was my first read by Rebecca Kenney and I only regret not reading her books sooner. A friend yelled at me to grab this and pick it up and I am so happy she did. Despite it being the third book in a series, Ruthless Devotion was able to be read as a standalone, and I immediately bought the first two books before even finishing this.

I absolutely love Wuthering Heights, and to get a retelling that gave a fresh spin without the slog was truly amazing. I have always loved the love Hathcliff had for Catherine, and Rebecca was able to capture that and make it shine through, even while putting a supernatural twist on it. It is really hard to take on banshees and do it without making them come off as wailing terrors, but not only is Cathy intelligent, she is still the Cathy we know and love from the original. Heathcliff is just the brooding terror he always is, but add bringing people back from the dead? Perfection. Add in cults, crazy town people and well… I can’t spoil that one and this retelling is one of the best I have seen. I got the vibe of the source material shining through, but Rebecca could not have put a better spin on it. I really loved this. It is spicy right out of the gate(read literally right away), but who doesn’t love a good spicy love story? I so look forward to book 4!

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is one of my absolutely favorite books. So when I heard Rebecca was writing a retelling of my favorite characters Cathy and Heathcliff, I couldn't wait to read it. It did not disappoint! This story is captivating and sucks you right into the plot. It even has a magical/paranormal twist. Cathy and Heathcliff's connection is powerful on every level. Their relationship is emotionally satisfying, and their spicy chemistry is top notch. This is a retelling that you must read for yourself to truly understand its beauty.

✨Arc Review✨

Thank you to the author Rebecca F. Kenney And Netgallery for sending me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

-All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Ruthless Devotion is a captivating and emotionally charged retelling of Wuthering Heights, set in a Southern gothic world where magic, grief, and forbidden love intertwine. Rebecca F. Kenney delivers a tale that's as haunting as it is seductive, with a narrative that lingers long after the final page.

Atmospheric World-Building
The Lowcountry swamp setting is richly described, immersing readers in a world steeped in mystery and foreboding. The cultish community adds layers of tension and intrigue, creating a backdrop that feels both oppressive and magnetic.

Complex Characters
Cathy, cursed with the ability to sense impending death, is a compelling protagonist whose grief and longing are palpable. Heathcliff, a necromancer with a tragic past, is equally complex, embodying both darkness and vulnerability. Their chemistry is undeniable, and their tumultuous relationship drives the narrative forward.

Emotional Depth
Kenney's writing delves deep into themes of loss, identity, and the search for belonging. The characters' internal struggles are portrayed with sensitivity and depth, making their journey both heartbreaking and redemptive.

Spicy Romance
The romance is intense and passionate, with a slow-burn buildup that pays off in emotionally charged scenes. The chemistry between Cathy and Heathcliff is electric, adding a layer of heat to the story without overshadowing its emotional core.

While the book's pacing occasionally slows, and some plot points feel underdeveloped, Ruthless Devotion is a compelling read for fans of dark romance and gothic tales. Kenney's ability to blend magic, emotion, and passion creates a narrative that's both enthralling and unforgettable.

Quick fun read and an adaptation of my favorite novel of all time! Definitely worth the read! I would have loved for it to be longer, I did not want it to end.

✨ Dark Southern Gothic Romance
✨ "Wuthering Heights" Retelling
✨ Banshee x. Necromancer
✨ Celtic mythology and folklore
✨ Small Town
✨ Romantic Suspense
✨ Forbidden Romance
✨ Dark pasts and family trauma

Ruthless Devotion is the third book in the Gilded Monsters series, with this one being a dark southern gothic, paranormal romance retelling of Wuthering Heights. Cathy Earnshaw has a secret that she hides from her small, cult community - she's a banshee. She can sense when someone is about to die and walks around trapped in grief, wailing uncontrollably until her episode subsides. She thinks no one will ever understand her...until she meets Heathcliff Lockwood. Heathcliff has secrets of his own - he was stolen as a child and raised by an outsider group of necromancers. They are forbidden to be together but can't help that their souls are destined for each other. But their town has dark magical secrets of its own and needs a sacrificial lamb to keep their secrets hidden.

I will forever be a stan of Rebecca F. Kenney! Despite Wurthering Heights being a classic, I've never read it so I went in to this story knowing nothing. I absolutely loved the relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff. You can just feel their passion, longing, and heat jump off the pages! Their relationship started off with a bang (literally) and morphed into something beautiful. You could really feel like they were meant to be, despite all the trouble they had to endure. The Celtic mythology and folklore was also woven seamlessly into the story and tied in to the previous books in the series (with some character crossovers).

I'm excited to see where this series goes next and what will happen with the mythology and folklore story!

Thank you so much to Sourcebooks Casablanca for the advanced copy! 🖤

This book was definitely not what I expected.
The book blurb does mention that it will take place in a cult-run town; but I guess I expected a slightly lighter vibe. The content warning page does warn that there will be "religious rhetoric and trauma", so I would just say to be mindful of that because it is very intense all throughout the book, and that's coming from someone who typically enjoys dark romance. I also had a hard time dealing with both main characters at certain points, but Cathy's character in particular. Honestly, despite all the horrors she dealt with- it felt to me like she often ignored how her actions impacted others and the way she navigated consent felt a bit inconsistent when it came to people other than herself. (Trying not to spoil anything, there was a particular scene in which there was an opportunity to potentially get some people to consent while under the influence while knowing that they don't typically drink; and it just personally gave me the ick no matter who the characters are.) With that being said and all my personal issues aside, the romance between Heathcliff and Cathy really was incredible! Their character's chemistry really carried the book for me. If they had stayed in their own little bubble and this review was based entirely just off the romance between them, then I think I would have enjoyed this book just as much as Charming Devil! Even though this book wasn't exactly in my comfort zone- I think if you're looking for a dark, passionate, taboo/sacrilegious romance full of all kinds of religious trauma- then this one could be a great fit for you. I'd definitely recommend it to people who love dark and twisty horror in their paranormal romance ♡

**I also want to thank Netgalley for providing a copy of this book for me to read and review! I am always so grateful for the opportunity to read new books from authors I have enjoyed, and I always enjoy the journey these stories take me on. Thank you so much!**

Spice: 🌶🌶🌶.5

If You Liked That, Read This:
• Her Soul To Take by Harley Laroux
• Wuthering Heights?

This was my favorite of the series yet! The FMC is darker, the spice is spicing, the plot is thickening. I love how each book in the series has not only brought in personality traits from the original characters the books are referencing but also new paranormal elements. I wasn’t sure exactly how standalone vs interconnected this would be but this made the series make sense. There was one of the major plot twists that I was able to predict, but the reveal still felt interesting and raw. It has a rural mafia and religious cult. It has a protection-for-hire element to it. The deception and betrayal had me clinging to my kindle for dear life. Can’t wait to read the next one!!

Thank you, Rebecca Kenney and NetGalley, for the early preview of this book.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Title: Ruthless Devotion
Author: Rebecca Kenney
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice:
Format: e-book

Review:

This book had absolutely no chill. Chapter one, and we’re getting railed in a receiving dock by a stranger. So yeah, I enjoyed it.

Thank you so much Sourcebooks, NetGalley & Rebecca Kenney for the ARC!

With each book in this series, I love it even more!
This time we get a modern retelling of Wuthering Heights, with Cathy is a banshee in a deeply religious southern area, forced to hide who she really is for fear of the church’s reaction, and Heathcliff as a necromancer scrounging by doing sketchy resurrections and a brewery business front.

As Cathy’s banshee side wants to be free to mourn a coming death, she uses sex to ease the urges and basically jumps Heathcliff’s bones in a back receiving dock as he drops off beer to her job. She has no idea who he is or that their family’s have been in a feud for ages, but that’s shouldn’t be an issue because she doesn’t plan to ever see him again. Heathcliff knows who she is, but not what she is, and as he tries to run into her again, one of her banshee episodes is triggered. He follows her through the woods for hours until she comes back to herself. Neither of them can stop thinking about each other and fall into each other’s lives like they’ve always been there. Cathy has someone to depend on, help her, care for her, for the first time since she figure out she’s not entirely human. Heathcliff has motivation to do better for himself, for Cathy, and starts working towards getting them out of a town that would kill her if they knew what she really was.

A extra sketchy resurrection & the pastors son coming back to town create some complications in their plans, like waking the god they’re supposed to be keeping secured and sleeping. Characters from the previous books make appearances to try and get everything back under control.

While this technically could be a standalone, context on the overarching plot helps understand what’s really going on and why past books characters are involved. Either way, it was definitely my favorite so far and I cannot wait for the next!

I squealed when I got the notification saying I was approved for this ARC book. I absolutely love Rebecca Kenneys writing style and her ability to tell a good story. The characters are loveable and relatable and i loved every second of this read!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for honest review.

I went into this story totally blind and hadn't read the previous 2 in the series and this was such a fun ride! I don't think reading the first 2 is completely necessary as the author sums up what happened in the books Pretty well and this one focuses on different characters.

Ruthless Devotion is a Wuthering Heights retelling set in modern times and add in some supernatural beings and necromancers. Now it's been more than a minute since I've read Wuthering Heights, but this version was way better! Cathy and Heathcliff are part of warring families. Cathy is a banshee who mourns for those who will die/have recently died. Heathcliff was abducted as a child for his necromancy abilities.

Throw in a cult-ish church, abusive families, romance and spice, and supernatural beings/gods and you end up with this wild and fun story! I'll definitely be reading the previous books in this series!

Finally a retelling that still manages to feel unique! The first two books were good but I think this one might just be my favorite! I was surprised to receive the arc so it took me a little bit to get to it after needing to read the first two! But man it was worth it!

The smut was light but chefs kiss.

“Kiss me like I’m dying” 😮‍💨😩

I liked seeing so many ends be finally tied up, and I am ready for the next book already! I would recommend reading all the books in the series, they may be different couples but they are not standalones!

Highly highly recommend!

Thank you to NetGalley, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts are my own and are in no way influenced by early access to this title.

This book was fantastic! However, since I read it first, I felt like I was missing some context from the earlier stories. I definitely should have started with the first two before this one. The spice strikes a perfect balance without overshadowing the main plot. I really enjoyed the fantasy elements making it an entertaining read overall!

***Check your TWs***

Tropes:
-classic retelling
-enemy families
-forced proximity
-banter
-dual POV
-forbidden
-banshee FMC x necromancer MMC
-touch her and die

I love this series. Spicy monster retellings of classic books? Yes, please. Heathcliff and Cathy have an instant connection that I was living for. I adored the gothic feel to this story. The cameos from other characters were also a lot of fun. This is the third book in this series, but it isn’t necessary to read the others first.

Quotes:
“No one has ever cared enough to go through this hell with me.”

4.5 stars 🌟
3 peppers 🌶

I always say that I absolutely love Rebecca's writing and this book just reminded me why all over again. Her storytelling is amazing, she draws you in quickly and brings you along on wild rides. This book caught my attention when she announced it because it is a wuthering heights retelling, which was a must read in my high school reading requirements and became one of my favorite reads of that summer. I like how these retellings slightly stick to the characters they are meant to be. I was excited by the supernatural aspect of the banshee being used and I feel that Rebecca did an amazing job portraying it in the book. Cathy is just as amazing as Daisy and Baz in the previous books. She goes through a significant amount of trauma, mostly religious based, but also from people's fear of the unknown or different and I adored how she grew her strength and resilience despite it. I enjoy her and Heathcliff's relationship, even though they are the King and queen of petty. I enjoyed the flirty aspect of denying feelings but still trying to get under each other's skin. The supernatural aspect of these books are constantly intriguing me more and more as this series goes on and I can not wait to learn more about the Gods and connections to the characters and how they will all band together to overcome it. Nice to have Gatsby, Daisy, Baz, and Dorian back for this one and having them be so involved both frightened me for their well-being and made me gitty they were there. There is one thing I hope to learn more about and that would be Heathcliff's origins and the connection between the Gods themselves. Maybe this will be revealed in the next book and personally, I am so excited for the next one!

Summary: This Wuthering Heights retelling follows Cathy Earnshaw, who happens to be hiding the fact that she is banshee from her small religious town of Wicklow, South Carolina. She lives with her abusive father and dreams to leave behind the town and its expectations. Things get interesting when Heathcliff Lockwood, of the Lockwood family hated by the town of Wicklow, delivers goods to Cathy's aunt's shop where she work. As the two fall for each other, a greater mystery unravels around them and they find that Wicklow is hiding a secret bigger than they could've imagined.

My thoughts: Now, when I heard of a Wuthering Heights retelling, I was really interested. I haven't seen a lot of authors decide to touch this work. I think you can see the inspiration and the connection to the original source material while being its own unique story. I think the banshee angle and the Irish folklore and mythology was such a fantastic choice for this story. I think banshees and Irish myth are very underutilized in books compared to other Western mythologies. The banshee episodes were so vivid <spoiler> and the episodes being worse because she wasn't allowed to do her job as a banshee in a small religious town that would consider her evil for it. Also Heathcliff being the only one to ever follow her to make sure she was okay made me swoon. </spoiler>

<spoiler> I loved the banshee and necromancer thing with the themes of death surrounding it which really made the last section of the book so unputdownable. Him reviving her by sacrificing himself, her grief as a banshee (and his love) leading her to be possessed by the god. Edge of my seat the whole time. The gods in the background of this and then our god being awakened added a lot of interest for me in this story and I very much enjoyed it. Also Cathy was really going through it with being drugged and betrayed by her family and being sacrificed by the town. Then losing Heathcliff and being possessed by a god. Poor Cathy! The ending was so satisfying with all the characters from the previous novels chipping in to help. </spoiler>

My only issue with the story was that it was a bit confusing for me at first and a bit harder to get into because I felt I was missing some context. This probably stems from the fact that I didn't realize until probably halfway through that this was the third in a series of interconnected stand-alones (which was TOTALLY my bad). I totally think you can enjoy this book without reading the others, however, I think I would have enjoyed it more had I read the other two first to get some context.

I am VERY interested in the next installment (and will go and read the first two books as well).

4.25/5 I really enjoyed this. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my eARC of this book!

This book was so much better than what I expected! It's sort of a slow start in beginning because of the worldbuilding and just trying to make sense of stuff, but once you're past that, it's hard to stop reading because you're going to be wondering what's going to happen next.

He's a necromancer and she's a banshee. Like how cool is that?! Couple it together with gothic, small town vibes, this

book was like a ready-made tv show. I've only watched 2 episodes of Sabrina in Netflix, but I can see this as something similar in vibes. It took me awhile to realize that this was Heathcliff and Catherine from Wuthering Heights. It's the first time I've read a retelling based on this classic. This was actually quite enjoyable.

The only thing that I'm going to nitpick is the hero and heroine felt like they were teenagers, instead of being twenty-something. But other than that, I highly enjoyed the magic system and the atmospheric setting.

Be warned that this is the 3rd book in a series. I didn't know it until much much later. I still enjoyed it though!

ARC REVIEW -

I love me anything Rebecca Kenney 🥵 her storylines and plots are just delish. The banter and the spiciness is JUST 😘🤌🏼 chef’s kiss. I absolutely loved Beautiful Villain then Charming Devil and had to continue with the Gilded Monsters series. It’s sooooo good. If paranormal romances are your thing come dive innnnnn 🙌🏼 it’s super southern gothic with wuthering heights vibes. I was itching for something other than a beauty and the best retelling. You can read it as a standalone but some characters show up from other books so you might as well get the whole series 🙂‍↕️😉😌

Wow, wow, wow! Book three of the Gilded Monsters series and it just keeps getting better and better! This story had me hooked from the get-go. There’s no slow build, no waiting, it’s nonstop from the start and I loved every minute of it! The books are really tying into each other now and it was done so flawlessly – we’re thrown right back into the thick of the other plot lines and it worked so, so well. I loved seeing old friends and falling in love with new characters. I have no idea where we’re heading from here, but I can. not. wait!