2.7/5 ⭐️

This was a fun book. If you're looking for a fun basic, KindleUnlimited type paranormal romance, this is perfect for you. (and no hate on the basic KindleUnlimited books, I've read SO many of them that they start to blend and the emotional beats become really repetitive, but, for the most part, they're all enjoyable)

Please note: I went into this book blind and had absolutely no idea that this was part of a series until I read the introduction to Jay Gatsby and Daisy.

When I first tried to read this book, I was in a picky mood and was hyper-critical of the writing. Some notable mentions were, "I'm just chilling, listening to the rain. I like the way it sounds" and "You talking my rizz..."(page 1). It felt like it was trying too hard to be dramatic an artsy, while also trying, and failing, to relate with Gen Z (I'm a gen z'er and I've never heard anyone my age use this term unironically).

So I took a break. I knew I was being too harsh on this book, and it's an ARC so I knew it was going to go through more edits. I knew I would enjoy it if I gave it a chance, so I started again after taking a few months off.

And my final thoughts are that this book was fun. Once I got past the weird slang, and the lack of exposition, I had a good time. Heathcliff was a boy obsessed, and stalked our girl Cathy for a bit, but who doesn't love a boy-obsessed, and maybe a little crazed. He was so perfectly desperate for her and I LOVED it. Cathy was just boring. Now, I know I sound like a hater, but I really did have a good time. Seriously, how could I not with lines such as, "Everything is you." I think I screamed a little at that.

Although this was meant to be a fun, quick read, there were some plot holes left open at the end of the book that had me confused and wanting for answers. The main question I had at the end was: what is the history between the gods/goddesses in this world? I know this is meant to be a series, and I did not know that or read any of the other books, so some of the plot holes are due to information being presented in books prior, but I wish there was some more explanation than what was given.

Overall, a 2.7/5 ⭐️ read. It was enjoyable, not bad, but not great. Honestly, you need to have read the rest of the series to read this book, but it was a fun read if you don't care too much about the history of the world you're reading about.

Thank you to Netgalley and publisher for providing me an ARC for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this! Wuthering Heights was one of my favorite books when I was growing up & this supernatural twist on it was everything!! The writing, the intrigue, the spice, everything about it was amazing!! Im definitely going to go back and read the other two standalones in this series!!

Thank you NetGalley for this arc and opportunity 🖤

✨𝓐𝓡𝓒 𝓡𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀✨
📖: Ruthless Devotion (Gilded Monsters Book 3)

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.💫

𝙃𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙛 𝙤𝙛 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙡—𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙧𝙧𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙧𝙚. 𝙈𝙮 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙢𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙥𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣, 𝙢𝙮 𝙨𝙖𝙡𝙫𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣: 𝙢𝙮 𝙃𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙘𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙛.

Cathy has been haunted by the deaths that call to her. Her condition keeps her trapped within her small religious town where she’s felt alone until meeting a stranger she never expected to see again.

Keeping his scars and secrets hidden, Heathcliff has been working to make a life for himself. And he wants Cathy, the woman he shouldn’t want.

They can’t seem to stay away, yet fate and dark forces threaten to keep them apart.

Tropes:
👀Dual POV
⚠️Forbidden romance
🌬️Banshee FMC
☠️Necromancer MMC
📚Modern retelling
🫂Forced proximity
🩶Morally grey MMC
✨Celtic folklore
📚Interconnected standalone
💫Monsters, deities, cults
🌶️: open door

Rebecca had me immediately intrigued by this iteration of Cathy and Heathcliff. Cathy has lived in fear, constantly fighting for control over her body and her fate. Heathcliff is a broody, protective MMC, and bears conflicting emotions to his cruel adoptive family and his draw to Cathy.

They share a soul-deep connection and understanding— two mirror broken souls. There’s a beautiful desperation in the way they yearn for each other and what they’re willing to do for each other. Their passion burns brightly and their love transcends lifetimes.

This dark, decadent tale examines hypocrisy, religion, autonomy, and mortality. I love how the main characters from each book in this series falls into place within the overall storyline and highly recommend reading the prior books for full emotional impact.

In Ruthless Devotion, the author crafts a breathtaking Southern Gothic Wuthering Heights reimagining featuring monsters, myths, and a haunting romance!

Huge thanks to the author, Sourcebooks Casablanca, and NetGalley for the ARC opportunity. This is my honest and voluntary review.

4.5 stars rounded up to 5 stars

I really loved Cathy and heathcliffe. I loved the way everything connects with the other stories and the spice was good. I love that it started early in the book and I loved the dynamic between the two mcs.

Im very excited to continue reading stories in this world.

I rarely say this, but I think this book should have been longer... The premise had a lot of potential, and I thought the cult plotline was interesting, but overall it felt very rushed/choppy (including the romance unfortunately).

From chapter one, I was pulled into this world, and I didn't want to leave. The chemistry between Heathcliff and Cathy along with the supernatural aspect... a perfect combination.

One thing to note, this book can be a standalone but it is book 3 of an interconnected series. I enjoyed this being the first book I've read but I probably would have enjoyed it even more knowing what was going on with the other characters in the previous books. And I'm definitely going to read those 2 books soon.

Truly delectable! I enjoyed the distinct voices between our couple. Being able to see how both sides fell so heavily for the other was magical. I also appreciated seeing different mythological creatures than that same old fae or vampires. I learned more about banshee history than I could have expected, and it was a lovely time.

Ruthless Devotion by Rebecca Kenney
5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
4🌶🌶🌶🌶

I had to step back and take my time to write this review. Wuthering Heights is one of my favorite books, and Rebecca did such a masterful job of putting a gothic fantasy spin on the classic story.

In this story Cathy is a banshee, and Heathcliff is a Necromancer, talk about a fun twist! Cathy is the black sheep of her town, she's always been "different". Nobody knows her secret except for her father. Being unable to herald the deaths of those around her as she's meant to, Cathy is forced to wander the woods wailing alone for hours at a time. When one of these episodes is coming on Cathy can feel it coming, and sometimes she needs to let off some steam to take the edge off.

On one such afternoon Heathcliff Lockwood happens to be making a delivery at the Story Cathy works at, and she DEFINITELY gets to let off some steam. 😉😉. Cathy think this was a 1 time thing, until Heathcliff shows up at church the following Sunday!

Cathy and Heathcliff shouldn't want eat other, they're from rival families, and an ancient wicked god is stiring and threatens to tear everything apart.

There are so many thing in the last 1/3 of this book especially that I wish I could wish about on here but I want to avoid spoilers. Yall deserve to go into this with all of the feelings I did! I also love that we get to see some characters from the previous 2 Gilded Monsters books. Do yourselves a favor and move this book to the top of your TBR!!

I don’t think I’m the target audience for this book. I knew I was going to struggle with it the second I saw the word ‘rizz’ on one of the first couple of pages. There was no chemistry between the two MCs and they both seem very childish.

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the opportunity to read this ARC!

3.5 ⭐ simply put, this book was a good time. It was fast paced, easy to read, and the chemistry between Cathy and Heathcliff was wonderful. This book is a Wuthering Heights retelling (sort of, not really) with a magical, southern US twist. Both Heathcliff and Cathy have supernatural abilities that are passed on through generations, and this, in addition to the romance, is one of the main focal points of the story.

If you are hoping for a retelling that stays close to the original novel, you are not going to find it here. While our main characters make an appearance (Cathy, Heathcliff, Nellie, Edward Linton, Hindley, etc) and are integral to the story, thats about as far as it goes. There are aspects of the plot that are reminiscent of the original novel (ex. showdown between Heathcliff and Edward, Isabella being smitten with Heathcliff, even if it is only for one night etc), but they are different enough that if I hadn't been actively searching for similarities, and if I hadn't just recently finished Wuthering Heights, I would not have noticed them. Ruthless Devotion also lacks many of the gothic elements so integral to Wuthering Heights, which was disappointing to me. A lot of this is due to the setting; how can you recreate the howling winds of the moor, or the old, unsettling feeling of an English country manor in a rural South Carolina town where everyone speaks with a southern drawl? However, I did appreciate that the spirits of Cathy and Heathcliff were maintained in this book; Cathy, with her wild, headstrong ways, and Heathcliff, with his no-fucks-given and surly attitude and absolute love for Cathy.

Also (and this is on me), when I first applied for the ARC for this book, I did not realize that it was an interconnected standalone. While you do not have to read the first two novels to understand the events that unfold in Ruthless Devotion, there are characters from the previous books that become rather important to the plot, and context could be helpful.

Nonetheless, if you are looking for a book that is a good time, has familiar and beloved characters portrayed in completely new ways, then this is the book for you. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Rebecca Kenney for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

━━━━━━━━☙ ☪ ☙━━━━━━━━
🖤 First Person Dual POV
🤍Banshee x Necromancer
🖤Wuthering Heights inspo with a Paranormal twist
━━━━━━━━☙ ☪ ☙━━━━━━━━

Ruthless Devotion was a very middling read and the only positive thing I can say about it is its readable, but I did have to push through it. It has the groundwork to be really interesting with the supernatural elements mixed in with classic literature inspo, but it just never quite gets there. The setting and atmosphere was one of the more stronger parts of the book, with its Gothic southern backdrop. I had a hard time connecting with both Cathy and Heathcliff as main characters.

Aspects of the plot felt a bit shallow in the sense it doesn't really dive deeper. Topics like religious extremism and cultism are at the forefront of the book and is part of Cathy's inner turmoil that she faces throughout the book; but it felt like a very just quick dip in the pond. We could have really explored more of that aspect in a more deeper and meaningful way that really comments on the topic of religion fanaticism and the devastating/violent effects of religious extremism on women.

There is smut in the book, but it didn't add anything to the table since the spice scenes fell a bit flat, almost felt like it was just going through the motions and checking off what needed to happen in a sex scene. It focused more on quantity rather than quality and making it more sensual.

The magic system has some potential with its slightly different take on necromancy. Getting matching tattoos, allows for possible resurrection within the world
Heathcliff is able to take advantage that as a way to make money. That is the extent of all the interesting aspect of the magic though. I would have liked to have seen the Banshee aspect been explored more, we got a small glimpse at the lore and it mostly consisted of Cathy walking around when she was having a Banshee episode.

The romance honestly needed a lot more work and proper development. It starts with insta-attraction, since the characters sleep together right away. Then it just feels like lust overshadows any possible deeper emotional connection Cathy and Heathcliff have. Cathy at one point muses how since meeting Heathcliff, its almost like, "as if I'm him and he is me, and our souls always knew we'd fit together someday." This would sound heartfelt, but there's was no proper build up and feels like it came out of left field. Just a few moments ago, she wanted nothing to do with him and only thought he was hot. It's the same for Heathcliff suddenly he literally wakes up and thinks about how, "that's what I love about her," when they just met not too long and its only chapter 10! Their relationship is definitely on speed run mode and not sure how we got to the point of wanting matching tattoos (even if its for supernatural protection) or how its them against the world. There's a lot more telling me these two are fated lovers rather than showing me how they fell in love.

The more dramatic moments weren't landing for me, because I didn't really buy into the relationship at all. If the tension and yearning was built more gradually throughout the book, rather diving head first, then those more emotional moments could have been earned.

Then there's the bet that the two make to compete with one another on whom can get their retrospective dates to an orgasm first. It felt like that moment was meant to give the characters some sexual tension, but it just comes off as petty and childish, despite the characters being grown adults and not teenagers.

As for the writing style it's can definitely come off as cheesy and a bit cringe at times. It gives off Watt-pad vibes, easy to read but no actual depth or substance to it. At one point there's a moment where one of the characters, Edgar says "I knew you were trouble when you showed up," Cathy mentions how the Taylor Swift song starts playing in her head.

Ruthless Devotion did lose me, in the last few chapters once they get to the church. It just felt a whole mix of things from weird, random, and confusing. It just felt very chaotic, like the scene felt like an implosion of a bunch of new characters being introduced and hinges a bit too much on prior knowledge from the other interconnecting books. Only Gatsby and Daisy got proper introductions earlier in the book.

Thank you to SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca for the ARC.

Thank you Netgalley and sourcebook casablanca for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4.5 STARS

I have really enjoyed all of the dark retellings in this series but this some might be my FAVORITE. One of my favorite things about this series is how Rebecca Kenney takes classic stories like Wuthering Heights and breathes new life into them.

Cathy is working at her aunt's coffee shop/ farmers market. She has a secret she is being forced to keep from everyone. She is a Banshee and when someone is about to die she has to roam a forest alone in order to not terrify her cultish town.

Heathcliff is a lockwood a family known to have magical/ supernatural powers and because of this his family is blocked out of town unable to enter the only reason hes able to cross the towns boundaries are because he was adopted into the family. On one of his trips into town he meets Cathy which sets us on our wild ride of love, sacrifice, navigating abusive family dynamics and knowing that they would do anything to save each other.

I really liked the pacing of this one. You get new information that helped to push the overarching series plot along while also moving the single couples story along. The balance between this books plot and the overarching plot was great. I love seeing the main characters from the first 2 books play roles in this one. Cathy and Heathcliff NEED THEIR FRIENDSHIP in their lives.

I NEED MORE PEOPLE TO READ THIS SERIES!!!!

Tropes:
Touch her and die
Star Crossed lovers
Paranormal
Matching tattoos
Forced proximity
Taking care of each other

Thanks NetGalley and publishers for an opportunity to read this arc. This is my honest review

This is the first book from Rebecca Kenney and this gothic retelling of Withering Heights and it did not disappoint

If you like Gothic paranormal romance, necromancers, banshees, small-town, tattooed MMC, touch her and die, Celtic gods, cults this is for you trust me you won't regret this

I really enjoyed the story, the plot and the dynamic between Cathy and Cliff and their sudden lust followed by the slow burn that was a nice touch

Cannot wait to read more of Rebecca Kenney

Firstly, want to say thank you to NetGalley for the ARC copy of this book! Forever grateful for opportunities like this.

Unfortunately, this book just wasn't really for me. The connection between the characters felt rushed and underdeveloped. I'm a sucker for some tension and yearning so this didn't really hit the mark for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the Advanced Readers Copy of this book! I loved book 1 and 2 of this series and was so happy to receive this ARC!

As someone who was an English literature nerd growing up I appreciate these retellings and enjoy the spice!

I look forward to reading more from this author! She’s a local author for me so I’m lucky!!

A beautiful (and dark) Withering Heights retelling! I loved the world building and made it really shine. I have read the author before and knew I was in for a treat and she absolutely delivered. The cover and author drew me in. The con for me was that the spice felt a little forced at times.

I read the Gatsby retelling before this one and this Wuthering Heights retelling feels similar. It’s fun in its own modern way but definitely a tonal departure from the classic. As that’s the point and what people are going in for I’d say: have fun with it!

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC!

Unfortunately, this book didn't hit for me.
The writing style felt a bit cheesy and also very GEN Z coded.
The plot and characters fell flat as well.

It had so much potential though!

I was not a fan of this one. It's a retelling of Wuthering Heights with a supernatural twist. I found it kind of cheesy and none of the characters were that interesting. Also the sex scenes felt very flat and not as naturally flowing. Especially the church scene when she just got overtaken by a god. Really? This is the moment you choose?

Ruthless Devotion by Rebecca F. Kenney is a modern retelling of Wuthering Heights which may sound like it wouldn’t work, but with Kenney’s witty banter, tension, spice, and well-rounded characters with a paranormal twist— it just does and beautifully. While you don’t necessarily have to read them in order, I do suggest it because there are subtle references to the previous book that help piece things together. To this day I have never been disappointed with Rebecca Kenney’s writing and that still stands true. If you haven’t read the rest of the series, they are 100% worth the read!